Nebraska and Her Public Schools
HEN ths National Congress of
Mothers offered me the privilege
of working for its Interests In
Nebraska I was glad, remember
Ing some pleasant acquaintances
made In that state ten years ago.
Nebraska has changed In ten years. It
B Dot so lonesome as It used to be. You
Can't look out of a car window quite so
Often and see nothing between earth and
sky, or at most just a team and wagon
crawling over the sands, making you won
der where It came from aryd where It
could posslMy be going. '"Trees have
grown In Nebraska. Blessed be J. Sterling
Morton! Houses have grown, cattle and
hogs have been fruitful and multiplied
and replenished the pocketbooks, so that
the mortgages, which formerly made so
much campaign captgtJliave given place
to new Issues.
There are tall sons and. daughters of the
morning who have wrestled successfully
with tho big windswhich slill have the right-of-way
on these wide prairies. Plenty to
eat, and good enough to wear, and work
that has been worth while, has kept alive
the "good as you are" spirit of the old
cowboy days, and the ubllity to. have a
rollicking good time without a conscious
loss of dignity. To be suro a few haven't
got rested yet from the hard times, but
tho prevailing air of cheerfulness and sat
isfaction almost persuaded me to become
a native. Honesty Is a virtue taken for
grsntcd. Judging from the number of hotel
rooms that couldn't be locked. There Is
a small handful of men In the penitentiary,
but I was solemnly assured that most of
these were arrested In transit. Tho men
are moro courteous and kind than In some
places I could name. I know, because I
was foolish enough to carry two rather
large size pieces of baggage in my hands.
They were not as heavy as they looked,
being mostly vanity, but there was always
some man about good enough to carry them
for me, to say nothing of the eagerness
with which they gave up their seats In
tho street cars, or the good reports I
heard from the legislature regarding tho
bills In which women were Interested, or
tho attitude of the Btate university toward
women.
In a certain city of another state a
leading official answered my question as
to whether the club women had ever
undertaken any municipal reforms, by say
ing, "The women cf know enough to
mind their own business." In Nebraska
I have been told more than once by men
in power, "The woman's club can have
anything It wants." The women have
more brains to the acre and more clubs to
the town than Is usual, even hi these days
of club reign, and they are well abreast
with national club policies and politics.
The prevalence of "kenslngtons" puzzled
mo not a little at first, till I learned that
It was a new way of spelling afternoon
tea, a form of social life which dies hard
among the women.
The Mothers' Congress alms to bring
about closer and more helpful relations be
tween the homo and the schools, and so on
reaching a town I headed straight for the
school house. The "little red school house"
of our daddies has grown to noble propor
tions in these days and there Is nothing to
Indicate that it has stopped growing.
Whatever criticism may be made of our
public school system it Is not a fixed and
rigid, nor dead, nor
yet a dying Institu
tion, but very much
alive and plastlo
enough to adjust
Itself to the changes
in our social and in
dustrial life. I was
Informed everywhere
I went that Ne
braska has the
smallest per cent of
Illiteracy of any
state In the union,
and I surely didn't
find anytiody who
was unable to read
and write, except the
babies, and they
take to learlng like
ducks to wator. It
Is fairly startling to
one wio nas been
out of school work
ten or fifteen years
to see the ease and
understanding with
which the little ones
' get to reading in
that way which
seems so much more,
like play than work.
I couldn't he'.p draw
ing a comparison
with ' the dreary
struggle of mastering
the old New Kngland
primer. There are a
gratifying number of
first-class kindergartens In Nebraska and
their influence has reached well on Into
the primary work.
The sehoots are mostly unrter tne manage
ment of energetic, red-blooded young men
who haven't forgotten how a boy feels. The
state superintendent has a few gray hairs,
but they evidently Indicate wisdom und not
age. The university ranks high In brains
as well as foot ball and pays as much at
tention to life os to books, managing to
keep In close touch with all the educational
work of the state, giving and getting in
good measure. The normal schools, too, ure
up-to-date In Ideas and methods.
As elsewhere there Is a big feminine ma
jority among teachers nnd pupils. Thero
are women who have been teaching twenty
and even thirty yenrs, und calmly tell you
so, probably enjoying the involuntary ex
clamation, "You don't look it." No woman
ever lived to grow old who didn't appreciate
that kind of 11 compliment. Such brisk,
trim, motherly-wlso women they are. It Is
a fresh wonder every time I enter a school
room how the cure of children develops a
wemnn. The trouble at homo is that the
house cares nre often so exacting they
fairly drive tho children out of sight and
out of mind.
I see these women In the primary rooms
putting wraps nnd rubbers on tho llttlo
ones, wiping away tears, sharing Joys,
settling difficulties, watching over health
and personal habits, und so on up through
the grades, encouraging and stimulating
the dull pupils, directing and cheering tho
bright ones, thinking out special methods
for special cases, teaching ethics, not out
of a book, but by constant practice, and
all with infinite patience and kindness.
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CARRIE I,. GROUT.
No wonder they are often deadly tired,
when wo reflect that mothers nre some
times distracted to Ill-temper with threo
or four, while the teacher seldom has less
than thirty or forty and often more. It
Is not surprising that such a teacher rules
young men with ease. They worship tho
Madonna In her.
After visiting schools for several years.
In several states, the feeling deepens that
with nil our loyalty to our free Hchools wo
do not yet half realize the value of this
crucible Into which our children are poured,
that the elements which make for char
acter may be fusd In them in the right
proportions to fit them for the world's
uses. The book work may sometimes get
monotonous, but the children never do,
and It Is most interesting to wutch the
change which takes place In the children
from the beginning to the end of school
life. Entering as different as the racial
elements of the world cm make them, with
widely varying environments, "mother's
little darling," rubbing up against the child
who Is nobody's darling, we find here the
nearest approach to equality outside the
Declaration of Independence. It Is a true
democracy of Ideals, and day by day, little
by little, the plastic natures are wrought
upon by these Ideals till In the high school
we get a fair average of excellence. The
standards fixed by common coiftent on the
play grounds, the wear and tear of con
stant association, tho habits of regularity,
punctuality, attention, self-control and re
gard for the common welfare obtained, not
through fear of punishment, but by sug
gestion and tho cultivation of a genuine
Interest In the work In hand, go quite as
for as the knowledge of the lis or X
toward making good, useful, happy Amer
lean cltliens. Good as our schools are,
they will bo vastly better when wo prop
erly nrpreclato their valuo to our clvlllsa
tlon, and this will come about only by
keeping better Informed about their work.
Some day the millionaires will give to ths
common schools ns they aro now giving to
the universities, realizing that If wo aro
to have a worthy superstructure we must
first have a fine and strong foundation.
. 1 have seen quite a bit of social settle
ment work In different sections of tho coun
try, but have seen nothing to ci mpard
with the efficiency of what Is doing In the
Cans and l'ai ille schools of ('mala, and
tho llayward school of Lincoln, year in
and year out, not only for the children
themselves, but for tho ticlghhnrhoi d, and
this could be multlplltd Indt finitely by lhi
addition of gymnasiums, baths, mur.ual
training and domestic silence, us lha
teachers will tell you. Too many chl'ilren,
especially boys, escape from the reboots
fur lack of an equipment suited to tbrlr
needs, which tho homo cannot fun Ish,
either, and so the lads grudutn from th
streets Into the reformatories and prb-oiis.
Hut the community In such a caso does not
escape from tho expense or responsibility.
I have often asked the chlMien how
many liked to go to school. It Is always
unanimously "Yes" In the first, s coiid and
third grades; from the fourth to the sev
enth there nro apt to be doubters, and It
Is from these grades that truancy Is mot
common. In the High scho d the turvlval
of the flttcpt show again In the plc.uure
taken In the work.
In tho old times, when there wero only
a few occupations for aiobidy to choose
from, only a few studies were I. ceiled.
Now when tin re Is such a vailety of In
dustries a wider preparation b demanded,
and It must tome from the scln ol, for ths
home lias less and less to offer In the way
of Industrial training. Now, the elertlVO
studies, tho sciences, business com sea,
manual training, drawing and even musto
arc no longer fad-for a day but necessi
ties. The children of the primary grade, who
made a doll's house that 1 s:tw, deigning
and painting the wall paper, making the
wooden bedsteads, tables and chair.-', wear
ing the matting and rugs for tho Moors and
the llttlo towels, hemming the sheets and
spreads and pll'.ow slips, mod l!n; of clay
the dishes, were laying a ko d nnd wldo
foundation for future usefulniss.
The school which prepared for patron's
day an exhibit of olls!'.od wo ids, i e 'ds of
grains and grasses, botanical si c: Incus,
Insects, funuus growths and even cpilto a
respectable display of stuffed birds and
small animals, all obtained In the vicinity,
had made an acquaintance of their emlrm
ment, which would afford a lasting pleas
ure nnd profit.
The Indian village, In a bank of sand,
with wigwams, canoes, bows und nrrows,
blankets nnd moccasins, gave a vlvldnnss
to tho reading of "I I'lawathi" Impounds
without It. Tho Illustrative drawing In
connection with the English work wns a
plcusing coulrust to tho old-tlmo "compost
tlons." In a few cases I found cooking and sew
(Continued on rugo Thirteen.)
Occupation of Ping-Yang by the Japanese, March 1
rinoHMMpsiriv'
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JAPANESE! INFANTRY BREAKFASTINO OPPOSITE PINO-YANQ. Copyright,
1304. bv Collier's Weeklv. I
iTTTSR n t f ' 1 1 1 r w,ra mnrla Kv T T.
11 I Dunn, Collier's special photog
A I ranher with the JarwineaA xrmv
In Cores, after the pontoon bridge
over the Tal Tong river had been
completed and the Infantry began to puss
over It Into the city. The Japanese made
ring Yang one of their principal military
bases in Corea and pushed on toward the
Yalu from there. Mr. Dunn was about to
Start with this advance when he wrote
from Ping Yang, March 6, as follows: "Ex
pecting to leave tonight for the north,
so pictures for a few days will be delayed,
as they have to come back here (Ping
Yang) by messenger on foot, then travel
to Seoul on foot, a distance of 250 miles or
more. Half the messengers leaving us are
turned buck by the soldiers, or rather put
to work to carry their luggage. It almost
drives one to distraction to figure how to
get stuff out from here. Money transac
tions are worse than anything. The Co
rean money Is now taken exclusively, even
at a higher value than the Japanese yen;
every day there Is a change In value; and
money worth $000 one day Is worth In an
other city the next day only $0 some
times less. My expenses are very high.
I have to have four horses In order to get
,'
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FIEI-D ARTILLERY WAITINO TO CTROSS THE II RIDGE OVER THE TAI
TONQ KlVKlt. Copyright, lttl, by Colliers Weekly.
about two saddle and two pack one saddle
horse for my Interpreter and two coolies to
see to the horses. Tho feed for the horses
costs a lot, as everything Is at war prices.
One bar of soap yesterday cost GO cents
gold. Traveling ahead as I do In order to
get good pictures, nnd of scenes not to be
made by other photographers for several
weeks yet, is very trying. All the roads
aro completely blocked and there is no
place to sleep. We travel over frozen rice
Melds and Ice-covered mountains, sleeping
anywhere we may happen to be, nearly
freezing every night, but I am getting th
stuff ahead of others and am willing to
keep pushing on. Tho Japatieso army does
not know what to think of my pushing
ahead with them without any crcduntials;
but I understand there aro many press
men In Toklo doing no work and unable to
get uway. I am going to keep ahead and
get results of tho first land fighting." Ths
first detachment of American and European
newspaper correspondents to be officially
allowed to enter Ping Yang was landed
there April 15, six weeks after Collier's
photographs of ths Japanese occupation
were made.
