The Slahle and the Schoolhoiise 121 



in central New York has many expensive 

 stables, some of them works of art. The 

 barn shown in Fig. 32 is not more than half 

 a mile from the school -house shown in Fig. 

 33. The beautiful stable might serve as a 

 well appointed dwelling house by making a few 

 minor changes. While such buildings are being 

 constructed, the country school -house, the pride 

 of the American, is left to fall into decay; 

 or, if rebuilt, it is located too often on a little 

 scrap of land which may be almost worthless, 

 as though land in America were the most 

 precious of all our inheritance. This school- 

 house is designed to provide accommodations 

 for both farm and city children living in the 

 suburbs. The school -house has not a tree for 

 shade nor a shrub to admire, situated on the 

 commons among weeds and rocks, provided with 

 one dilapidated outhouse unscreened by fence or 

 tree or vine or shrub, while the stable is sur- 

 rounded with rare trees and shrubs artistically 

 arranged and a smoothly shaven lawn. Are 

 horses and cattle worth more than boys and 

 girls ? 



To leave the reader to infer that all school - 

 houses are like the one shown would be 

 misleading. A more pleasing illustration is 

 presented in Fig. 34. Here the meeting-house, 

 the school -house, and a bit of the farm are 



