c Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
629 
Things to Think About 
School Methods and Early Training 
At the time of the appearance of the 
article “An Insult to Farm Intelligence.” 
on page 305, I read in our local paper 
of the elopement of a Cattaraugus Coun¬ 
ty eighth grade teacher with an 18-year- 
old girl who had been a pupil in his grade 
for three years I couldn’t help but think 
that maybe if Cattaraugus County paid 
more attention to school bills and less to 
banana peels, such situations would not 
arise in their schools . It wouldn’t have 
happened in one of our despised rural 
schools. We wouldn’t keep such a teacher 
for three years. Some of us would have 
found out about him before that, and if 
the trustee was bound to hire him again 
we could elect another one who wouldn’t. 
Then some people wonder why we want 
some of that power to pass out of our 
own hands. 
It wouldn’t be very nice for this dis¬ 
trict if they joined us with other dis¬ 
tricts so that we had to help pay taxes 
in the other districts. We have just fin¬ 
ished paying bonds for nearly a thou¬ 
sand dollars’ worth of improvements on 
our schoolhouse. The district joining us 
on the south and w r est must build a new 7 
schoolhouse. The one on the west (a 
two-room village school) plans to spend 
anywhere from $9,000 to $20,000 for a 
new building and grounds. It wouldn’t 
be fair for us to help pay for these. We 
had a good comfortable schoolhouse, but 
were a'ssured that we would lose our 
public money if we didn’t remodel ac¬ 
cording to Albany’s notions of what a 
rural schoolhouse should be like. We like 
it of course the way it is, but we have 
always wondered w 7 hy the aforementioned 
districts weren’t forced to build at the 
time we did. The village school has the 
same cold, poorly-lighted, ill-ventilated 
little rooms it had when I attended school 
there over 30 years ago. 
The Grange man’s talk (page 450) 
was good. I will not have those cheap 
papers come into the house largely on 
account of the cheap advertising. They 
do not appeal to me, but I do not w r ant 
the children reading them. I do not see 
why some of our best magazines carry 
some of the advertising that they do. I 
would much rather my children had good 
reading matter than nice clothes. When 
they are older they can earn more 
clothes than they need, but they won’t 
acquire a taste for good literature un¬ 
less I help them now. 
I do not know that it makes much dif¬ 
ference whether a child is taught the 
alphabet or not at first. When I was in 
the teachers’ training class we were 
trained to think that it was almost a 
crime to teach the letters. My father 
taught me the alphabet when I was five 
or six, and taught me to read. At eight 
I could read almost any book in the house 
(especially a few novels which my 
mother thought she had safely hidden). 
But I have never been such a very good 
speller. 
Our oldest boy did not start school 
till he was nearly eight, finished the 
fourth grade the second year, and learned 
the alphabet during that year. He could 
read a little, write a little, and “do 
sums” in his head when he started. At 
15 he is in second year high with 3S 
regents counts to his credit. He is a 
very good speller. 
The oldest girl started at six years 
(the next year after the boy), knew the 
alphabet but nothing else in the line of 
“book learning;” will be 13 in May and 
complete the seventh grade in June; a 
good speller. The next girl learned the 
alphabet at four and at “going on ’leven” 
is about the poorest speller I ever met. 
I don’t believe the method matters much 
if it is thoroughly applied by a competent 
teacher. w. E. R. 
New York. 
Putting Teeth Into It 
A few years ago, being bothered with 
it tooth that needed a little attention, I 
sallied forth to see Mr. Dentist. While 
working over me, he naturally asked me 
my business. I said, I bred chickens to 
lay a lot of eggs. “Oh,” he says, “a 
poultryman. I have been a fancier for 
several years as a side line, and breed ex¬ 
hibition birds. Of course,” he said, “you 
read The R. N.-Y.” I said. “No, I do 
not.” “Well, then, you had. better be¬ 
gin,” he said; so I gave him a dollar and 
told him to send in my subscription, and 
will say it was the most profitable dollar 
I ever spent on any publication. What 
surprises me is how such a bright shin¬ 
ing star can sally forth from such a dis¬ 
trict, where so many swindling advertis¬ 
ers seem to exist. 
Some of the visitors to our farm ask 
where they can get such and such a breed 
or strain of chickens. I ask them if they 
read The R .N.-Y. If they say no, I tell 
them they had better subscribe for it at 
$1 a year, and they will always find some 
reliable advertiser in it that will supply 
their wants, and guarantee to give them a 
fair deal. fred warren. 
New Jersey. 
R. N.-Y.—You never can tell where you 
will find them. The R. N.-Y. has read¬ 
ers everywhere, and they are found in all 
sorts of enterprises, from advertising to 
playing the zither. 
TEN YEARS 
PROGRESS 
y 
Economical Transportation 
1914 
SPECIFICATIONS 
Horsepower, S. A. E. - - - 21.7 
Weight. 2500 lbs. 
Tires, 32 x 3 Hi fabric - (about 4000 miles) 
Top _ - Two-man, with side supports 
- - - Air pressure 
- - - - Folding 
... Detachable 
- Thermo system 
- Straight teeth 
- - - Splash 
• - Grease cups 
- - Celluloid 
- - Stationary 
- Paint, air dried 
- - About 18 
Clutch combination 
- - - Open 
B 
Cash 
- About 1000 
1924 
SPECIFICATIONS 
Gas Feed 
Windshield 
Rims - 
Cooling 
Rear axle gears 
Oiling system 
Chassis lubrication 
Back curtain light 
Side curtains 
Finish - 
Gasoline mileage 
Service brake 
Wiring harness 
Insurance rating - 
Terms 
Service stations - 
Horsepower, S. A. E. 
Weight - 
Tires, 30 x 3H, fabric 
(Cord tires on all 
Top - 
Gas feed - - - 
Windshield 
Rims - 
Cooling - 
Rear axle gears 
Oiling system - 
Chassis lubrication 
Back curtain light 
Side curtains 
Finish - 
Gasoline mileage 
Service brake 
Wiring harness - 
Insurance rating - 
Terms - 
Service stations - 
21.7 
1880 lbs. 
- (about 8000 miles) 
closed models) 
- - One man 
Suction 
Double ventilating 
- Demountable 
Pump circulation 
- - Spiral bevel 
Pump, forced feed 
- - Alemite 
- - - Glass 
• Open with doors 
- Baked enamel 
- - About 24 
Separate brake pedal 
• - In conduits 
A 
- - As desired 
- About 20,000 
No. 1 Chevrolet 
Price, 1914, *1000 
Present Chevrolet 
Price, 1924, ’495 
T HE pronounfced leadership of 
the automobile business in 
restoring the old-time purchas¬ 
ing power of the dollar is best 
illustrated in the increased 
quality and decreased price of a 
Chevrolet. 
These reductions in prices have 
more than doubled the purchas¬ 
ing power of the consumer’s 
dollar when buying a Chevrolet, 
although the specifications and 
design show marked increase in 
quality. 
Big volume production made 
these economies possible. Note 
the ten years’ record of Chevrolet 
sales: 
Ten Years’ Record of Chevrolet Sales 
1914— 5,005 1919—151,019 
1915— 13,500 
1916— 69,682 
1917— 125,399 
1919— 93,814 
1920— 155,647 
1921— 77,627 
1922— 242,373 
1923— 483,310 
We are the world’s largest manu¬ 
facturers of quality cars, having 
attained this leadership through 
offering the utmost possible per 
dollar value in modern quality 
automobiles. * 
Before buying any car at any 
price See Chevrolet First. 
Chevrolet Motor 
Division of General Motors Corporation 
Company, Detroit, Michigan 
In Canada—Chevrolet Motor Company of Canada, Limited, Oshawa, Ontario 
Prices f o. b. Flint, Mich. 
Superior Roadster ------ $490 
Superior Touring ------ 495 
Superior Utility Coupe - 640 
Superior 4-Passenger Coupe - 725 
Superior Sedan ------ 795 
Superior Commercial Chassis - 395 
Superior Light Delivery - 495 
Utility Express Truck Chassis - 550 
Fisher bodies on all Closed Models 
Five United States manufacturing plants,seven assembly 
plants and two Canadian plants give us the largest pro¬ 
duction capacity in the world for high-grade cars and 
make possible our low prices. Dealers and service stations 
everywhere. Applications will be considered from high 
grade men only, for territory not adequately covered. 
