Hendricks], SCHOOL- G A PD EXS A T DELPHI 47 



to absorb attention from the time-established studies of the 

 school. The common school branches still form a heptarchy of 

 which reading is the traditional queen. It occurred to him, how- 

 ever, that here was an opportunity to work out a problem of 

 interest and of possible value ; that there it might be possible to 

 awaken a wholesome interest in that which is a source of life, 

 health, beauty, and happiness. 



The subject was first discussed with the school-board. In this 

 discussion it was noted that modern life tends to drift away from 

 nature into artificialities, that education teaches our children to 

 work with their brains, but hot with their hands. Although 

 Delphi is a rural community, it was observed that we taught our 

 pupils nothing of the soil, of the growth of crops which makes 

 farm life possible, nor of the growth of trees, shrubs, and flowers, 

 which make the farm home beautiful. Each member of the 

 board had witnessed the exodus of our young men to the cities, 

 and it was decided that an effort to retain the succeeding genera- 

 tion was laudable. One member of the school-board is a native 

 of Germany, and his observation of school-gardens in his father- 

 land proved of value in securing consent to try the experiment. 



The subject was next presented to the teachers. The superin- 

 tendent reported on his visit to the school-gardens of Boston, on 

 the experiments of Dr. Dewey, of Chicago, and on minor experi- 

 ments in Indiana. In this discussion the value of manual train- 

 ing in its different phases was presented. It was pointed out that 

 while the use of tools was valuable, it can never equal, even as a 

 household art, the garden in economic value. It was said that 

 the very use of tools was suggestive of the city work shop and 

 factory. It was agreed that education should place the country 

 child into direct relation with the objects and events with which 

 he lives. Instead of teaching banking and brokerage, stocks 

 and bonds, and foreign exchange, it was thought wise to spend 

 some time on those things in nature best worth knowing and 

 which aid the pupil in rural living. Likewise it was urged that 

 if science could thus be changed from a dead museum affair into 

 a study of nature as it affects community life the experiment 

 would be worth while. 



The city council was informed of the plans and purposes of the 

 school-board and teachers. The result was a donation of land 

 within the citv limits for the gardens. 



