The Academy at Pleasant Hill, Tenn., a school established for the mountain people, has just dedicated a new and commodious building, to be used both for school and church purposes.
At Williamsburg, Ky., we have added an Industrial Department to the course of study, and an unused factory has been purchased and fitted up for the accommodation of the classes. These mountain boys who become skillful in the use of carpenter’s tools in this school will scarcely be satisfied to occupy the poor log cabins in which their fathers and grandfathers have lived for generations. Missionary influences radiate from a carpenter’s shop now as in our Lord’s day. At Grand View, Tenn., the people themselves have rented an additional building for school purposes. The enrollment had already outgrown the accommodations of the old quarters. At Straight University, New Orleans, a neat Industrial building has been erected. In addition to these new buildings which have been put up this year, the Cassedy school building at Talladega has been materially enlarged, to meet the growing needs of this department. At Avery Institute, Charleston, S.C., the damage wrought by the earthquake has been repaired. There was serious interruption of the school work here, as the Institute could not be opened for months, and it was difficult even then to gather the usual number of pupils, on account of financial losses and the intense excitement of the public mind incident to the earthquake. The enrollment shows an attendance of ninety-two less than last year.
Notwithstanding these extensive enlargements, pupils have been turned away from several of our institutions because of lack in school accommodations and in teaching force. In one school the Principal tells us of a boy who applied for admission to the school. He could not take him. In a few days a leading business man of the city called to intercede in the boy’s behalf, but every corner of the school was full. “If there is a case of sickness or removal for any cause, will you not promise to let that boy have the first chance?” pleaded his earnest friend. But this boy was only one of many such boys and girls. At another Institution the Principal reported at one time during the year that there were twenty-five families who were waiting for an opening in the school, that they might send one or more pupils there.
In a school-room fitted to accommodate fifty-two pupils if every desk were full, I counted ninety-six, and the teacher reported shortly afterwards that one hundred and eight were present. It goes without saying that it is impossible to do the best sort of school work under such circumstances as these, and the A. M. A. seeks to do only the best work.
One of three things is evidently true in reference to the educational work of the Association: We must either sacrifice the character of the work, or reduce the amount of work done, or have more money. Which shall it be?
Industrial training holds a still more important place than ever in the course of instruction in our schools. The new Industrial buildings at Williamsburg, Tougaloo and Straight are already occupied with interested classes.
There are now taught at Tougaloo, in industrial branches: Farming, Tinning, Blacksmithing, Wagon-making, Carpentering, Painting, the use of Steam Power in Sawing and otherwise. The boy who completes a course of instruction in the wagon-making department can build, iron, paint and prepare for market, wagons or carriages, beginning with iron in the bar and timber in the rough.
The Industrial training for girls shows similar advancement. The work has been better systematized, and regular grades in housekeeping and sewing have been established. Kitchen gardening, which is the æsthetic name for all sorts of unæsthetic household work, has been introduced into several of our schools. In one instance the A. M. A. missionary has been invited to organize classes for Industrial training in the white public schools of the city, on account of her superior skill in teaching in this line.
The Connecticut Industrial School for Girls, already mentioned, which began its existence under the baptism of a fiery persecution at Quitman, rejoices in the great enlargement of its facilities for industrial training. Unlike the prophet’s experience, we can say that “the Lord was in the fire.”
Let us turn a moment now to note the record of the year’s work in our six chartered institutions.