15C0 
December 31, 1921 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
You hive not asked me what I think 
is the most tinfortunate element in mod¬ 
ern society, so I think I will volunteer 
an opinion. It is the inability of most 
people to make any distinction between a 
difference of opinion and rebellion. Just 
think that over for a moment. I have 
seen the true co-operative spirit driven 
our of many families by this failure to 
show mental Charity. It seems to be a law 
of nature that we cannot all think or act 
alike. It seems to me just about as fool¬ 
ish to fight that law as it would be to 
fight the law of gravity. Yet I see thou¬ 
sands of people trying to do it. Some 
member of the family or some neighbor 
may have an honest opinion on a subject 
which does not agree with yours. You 
may do one of two things—insist that he 
is absolutely wrong and that you are 
absolutely right, or let it go as a differ¬ 
ence of opinion which time will decide in 
your favor. All the way from the lonely 
farmhouse up to Washington, T^omlon or 
Paris, this failure to separate honest dif¬ 
ference from rebellion has done more to 
hold back true co-operation than anything 
else I know of. You cannot co-operate 
with a club, or increase the spiritual life 
of men with a stick. 
* # * * * 
This idea crops out in most farm asso¬ 
ciations or' movements to improve social 
conditions. Let any man stand up and 
present an unpopular idea and see what 
happens to him. It may be entirely fair 
criticism, or it may be a clear, strong 
vision of what is sure to come in the 
future. That does not seem to matter if 
the idea is unpopular or opposed to the 
interests or ideas of the men who happen 
to be in control. No matter how fair or 
how wise the critic may be. there will 
instantly be a cry of “Crucify him ! lie’s 
a ‘kicker’—a dangerous man!” The peo¬ 
ple in control of any organization or 
movement for new legislation are seldom 
if ever willing to discuss objections fairly. 
They rely upon their power over their 
followers to crush out opposition before 
it can gather strength. I could name a 
dozen cases right now where this policy 
is being carried out. It is effective for 
the present, but in the long run it will 
lead to revolution, for human thought 
is like the. elements which combine to 
make a powerful explosive. You cannot 
destroy human thought, nor can you sup¬ 
press it-entirely. Fair and reasonable 
expression is the true safety valve. Choke 
it off by ridicule or force, and you make 
it more powerful than dynamite. When 
it does explode, it wrecks everything 
near it. 
* * * ♦ * 
These things have come to mind as a 
result of the recent school discussions. I 
have stated my belief that the small 
school, with a conscientious teacher, 
should give the individual pupil a better 
chance than the largest roomful of chil¬ 
dren. I have also said that some of the 
methods now employed in the modern 
school are more dangerous than helpful 
to the pupils. These two statements*have 
surely pushed me far into trouble. We 
have been through many battles, but it 
seems as if I had never served as target 
for more intolerant abuse than has been 
called out by these two statements. The 
strange part of it is that most of those 
who use the most violent language confess 
that they have no children of their own 
to educate, nor are they personally in¬ 
terested in educating the children of 
others. They are the folks who accuse 
me of educational treason. There are 
men and women who have children of 
their own to educate who do not believe 
as I do. yet they a.e reasonable in their 
criticism. So I have begun to ask myself 
what business I have to discuss the sub¬ 
ject. anyway. As I go over my qualifi¬ 
cations I begin to think they are very 
inferior after all. I have lived over 00 
years of a pretty strenuous life, during 
which I have been obliged to study human 
nature as few people uo. I never had 
any “schooling” to amount to anything. 
There were a few years in a one-room dis¬ 
trict school, one term in an old-fashioned 
high school, a little time in city night 
school, and that was all. I got into col¬ 
lege through reading and home study, and 
struggled through without knowing how 
to study or how to read advantageously. 
Every day that I live I feel the lack of 
early training, such as my children are 
receiving. Naturally I have strong con¬ 
victions as to what I would like to study 
if I could live it over again. It seems to 
me now that if I could go back and take 
the training which life has taught me is 
essential that T could move the world. 
It may be possible that all this experience 
does not qualify me to discuss educa¬ 
tional methods with young inexperienced 
teachers or professional educators. Which 
is the better view of educational needs? 
Is it a backward look over a "well-defined 
path, or a look ahead into an uncharted 
country without real knowledge of the 
future? Some of our young educators 
seem to think the back journey is 
no more useful than a tale that is told. 
Then it was my good fortune to marry a 
successful teacher. Then. too. at this 
moment we have three ■ children in the 
district school, two in high school and 
two at college. In addition to this, we 
have trained five other children from the 
primer to college and normal school, and 
They keep an 
and have be¬ 
at least 
school. 
It would seem to me as if this exper¬ 
ience ought to qualify us to discuss the 
education of children. Whether it does 
or not, I stick to my two original propo¬ 
sitions. I think it was Garfield who said 
that lie would rather sit on the end of a 
log with Mark Hopkins at the other end 
than to study in some beautiful school 
building where the teaching was mechan¬ 
ical. That is not an exact quotation, 
but it gives the idea. I am not opposed 
to consolidation of schools. There are 
some cases where such consolidation is 
the only reasonable plan. There are 
others where it would mean great hard¬ 
ship to the little children unless the 
school term is changed from Winter to 
’Summer. No change to consolidation 
should ever be made without the free con¬ 
sent of a majority of voters in the dis¬ 
trict. I find that some of these loud 
shouters for consolidation are not fair in 
their actions. They are quite willing to 
make the district school seem a failure in 
order to have a new argument for the 
change. If they would get out and take a 
personal interest in the local school they 
could greatly improve it. but they will 
not do that, because their hearts are set 
upon consolidation. We have in our dis¬ 
trict a Home and School Association com¬ 
posed of resident women, 
eye on all school matters, 
come one of the best educational forces 
in the district. I think that before peo¬ 
ple brand their school as a failure they 
should organize in that way and take a 
personal interest in the school. “We 
have got 1o do it onrpelves.” In many 
cases the demand for consolidation is a 
confession that the local forces cannot 
clean their own house, and thus ask the 
State to do it for them. Freedom through 
self-help does not lie in that direction— 
it is more of a step toward State subjec¬ 
tion. 
* £ sje :Js 
Many schools are experimenting with 
what is called “socialized teaching.” I 
take it to be an experiment in attempting 
to have the children play the part of 
teacher. For example, the children are 
expected to correct each other’s papers. 
I have seen spelling exercises “corrected” 
in this way where there were several mis¬ 
spelled words, yet they were marked 100. 
I should think it doubtful if any such 
method would make children more care¬ 
ful or responsible. My opinion, if it is 
worth anything. >'s that this method will 
fail for much the same reason that so¬ 
cialism fails; that is. because both require 
ideal conditions, and these are certainly 
not found in the average schoolhouse or 
community. And in that I think may 
be found one fair criticism of this plan 
of attempting to plant these new-fangled 
methods right into our country schools. 
It is like putting new wine into old bot¬ 
tles—or planting a tree without pruning 
or shaping it in any way. And “physical 
culture!” know of at least one case 
where it was overdone and led to danger. 
The chief object of the modern school 
seems to be to have children “pass” from 
one grade or school to another. They 
must ■ “pass” whether they are really 
trained or not. It is quite likely that this 
“physical culture.” properly directed, 
may be a good thing for the children. 
My daughter says that under direction of 
an expert it is very useful. I know of 
one case which seems to show that unless 
the condition of the pupil is well con¬ 
sidered it may be classed as dangerous. 
Tt looks to me somewhat like the case of 
osteopathy and kindred treatments. In 
the hands of an educated person, who 
fully understands anatomy and medicine. 
I think such treatments are very useful. 
Yet they may be dangerous to the point 
of death at the hands of people who have 
only a superficial knowledge of the human 
body. Under such circumstances I ques¬ 
tion the wisdom or worth of “physical 
culture” as taught in many of our schools. 
This idea of turning over to children the 
work of correcting papers or “keeping 
school” does not. according to my observa¬ 
tion. teach the children habits of real 
authority or accurate methods. 
Of course I fully understand what will 
be said to all this. Youth is ever im¬ 
patient with age, and perhaps that is as 
it should be, for age can no more expect 
to take part in the far future any more 
than youth can understand the past. As 
a matter of fact, the man who invented 
and made the first candle was a greater 
benefactor to the human race than he 
who invented the electric light! There 
are millions of young people who will go 
through life hardly knowing what a can¬ 
dle is or what it will do. Yet through its 
introduction of light into human homes 
it brought one of the most precious bless¬ 
ings to mankind, and our enjoyment and 
use of the most powerful electric light 
must be based on the old principles of 
human happiness which went with the 
candle.. For what is Edison after all but 
an imitator, with improvements, of the 
half-savage man who held a string inside 
a shell and poured melted fat around it 
to make a candle, or the man who col¬ 
lected glow worms in a thin gourd and 
carried it around as a lantern? Let us 
not quarrel over this school proposition. 
What you want to do is to experiment 
with new methods. What we want is to 
make sure that these new methods are 
sound before they are grafted upon “edu¬ 
cation.” From my own experience I ob¬ 
ject to having my children turned into 
little experiment stations for laboratory 
practice. That is why I would rather 
have them close at hand in a small school, 
until their character has begun to spin 
shells over it. Of course we all know 
that there are things about any school 
which are not pleasant to discuss. Most 
of us are forced to go on in the theory 
that our children must come in contact 
with them sooner or later, and we "hope 
for the best.” We do not always do what 
we can in our ho.ne life to counteract 
this influence. I have had people tell me 
that the worst influence their children 
are forced to meet is found in the con¬ 
veyance in which the little ones are car¬ 
ried to consolidated schools—by a careless 
or indifferent driver. The fact is that 
this education of our rural children is the 
most important and the most intricate 
problem we have. There should not be 
any snap judgment or any bitter quarrel 
over it. No sensible man can blame 
country people for try.’ng to fight for 
what they consider to be their rights. I 
do not think the State or the nation 
should be granted any such autocratic 
power over the children as it exercises 
over an army in time of war. H. w. c. 
The Best Christmas Present 
A liberal interpretation of a brief item 
on page 1358 seems to indicate that it 
calls for a sort of symposium of exper¬ 
iences regarding Christmas presents. 
Now my own experience along this 
line dates back a great many years, quite 
a number; in fact, more than half of the 
allotted three score and ten, and it is 
decidedly on the cumulative plan. The 
first installment came in the form of an 
introduction, on Christmas Eve. to a nice 
young girl of 18 or thereabouts. The 
next installment came the next Christmas 
Eve, when that young girl gave me the 
pleasure of her company at the attendant 
Christmas festivities. The third install¬ 
ment came the following Christmas Eve, 
and was a repetition of the second, with 
the addition of a promise to become my 
wife some time in the future, and the 
fourth installment came just a year later, 
when she fulfilled that promise. Since 
that time the installments have been com¬ 
ing so thick and fast that I presume seven 
figures would be required to enumerate 
them, and they still keep coming. 
Now I presume that the casual ob¬ 
server might say that the present is now 
a little the worse for age and wear. But 
I have kept full pace, and am a good deal 
the worse. That girl is now standing 
back of my chair, with her arms resting 
upon my shoulders, and her hands clasped 
beneath my chin, and she has just tipped 
my head back and imprinted a kiss upon 
my old lips, and I tell you that all the 
arguments of all your correspondents 
combined could not convince me that any 
man ever received a nicer or a better 
Christmas present than I received at that 
time. c. O. ORMSBEE. 
r 
The question on page 1358 brings to 
my remembrance many good and practi¬ 
cal Christmas gifts which I have re¬ 
ceived. No doubt the woman who re¬ 
ceived the arctics could have purchased 
them at any time had she chosen to do 
so. Mothers have a way of seeing so 
many things needed by the other mem¬ 
bers of the family, and for comfort in the 
home, that often they do without some¬ 
thing. like the arctics, saying. “My storm 
rubbers will do.” When some member of 
the family, appreciating the fact, sur¬ 
prises her with the needed article, it gives 
her more pleasure than if she had made 
the purchase for herself. 
The best and most practical gift T re¬ 
call is a book of poems. "The Home Book 
of Verse for Young Folks,” selected and 
arranged by Burton Egbert Stevenson. 
Surely the gift was prompted by love. I 
had drawn the book from the library 
when choosing poems for the children to 
recite at an ’entertainment. I found it 
contained verse for the littlest ones 
as well as for the older children, 
and a large proportion for the grown 
folks. I would have purchased a copy 
had .1 felt that I could afford it. We 
have the complete works of several of our 
great poets, but this volume is so nicely 
arranged as to various subjects, and con¬ 
tains choice selections from so many 
authors that I longed to own it. Imagine, 
then, my pleasure when my husband’s 
loving thought placed it on our Christmas 
tree. 
Tts attractive blue and gold cover 
makes it an ornament to our living-room 
table. Yes. my gift is practical. When 
I am almost too tiled to feel that I can 
rest, its rhythm and beautiful word pic¬ 
tures lift me above the humdrum of house¬ 
hold duties, and I am ready to turn to the 
mending basket with a song in my heart. 
Last Winter my book of poems accom¬ 
panied me to the hospital, and this Sum¬ 
mer my little Dorothy, who was recover¬ 
ing from typhoid fever, could enjoy hear¬ 
ing me read “Just Nonsense” and 
“Rhymes of Childhood” when she was not 
strong enough to follow a story, yet 
needed a little amusement to help her en¬ 
dure remaining in bed. When the chil¬ 
dren say. “Mother, who wrote ‘October’s 
Bright Blue Weather’?” or, “I wish you 
would help me learn ‘The Landing of the 
Pilgrim Fathers.’ ” I say. “Bring my book 
of poems.” So far i. has contained what 
we sought. Is not this a practical gift? 
AJ.ICE SMITH FISHER. 
I. for one, would like to have for 
Christmas something that I really want, 
but do not call a necessity. It has been 
our custom for a few years to make a 
list of things we would like: books, maga¬ 
zines, bedroom’ slippers, jewelry, etc. One 
generally finds a way to get the things 
one needs, but many go without things 
they would just love to have. 
MRS. I. H. W. 
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