LEAFLET L.
THE IMPROVEMENT OF COUNTRY SCHOOL GROUNDS.[67]
By JOHN W. SPENCER.
My Dear Teacher:
Despite all that is said and done the average school ground is far short of its possibilities in an artistic way. Of this you are well aware, and no doubt you have often wished that you might remedy this defect. Your hours are full of arduous work. Perhaps, however, you can interest your children to help you to clean and to improve the grounds, without much extra care or work on your part.
This illustration of a schoolhouse ([Fig. 292]) is taken from Bulletin 160, published by the College of Agriculture of Cornell University. The title of the bulletin is "Hints on Rural School Grounds." I wish you would send for the bulletin. It will be mailed you free if you request it.
The picture is not an imaginary sketch, but a faithful representation of what stood in a prosperous rural community less than five years ago. To one familiar with country school buildings it will not be considered as a solitary "awful example," but rather as a type of many that are scattered over the State. I hope it is not your misfortune to be teaching in such a house, even though it is my desire to reach every teacher who is that luckless. However, to make my talk more real let us "make believe," as children say, that you are the priestess in a similar temple of learning. Together we will plan how we can make the most of very uncongenial surroundings.
Fig. 292. A country school property.