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 1°io-j 
 
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 &nCarne*t teacher'* 
 
 Work for School 
 
 3Jmprobement 
 
 4- 
 
 Pr&£ £sstfj> Written by Miss 
 Margaret Blaine and Winner 
 of Nance medal : : : : 
 
 Issued by the Educational Campaign 
 Committee of South Carolina 
 
 1907 
 
 The State Co., Printers 
 
 Columbia, S. C. 
 

 Recently Miss Mary T. Nance, Presi- 
 dent of the South Carolina School Im- 
 provement association, offered, through 
 the D. B. Johnson chapter, a medal for 
 the best practical essay on rural 
 schools. This medal was won by Miss 
 Margaret Blaine of Blackstock and is 
 considered one of the best ever sub- 
 mitted along that line. 
 
 n. 0' 
 
When Elizabeth Miller decided after 
 ' graduation that she would accept a 
 jv- small country school, her friends were 
 shocked. They had all prophesied a 
 brilliant future for her in the profes- 
 sional world. They upbraided her for 
 • burying her talent, but, without reply- 
 ^n ing, she simply got ready and was at 
 her place of work two weeks before 
 the opening of school. On her arrival 
 ' in Brownsville she went immediately 
 to the school house. Her heart sank 
 within her. Perhaps some who have 
 no acquaintance with the conditions of 
 most of the country schools a few years 
 ago, and of many at the present time, 
 will think I exaggerate in the follow- 
 ing description; but if it errs on either 
 side, it rather fails to give the full 
 measure of poverty and ugliness. 
 
 The school house was a little log 
 cabin at the cross roads. The crevices 
 between the logs were filled in with 
 mortar made of red mud. This was not 
 very durable and the wind whistled 
 through the cracks. "Worse still the 
 floor had been laid while the lumber 
 was unseasoned, and there were cracks 
 about half an inch between the planks. 
 The desks were long benches without 
 backs, except a few rather roughly 
 made in imitation of patent desks. The 
 walls were cut and marked in every 
 conceivable way, and studded with 
 nails. 
 
 The "little school teacher," as she 
 had already been dubbed, felt like sit- 
 ting down in the midst of it all and 
 crying. But that was not what she 
 had come for, and her quick eye noted 
 the chances for improvement, both in- 
 side and out. The grounds, for in- 
 stance, though badly kept were full of 
 possibilities. Knowing that success in 
 her undertaking would depend upon 
 the interest which the patrons and 
 trustees would take in the school, she 
 determined to get them interested. She 
 visited as many of the homes as she 
 could, and everywhere won the hearts 
 of parents and children by her attrac- 
 
tive manner. Her earnestness and evi- 
 dent devotion to her work, and her love 
 for children showed that she would do 
 her part; and the parents, who had 
 been accustomed to teachers who had 
 taught because they had to do it, 
 promised their hearty support. A meet- 
 ing of the trustees was held in the 
 school house and in a simple way Miss 
 Miller told them what she would like 
 to do. The trustees said that things 
 had been good enough for the other 
 teachers, but, if she wanted a little 
 money they could give her some, be- 
 cause they had not spent any on the 
 school house since it was built, and 
 now they had a nice little surplus. 
 
 "Then why can't we have a new 
 school house?" asked Miss Miller. The 
 answer came quickly, "Why the chil- 
 dren don't come to this one. Soon there 
 will not be any school here at all." 
 "That's going to be changed. But then 
 let us make this room more comfort- 
 able." 
 
 Improving the Building. 
 
 The first thing was to stop up the 
 cracks in the floor and walls. Those 
 in the walls were not such a hard prob- 
 lem, for the upper logs were very nice- 
 ly fitted together, and the crevices be- 
 tween the lower ones were easily fill- 
 ed in with mortar that would last. 
 After covering the walls with a layer 
 of newspapers, which the children 
 brought from their homes, they cover- 
 ed jt all with a pretty wall paper 
 which they bought for two cents a 
 yard, the total cost being $2. This 
 work was all done by the teacher and 
 pupils out of school hours, the calcula- 
 tions having served as lessons in 
 mathematics. There were four windows 
 and two doors, and after leaving room 
 for the blackboards, the space to be 
 papered was not so large after all. One 
 of the patrons who had a saw mill 
 gave some planks to be used for the 
 blackboards. Miss Miller nailed strips 
 across the ends to keep them from 
 warping, then placed about 12 layers 
 of newspapers on this. Over this she 
 4 
 
stretched tightly a thin cloth and last 
 the lapileum cloth, which can be pur- 
 chased quite cheaply. This makes a 
 lasting and satisfactory board. 
 
 The cracks in the floor were a more 
 serious matter. The only thing to 
 do was either to get some kind of a 
 carpet or have the floor relaid. On 
 consultation with the trustees, they 
 agreed to take up the floor and relay 
 it on the following Saturday. Now, 
 at last, the room could be comfortably 
 warmed by fire in the large fireplace 
 at one end of the room. It was too 
 warm at the beginning of school for 
 fires, so the children gathered cedar 
 branches and banked them in the fire- 
 place. In a large jar which had lost 
 its bottom, and which the children 
 covered with tin foil they had saved 
 from tobacco boxes, they planted beau- 
 tiful grasses. This was placed on the 
 hearth. Around the narrow mantel 
 she tacked a lambrequin of white oil 
 cloth. A small clock, the property of 
 the teacher, was placed on the man- 
 tel. She had also brought with her, 
 for her own room, several of her 
 favorite pictures. Should she keep 
 them for her own pleasure, or hang 
 them where they might inspire noble 
 thoughts in the young minds she was 
 to train? The struggle ended in the 
 hanging of the "Heac* of the Christ 
 Child" over the center of the mantel, 
 and the "Angelus" opposite the door. 
 For years she had been saving pictures 
 from magazines, even advertisements, 
 much to the amusement of her friends. 
 Now these came in most opportunely. 
 Enlisting the help of the larger chil- 
 dren, she gathered more pictures, 
 which, with good mountings and good 
 home-made paste, were made suitable 
 for decoration. It is well to tell you 
 right here that this enterprising young 
 lady had been saving the backs of cat- 
 alogues and pamphlets. These were of 
 soft gray or brown heavy paper, and 
 made fine mounts when themselves 
 
mounted on a heavy cardboard. A 
 border above the blackboard was made 
 of pictures of celebrated men and 
 women. In a small space between 
 two windows, she tacked a piece of 
 plain dark paper, which had been 
 given as a sample. This looked very- 
 neat when framed in with a molding 
 which the boys made with their 
 knives. Four oblique slits were made 
 at different points for holding in the 
 penny Perry pictures, which were suit- 
 able for different lessons or special 
 occasions. These could be easily 
 changed. 
 
 Interest Inside. 
 
 Since the schoolhouse was built at 
 the joining of the public roads, it was 
 impossible for the children to resist 
 the desire to keep a strict account of 
 passersby. Miss Miller knew that it 
 was of no use to scold them for this, 
 and she had litle hope of getting their 
 interest centered on their work when 
 more exciting things could be seen 
 outside. When she spoke to the trus- 
 tees about it, they suggested that the 
 lower window panes be stained, but 
 Miss Miller, knowing that this would 
 not look well, and that the children 
 would immediately know the reason 
 for the staining, told them she would 
 rather have sash curtains. She bought 
 some dainty white goods at 8 cents 
 per yard and curtained the four win- 
 dows. The girls helped to make the 
 curtains, and the boys trimmed long 
 rods which were used to hang them. 
 The dainty curtains gave a homelike 
 appearance to the room, and the chil- 
 dren were very proud of the effect. 
 Before they were hung, the whole 
 school joined in a scouring brigade, 
 and the floor, desks and windows fairly 
 shone. Everything else looked so clean 
 and inviting, they decided that the 
 small table must not be neglected. 
 Two yards of white oil cloth made a 
 pretty covering for this, and cost only 
 30 cents. Another yard covered the 
 
 6 
 
water shelf, which was on the porch, 
 and the children and teacher enjoyed 
 the fresh towels and basin which were 
 always there. 
 
 Since the nails had been taken from 
 the walls, provision had to be made 
 for hats and bonnets. Miss Miller had 
 a plank put up in the most obscure 
 corner. Into this nails were driven, 
 and it served as a very good substi- 
 tute for a hat rack. A large box, 
 placed on its side and fitted up with 
 shelves, served as a good receptacle 
 for overshoes. This was kept on the 
 little porch. Each shelf was divided 
 by small partitions marked with a 
 child's name. 
 
 Although the new library law had 
 been in effect for some time, no effort 
 had been made to secure a library for 
 this school. In order to get the ten 
 dollars required of the school, Miss 
 Miller trained the children and gave a 
 little entertainment, for which she 
 charged a small admission fee. The 
 schoolhouse was crowded, and all 
 seemed to enjoy it. They had no trou- 
 ble selling the ice cream, for which 
 the ladies of the neighborhood had 
 furnished the cream and eggs. They 
 cleared twelve dollars. The handsome 
 case of books was an ornament to the 
 room. The children were proud of it, 
 for they felt that they had done some- 
 thing toward getting it. This, after 
 all, was the true secret of Miss Miller's 
 success — allowing the children to help. 
 This aroused their interest, and through 
 them the parents became interested. It 
 was the delight of the children, when 
 their parents visited the school, as the 
 teacher urged them to do, to have 
 some of their work on the bulletin 
 board. This board had been put up 
 to place the best work upon, in order 
 to spur the children to greater effort. 
 It was a yard and a half of green 
 burlap, which cost 15 cents, and was 
 worth its cost many times over. 
 
 Before Miss Miller came to teach 
 the school, the playground of the 
 
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 L BRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 029 456 449 
 
 school was main! 
 The parents had i 
 hie to clear away 
 the building, so that the children mignt 
 have a suitable playground. At first 
 Miss Miller had the children bring 
 tools to clear off the level place near 
 the grounds, which was not thickly 
 grown up. This made a very nice 
 playground. But it was her wish to 
 have the adjoining grove made more 
 inviting for the children. It was a 
 rather low, swampy place and required 
 a little draining. At length she decid- 
 ed to celebrate Arbor day by clearing 
 off the school grounds, since it was 
 not necessary to plant trees. Every- 
 one in the neighborhood was invited. 
 The men were asked to bring axes, 
 rakes, etc., and some strong hands. 
 The county superintendent of educa- 
 tion and another prominent gentleman 
 were invited to be present and address 
 the people. The children sang some 
 appropriate songs and had a few reci- 
 tations. When the crowd left that 
 afternoon marvelous improvements had 
 been made. Some vines were planted 
 around the old log cabin house to 
 cover its ugliness. 
 
 Things Have Changed. 
 
 Miss Miller's prediction had been 
 realized — things have changed. Not 
 only the school building and the school 
 grounds have changed, but the spirit 
 of the pupils and the spirit of the com- 
 munity have changed. The children 
 are eager to attend school, to take 
 part in the improvements that are be- 
 ing made, and the parents are more 
 interested than the children. They are 
 all planning now some way to enlarge 
 the library, and to buy a small organ 
 for the school. From present appear- 
 ances, it will soon be necessary to 
 have a modern school building to ac- 
 commodate all the pupils who wish to 
 attend this progressive school taught 
 by this progressive teacher. 
 
 8