26 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Pee, co eae 
ta orth Shore Breeze ¢ 
Published every Friday afternoon by 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE CO. 
Knight Building - Manchester, Mass. 
Boston Office: 
44 Herald Bldg., 171 Tremont St. 
J. ALEX. LODGE, Editor. 
Manchester 137, 132-3. 
3660 Oxford. 
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Address all communications and make 
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Entered as second-class matter at the 
Manchester, Mass., Postoffice. 
VOL. X August 23, 1912 No. 34 
The Civic Possibilities of the School 
House. 
One of the most successful innova- 
tions for civic betterment in recent 
years has been the increased use of 
the school house equipment for civie 
purposes other than the instruction 
of children. In every community 
there is or ought to be a good school 
with its rooms and halls well heated 
and lighted. During two months of 
the year and practically every even- 
ing of the week these valuable 
plants are idle and give no returns 
to the community for the invest- 
ments therein. Now neighborhood 
clubs and eivie leagues have been 
springing up all over the country 
and the school house is being more 
and more recognized as a_ social 
center and a civie ageney for good. 
In Manchester and Beverly Farms 
this idea has been adopted and used 
with success. The Parent-Teachers’ 
Association in Manchester is but a 
suggestion of the possibilities which 
are open to a community and the 
good that can be done through the 
agencies already existing. In Bev- 
erly Farms, classes in calisthenics 
were held in the shool building un- 
f 
der the direction of an able instruc. 
tor. This was another step toward 
the ideal,—the use of the school 
building as a community social cen- 
ter. 
In the towns along the shore there 
is great need for wholesome diver- 
sions, entertainments, instruction 
lectures and concerts. Along the 
shore efforts have been made to 
meet this need in many ways. The 
churches and clubs have not been 
negligent, some efforts being puc- 
cessful and others pitiable failures. 
The intentions have been well 
formed but the originators have 
been unable to succeed because of 
‘the natural limitations of the scope 
and influence of the various organi- 
zations making the effort. Some of 
these enterprises have been success- 
ful as ‘‘paying enterprises,’’ in as 
much as they were confessedly in- 
tended as ‘‘money makers,’’ but 
even with success in this form they 
have been failures in the _ larger 
sense of satisfying the need of all 
of the community for healthful, 
stimulating diversions. Where in 
the community can this need be 
better satisfied than in the halls of 
the North Shore school houses. 
During this coming winter there 
ought to be organized in every 
town on the shore from Rockport to 
Beverly Farms a non-sectarian com- 
mittee, representing every interest 
in the towns, with the definite pur- 
pose of arranging a series of elevat- 
ing and instructive programs to 
be given as often as once a month 
in the hall of the local school houses. 
The movement should be backed by 
public spirited citizens and made a 
definite part of the community life. 
The equipment lies at hand in the 
school house. 
Many programs failed because this 
work has been limited to certain fac- 
tions of the community such as a 
church, or a club of any organiza- 
tion. In Middleboro, Mass., such a 
course is given on a large scale by 
a committee of representative citi- 
zens for the people. But the idea 
can be adapted on a smaller scale 
and the school house used to reach 
every element in the community life 
of the North Shore. The school 
committees of the various communi- 
ties if they are awake to the large 
possibilities of such a movement 
will or ought to grant the use of the 
school house hall once a month, with 
no charge for light or heat. The 
program committee in charge should 
recompense the janitor for any in- 
convenience caused him. In _ the 
event of several communities inaug- 
urating a movement of this sort, 
the programs could be repeated in 
the different villages with economic 
advantage. It does seem a_ pity 
that the towns of the shore cannot 
enjoy more advantages then they do, 
for their remoteness from such cen- 
ters as Selem and Beverly makes 
the attendance at evening programs, 
either because of expense in money, 
physical strength or time, almost 
prohibitive. 
The best testimony that cun be 
given to the greatness of General 
Booth is that after his death the 
work will continue, virtually along 
the lines planned by him. It is a 
gracious turn of events that he was 
permitted to live to see the enter- 
prise which so many scorned, dis- 
pised and maligned finally take its 
places as one of the effective social 
agencies of the times and accorded 
the honors which it has won so hard. 
The world is poorer for the passing 
of this great man but his works will 
live on. 
If it proves true that Yuan Shi 
Kai has plotted and taken the life 
of Sun Yat Sen, it will be a fatal 
move. No one event could more put 
back the progress of the Chinese 
republic; especially with the foreign 
nations from which it expects 
recognition. 
The efforts being made by the 
North Shore Babies’ Hospital to ob- 
tain funds for a Nurse’s Home and a 
-surgical ward are certain to be sue- 
cessful. It is a worthy enterprise 
and it will be sustained by the 
liberal purses of the North Shore. 
President William Howard Taft is 
safe and sane. Wilson is not safe 
and Roosevelt is not sane—in all 
that he does. 
In (the withdrawal of ‘Augustus 
P. Loring, Jr., from polities Beverly 
Farms loses a good man with the 
public good thoroughly at heart. 
That he may attain suecess in his 
chosen career is the good wish of 
his many friends. 
LK—L SS sss 
G. E. WILLMONTON 
ATTORNEY AND 
COUNSELOR AT LAW 
WILLMONTON’S AGENCY 
REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE OF ALL KINDS 
RR SER I RE A ES AS ES OS ESS 
SCHOOL AND UMION STS, MANCHESTER 
GLB SOUTH B’LBG, BOSTON 
SUMMER HOUSES FOR 
RENT. 
MORTGAGES -- LOANS 
TEL. CONN. 
