There are more than twenty buildings of various sizes and uses upon the grounds.
A post-office has been established on the Elora branch of the N. C. & St. L. R. R., right at the school, and the station has been named Normal, Alabama, in honor of the school. Fearns is the name of the station on the M. & C. R. R., situated also on the school grounds. Normal does registry and money-order business. It has also an express office and telegraph station.
All work, including building, repairing, blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, painting, broom-making, printing, shoe-making, mattress-making, farming, cooking, dining-room and general house-work, is performed by the students.
SCENE IN SHOE FACTORY.
The shops are well supplied with ordinary machinery and tools.
The farm comprises about 200 acres of land, on which are cultivated for general and experimental purposes many varieties of cotton, grain, and all kinds of vegetables. The farm is well stocked with mules, horses, Devon, Holstein and Jersey cows, best breeds of hogs and poultry; vehicles and implements of every kind.
The various fruits of this section are found in the orchards of the farm.
The healthfulness of this entire section is generally known. But this school is particularly favored in this regard on account of its excellent location and surroundings. Normal is 1,200 feet above sea-level, with a natural drainage unsurpassed in the United States. The atmosphere is pure and bracing at all times.
Very few of the students of Normal received other help than a chance to work out their destinies.