University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 No. 1729: May 20, 1917 
 
 BEGINNING AND DEVELOPING A RURAL SCHOOL 
 
 BY 
 AMANDA STOLTZFXJS 
 
 Lecturer on Rural Education in the Division of School Interests, 
 Department of Extension 
 
 The greatest need of rural America today is the properly trained 
 teacher to take charge of the rural school and there prepare boys 
 and girls for the duties and responsibilities of rural life today, and 
 for the great social and economic readjustments that are coming 
 tomorrow. 
 
 Published by the University six times a month and entered as 
 
 second-class matter at the postoffice at 
 
 AUSTIN, TEXAS 
 
 Monoj 
 
 
Publications of the University of Texas 
 
 Publications Committee : 
 
 F. W. Graff R. H. Griffith 
 
 J. M. Bryant J. L. Henderson 
 
 D. B. CASTEEL I. P. HlLDEBRAND 
 
 Frederic Duncalf E. J. Mathews 
 
 The University publishes bulletins six times a month, so num- 
 bered that the first two digits of the number show the year of 
 issue, the last two the position in the yearly series. (For ex- 
 ample, No. 1701 is the first bulletin of the year 1917.) These 
 comprise the official publications of the University, publications 
 on humanistic and scientific subjects, bulletins prepared by the 
 Department of Extension and by the Bureau of Municipal 
 Research and Reference, and other bulletins of general educa- 
 tional interest. With the exception of special numbers, any 
 bulletin will be sent to a citizen of Texas free on request. All 
 communications about University publications should be ad- 
 dressed to the Chairman of the Publications Committee, Uni- 
 versity of Texas, Austin. 
 
B168-lll7-5m 
 
 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 No. 1729: May 20, 1917 
 
 BEGINNING AND DEVELOPING A RURAL SCHOOL 
 
 BY 
 AMANDA STOLTZFUS 
 
 Lecturer on Rural Education in the Division of School Interests, 
 Department of Extension 
 
 The greatest need of rural America today is the properly trained 
 teacher to take charge of the rural school and there prepare boys 
 and girls for the duties and responsibilities of rural life today, and 
 for the great social and economic readjustments that are coming 
 tomorrow. 
 
 Published by the University six times a month and entered as 
 
 second-class matter at the postoffice at 
 
 AUSTIN, TEXAS 
 
Copyright, 191V 
 By Amanda Stoltzfus 
 
 L. 
 
 The benefits of education and ' of 
 useful knowledge, generally diffused 
 through a community, are essential 
 to the preservation of a free gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Sam Houston 
 
 Cultivated mind is the guardian 
 genius of democracy. ... It is the 
 only dictator that freemen acknowl- 
 edge and the only security thatnfree- 
 men desire. 
 
 Mirabeau B. Lamar 
 
 ©CI.A4925-3 
 
 MAR 12 1918 
 
 T?. "- 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Aim of this Bulletin 7 
 
 The Teacher's Creed 5 
 
 After a Teacher's Certificate, What Next? 8 
 
 I. Preparation to Make Before Going to Your School 
 
 Community 9 
 
 I. Three Books to Study 9 
 
 II. Study Rural School Laws, and Problems of 
 
 School Hygiene and Sanitation 10 
 
 III. Plan a Daily Program, and Study State Course 
 
 of Study 11 
 
 IV. Collect Material for Use in Making Lessons 
 
 Real and Interesting 12 
 
 V. Prepare for Teaching Handwork 15 
 
 VI. Learn Some Good Games, Plays, and Songs ... 16 
 II. Preparation to Make When You Arrive at Your 
 
 School Community 17 
 
 I. Go Early to Your School Community 17 
 
 II. Learn Something of the Needs and Conditions 
 
 of Your School Community 17 
 
 III. Meet and Consult Trustees and Superintendent 17 
 
 IV. How to Get Acquainted 18 
 
 V. Some Things to Look for in Finding a Home. . 19 
 
 VI. Help Organize Clean-up - and - Beautification 
 
 Day at the Schoolhouse 21 
 
 VII. Make an Inventory of School Property 23 
 
 VIII. Organize Mothers' Meeting or Parent-Teach- 
 ers' Association 24 
 
 IX. Plan and Conduct the Preliminary Organiza- 
 tion of School 26 
 
 X. The Teacher 's Home During This Preliminary 
 
 School Work 27 
 
 XI. What to Do on the First Day of School 28 
 
4 Contents 
 
 Page 
 
 III. Things to Do During the School Term 34 
 
 I. Vitalize Your School Work 34 
 
 II. Give Pupils and Patrons a Vision of the Larger 
 Rural School. 
 
 III. Organize and Supervise a Literary Society or 
 
 Social Center 36 
 
 IV. Study Rural Health Problems 37 
 
 V. Create an Interest in the School Library and 
 
 Reading Table 39 
 
 VI. Encourage Boys ' and Girls ' Farm Clubs 42 
 
 VII. Do Some Work in Manual Training 42 
 
 VIII. Teach Home Economics 43 
 
 Appendix 44 
 
 I. Useful Recipes 44 
 
 II. A List of Books From Which to Supplement the 
 
 Teacher 's Library 46 
 
 III. A List of Free and Inexpensive Material from which 
 
 the Teacher May Make Selections for His Library 49 
 
 IV. A List of Magazines from which to Select Publica- 
 
 tions for the Schoolhouse Reading Table 54 
 
 IV. A List of Selected and Tried Entertainments 57 
 
 ''Teaching is that process by which one mind from a set pur- 
 pose produces the life unfolding process in another." — Thomp- 
 kins. 
 
THE TEACHER'S CREED. 
 
 "I believe in boys and girls, the men and women of a 
 great tomorrow; that whatsoever the boy soweth, the 
 man shall reap. I believe in the curse of ignorance, in 
 the efficacy of schools — in the dignity of teaching ; and in 
 the divine joy of serving another. I believe in wisdom 
 as revealed in human lives, as well as in the pages of a 
 printed book; in lessons taught, not so much by precept 
 as by example ; in ability to work with the hands as well 
 as to think with the head ; in everything that makes life 
 large and lovely. I believe in beauty in the schoolroom, 
 in the home, in daily life, and the out-of-doors. I be- 
 lieve in laughter, .in love, and in all ideals and distant 
 hopes that lure us on. I believe that every hour of every 
 day we receive a just reward for all we are and all we 
 do. I believe in the present and its opportunities, in 
 the future and its promises, and in the divine joy of 
 living. Amen." — Edwin Osgood Grover. 
 
BEGINNING AND DEVELOPING A RURAL SCHOOL 
 
 "Well begun is half done." 
 
 The Aim of This Bulletin 
 
 The aim of these pages is to serve the prospective rural teacher* 
 in* his preparation for school work, the young teacher in the 
 schoolroom but without professional training, and the patron 
 or trustee who is interested in the qualifications of a good teacher, 
 and in the equipment of a good school. 
 
 It may not be possible for the young teacher and his patrons 
 to accomplish in one year ail the work suggested by this bulle- 
 tin ; but they can gradually work out plans for school improve- 
 ment that will enable them to make their work more effective. 
 One purpose of this bulletin is to give suggestions, and to 
 furnish sources of helpful material to those interested in de- 
 veloping better rural schools. 
 
 *Note. — "There are about 16,886 rural teachers in the State of 
 Texas; 812 of these teachers have graduated from college or uni- 
 versity; 2,403 have had state normal school training; 4,703 have 
 graduated from high schools but have had no professional train- 
 ing; 9,0 68 have neither graduated from a school nor received 
 professional training." — Texas State Department of Education, 1917. 
 
AFTER A TEACHER'S CERTIFICATE, WHAT NEXT? 
 
 "We demand educated educators." 
 
 "The most rigid examination that one should be called upon 
 to pass is self-examination." — Jno. W. Dinsmore. 
 
 "When a young person "has made up his mind to teach a 
 country school, his first step toward that end is preparation for 
 a teacher's certificate. But his preparation for the work of 
 building good citizenship* does not stop with the mere license 
 to teach. The young rural teacher needs to consider well the 
 question, "Why do I want to teach?" If he finds that his 
 answer includes a love for country children, a sympathy for 
 country life sufficient to induce him to live in the open country, 
 a vision of the needls of the 'rural school, and a desire to be of 
 service even at great self-sacrifice, he can with a clear conscience 
 take up the most interesting and useful work in the field of 
 education — the rural school. At the threshold of this institu- 
 tion, he needs to ask himself two more important questions: 
 (1) "What am I to teach?" (2) "How shall I teach?" 
 Satisfactory answers to these questions must be found by fur- 
 ther study. If circumstances have denied him the help of a 
 good training-school for teachers, he must proceed to educate 
 himself. It is a difficult task for one to study school-teaching 
 without personal aid or the inspiration of fellow students, but 
 it has been done by many earnest and successful teachers who 
 were desirous of serving their patrons and communities. 
 Some ways and means of accomplishing such results are pro- 
 posed in the following pages. 
 
 *"The good citizen may be defined as a person who habitually 
 conducts himself with proper regard, for the welfare of the com- 
 munities of which he is a member, and who is. active and intelli- 
 gent in his co-operation with his fellow members to that end." — - 
 Bulletin U. S. Bureau of Education No. 23, "The Teaching of Com- 
 munity Civics." 
 
PREPARATION TO MAKE BEFORE GOING TO YOUR 
 SCHOOL COMMUNITY 
 
 It has been said that an hour a day profitably employed in read- 
 ing would enable any person of ordinary capacity to master a com- 
 plete science. One hour a day would make an ignorant man a 
 well-informed man in ten years. 
 
 Daniel Webster said: "My opportunities in youth for acquiring 
 an education were limited but I had the great good fortune of being 
 well supplied with books, and these gave me my start in life." 
 
 I. Three Books to Study. — When the teacher is unable to 
 attend a school for teachers, and he does not have access to 
 a good library, the next best step is to buy and study some 
 standard books on school organization and administration, on 
 methods of teaching, and on the social service responsibility of 
 the teacher. Every teacher should have the reading* habit 
 before he begins to teach school. 
 
 The following books have been selected with the above 
 topics in view. They are easy to read, and meet many of 
 the peculiar problems of the country teacher: 
 
 (1) The Rural Teacher ,and His Work. H. J. Foght. The 
 Macmillan Co., Dallas. Price, $1.40. 
 
 (2) Teaching a District School. Jno. Wirt Dinsmore. Ameri- 
 can Book Company, Dallas. Price, $1.00. 
 
 (3) Country Life and the Country School. Mabel Carney. 
 Row, Peterson and Co., Chicago. Price, $1.25. 
 
 Suggestions on How to Study These Books : 
 
 1. Read carefully the whole chapter. 
 
 2. Re-read the paragraphs of immediate value to you. 
 
 3. Make an outline of the topics and sub-topics of these 
 
 paragraphs. 
 
 *The Thirty-fifth Legislature of Texas passed a county library 
 law. But as yet there are no county libraries in the State. Few 
 rural teachers have access to free libraries in the city, and the files 
 of these libraries seldom contain the needed books and papers on 
 rural education. 
 
10 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 4. With this outline in mind, think, over, or recite orally, 
 the given discussions. 
 For example, take a paragraph from Chapter X in " Country- 
 Life and the Country School": 
 
 The Country School and the Road Problem. 
 
 1. How to institute a good roads' sentiment. 
 
 (1) General conversation and suggestions. 
 
 (2) Distribution of government bulletins. 
 
 (3) Relating the subject to agriculture, econom- 
 
 ics, civics, school and community. 
 
 (4) Discussing good roads in the social center 
 
 meetings. 
 
 2. The influence of good roads upon the welfare of 
 the rural school. 
 
 (1) Promotes attendance. 
 
 (2) Creates school spirit. 
 
 (3) Makes for the success of the social center. 
 
 (4) Encourages the larger, central school. 
 
 (5) Attracts standard patrons. 
 
 By this method of study the reader should assimilate the 
 thought of the text and at the same time materially improve 
 his English. 
 
 II. Study Rural School Laws, and Problems of School 
 Hygiene and Sanitation. — The State Superintendent of Public 
 Instruction will furnish teachers, trustees, and other interested 
 persons with copies of bulletins containing the state school 
 laws, together with full explanations and interpretative notes. 
 Patrons as well as trustees and teachers should be informed 
 on this subject. This knowledge is needed to avoid mistakes 
 and misunderstandings and to promote better and more eco- 
 nomical methods of building and maintaining the best schools. 
 Explanations of* recent school legislation by the county super- 
 intendent or some other school officer would be very appro- 
 priate material for discussion at the first schoolhouse meeting. 
 
 The following are some of the bulletins sent put free by the 
 State Department of Education: "Rural School Laws," 
 "Compulsory School Attendance," "Manual and Course of: 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 11 
 
 Study for the Public Schools of Texas," "Texas High Schools," 
 "Classification and State Aid," "Library and Laboratory 
 Equipment for Classified High Schools," "Schoolhouses, 
 School Equipment, and School Grounds." The problems of 
 ventilation, heating, lighting and the general sanitation and 
 hygiene of school buildings are discussed in Bulletin No. 65. 
 Study carefully the chapters containing information on out- 
 buildings and on the drinking water supply. Get "Kural 
 School Sanitation" and Public Health Bulletin No. 77, U. S. 
 Public Health Service, "Washington, D. C. See lists of health 
 literature in the Appendix of this bulletin. 
 
 III. Plan a Daily Program and Familiarize Yourself with 
 the State Course of Study. — A most important part of your 
 preparation for teaching is planning a suitable program for 
 your particular school. The number of grades, the number 
 of hours in the school day, the relative importance of the sub- 
 jects to be taught, and the needs of the children will deter- 
 mine the number of class periods. More time for lesson per- 
 iods may be secured by alternating classes. For instance his- 
 tory and geography may be alternated. Again a great deal 
 of time may be saved by putting emphasis on the most prac- 
 tical subjects, and by eliminating, or by touching very lightly, 
 those subjects that have no place in our life of today. This 
 plan will also provide more time for thorough drill on the 
 fundamental subjects — reading, writing, and the simple arith- 
 metical problems of earning, buying, and saving. 
 
 Through the co-operation of parents and trustees, it is pos- 
 sible to ring the school bell at 8 :20 a. m. and hold the opening 
 exercises between 8 :40 and 9 o 'clock. In this way, and in 
 grouping grades as suggested on page 23 in " State Manual and 
 Course of Study," more time will be saved. To illustrate 
 "grouping": The sixth grade geography and history will be 
 the same as the seventh grade this year, but next year the 
 seventh grade (this year's sixth grade) will study with the 
 sixth grade. The same is true of fifth and fourth grades. 
 
 Experience will enable you to do more rational work by 
 means of substituting one study for another, by revitalizing 
 
12 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 and reconstructing your whole course so as to make it connect 
 more and more with real life. See Foght's "The Rural 
 Teacher and His Problems." 
 
 Study carefully the directions of your State Superintendent, 
 and those found on the subject in the textbooks by Foght, 
 Carney, and Dinsmore ; then, when you reach your school com- 
 munity, make a program to suit your school. 
 
 IV. Collect Material for Use in Making- Lessons Real and 
 Interesting". — The following list of things should be collected 
 and used during your first week's work. After that, the school 
 children and their parents will help you collect from local 
 sources much more of this concrete material so necessary in 
 rational teaching. Plan each lesson carefully. See McMur- 
 ray's "Special Method in the Recitation." 
 
 In History. — Collect pictures and stories. Plan a history 
 note-book for each pupil to make. Get a five-cent composi- 
 tion book for this purpose. Use alternately one page for draw- 
 ings and pictures collected from papers and magazines. The 
 history pictures from the Perry Picture, Company, Maiden, 
 Mass., may be obtained for one-half cent each. Get a few 
 pictures to interest pupils in this work. Get "Hero Stories 
 from American History." Price 50 cents. Ginn & Co. Get 
 maps from railroad offices, and from Superintendent of Docu- 
 ments, Washington, D. C. 
 
 In Geography. — Collect post cards, pictures, clippings, and 
 interesting little books on soils, plants, and animals ; industries, 
 occupations and customs of different peoples; and pictures of 
 surface structure. See catalog of supplementary reading class- 
 ics in Appendix. Page 53. Get "Little People , Every where. " 
 45 cents a volume. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. Plan a sand table, 
 and learn how to use it. Get a copy of "Home Geography 
 for Primary Grades." Price 60 cents. Educational Publishing 
 Co., Boston. 
 
 In Nature Study Agriculture. — Collect and study books, 
 farm papers, and bulletins on elementary agriculture. Make 
 a collection of seeds, soils, insects, and pressed plants. The 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 13 
 
 state entomoligist will furnish suggestions for these collec- 
 tions. They will inspire your pupils to continue such work. 
 Get a dozen sheets of manila paper upon which to make charts 
 of the life history of insects ; maps of local farms, of the school 
 district, and of the county. Make suggestive records of farm 
 and home projects for pupils. Collect i pictures and drawings 
 for use in illustrating lessons. See "State Manual and Course 
 of Study" for list of equipment from which to choose some 
 simple material not found in your school or community. Study 
 lists of helps in Appendix and send for some. 
 
 In Manual Training and Home Economics. — See Section III, 
 page 43. 
 
 In Reading. — Send for sets, six each, of good graded classics, 
 such as the "Mother Goose," and ".Esop's Fables" series by 
 the C. M. Parker Pub. Co; "Robinson Crusoe" suitable for 
 third and fourth grades, F. A. Owen Publishing Co.; "The 
 Story of De Soto," or "The Story of Columbus," Educational 
 Pub. Co.; "The King of the Golden River," Orville Brewer 
 Pub. Co. See page 53 for addresses. 
 
 Mount clippings and pictures from papers and magazines 
 to illustrate lessons. Make phonic, spelling, and sentence 
 charts and cards. Get and consult any good manual for teach- 
 ing reading. Make your own primary reading chart. For this 
 chart you can use heavj^ manila paper, and the large letters cut 
 from posters and advertisements. (A valuable help is "The 
 Teachers' Printing Outfit." " Price $3.00. Texas Teachers 
 Supply House, Dallas, Texas.) Get pictures for these charts 
 from papers, magazines, and book catalogs. Collect catalogs 
 .of all kinds from which to cut out pictures for scrap books, 
 and for illustrating note books and other booklets to be made 
 by the children. 
 
 Send to school book publishing companies for catalogs. 
 From these select helpful supplementary readers. The "Free 
 and Treadwell Series" are among those most highly recom- 
 mended by primary teachers. Address Southern School Book 
 Depository, Dallas, Texas. 
 
 In Drawing. — Get a few cents worth of poster paper at the 
 
14 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 newspaper office. Ask the printer to cut it into convenient 
 sizes — 8 by 12 inches. Use this for drawing. The uniform 
 size and texture will make your work more attractive. Get 
 a pair of small, blunt scissors; a box of colored crayons, and 
 a box of water colors. Plan lessons to interest children in tne 
 use of these valuable instruments of instruction. 
 
 In Primary Arithmetic. — Collect several hundred twigs of 
 uniform diameter and length (about 4 inches long) to be used 
 as counters in number lessons. Make strips of wrapping paper 
 (1 by 12 in.), squares, and circles to illustrate your first lesson 
 in factions. Get a supply of foot', and yard rules. These 
 are often given away by merchants. Collect some common 
 standard measures, as pint, quart, gallon; and a. simple scale 
 for weighing pounds, and ounces. 
 
 In Sanitation and Health. — Make charts to aid in teaching 
 cleanliness and health. The following are some of the subjects 
 that can be illustrated by drawings, clippings, pictures, and 
 posters pasted upon sheets of heavy paper: "The dangers 
 of the house fly, the mosquito, and the rat"; "Safe and unsafe 
 water supply"; "Sewage disposal"; "Sanitary outbuildings"; 
 "*A septic tank"; "Saving steps"; "tMouth hygiene"; 
 "Care of fingers and finger nails"; "Care of the hair and the 
 skin"; "The care and preservation of foods"; "Food prin- 
 ciples and the relation of food to health." 
 
 For other suggestions see your textbooks, "Manual and 
 Course of Study" by the State Department of Education, and 
 the references in the help lists of the Appendix. 
 
 For General Use. — A small clock or watch that keeps good 
 time, one good well-framed picture suitable for the schoolroom 
 wall, a United States flag, a Texas flag, a vase for flowers, a 
 base ball, a basket-ball, or a volley ball with net, and material 
 for hectograph. (See "Recipes" in Appendix.) The ingenious 
 teacher Will think of other things in this connection. Some 
 
 *Farmers' Bulletin No. 57, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
 Washington, D. C. Texarkana Pipe Works, Texarkana, Texas. 
 
 fThe Colgate Co., 199 Fulton St., New York furnishes free litera- 
 ture for teachers on care of children's teeth. 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 15 
 
 of them may cost him a few cents, but he will be amply repaid 
 in results. 
 
 V. Prepare for Teaching Handwork. — President G. Stan- 
 ley Hall says: 
 
 "The hand is a patent instrument in opening the intellect as well 
 as in training the sense and will." 
 
 Since the child learns by doing, your preparation for teach- 
 ing must include a series of well-planned lessons in handwork. 
 Use simple material, much of which may be found in every 
 home, and in the fields and forests around you. Be prepared 
 to furnish pupils with material until they and their parents 
 have become sufficiently interested to aid in providing what 
 is needed. 
 
 The following things should be ready for the first week's 
 work : paper for cutting, clay for modeling, and paste for mount- 
 ing pictures. Also provide yourself with samples of scissors, 
 colored crayons, rulers, pencils, and tablets that you wish 
 your pupils to purchase. At your first parents' meeting, show 
 these tools and materials, and explain their use and value. 
 
 You can secure waste paper for a few cents a pound at 
 the newspaper office. Your merchant's and editor's waste 
 baskets will furnish much clean, colored paper and cardboard 
 without cost to you. The pipe works and potteries in different 
 parts of the state will furnish potter's clay free to teachers. 
 Texarkana, Athens, and Sas Pamco Pipe Works are examples. 
 You may find good clay in the road or creek bed near your 
 schoolhouse. 
 
 Plan and relate your handwork lessons to regular class 
 work, and to the life of home and school. Such lessons' will 
 awaken thought, encourage industry, develop skill in using the 
 hand, and create an interest ,in school. Pupils can be taught 
 to work quietly on these problems at a table made for the 
 purpose, while you are teaching other classes. 
 
 For suggestions on lessons and course of study, see "What 
 and How," "When Mother Lets Us Model," and other books 
 listed in the Appendix of this bulletin. 
 
16 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 VI. Learn Some Good Games, Plays, and Songs. — The 
 
 physical, mental, and moral value of good games and plays 
 when properly organized and supervised, can not be over- 
 estimated. This work means teaching courtesy, sociability, 
 honesty, clean thoughts, self-control, judgment, obedience^ 
 fair play, service, quickness of decision, better poise, better 
 physique, and better health. 
 
 A necessary part, then, of your preparatory work is learn- 
 ing suitable games for school and home. The following scheme 
 offers suggestions for the playground : 
 
 1. Games for older boys : Baseball, football, basketball, 
 dodge ball, captain's ball, tennis, and special athletic stunts 
 such as jumping, throwing, and running relay races. 
 
 2. Games for little boys: Same as the older boys, with the 
 addition of such games as marbles, tops, hoop rolling, base, 
 and tug of war. 
 
 3. Games for the older girls: Tennis, basket ball, indoor 
 baseball played out of doors, three deep, and folk games. 
 
 4. Games for the little girls: Ring plays, singing games, 
 folk dances, games that require running and jumping; and 
 such -games as hide and seek, dumb crambo, New York, and 
 imitations of the occupations of grown-up life. 
 
 Each group should have its own play ground. 
 
 For lists of helpful bulletins and books on this subject, see 
 •Appendix. The University of Texas Bulletin, "Play and 
 Athletics" is free to all schools belonging to the Interscholastie 
 League. This bulletin also contains directions for building 
 playground apparatus. Get "Social Games, Plays and 
 Marches." Price 10 cents. I 208 :P. 69. Address Supt. of 
 Documents, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Good music is essential in building good citizenship. 
 
 As a rural school teacher, you should know how to sing, 
 how to teach the elements of the theory of music and of voice 
 culture, and how to lead in singing. At least learn our na- 
 tional songs and be prepared to teach them to your pupils. 
 Collect and use a repertoire of other good songs for daily use 
 in your school and for community singing. 
 
 See Appendix for lists of song books and for help in study 
 of music. 
 
II. 
 
 PREPARATION TO MAKE "WHEN YOU ARRIVE AT YOUR 
 SCHOOL COMMUNITY 
 
 I. Go Early to Your School Community. — At least ten days 
 before the formal opening of school, begin your work by get- 
 ting acquainted with the trustees, patrons, and pupils. Be 
 sociable, visit the homes in your community, attend Sunday 
 school and church. People appreciate these expressions of 
 friendliness and interest on the part of the teacher. It paves 
 the way for the co-operative activities so necessary in build- 
 ing a good school. 
 
 i 
 
 II. Learn Something- of the Needs and Conditions of Your 
 School Community. — 'The answers to the following questions 
 will be helpful in determining useful, vitalizing material easily 
 related to the regular school work. This information can be 
 obtained from trustees and superintendent, through observa- 
 tion and inquiry upon arriving in the community, or.by letter : 
 
 1. What are the principal soils, crops, and the prevalent 
 
 types of farming? 
 
 2. Are there any good markets for farm produce? 
 
 3. "What is the condition of the roads? The farm buildings? 
 
 4. Are there any active farm and home clubs? 
 
 5. "What is the condition of church and Sunday school? 
 
 6. "What are the community recreations? 
 
 7. "What is the status of community sanitation and health? 
 
 8. "What is the condition of schoolhouse, school equipment 
 
 and school grounds? 
 
 III. Meet and Consult Trustees and Superintendent. — The 
 
 trustees will be pleased to, go with you to the schoolhouse, 
 and discuss with you there the needs of the school plant, and 
 the ways and means of making necessary improvements before 
 the opening of school. Circumstances may prevent your reach- 
 ing the community in time to help organize this most im- 
 portant preliminary work. The next best thing to do, then, 
 
18 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 is to write to the trustees, explain to them the situation, and 
 kindly request them to attend to cleaning up the school plant 
 for you. At the same time, emphasize the great need of sani- 
 tary out-buildings, and of a sanitary and ample water supply. 
 
 IV. How to Get Acquainted. — In some communities, just 
 before the opening of school, there prevails the commendable 
 custom of giving (preferably at the schoolhouse, when it is 
 in suitable condition) a neighborhood party in honor of the 
 teacher. Patrons, friends, prospective teacher, and pupils 
 •gather in a pleasant social group to learn something of the 
 policies of the administration of the coming school term, and 
 to find how each may be of service in promoting the best in- 
 terests of the school. The program at these gatherings is very 
 informal. There is a short welcome address by the president 
 of the mothers' club, or some other patron. After some com- 
 munity singing or instrumental music, there follows another 
 short address by the county superintendent, or the president 
 of the school board. He speaks of the condition and needs 
 of the school buildings and equipment ; of plans for promoting 
 the general interests of the school ; and of the value of further 
 community co-operation in helping the school board and the 
 teacher to build the school the times demand. The teacher 
 then responds with expressions of appreciation for kindness 
 received and for the pledges of co-operation. To promote fur- 
 ther understanding of the management of the school and of the 
 work he proposes to do there, he suggests an early meeting 
 of parents at the schoolhouse. One of the trustees proposes 
 that the first get-together meeting at the schoolhouse be 
 "Clean-up-and-Beautification-Day" to which all are invited. 
 These suggestions are met with hearty approval, and dates for 
 both meetings are agreed upon. 
 
 Then follows a social hour when simple refreshments are 
 served, and when there is further expression of that spirit of 
 ■service and friendliness which is fundamental to the success 
 .of all co-operative institutions. 
 
 In case this arrangement can not be made in time, it is pos- 
 sible to bring about gradually the above results after the school 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 19 
 
 has been in session some time. You should not hesitate to 
 suggest it, since the best interests of the school depend upon 
 the good will of all concerned. There are other valuable Mays 
 ' of getting acquainted with school patrons and pupils, and of 
 enlisting their co-operation. You will meet many of them at 
 public gatherings such as church and Sunday school. You 
 can invite the parents to visit your school on a certain day. 
 But by all means, on the first opportunity, pay a friendly visit 
 to the home of each of your patrons. You will thus have op- 
 portunity of explaining more fully the work of the modern 
 school. When people begin to understand and talk about bet- 
 ter schools, they will eventually build and maintain them. 
 
 V. Some Things to Look for in Finding a Home. — There 
 is probably no occupation of normal life more exhaustive of 
 both physical and mental strength than is teaching. The 
 teacher's work does not begin nor end with the legally stated 
 hours ; but after the school has been dismissed for the day, 
 there are conferences to hold, new lessons to be put on the 
 board, rooms to be put in order for the next day; the condi- 
 tion of outbuildings, of the water and fuel supply to be in- 
 vestigated ; and the preparation of illustrative material for the 
 next day's lessons to be made. Each day adds to these its own 
 problems. It is necessary, therefore, that the teacher be given 
 an attractive, comfortable, convenient room in which to live, 
 and in which he can recuperate his energies for the next day's 
 work. A tempting, well-balanced meal should await this faith- 
 ful public servant at the end of his day's work. An hour of 
 recreation and .rest should follow this pleasant meal, after 
 which, as every true teacher knows, more hours of hard work 
 begin. He must spend some time in thinking over the past 
 day's work, in planning better methods of management in the 
 schoolroom and on the school ground. The class written ex- 
 ercises must be corrected. Each pupil's paper requires careful 
 study and criticism. Each lesson for the next day must be 
 carefully planned, and the best method of presenting it thought 
 out. It may be necessary to introduce a new song or game 
 for which preparation must also be made before this tired 
 teacher can rest for the ni°:ht. 
 
20 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 The best home is not too good for the teacher. But it is 
 a well known fact that the lack of suitable homes in which to 
 live has deprived the rural schools of many trained teachers. 
 It is also true that in many homes it is not convenient to board 
 the teacher. The housewife may be too busy with the affairs 
 of her own family to add another care to her daily program. 
 The size of the farmhouse may prohibit suitable accommoda- 
 tions for the teacher who needs a quiet, restful, comfortable 
 room to himself, where he may be free from interruptions, and 
 in surroundings entirely sympathetic with his work. There- 
 fore, if the teacher is to give his best service and to make his 
 school a vital factor in his community, he should have a good, 
 permanent home in the school district. This abode must be 
 near the schoolhouse. He can not, in justice to himself and 
 his work, journey back and forth from town daily. Nor can 
 he spend his week-ends away from his school community. On 
 Saturday and Sunday he has opportunities of getting better 
 acquainted and of further serving the community in which 
 he is the logical leader. European countries have for years 
 known the value of this service, and have acted upon it. For 
 instance, in Denmark every rural school has a "school manse" 
 with its vegetable and flower garden. It is little wonder that 
 in Denmark a teacher is often known to hold his place in the 
 community for life. (See Appendix for Rural Denmark and 
 Its Schools.) A number of Texas communities have built 
 teacherages. They find them not only good business invest- 
 ments but fundamental necessities. These homes are proving 
 the means of securing good teachers at salaries the district can 
 afford. In some instances the teacherage is also used as a 
 laboratory for home economics and for elementary agriculture. 
 
 If the teacher has a family, he may arrange to board his 
 assistants in the school home ; if he is unmarried, there is al- 
 ways to be found a mother, brother, or some other relative will- 
 ing to chaperon him and his assistants. Expenses can be les- 
 sened by a co-operative system of buying and housekeeping. 
 Teachers often find it convenient and economical to rent a 
 cottage in which to live. 
 
 It is safe to say that there will be more first-class teachers 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 21 
 
 willing to serve in country schools, when country people are 
 willing to provide them with good and convenient living quar- 
 ters at reasonable rates. For further information on this sub- 
 ject, write University Loan Library for package on "The 
 Teacher's Home"; also address Bureau of Education, Wash- 
 ington, D. C, for free bulletin on "Teachers' Cottages." 
 
 t 
 VI. Help Organize and Carry Out Clean-up and Beautifica- 
 
 tion Day at the Schoolhouse. 
 
 "The schoolroom, the schoolhouse, and the school grounds con- 
 stitute the best index to the degree'of civilization and to the ideals 
 of a community." — Dr. P. P. Claxton. 
 
 The average country schoolhouse is sadly neglected, espe- 
 cially from the close of one term of school to the beginning of 
 the next. It seems to be nobody's business to care for the 
 school plant. Frequently the antiquated and rundown condi- 
 tion of the building itself fails to evoke the respect due the 
 edifice in which boys and girls receive training for twentieth- 
 century life. 
 
 When the time for opening school in these buildings arrives, 
 there is always need of repairs and new equipment. Some- 
 times, there is no money in the school treasury for shades, 
 maps, stoves, libraries, or desks. In such case both teacher 
 and pupil lose a high per cent of their efficiency. This is a 
 useless waste, and does not occur in communities with active 
 and well-organized social centers under sympathetic leader- 
 ship. 
 
 After Clean-up Day at the schoolhouse has been well ad- 
 vertised, a number of committees to take charge of certain 
 work and to be responsible for its execution should be ap- 
 pointed. The Monday or Tuesday of the week before begin- 
 ning school may be the most suitable day upon which to clean 
 up the school plant. Citizens, and school children will gladly 
 volunteer for work they can best perform. The ,boys will be 
 especially interested in the ball ground. Some schoolhouses 
 will require very little work to fit them for the first day of 
 school; others may need more help than is possible, to give 
 
22 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 in one day. But a clean-up day at the schoolhouse is, in most 
 instances, absolutely necessary in beginning a good school, and 
 it may cause the district to discover the need of a modern 
 school building furnished with modern equipment. 
 A list of things the clean-up committees can do : 
 
 1. Clean and scrub interior walls and floors. 
 
 2. Clean and repair doors and windows. 
 
 3. Eepair stove pipe ; black stoves. 
 
 4. Scrub, repair, and varnish desks. 
 
 5. Oil floor ; paint blackboards. 
 
 6. Install cupboards for supplies; provide sand table, and 
 work table for little children. 
 
 7. Make water supply sanitary. Provide place for chil- 
 dren to wash their hands. 
 
 8. Clean off the ball grounds. Put up basket ball goals. 
 
 9. Eepair yard fence, and build stile. 
 10. Beautify the school room. 
 
 Few rural schools have displayed any well-planned effort at 
 beautifying the interior of the schoolroom. Dingy walls can, 
 with little expense, be covered by a flat paint of neutral color. 
 The greenish gray furnished by the Keystone Varnish Com- 
 pany, Brooklyn, New York, and known as "Keystona" is 
 good. It is especially prepared for schoolroom walls. There 
 should be no strong color, or shining finish on these walls, 
 as such surfaces nearly all have an exciting or irritating ef- 
 fect upon the mind and nerves of those exposed to them. 
 Children and teachers must look at these walls for hours each 
 day, and they will be more cheerful and willing to work and 
 less given to fatigue if the room is properly colored. Have 
 the shades harmonize with the color of the walls. Oil the 
 floor, and keep the desks clean. 
 
 One good picture well framed and of sufficient size to be 
 easily seen, and hung where all pupils can see it is an absolute 
 necessity in a neat, and well-equipped schoolroom. You should 
 own such a picture, and if necessary, carry it with you to 
 your new school. 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 23 
 
 These are among good schoolroom pictures : 
 
 Raphael's "The Sistine Madonna and Child." 
 
 Breton's "The Song of the Lark." 
 
 Bonheur's "The Horse Fair." 
 
 Dupre's "The Balloon." 
 
 Ruysdael's "Windmill." 
 
 Millet 's ' ' Feeding her Birds. " "The Gleaners. ' ' 
 
 Hoffman's "Christ in the Temple." 
 
 See Appendix for addresses of picture companies. 
 
 The children will take delight in keeping your vases filled 
 with fresh flowers as long as the season lasts. Teach them to 
 arrange the flowers artistically. When frost comes, the cheer- 
 ful geranium, or fern will help to add beauty and a home-like 
 atmosphere to the schoolroom. 
 
 Stretch a narrow strip of burlap, or wall paper of harmo- 
 nious color just above the blackboard for exhibiting school 
 work, i Upon this the best drawings and other forms of hand 
 work should be tacked, or pinned, and displayed several days 
 at a time. Then put this work in a box- for safe keeping until 
 the final school exhibit. A movable screen covered with bur- 
 lap and plaeed in one corner of the room is another decorative- 
 method of exhibiting school work. The material in daily use 
 for illustration and for handwork must be neatly arranged and 
 well cared for. 
 
 Clean-up-and-Beautifieation Day will awaken new interest 
 in your school; for, when all the people of a district help to. 
 clean up and beautify the school plant, they will also help to 
 keep it clean and beautiful. 
 
 VII. Make an Inventory of School Property. — The school- 
 house key should now be turned over to you, the teacher. On 
 the earliest opportunity before the opening of school you 
 should be given a book containing the list of school property 
 in the house and on the grounds. You then check off this 
 property, and make a new list of present equipment, being 
 careful to add to the list any new apparatus, or furniture ob- 
 tained during the year. 
 
 At the end of your last school month before you receive 
 
24 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 your salary, the secretary of the school board should assist 
 you in checking off the school property. If there has been 
 any loss, you will account for it, and the proper adjustments 
 can be made. By this simple arrangement, hundreds of dol- 
 lars worth of school property will be saved each year. In 
 some counties of Texas, the trustees, superintendent, and 
 teachers have already adopted this plan. 
 
 VIII. Organize a Mothers' Meeting or Parent-Teachers' 
 Association. — The interdependence of home and school is being 
 realized more and more. The teaeher has discovered that he 
 must know the home conditions of his pupils as fully as he 
 knows his educational books and papers ; the parent is learning 
 that it is his duty to know the teacher and the school, and 
 that he is needed in the solution of school problems. As a 
 result of this form of education, there has sprung up under 
 various names the well-known and constantly growing organ- 
 ization of parents a'nd teachers. 
 
 Each teacher-leader must determine for himself the method 
 of organization best suited to his own community, the number 
 of meetings to be held, and the subjects for programs. A 
 successful organization may require the most informal pro- 
 cedure, but each meeting must be tvorth ivhile. One teacher 
 organized her mothers' meeting in this way: A week before 
 the beginning of school she sent a post card to each mothei 
 in the district. The invitation read as follows: "Miss B — 
 will be glad to see you at .the schoolhouse on next Saturday 
 afternoon at 3 o'clock. Bring your thimble, needle, and white 
 thread No. 40." In the meantime the teacher procured some 
 thin, unbleached domestic to be made into sash curtains foi 
 her schoolroom. She also cut some appropriate stencils, anc" 
 planned simple refreshments. 
 
 Every mother- came on the appointed date. Accustomed tc 
 "being busy, these women felt very much at home while mak- 
 ing from the material furnished them, the needed curtains for 
 the schoolhouse windows. Before the last guest went home, 
 'the curtains were all bordered with an artistic stencil design, 
 and neatly hung in place. While this interesting work was 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 25 
 
 going on, the teacher and her assistants served the tea and 
 home-made cookies prepared for the occasion. She also took 
 the opportunity of explaining her methods of teaching and 
 of managing the school, spoke of the relation of school-work 
 to the home, and suggested methods of home and school co- 
 operation. 
 
 They discussed and agreed rfpon the following: 
 
 1. Hours for beginning school and times for doing extra work 
 
 after school. 
 
 2. The necessity of punctuality in daily attendance. 
 
 3. Instructing children at home and at school to attend to 
 
 physical wants immediately upon arriving at the school 
 plant, and then promptly to take their places in the school- 
 room. No play on the school ground before opening the 
 day's session. The teacher's supervision of the recess 
 periods. 
 
 4. Reminding pupils, at home and at school, of the meaning 
 
 of intermissions, so as to avoid unnecessary requests for 
 leaving the room. 
 
 5. Buying uniform tablets at wholesale, and buying drawing 
 
 paper by the pound. No tablet leaves to be torn from 
 books. All leaves to be used on both sides. Drawing 
 paper to be furnished the pupil, sheet by sheet, as he 
 needed it. 
 
 6. The necessity of handwork. Kind of handwork. Kind of 
 
 equipment for each child in primary grades: ruler, scissors, 
 crayola, water-colors. Cooperation with teacher in col- 
 lecting clean waste paper, cardboard, strings, spools, store- 
 boxes, magazines, catalogs, and in making paste for paper 
 work. 
 
 7. Value and ( need of interesting supplementary reading ma- 
 
 terial. Furnishing five cents, for each pupil, when needed 
 for this purpose. 
 
 8. Cooperation in helping children to take proper care of books. 
 
 9. Value of good music, gymnastics, and games. 
 
 10. A shorter noon lunch, so as to give ten minutes for general 
 
 exercises each day. 
 
 11. Value of hot lunch at school, to be tried out on the first 
 
 opportunity. 
 
 12. The preliminary organization of school the following Thurs- 
 
 day, so as to give the children time to buy needed equip- 
 ment before the opening of school the following Monday. 
 
 13. A weekly meeting at the schoolhouse to discuss ' future 
 
 {school and home problems, and to promote happy social 
 
■26 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 life. Occasional exhibits of home products and school 
 work. 
 
 14. A program for Parent-Teachers' meeting to be made by the 
 
 pupils. The following subjects for study and discussion: 
 "Saving Steps," "How to Make a Buttonhole," "Insect 
 Pests," "Infant Feeding," "Arbor Day," "Food for 
 Growing Children," "Cooking Demonstrations of Home- 
 Grown Foods," "How to Install a School Library," 
 "Our Part in the Great War," "How to Make Over Last 
 Year's Clothing," "How to Conserve Our Food Supply." 
 
 15. A series of neighborhood meetings for discussing matters 
 
 of common interest, and a course of lectures at the school- 
 house by local talent and members of State educational 
 institutions. (See Literary Society, page 36; and Ap- 
 pendix for helps on organization, and programs.) 
 
 IX, Plan and Conduct the Preliminary Organization of 
 School. 
 
 "Preparedness makes for efficiency." 
 
 "Teaching is a business that requires preparedness as truly as 
 does the practice of- medicine, or housekeeping." 
 
 If the waste of school funds caused by neglect in properly equip- 
 ping schools and pupils for work were carefully estimated, many 
 of our patrons would be greatly surprised at the results. Statisti- 
 cians tell us that every day a child spends at regular school work 
 is worth $9.00. If he is not provided with necessary tools, he will 
 lose in one day more than the amount required to furnish every item 
 for the whole year's work. 
 
 One step in the preparation for the opening of school — and 
 one too frequently neglected — is that of securing school sup- 
 plies for the children at the time when they are needed. 
 Teachers, trustees, and local merchants, should see that the. 
 necessary books and other supplies are available a week be- 
 fore school opens. This prefatory arrangement would save 
 much time for the pupil and teacher, promote the pupil's 
 progress, and prevent irregularities in class work. It would 
 also make it possible for the teacher to accomplish most of 
 the formal organization of the school on the Thursday or Fri- 
 day before the beginning of the regular work on the following 
 Monday. To begin on the first period of the first day of school 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 27 
 
 with a well-planned program will materially aid the general 
 management of the school during the whole term. 
 
 On the morning of the day previously appointed, pupils 
 should bring to the schoolhouse their daily report cards, note- 
 books, and textbooks used during the last term of school. By 
 examining these carefully, by referring to the last teacher's 
 register, and by giving a few tactful oral questions you will 
 be able to determine your class groups. You will also have 
 opportunity to explain the book lists, and specify any further 
 individual equipment needed. It will be well to have the book 
 lists for the various groups written on the board. The older 
 pupils might copy them, but you should always check them 
 to see that there are no errors. A neatly written note from 
 you to the parent of each pupil, stating definitely the books 
 and other articles needed will be greatly appreciated, and 
 prevent mistakes in buying. 
 
 Begin the work as soon as the first pupil arrives. Copy the 
 name and the age of each pupil in a note-book prepared as a 
 temporary register until there is opportunity for arranging the 
 names alphabetically, and for neatly transferring this and 
 other information into the permanent register. At this time 
 seats may be assigned. When pupils choose their own desk- 
 mates, it may be well to grant such request, but in assigning 
 all seats, you should retain the privilege of making any future 
 changes that the best interests of the school demand. This 
 understanding between you and the pupil will help to en- 
 courage right conduct. 
 
 As soon as the above work has been accomplished each pupil 
 is dismissed with ample time to secure his equipment for the 
 first day. 
 
 X. The Teacher's Home During This Preliminary School 
 Work. — The teacher's living expenses during this week of 
 preparation for beginning school should be met by the com- 
 munity which he is serving in a most valuable way. One 
 rural school district which supports a three-teacher school, 
 managed this situation in this way:. At a mass meeting of 
 school patrons previous to the teacher's coming, one of the 
 
28 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 trustees announced that the teachers should be the guests of 
 the community during the week of preparation for school. The 
 patrons cheerfully co-operated to this end, and took every 
 opportunity to make the week a happy one for their teacher 
 guests. 
 
 XI. What to Do on the First Day of School.— It is taken 
 for granted that the teacher has made serious and careful 
 preparation for his work 5 that he is acquainted with his pa- 
 trons and pupils ; that the school plant has been put in sanitary 
 condition, that it has been repaired and equipped as completely 
 as present funds and effort permit ; that the teachers and par- 
 ents have had a successful conference; that the preliminary 
 organization of school has taken place; and that teachers, 
 pupils, and parents are prepared for the eventful First Day. 
 But for the new teacher there still remains the problem of 
 what to do on the First Day. This program must be carefully 
 planned and tactfully carried out. The following "Rules for 
 My First Day" were taken from a successful country teacher's 
 note-book, and they may help you: 
 
 1. Wear your most becoming and suitable costume. 
 
 2. Go to scbool early. Be the first on the school ground. Be 
 
 punctual yourself and so set a good, example for your 
 pupils. Hang your clock, or watch on the wall where all 
 the pupils can see it. 
 
 3. Manipulate the windows and shades so as to secure good 
 
 light and ventilation, and at the same time protect the 
 shades from the wind. The most beautiful picture should 
 be hung on the wall where all the pupils can see it; and 
 above it, the United States flag. Write on the blackboard 
 just beneath the flag, the pledge to the flag: "I pledge 
 my allegiance to my flag, and to the Republic for which 
 it stands; one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice 
 for all!" (Pupils stand at "Attention!" while repeating 
 the pledge in concert. At the word "all," they salute 
 the flag in unison.) Ask the children to learn it. Ex- 
 plain the salute to the flag during the mornings exercises. 
 At the close of school the pupils may be ready to practice 
 the salute, so as to give it correctly the next morning. 
 
 4. Be sure the daily program is neatly written on the black- 
 
 board before the children arrive. (Chalk moistened in 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 29 
 
 liquid glue will not easily erase.) If blackboard room 
 is scarce, write the program on a piece of cardboard and 
 tack it on the wall where all the children can see it. 
 
 5. When weather is bad, see that a foot rug is placed before 
 
 the door and that each child acquires the habit of using 
 it before he enters the schoolhouse on the very first day. 
 A gunny-sack will answer. Later, corn-shuck rugs for 
 this purpose can be made in the handwork class. 
 
 6. Place on your table a neat linen cover, a vase of wild flowers, 
 
 and a book rack containing your most interesting, and at- 
 tractive juvenile books. Have the illustrative material 
 on the work-table ready for use. See that the dictionary 
 and other reference books are conveniently placed. In 
 short, see that everything is in place before time to ring 
 the first bell. 
 
 7. Ring the school bell on time. If you have a large bell, 
 
 ring it promptly, for two minutes, at 8:20 a. m. as a 
 signal for the children to start to school. If the school- 
 house is not furnished with a large bell, and if some of 
 your pupils live near the building, ring your hand bell 
 instead. 
 
 8. At 8:50 ring the hand bell about eight taps to give notice 
 
 for time of opening exercises. 
 
 9. Promptly at 9:00 o'clock ring the tardy bell — five long, slow 
 
 taps. The 8:50 bell, or the "ten-minutes" bell is especial- 
 ly necessary in two-or-more teacher schools where on 
 certain days of the week all the children meet in general 
 assembly in the same room. Use this plan every day 
 of the school term. 
 
 10. Greet each child with a cheerful "Good Morning," in word, 
 
 or in silent recognition as he enters the school-room, 
 takes his seat, and goes quietly to work at the problems 
 assigned on the board. Treat pupils as you would ladies 
 and gentlemen in your own home, and they will respond 
 in like terms. 
 
 11. During the time the pupils begin to assemble until time 
 
 to ring the "ten-minutes" bell take the names and ages of 
 pupils not present on organization day. If you have not 
 had opportunity for this preliminary work, take names 
 and ages of all pupils at this time. Examine textbooks, 
 report cards, assign pupils to their respective class groups; 
 if necessary, furnish them with a book list, and assign 
 lessens. 
 
 12. Begin opening exercises promptly at 8:50 — ten minutes be- 
 
30 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 fore time to begin the regular school work. The follow- 
 ing order of exercises is good: 
 
 a. Have pupils close books, take good position with 
 
 hands off desks, and give entire attention. 
 
 b. Read a selection from the Bible without comment: 
 
 Tell, or read a suitable story. 
 
 c. Ask pupils to stand, and with bowed heads, recite 
 
 in concert the Lord's Prayer. Close the school- 
 room door during this exercise to avoid inter- 
 ruptions. After conclusion of exercises, open 
 the door for any late comers. 
 
 d. Sing a well-known hymn, or patriotic song whose 
 
 words were previously written on the black- 
 , board. 
 
 e. Practice the salute to the flag. 
 
 f. Upon this occasion, make a short talk, including 
 
 these or other suitable ideas: (a) Your pleas- 
 ure in coming to help them; (b) Something of 
 the interesting work to be done during the school 
 term, of the value of working together, of the 
 need for training in right living, and in service to 
 each other and to our country; (c) The sacrifice 
 their parents are making to give them their pres- 
 ent opportunities. This is also the time to speak 
 of keeping your (yours and the children's) 
 schoolroom clean and neat. Tell them that par- 
 ents and teachers agreed that the school should 
 be its own house-keeper because the school board 
 needed all the money on hand for new equipment. 
 With the coat of floor oil on the floor, the new 
 broom or sweeping brush, the sweeping com- 
 pound, and the care the children will take of the 
 furniture and floor, the matter of sweeping will 
 .be a simple task. Show them how to sweep, and 
 dust. Tell them that this evening you will ask 
 for one volunteer to help you clean up; but that 
 tomorrow you will write on the board a list of 
 house-keepers and their respective days for keep- 
 ing house. In the meantime let all see how clean 
 they can keep the schoolhouse and grounds. 
 13. Explain to pupils the necessity of quiet study hours. In 
 a room where so many are assembled and each has his 
 work to do, the least interruption would hinder the prog- 
 ress not only of one pupil but of the whole room. Tell 
 them that this is why we do not engage in disturbing and 
 unnecessary conversation in school, and why no one must 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 31 
 
 interrupt the teacher during a recitation period. They 
 can get into the habit of bringing their questions to the 
 class, and of consulting the reference books. Teach your 
 lessons so thoroughly that pupils will have enough initi- 
 ative and inspiration to keep property busy during study 
 periods. 
 
 14. Explain method of calling and dismissing classes.* Some 
 
 very successful teachers have a pupil watch the clock and 
 the program; and, when the time for the class period is 
 up, he taps once a little call bell kept on his desk. The 
 teacher then gives a silent signal for each of these com- 
 mands: "Prepare books and tablets!"; "Turn in your 
 seats with feet in the "aisle!"; "Stand!"; "March and take 
 seats on the recitation bench!" For dismissal: "Rise!" 
 "Pass!" "Be seated!" Some teachers give these signals 
 by motions of the hand, or by a nod of the head, or by 
 counting "One!" "Two!" "Three!" The silent signals will 
 rest you and your pupils. See that each signal is obeyed. 
 Do not overlook one case of neglect. 
 
 15. -Be sure to know your own lessons. Your eyes will not 
 
 then need to scan the textbook for lesson material at 
 times when you should have a view of the whole room. 
 
 16. Do not permit interruptions. Keep pupils busy. The pro- 
 
 gram should designate the work of first importance. 
 
 17. Give the youngest children, an occasional rest period be- 
 
 tween classes in the form of a brief, brisk drill, or a short 
 bright song. 
 
 18. Just before dismissing for recess, appoint the monitors for 
 
 hats. Tell your plans for games and plays. Name some 
 game in which the older boys will be interested; name 
 others for the little boys, the older girls, and the little 
 girls. Explain how each group may more successfully 
 play the game it likes best by having its own play 
 ground. Then designate these respective areas. Suggest 
 that while the boys are organizing their baseball teams, 
 you will help other groups start their games. You should, 
 if necessary, lend the boys your ball until they can secura 
 one of their own. 
 
 Good supervision of the playground will establish more 
 confidence in your leadership, and help make discipline 
 easier. See Appendix for helps on games and plays. 
 At this time, demonstrate your method of dismissal, and 
 
 1!! 
 
 *If possible, have* a recitation bench. It will bring your pupils 
 nearer to you, give them a needed change of position, and help your 
 discipline. 
 
32 University of Texas Build in 
 
 of returning to the class-room. Proper position of body 
 while sitting, standing, and keeping step, can be taught 
 today and drilled upon each following day. 
 At given signals, have pupils "Turn!" "Stand!" "March!" 
 The line of march will depend upon the arrangement of 
 desks and the number of students. By holding the clapper 
 of a hand-bell and striking it against the cup when a signal 
 is needed, you can give sharp, short taps which in them- 
 selves mean "Attention!" If there is no piano, victrola, 
 drum, or triangle to march by, tap the bell in march time. 
 The pupils should be dismissed either at the door, or in 
 the yard after having formed a line. 
 
 20. Long noon periods are not profitable. Fifty minutes is 
 
 sufficient time for noon intermission. By the agreement 
 of trustees and patrons this arrangement can be made so 
 as to give ten minutes before the afternoon session for 
 general exercises such as vocal music, short rehearsals, 
 various kinds of drills, discussions of current events; or 
 a drill on phonics, pronunciation, and articulation. 
 
 21. Before dismissing for the noon intermission, explain your 
 
 method of distributing dinner pails and wraps by means 
 of pupil assistants. You may announce that your present 
 appointments are temporary, but at the first meeting of 
 the literary society, these officers will be regularly elected 
 to serve as long as the constitution of the society may 
 provide. 
 
 Hare it understood that at the close of the last lesson 
 when you give the signal, "Desks in Order!" each desk 
 and the floor space around it must be put in perfect order. 
 Each book and pencil must be ready to take home, or 
 placed in its proper place inside the desk. Establish the 
 habit of keeping neat, clean desks. 
 
 22. Some teachers dismiss school with music. An appropriate 
 
 song for ending the day's work is, "Now the Day Is Over" 
 (See Appendix for "One Hundred and One Best Songs"). 
 The little children will enjoy: 
 
 "Our pleasant day is over 
 And we are going home. 
 Good-bye, good-bye, " 
 Be always kind and true." 
 
 23. Dismiss school promptly on time. Clean up the school- 
 
 room. Begin this evening to form the habit of making 
 your daily rounds of investigation of your school plant. 
 Observe the condition of desks, the reference books, the 
 libiary, reading table and other equipment and furniture 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 33 
 
 inside the house. Then take account of conditions on 
 school yard — the water plant, the grounds, the play 
 apparatus; any tools, if used; the out-buildings, and 
 stables. Pupil assistants may be given direct care of this 
 equipment. They, too, may be elected by the literary so- 
 ciety. But in each case the teacher is the careful over- 
 seer of public property. 
 24. Put lessons on the board for next day. Prepare material 
 for handwork and for illustrations for next day's lessons. 
 Pupils will be glad to help here also. 
 
 'This is my work; my blessing not my -doom; 
 Of all who live, I am the one by whom 
 This work can best be done, in the right way. 
 Then shall I see it not too great nor small 
 To suit my spirit and to prove my powers." 
 
 — Stevenson. 
 
 "Today is your day and mine; the only day we have; the 
 day in which we play our part. What our part may signify in 
 the great whole we may not understand, but we are here to play 
 it, and now is our time. . . . It is a part of love, not cynicism. 
 It is for us to express love in terms of human helpfulness. This 
 we know, for we have learned from sad experience that any 
 other source of life leads toward decay and waste." — David 
 Starr Jordan. 
 
III. 
 
 SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND FROM THE FIRST 
 DAY TO THE END OF THE SCHOOL TERM 
 
 "The future is in the present and thus helps to construct itself." — 
 Simon N. Patton. 
 
 "The best schoolhouse, the best school equipment, the best teach- 
 ers are not too good for the country children." 
 
 "The country schools can be made as good as any school, without 
 additional cost. This will happen when the country people demand 
 that their children be taught in a consolidated school, and when they 
 are ready to do their part in the establishment of such schools." — 
 Louisiana State Department of Education. 
 
 I. Vitalize Your School Work. — It is quite possible for you 
 as teacher of the little country school to so utilize your school 
 equipment and material — no matter how limited it may be — 
 that your teaching will be vital, interesting, definite, and val- 
 uable to the life of your school and to the community. .You 
 can put life into the dry bones of the mechanics of learning — 
 reading, spelling, writing, and arithmetic — by teaching them 
 in connection with real live and interesting things. 
 
 Your English lessons, which include reading, oral and writ- 
 ten composition, and spelling, can be related to nature study, 
 history, geography, graded classics, the weekly school paper, 
 the school diary, manual training, and housekeeping lessons. 
 Other motivizing material will be found in the University In- 
 terscholastic League, and Loan Library. 
 
 The lessons in hygiene and sanitation will become a part of 
 the brain and muscle of the pupils by establishing personal 
 health habits, by concrete studies of farm and home sanitation, 
 and by the study of such problems as: "How to dispose of the 
 sewage at house and barn " ; " How to secure a pure water supply 
 for the family " ; " How to ventilate the house" ; ' ' How to prevent 
 the breeding of mosquitoes and flies"; "How to prevent com- 
 mon germ diseases like typhoid fever, scarlet fever, cholera 
 infantum, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, sore eyes, and 
 tuberculosis." See lists of bulletins and books in Appendix. 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 35 
 
 Arithmetic in every grade can be made so practical and in- 
 teresting that the clyild will learn the fundamental processes, 
 and their necessary application, once for all time, by using 
 interesting concrete material and by calculating real problems 
 in farm management and in household accounts. There will 
 be problems of expense and income in connection with farm 
 crops, gardens, dairy, cattle-raising, and marketing. The map 
 of the farm drawn to exact scale is a good problem. The 
 family budget presents the additional and often difficult 
 problem of making the income and the output for food, cloth- 
 ing, and shelter meet. See Girls Industrial Arithmetic. 75 
 cents. P. Blackiston, Son & Co., Phila., Pa. 
 
 By connecting, in this way, the life of the school with the life 
 of the home and the farm, the school will become a most im- 
 portant factor in the growth and prosperity of the community; 
 and that is just what a, school ought to be. Such work will win 
 the confidence of your own patrons and of the patrons in neigh- 
 boring districts. Your school will grow. People do not mind 
 sending their children a number of miles to school when at the 
 end of the route they get good training. Soon you will need 
 more school room, more equipment and an assistant teacher. 
 
 II. Give Pupils and patrons a Vision of the Larger Rural 
 School. — In the meantime your great opportunity will be to 
 give to your pupils and patrons a vision of the larger rural 
 school plant with its modern buildings and equipment, its 
 trained teachers, and its reconstructed course of study suited 
 to the needs and conditions of today. You can distribute 
 books and bulletins containing pictures* and descriptions of 
 the consolidated schools that are being built throughout the 
 country wherever the population will justify their being built, 
 and wherever people think enough of their children to work 
 together for such institutions. A most vital but very simple 
 
 *Send to the Extension Department of the University of Texas 
 for a stereopticon and a" box of slides on "School Improvement."' 
 These helps will come to you for express only. Get bulletin on 
 Consolidation of Schools from State Department of Education, and 
 U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
 
36 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 question for parents to decide is this: "Which type of 
 school — the weak one-teacher school, or the strong consolidated 
 school — will make of my child the best citizen for today and 
 for the new era that is coming after the Great AA 7 ar when 
 the whole world must be rebuilt?" 
 
 "When the war is over," says Dr. P. P. Claxton, the United 
 States Commissioner of Education, "the country must play a 
 far more important part than it has in the past in agriculture, 
 manufacturing, and commerce, and also in the things of cul- 
 tural life — art, literature, music, and scientific discovery. 
 There will also be need of more effective moral training for 
 which provision should be made today; and because there 
 will also be need for the promotion of intelligent discussion 
 of the principles of democracy and all that pertains to the 
 public welfare of local communities, states, and the nation, 
 every schoolhouse should be made a center for frequent meet- 
 ings for the discussion of matters of public interest and for 
 social intercourse. ' ' 
 
 III. Organize and Supervise the Literary Society. — Every 
 progressive school has a literary society managed by the pu- 
 pils but carefully supervised by the teacher. There is no bet- 
 ter method of attracting the community to the schoolhouse 
 than by a well-planned and a well-executed literary program ; 
 neither is there a better opportunity for acquiring general in- 
 formation, or for developing good social life than taking part 
 in a well-organized, enthusiastic schoolhouse meeting. 
 
 Literary societies may be classified as follows: 1. The al- 
 ternate Friday Afternoon Exercise in which the whole school 
 participates, and which meets during the last period of the 
 school week. 2. The High School Literary Society in which 
 both sexes participate, and which meets at regular intervals 
 after 'the day's work in school is completed. Exercises of 
 most interest to the public are given at longer intervals and 
 usually at night. 3. The Boys' Debating Club which includes 
 not only the school boys, but all the young men of the com- 
 munity who are interested in the study of timely topics and 
 who are willing to study seriously these subjects for the sake 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 37 
 
 of obtaining information, or for public argument. These meet- 
 ings may all be open to the public; or they may be for club 
 members only until the debaters feel prepared to give a public 
 meeting. 4. The Girls' Literary and Debating Club which 
 consists of high school girls and other girls of the community 
 not in school but of high school age. 
 
 The young teacher in the one-teacher or two-teacher school 
 will find the Friday Afternoon Literary Society best suited to 
 his work. He will find abundant material for these exercises 
 in the form of lesson reviews, songs, declamations, 
 story-telling, short dialogs, debates, compositions, or dramatic 
 events from reading lessons. The reading of the school paper 
 is always a pleasing feature as well as a motive for com- 
 position and drawing. The paper may be illustrated by orig- 
 inal drawings or by pictures from papers and magazines. The 
 best contributions should be published in the county paper. 
 The life history of a frog, of a bean, of a butterfly, or a boll 
 weevil, as far as observed by the speaker, are interesting na- 
 ture study stories and could be continued from week to week. 
 These, too, should be illustrated with simple blackboard draw- 
 ings. Stories can be selected from the reading, geography, 
 history, or physiology lesson. 
 
 In either of the above organizations the program must al- 
 ways be both educative and entertaining. 
 
 For method of organization, form of constitution, and for 
 simple parliamentary procedure, send to the University of 
 Texas, Austin, for Bulletin No. 35, "School Literary Societies," 
 and for Bulletin No. 56, "Programs for Schoolhouse Meet- 
 ings." Other helpful material will be found in the classified 
 lists in this bulletin. 
 
 IV. Study Rural Health Problems. 
 
 "What we would have the people to be, we must put into the 
 schools." 
 
 The joint survey of the Committee on Health Problems of 
 the National Council of the National Education Association, 
 and of the Council on Health and Public Instruction of the 
 
38 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 American Medical Association, give the following alarming in- 
 formation: "In proportion to the population, the children 
 of the country districts, whose outdoor life we expect to pro- 
 mote vigor and strength, are physically, morally, and intellect- 
 ually more handicapped by defects than the city children, in- 
 cluding those in the slums. 
 
 "Diseases of the eye, ear, throat, and heart have been found 
 from two to five times as frequent in the country schools as 
 in the city schools. There are also found among country chil- 
 dren more cases needing surgical attention, such as enlarged 
 tonsils, and adenoids ; more lung trouble, spinal curvature, and 
 mal-nutrition. \ 
 
 "It has also been discovered that 60 per cent of the coun- 
 try schoolhouses, from the standpoint of health and general 
 fitness for their important work are the worst type of building 
 used for human beings, including jails and almshouses." 
 
 Is it not then the duty of the country teacher to have a 
 knowledge of rural sanitary conditions and to know how to 
 improve them ; to teach the danger of disease-bearing bacteria 
 that are liable to inhabit dirt and filth; to teach health habits 
 while pupils are in the habit-forming age ? 
 
 The following are some health habits to instill: 
 
 1. Brush teeth after eating. 
 
 2. Wash hands before eating and before coming ' into the 
 schoolroom to study. 
 
 3. Keep desk clean. 
 
 4. Do not put pencil nor pen handle into the mouth. 
 
 5. Do not use the common drinking cup. 
 
 6. Do not use a common towel, or a piece of soap used by 
 another. 
 
 7. Keep fingers from eyes, and mouth. Never cough into 
 air of the schoolroom, but hold the handkerchief over the 
 mouth when coughing. 
 
 8. Keep the finger nails clean. 
 
 9. Take a daily bath. (A simple bathing equipment should 
 be planned by the manual training class and installed in each 
 home.) 
 
 10. If symptoms of communicable disease develop, do not 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 39 
 
 go to school until your family physician gives you permission. 
 This precaution will save the lives of many children. 
 
 11. Avoid the double desk at school. 
 
 Medical Inspection of Schools. — "With the widely growing in- 
 terest in the relation between health and efficiency there has 
 been developed in many school systems a work known as 
 Medical Inspection. This Work consists of regular physical 
 examinations for the purpose of detecting communicable dis- 
 eases and of discovering defects, diseases, and physical abnor- 
 malities among school children in time to save life and effi- 
 ciency. Country children are as much entitled to this safe- 
 guard as are city children. It is the great teacher who in- 
 terests his patrons in securing the aid of a good dentist, phys- 
 ician, or nurse to introduce this valuable work into his county. 
 Here is opportunity for county co-operation, and good argu- 
 ment for the county system of school administration. The 
 proverbial "ounce of prevention" in saving health is here 
 clearly shown to be infinitely better than the "pound of 
 cure" in the form of expensive asylums and reformatories. 
 
 V. Create an Interest in the School Library and Reading- 
 Table. 
 
 "To be a citizen in the smallest village of the United States, 
 which maintains a free school and a public library, is to stand in 
 the path of the splendid procession of opportunity." — Selected. 
 
 "There is a world in which children may enter and find noble 
 companionship. It is the world of books." 
 
 A school can do nothing better for a child than to give him 
 the reading habit, the value of which can scarcely be over- 
 estimated, and yet there are hundreds of sehools in which 
 children spend their most impressionable years without becom- 
 ing acquainted with the world of good books. This defect is 
 largely due to neglect and carelessness of teachers. Busy 
 parents who fail to realize that the school is a part of the 
 larger home of today usually leave this matter to the school 
 officers who, in turn, are equally busy and negligent. 
 
 The reading habit can not be formed by the mere study 
 of text-books. A library with its magazines, papers, and at- 
 
40 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 tractive volumes of biography, travel, history, poetry, and 
 story must be in the schoolroom or in the home before reading 
 will become a pleasure; but when the child does acquire a 
 thirst for reading, he possesses the key to the learning of the 
 world. Truly, the greatest thing any child accomplishes in 
 school is learning to read well; and the greatest thing any 
 teacher can do is to enable the child to acquire this art. 
 
 How can the library be acquired? In the first place, you, 
 the teacher, must feel the need of a library, and inspire your 
 pupils with the desire to read. You can begin by bringing 
 to school some of your most attractive juvenile books and 
 several sets of penny, or five-cent classics. These books may 
 then be loaned to pupils who have finished their assigned tasks, 
 or who need wider reading to inform themselves on their as- 
 signments. 
 
 A public lecture on "The Value of School and Community 
 Libraries" will help to awaken public sentiment in this di- 
 rection. This lecture could then be followed by a school en- 
 tertainment for the benefit of a library. Private contributions 
 are sometimes collected by the children. As soon as a few 
 dollars are made, invest them immediately in a set of suitable 
 books to which you can add from time to time. It is not wise 
 to ask children or parents to contribute books. The State 
 Department of Education has a standard list from which to 
 choose. Get it, and make your selections. Part of the library 
 money should be expended for suitable magazines and papers. 
 See Appendix. Some publishers of agricultural papers are 
 willing to contribute a yearly subscription for the school read- 
 ing table. Ask them. 
 
 Do not wait for an expensive book case in which to keep 
 your books. You and your older pupils can easily make a 
 good book case. See Recipes in Appendix for an inexpensive 
 wood-work finish. Nail book-box to the wall in a suitable corner 
 of the room near the reading table. 
 
 Keep a record book for charging loans. Unless you have 
 a system for knowing what books are out and where they are, 
 your library will soon be depleted. For small libraries the 
 following form is convenient and has proven satisfactory: 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 
 
 41 
 
 Name of book 
 
 The King of the 
 Golden River 
 
 When taken 
 
 By whom 
 
 Oct. 12 'Mary Eliot 
 
 Returned 
 
 Oct. 1' 
 
 Remarks 
 
 Use a five-cent composition book for this purpose. Mark 
 neatly the whole page into oblongs like the above, with the 
 topics in the top row, and keep. this book inside the library. 
 The librarian, one of the new officers elected at the literary 
 society, will keep the key to the library and be ready to give 
 out books to pupils on certain hours or days of each week. 
 
 As soon as the library has grown so as to contain books in 
 which the home-folks are interested, have one library hour 
 arranged for their convenience. This may be continued during 
 vacation. 
 
 The Loan Librarian of the Department of Extension will 
 give ipformation on the collection and care of school libraries, 
 including directions for a valuable system of charging to be 
 used in larger libraries. 
 
 Write this rhyme on a card, and tack the card on the wall 
 near the book case : 
 
 The Library Goops. 
 
 "The Goops they wet their fingers, 
 To turn the leaves of books; 
 And then they turn the corners down, 
 And think that no one looks; 
 They print the marks of dirty hands, 
 Of lollipops and gum 
 On picture-book, and fairy book 
 As often as they come. 
 Are you a "Goop?" 
 
 Be sure to acquaint yourself and your community with the 
 Texas County Library Law and its benefits. Tell your patrons 
 about it. 
 
42 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 VI. Encourage Boys' and Girls' Farm Clubs. — The work in 
 the home and on the farm has always been fundamental to the 
 prosperity of the nation. Today, in our great national crisis, 
 this is especially true. Never before in the history of this 
 country has there been such a demand for skilled workers. 
 Among them is the prime need of good farmers and trained 
 housekeepers. The schools must do their part. If your 
 county has a farm demonstrator and a canning agent, secure 
 through the co-operation of your trustees, at the earliest date, 
 the co-operation of these county officers in promoting farm 
 organizations already begun among your pupils; or help or- 
 ganize and keep thoroughly alive these valuable organizations. 
 Information on this subject can be obtained from Texas A. 
 and M. College, Department of Extension, and from the State 
 Department of Education. The former dispenses the Smith- 
 Lever' money; the latter, the Smith-Hughes funds. Write for 
 particulars. Secure lectures from these sources, and get all 
 their free bulletins for your reading table. The State Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture will also furnish valuable free farm and 
 home literature and help you organize a farmers' club. 
 
 VII. Do Some Work in Manual Training.— The local car- 
 penter or the teacher can build a suitable work-bench which 
 may be installed in the schoolroom; or if it is provided with 
 suitable cover to protect it from the weather, it may be built 
 on the coolest side of the house, or under a shade tree. The 
 simplest tools, only, need be used; such as 1 jack-plane, 1 try- 
 square, 1 folding rule, 1 back saw, 1 rip saw, 1 hammer, a 
 set of chisels, and a brace with a set of bits. Some pupils will 
 furnish their own tools. 
 
 It is surprising to find the number of useful things that can 
 be made of store boxes and scraps of wood about the home. 
 More expensive material need not be used until children have 
 learned the use and care of the common tools. 
 
 Directions for this work can be given before or after school. 
 Pupils can take turns in working at the bench. Some will 
 have opportunity to work on Saturday, or after school. One of 
 the first problems is making a board "true and square." 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 43 
 
 This will lead to such projects as bench hook, chiseling 
 board, boxes of various kinds, picture frames, book racks, 
 cupboards, and other problems that include simple butt joints. 
 The larger projects will then follow ; such as making gate, 
 porch swing, screen, trap nests, steps, table, troughs, clothes 
 racks, fly traps, and general repair work on the farm. See 
 Appendix for helpful books and bulletins. 
 
 VIII. Teach Home Economics. — The training of girls for 
 their life-work — that of housekeeping and home-making — is 
 today recognized as the most important study in preparation 
 for good citizenship. The home is the child's first school, and 
 its life from beginning to end is influenced by the training 
 it receives from its first teacher, its mother. In the last an- 
 alysis, the health of the world, the work of the world, and the 
 happiness of the world, depend upon the homes of the world. 
 The modern school is, therefore, giving to this most important 
 subject a prominent place in its course of study. Even the 
 one-teacher, and two-teacher country schools can find a period 
 once a week and sometimes oftener, for lessons in housekeeping 
 based on foods, clothing, and shelter, from the standpoint of 
 health, economy, and of what can be done within a certain 
 income. 
 
 The inexpensive equipment as listed in University of Texas 
 Bulletin No. 49 may be acquired by private donations, by a 
 "shower," or by a pay sociable. This bulletin also gives 
 a course of lessons for the rural teacher and directions for 
 teaching them. Get it, and use it in school exercises and at 
 mothers' meetings. 
 
 " Lo ! I go with great joy for that work for which I was born 
 into the world." — Marcus Aurelius. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 How to Make a Book Cover. — Take a rectangular piece of heavy 
 paper about four inches longer and four inches wider than the back 
 of the book to be covered. Crease a fold of a fraction less than 
 two inches wide (to make allowance for the thickness of the back) 
 on each long edge of the rectangle. These folds must be on the 
 same side of the cover. Make a fold of the same width at the left 
 end and crease it over the other folds. Now insert the left back 
 of the book into the pocket made by the end fold only; close the 
 book, lay it on the table with the covered side down, and fold the 
 other end of cover over the right end of the book. Crease as on 
 left -edge. Bend back the right back of book and insert it into 
 the right pocket. This cover can easily be replaced when needed. 
 
 The above directions will make an interesting lesson in manual 
 training. 
 
 Recipe for Paste: 
 
 1 scant tablespoon of powdered alum. 
 4 heaping tablespoons of flour. 
 4 teaspoons of sugar. 
 
 Mix these dry ingredients to a smooth paste with cold water. 
 Stir into this paste 1 pint of boiling water. Boil the mixture for 
 20 minutes — until it has a clear, starchy look (Be careful not 
 to burn). On removing from stove, add 20 drops of oil of cloves 
 and stir well before pouring into wide mouth bottles for use. 
 
 A Good Sweeping Compound. — To one bushel of clean sawdust 
 add a pint of crude carbolic acid, or the same amount of floor oil. 
 Mix thoroughly several days before using. 
 
 An Inexpensive Mission Stain for Wood. — Take twelve parts of 
 turpentine to one of lamp-black. Mix well. Apply with a soft 
 brush or piece of cloth. Rub dry with piece of dry, soft cloth 
 until the lamp-black ceases to come off. Then apply a good floor 
 wax, and polish according to directions. 
 
 How to 3Iake a Hectograph Pad, and Ink. — The hectograph is a 
 gelatin pad used for duplicating letters, drawings, outlines, ques- 
 tions, etc. This pad is made from the recipe below. The mixture, 
 while hot, is poured into a pan about an inch deep, and somewhat 
 wider and longer than the sides of the paper to be used in copying. 
 "The letter or sketch to be duplicated is written or traced on a 
 sheet of heavy paper with aniline ink. When dry, this is laid, ink 
 side down, on the pad and subjected to moderate and uniform pres- 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 45 
 
 sure for a few minutes. It may then be removed, when a copy 
 of the original will be found on the pad which has absorbed a large 
 quantity of the ink. The blank sheets are laid one by one on the 
 pad, subjected to moderate pressure over the whole surface with a 
 wooden or rubber roller, or with the hand, and lifted off by taking 
 hold of the corners and stripping them gently with an even move- 
 ment. If this is done too quickly the composition may be torn. 
 Each succeeding copy thus made will be a little fainter than its 
 predecessor. From 40 to 60 legible copies may be made. When 
 the operation is finished, the surface of the pad should be gone over' 
 gently with a wet sponge and the remaining ink soaked out. The 
 superfluous moisture is then carefully wiped off, when the pad wil> 
 be ready for another operation." 
 Materials for making pad: 
 
 Glycerine 12 ounces 
 
 Gelatine (glue) 2 ounces 
 
 Water 7 V2 ounces 
 
 Sugar 2 ounces 
 
 Melt the ingredients together. The proper consistency can be 
 ascertained by pouring a small portion into a shallow pan where it 
 should be allowed to cool and "set." If not sufficiently tough, evap- 
 orate some of the water and temper the mixture with more glue. 
 Use clean glue, or strain the mixture. Remove air bubbles by skim- 
 ming the surface of the pad with a piece of card-board. When 
 cold cover with a tight lid so as to keep out the dust. 
 
 More copies are made from purple ink than from any other color. 
 The following is a recipe for purple hectograph ink: 
 
 Ethyl violet 2 parts 
 
 Alcohol 2 parts 
 
 Sugar 1 part 
 
 Glycerine 4 parts 
 
 Water 24 parts 
 
 1 
 Dissolve the violet in the alcohol mixed with the glycerine; dis- 
 solve the sugar in the water; mix both solutions. Hectograph ink 
 can be bought at book stores. For further information, see Hen- 
 ley's "Twentieth Century Book of Recipes, Formulas, and Pro- 
 cesses." 
 
A LIST OF BOOKS FROM WHICH TO SUPPLEMENT THK 
 TEACHER'S OR PATRON'S LIBRARY 
 
 Agriculture 
 
 Agricultural Arithmetic. Stratton and Remick. Mac* 50 cents. 
 
 Chemistry of Farm Practice. Keit. Jn. Wiley. $1.25. 
 
 Bacteria and Their Relation to Country Life. Lipman. Mac. $1.50. 
 
 Field Crops for the Cotton Belt. Morgan. Mac. 1.75. 
 
 First Principles of Soil Fertility. Vivian. Mac. $1.00. 
 
 Farm Management. Warren. Mac. $1.75. 
 
 Fungus Diseases of Plants. Dug-gar. Ginn. $2.00. 
 
 Farming and Farm Life. Ellis and Kyle. Scrib. $1.25. 
 
 (Especially helpful to the young teacher.) 
 Injurious Insects. How to Recognize and Control Them. O'Kane. Mac. 
 
 $2.00. 
 Milk and Its Products. Wing. Mac. $1.50. 
 
 Principles and Practice of Poultry Culture. Robinson. Ginn. $2.50. 
 Soils and Soil Fertility. Whitson and Walker. A. C. McC. $1.25. 
 Sub-Tropical Vegetable Gardening. Rolfs. Mac. $1.50. 
 The Corn Lady. Field. A. PI. 60 cents. 
 Butterflies and Bees. Morley. Ginn. 75 cents. 
 
 Community Civics 
 
 i / 
 
 Community Civics. Field and Nearing. Mac. 60 cents. 
 
 (Presents the principles of good citizenship in terms of the child's life.) 
 
 Child Welfare 
 
 Child Nature. Elizabeth Harrison. C. K. C. $1.00. 
 
 (Free Study Outlines on this book, to be used in Mothers' Clubs. 
 
 , ' Department of Extension, University of Texas.) 
 
 Growth and Evolution. Tyler. H. M. $1.50. 
 
 (Free Study Outlines on this book. Department of Extension, Univer- 
 sity of Texas.) 
 
 The Child, His Thinking, Feeling, and Doing. Tanner. R. McN. $1.25. 
 
 Country Church 
 
 Church of the Open Country. Wilson. M. E. M. 50 cents. 
 
 Education 
 
 Everyday Problems in Teaching M. V. O'Shea. B. M. $1.25. 
 
 Motivation of School Work. H. B. and G. M. Wilson. H. M. $1.25. 
 
 The Challenge to the Country. Fisk. A. P. 75 cents. 
 
 Classroom Management. Bagley. Mac. $1.25. 
 
 Rural Life and Rural School. Kennedy. Amer. 80$ cents. 
 
 Schoolroom Essentials. Sutton and Horn. C. A. B. $1.25. 
 
 Special Method in the Recitation. McMurray. Mac. 90 cents. 
 
 ''For key to abbreviations, and addresses of publishers see page 60. 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 47 
 
 Special Method in Reading in the Grades. McMurray. Mac. $1.25. 
 
 Special Method in History. McMurray. Mac. 75 cents. 
 
 Special Method in Geography. McMurray. Mac. 70 cents. 
 
 Special Method in Elementary Science for the Common School. McMurray. 
 
 Mac. 75 cents. 
 The Brown Mouse. Quick. B. M. $1.25. 
 
 (An account of the life and work of a country teacher.) 
 New Ideals in Rural Schools. Betts. H. M. 60 cents. 
 Teaching the Common School Branches. Charters. R. P. $1.75 
 How to Teach the Fundamental Subjects. Kendall and Myrick. H. M. 
 
 $1.25. 
 Jean Mitchel's School. Wray. A. C. McC. $1.00. 
 Reports of the U. S. Commissioner of Education for 1917. B. Ed. 65 cents. 
 
 Games and Plays 
 
 Community Center Activities. Perry. R. S. F. 25 cents. 
 
 (Suggestions for social gatherings together with titles and addressei 
 
 of the best publications on plays, games, and entertainments. Should 
 
 be in every school library.) 
 Children's Singing Games, Old and New. Hofer. A. Fl. 50 cents. 
 Games for the Playground, Home, and School. Bancroft. Mac. $1.50. 
 Neighborhood Entertainments. Stern. S. W. $1.00. 
 Popular Folk Games and Dances. Hofer. A. Fl. $1.00. 
 Folk Dances and Singing Games. Burchenal. G. S. $1.50. 
 What to Do at Recess. Johnson. Ginn. 25 cents. 
 Play and Recreation for the Open Country. Curtis. Ginn. $1.00. 
 Outdoor Athletic Tests for Boys. Brown. A. P. 20 cent£. 
 
 (Every teacher should possess a copy of this pamphlet.) 
 
 Health 
 
 Medical Inspection of Schools. Gulick and Ayres. R. S. F. $1.50. 
 
 How to Live. Fisk. L. Ex. In. $1.00. 
 
 Sanitation and Physiology. Ritchie. W. B. $1.20. 
 
 School Hygiene. Dresslar. Mac. $1.25. / 
 
 Rural Hygiene. Ogden. Mac. $1.50. 
 
 Teaching of Hygiene and Sanitation in Schools. W. B. Free. 
 
 Home Economics 
 
 Household Management. Kinnie and Cooley. Mac. $1.10. 
 
 Science of Home Making. Pirie. Sc. F. 90 cents. 
 
 *The Home and the Family. Kinnie and Cooley. Mac. 65 cents. 
 
 *Food and Health. Kinnie and Cooley. Mac. 65 cents. 
 
 * Clothing and Health. Kinnie and Cooley. Mac. 65 cents. 
 
 Boston Cooking School Cookbook. Farmer. A. C. McC. $1.80. 
 
 Manual Training 
 
 Farm Shop Work. Brace and Mayne. Amer. $1.00. 
 Bench Work in Wood. Goss. Ginn. 85 cents. 
 Problems in Farm Woodiuork. M. A. P. $1.00. 
 
 ♦Adapted to elementary work in rural schools. 
 
48 . University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 Industrial Training of the Boy, and Industrial Training of the Girl. Mc- 
 
 Keever. Mac. 50 cents. 
 Classroom Practice in Design. Haney. M. A. P. 50 cents. 
 When Mother Lets Us Make Toys and When Mother Lets Us Model. Rich* 
 
 M. T. 75 cents. 
 What and How. Palen and Anderson. M. "B. $2.00. 
 Occupations for Little Fingers. Sage and Cooley. Scrib. $1.00. 
 Industrial Art Text Books. Snow and Froehlich. Prang Co. Chicago. 
 
 Music 
 
 Songs We Like to Sing. Alexander. S. B. 35 cents. 
 
 Brewer's Assembly Song Book. O. B. P. 15 cents. 
 
 Brewer's High School Song Book. O. B. P. 15 cents. 
 
 Lilts and Lyrics for the School Room. Riley and Gaynor. C. F. S. $1.00t 
 
 Nature Study 
 
 Nature Study and Life. Hodge. Ginn. $1.50. 
 Handbook of Nature Study for Teachers. C. P. $3.35. 
 Nature Study on the Farm. Keffer. Amer. 40 cents. 
 Nature Readers. W. B. 
 
 Story- Telling 
 
 How to Tell Stories to Children. Bryant. Mac. $1.00. 
 
 Best Stories to Tell Children. Bryant. Mac. $1.50. 
 
 Some Great Stories and How to Tell Them. Wyche. New. $1.00. 
 
 World Stories Retold. Sly. G. W. J. $1.00. 
 
 Thrift 
 
 Teaching a Girl to Save, and Teaching a Boy to Save. McKeever. M. A 
 
 C. 6 cents each. 
 Food Economy in War Times. Hopkins. G. P. P. 15 cents. 
 Food. What to Buy. How to Cook It. How to Eat It. L. Ex. Inst. 
 
 10 cents. 
 The Teaching of Thrift. Bonner and Sharkey. O. S. Supt. 
 
 Note : Any of the above books can be obtained at the Southern School 
 Book Depository, Dallas, Texas. 
 
 "Look up and not down, look forward and not back, look out and 
 not in; lend a hand." — Hale. 
 
A LIST OF FREE AND INEXPENSIVE MATERIAL FROM WHICH 
 THE TEACHER MAY MAKE SELECTIONS FOR HIS LIBRARY 
 
 "It is quite* possible," says Superintendent J. D. Eggleston, to 
 begin Nowhere with Nothing and get Somewhere with Something." 
 This is especially true of a library. The teacher of small resources 
 need not suffer for want of helpful literature. He can collect a 
 valuable reference library of free 1 bulletins, pamphlets, clippings, 
 and pictures. There is also much helpful printed information that 
 can be obtained for a few cents a copy. The following is a list 
 of such material and the sources from which it may be obtained. 
 
 Agriculture 
 
 Nature Study and Agriculture for the Rural Schools of Texas. A Selected 
 List of Free Publications on Agriculture and Allied Subjects for the School 
 and Home. Free. University of Texas, Department of Extension. 
 
 Free Farmers' Bulletins : How Rural Elementary Schools May Use Bul- 
 letin*^ No. 431, The Peanut; No. 729, Corn Culture; NO. 693, Burr Clover: 
 No. 743, Dairying; No. 642, Tomato Growing; No. 537, How to Raise an 
 Acre of Corn; No. 586, Collecting and Mounting Plants; Correlating Agri- 
 culture with Public School Subjects in the Southern States. 10 cents, 
 Superintendent of TJ. S. Documents.* Send for list of free Farmers' Bul- 
 letins. 
 
 Price lists on : Animal Industry, Insects, Birds and Wild Animals, 
 Plants, Roads, Soils and Fertilizers, Farmers' Bulletins ; Health, Foods, 
 Disease and Sanitation, Alaska, Panama, Maps, Canal Zone, Indians, 
 Transportation, Agricultural Education, Rural Engineering, Rural Eco- 
 nomics. Free. Superintendent of U. S. Documents. 
 
 Bulletins, pamphlets, and circulars on farm boys' and girls' clubs, and 
 general farm topics, such as poultry, farm management, dairying, tick 
 eradication, cattle-feeding, and gardening, programs for farm women'i 
 clubs. State A. and M. College. (Put school on mailing list and receive 
 Semi-Monthly Farm News. Free.) 
 
 Free bulletins on the organization of farmers' institutes, home economics 
 clubs, school and home projects, collections of insects and plants, and on 
 practically every subject pertaining to agriculture. State Department of 
 Agriculture, Austin. 
 
 Junior Farmers' Institutes. Free information. Office U. S. Exp. Stations. 
 
 Farm Boy Cavaliers, and Home Cavaliers. D. D. Mayne, University 
 Farm, St. Paul, Minn. 
 
 Prizes for Better Farming in Texas. Free information. Texas Industrial 
 Congress, Dallas. 
 
 Information on Roads and Road Building. Bureau of Economic Geology 
 and Technology, University of Texas. Secretary of State Highway Com- 
 mission, Austin. 
 
 Clearing House for Rural Information, The International Harvester Co. 
 of America, Harvester Bldg., Chicago. Helps for teachers, farm women, 
 
 •Address all requests for Farmers' Bulletins, and other U. S. publication* 
 to Washington, D. C. 
 
50 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 and farmers — loan slides, bulletins, charts, and material for making charts. 
 Literature for farm boys' and girls' clubs, especially attractive and valuable. 
 
 Birds and Bird Clubs' 
 
 Instructions Concerning Bird Clubs. The National Association of Audu- 
 bon Societies, 1974 Broadway, N. Y. (Pictures and descriptions of birds, 
 2 cents each.) 
 
 Entertainments, Games, and Plays 
 
 Programs for Schoolhouse Meetings. Free. Information on University 
 Interscholastic League. University of Texas, Dept. of Extension. 
 
 Hallowe'en Suggestions. The Bogie Book. Dennison Mfg. Co., Framing' 
 ton, Mass. 
 
 Play and Athletics. Free to members of the Interscholastic League. Uni- 
 versity Department of Extension. 
 
 Social Plays, Games, Marches, Old Folk Dances. 10 cents. 120.8: p. 69. 
 Supt. U. S. Documents. 
 
 Group Athletics for Boys. 2 cents. Group Athletics for Girls. 2 cents. 
 Russell Sage Foundation, N. Y. 
 
 Recreation in Rural Communities. U. S. Bureau of Education. Free. 
 
 Play Apparatus. Laurensen's Stair Works, San Antonio, Tex. Get prices 
 on Horizontal Bar, Giant Stride, and other playground apparatus. 
 
 Health and Child Welfare 
 
 The U. S. Public Health Service. Expert free advice on matters pertain- 
 ing to sanitation and health ; nature, treatment, and prevention of disease ; 
 bulletins on these common preventable diseases : whooping cough, measles, 
 scarlet fever, smallpox, typhoid fever, hook-worm disease, malaria, pellagra, 
 and tuberculosis. 
 
 The Children's Bureau of the U. S. Department of Labor. Free bulletins 
 on child welfare. Should be found in every home. Get list of free literature. 
 
 Exercise and Rest. Gulick. 5 cents. Russell Sage Foundation, N. Y. 
 
 Some Common Disinfectants, Their Composition and Use. 5 cents. Al. 
 0345. Harmful Headache Mixtures. 5 cents. Al. 9:377. Supt. U S. 
 Documents. 
 
 Danger of House Flies. Farmers' Bulletin No. 679 ; How to Make Fly 
 Traps, International Harvester Co., Harvester Bldg., Chicago. Farmers' 
 Bulletin, No. 734. 
 
 Health, Education, and Recreation. Russell-Sage Foundation, N. Y. Get 
 price list of bulletins. 
 
 Bulletins on Health, including Mental Hygiene. Effects of Hook-worm 
 Disease: on the Mental and Physical Development of Children; and Hook- 
 worm Disease, Its Ravages, Prevention and Cure. Get price list of publi- 
 cations. The Rockefeller Foundation, N. Y. 
 
 Free Bulletins and Texas Health Statistics. State Board of Health, 
 Austin. 
 
 Pure Food and Drug Law. The State Dairy and Pure Food Assn. of 
 Texas. Also get the Annual Reports. Austin, Tex. 
 
 Health and Sanitation, University of Texas Bulletin. Free. 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 51 
 
 Home Economics 
 
 A Simple Course in Home Economics for Rural Schools, with Suggestions 
 for the School Noon Lunch. Bulletin No. 49. Get list of Free Bulletins 
 University of Texas, Dept. of Ex. 
 
 Fifteen Charts. Composition of Food Materials, etc. $1.00. Supt. of 
 U. S. Documents. 
 
 Three Short Courses in Home Making. Bulletin No. 23. Free. U. S. 
 Bureau of Education. 
 
 Canning, Poultry, Dairying, and Gardening. A. and M. College, College 
 Station, Tex. State Dept. of Agriculture, Austin. U. S. Bureau of Agri- 
 culture. Free. 
 
 Price List II, Foods and Cooking, Canning, and Cold Storage. Supt. U. 
 S. Documents. 
 
 The Children's Food. Mary Swartz Rose. 5 cents. National Special 
 Aid Society. 259 Fifth Ave., N. T. 
 
 Food Thrift Series. Free. U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 
 
 Food Conservation Leaflets. Dept. of Extension, University of Texas. 
 U. S. Food Administration. 
 
 Some Things that Girls Should Learn to Do. 5 cents. I. 20.8 ; G 44. 
 Supt. U. S. Documents. 
 
 Selections of Household Equipment, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture Yearbook. 
 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 
 
 Insects 
 
 Collection and Mounting, Bulletin No. 606, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 
 State Dept. of Agriculture, Austin. 
 
 Libraries 
 
 Extension Loan Library and List of Free Bulletins. Dept. of Extension 
 of the University of Texas, Austin. School improvement, home welfare, 
 child welfare, and school house meetings, group study courses; correspon- 
 dence courses for credit, and for raising teachers' certificates; packages of 
 books on almost any subject of interest to home and school, loaned two 
 weeks for postage only. 
 
 List of Standard Books for School Library. Texas County Library Law. 
 State Dept. of Education, Austin. 
 
 One Thousand Good Books for Children. 10 cents. U. S. Bureau of 
 Education. 
 
 Home Reading Courses and National Teachers' Reading Circle. U. S. 
 Bureau of Education. 
 
 A Teacher's Professional Library. Classified list of 100 titles. 5 cents. 
 Supt. U. S. Documents. 
 
 State Loan Library. Texas State Library, Austin. 
 
 Effect a County Library Would Have on the Country Schools. Lillian 
 Gunter, in Texas School Journal for January, 1917. 
 
 Music 
 
 One Hundred and One Best Songs. 10 cents. Get club rates. Cabls 
 Piano Co., Cable Bldg., Chicago. 
 
 Book of Favorite Songs. 15 cents. Hall and McCreary, Chicago. 
 School and Community Song Book. University of Texas. 
 Community Chorus Selection. 20 cents. Oliver Ditson Co., Boston. 
 
52 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 Standard Popular Songs; Familiar Song Classics; Standard Familiar 
 ,Songs; Standard Folk Songs; Christmas Carols; Familiar Operatic Classics; 
 Fifty Standard Hymns. Ginn & Co., Dallas. 10 cents each. 
 
 The Victrola in the Rural Schools. Free. The Victor Talking Machine 
 Co., Camden, N. J. 
 
 Information on Correspondence and Group Study in Music, and School 
 and Community Singing. Dr. Frank LeFevre Reed, University of Texas. 
 
 Moral and Religious Training 
 
 Young Men's Christian Assn. and Young Women's Christian Assn. In- 
 terested in extension work. Ask secretary of nearest Association to co- 
 operate with you in athletics, and Bible study. 
 
 Sample Courses of Study in Graded Sunday School Lessons. State Teach- 
 ers' College, Greely, Colo. 
 
 Free Bulletins on Country Church Work. Country Life Church Dept. of 
 the Union Seminary, Broadway, N. Y. 
 
 Parent-Teachers' Association 
 
 Free Sample Programs, bulletins, and a package library on the organiza- 
 tion and work of mothers' meetings. U. of T. Extension Loan Library, 
 Austin. i 
 
 Personal Service Bureau,,. Mothers' Magazine, Elgin, 111. Get price list of 
 loan papers, methods of organizing clubs, programs, and other publications 
 for mothers' meetings. 
 
 The Evolution of the Mother's Pension, Its Scope, and Object. National 
 Congress of Mothers, 210 Loan and Trust Bldg., Washington, D. C. 
 
 Manual Training 
 
 Farm and Home Mechanics That Every Boy Should Knoio. 15 cents. 
 120.8 :M46. Laboratory Exercises in Farm Mechanics. 5 cents. Al. 9 :638. 
 Bird Housed and How to Build Them. 5 cents. Farmers' Bulletin No. 
 609. Repair of Farm Equipment. 5 cents. Farmers' Bulletin No. 347. 
 Supt. U. S. Documents. 
 
 Course of Study for Indian Schools. U. S. Office of Indian Affairs. 
 
 Manual Training in Concrete. Free. Assn. of American Portland Cement 
 Manufacturers, Phila., Pa. 
 
 Rope and Its Uses. Burger. Agricultural Extension Dept., Iowa State 
 College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, Ames, Iowa. Samples of rope and 
 fibers, Plymouth Cordage Co., Plymouth, Mass. Free. 
 
 Pictures and Maps 
 
 The Perry Picture Co., Box 1000, Maiden, Mass. 
 
 ■Geo. P. Brown & Co., 38 Lovett St., Beverly, Mass. 
 
 Elson Picture Co., Boston, Mass. Get catalogues. 
 
 Soil Survey Reports and Maps of County or State. Write to your Con- 
 gressman for these. Free. 
 
 Price list of maps published by U. S. Govt. Free. Supt. U. S. Docu- 
 ments. 
 
 Maps, pictures, routes, time tables. Free. City railroad ticket offices. 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 53 
 
 Patriotism 
 
 Our Flag and Its Message, J. A. Moss. 25 cents. J. B. Llppincott Co., 
 Phila., Pa. 
 
 New national air to "America," and other patriotic literature suitable 
 for use in public schools. U. S. Bureau of Education. 
 
 Lessons An Community and National Life. U. S. Food Commission. 
 
 The Lesson of the Great War in the Classroom. U. S. Bureau of Education. 
 
 Red Cross Service 
 
 Information on town and country nursing service, and organization of local 
 Red Cross Chapter. Booklet on First Aid, 50 cents; Elementary Hygiene 
 and Home Nursing, 50 cents ; Dietetics, 60 cents. The American Red Cross 
 Society, "Washington, D. C. (Substitute some Red Cross work for regular 
 sewing lessons.) 
 
 School Improvement 
 
 The national headquarters for educational information is the U. S. Bureau 
 of Education. Get list of free publications on the rural school and its work, 
 bulletins on subjects of special interest to your work. Have your name 
 placed on mailing list. 
 
 School Laivs, School Programs and Courses of Study, Schoolhouses, State 
 Aid, List of Books for Libraries, Vocational Education, and general in- 
 formation on conditions and progress of schools of Texas. Free. State 
 Dept. of Education, Austin. (Each teacher and trustee should have his 
 name on mailing list.) 
 
 The Teaching of Community Civics. U. S. Bureau of Education. Free. 
 
 County System of Public Schools. Ask State Superintendents of Alabama 
 and Tennessee for their laws on the county system of school administration. 
 
 A Modern School, Abraham Flexner. Free. General Education Board, 
 61 Broadway, N. Y. 
 
 Consolidation of Rural Schools and Transportation of Pupils at Public* 
 Expense. Price 25 cents. U. S. Bureau of Education. 
 
 County Unit for the Administration of Schools. Free. Bulletin 1914, 
 No. 44. U. S. Bureau of Education. 
 
 The Farragut School. Sketch of a country-life school. Free. U. S. 
 Bureau of Education. 
 
 Supplementary Reading Addresses : 
 
 Texas Pub. Co., Dallas. 5 cents a copy. 
 Parker's Penriy Classics, C. M. Parker, Taylorsville, 111. 
 D. H. Knowlton & Co., Farmington,' Me. 3 and 5 cents a copy. 
 F. A. Owen Publishing Co., Dansville, N. T. 5 cents a copy. 
 Educational Publishing Co., 2457 Prairie Ave., Chicago. 5 cents a 
 copy, when five or more copies are bought. (These booklets 
 have strong manila backs.) 
 Orville Brewer Publishing Co., The Auditorium, Chicago. 6 cents or 
 
 more a copy. 
 The Youth's Companion, Boston, Mass. 3 cents a copy. 
 School Grounds, School Buildings and Their Equipment. Free. State 
 Dept. of Education. 
 
 American Schoolhouses, Plans and Illustrations. 75 cents. 116.3 :910-5. 
 Supt. U. S. Documents. 
 
 Folk High Schools of Denmark. Foght. 5 cents. U. S. Govt. Ptg. Office. 
 
54 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 How a Superintendent May Aid His Teachers in Self Improvement. Free. 
 University of Texas. 
 
 pchool Credit for Home Practice in Agriculture. Bulletin 385. Free. 
 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 
 
 Minimum Health Requirements for Rural Schools. Free. U. S. Bureau 
 of Education. Bulletin 1915, No. 50, Bureau of Education. 
 
 The Sanitary Privy. Free. Bulletin No. 65. State Dept. of Education. 
 
 Rural School Sanitation, Public Health Bulletin No. 77. U. S. Govt. 
 Ptg. House. 
 
 The Country School of Tomorrow. Frederick T. Gates. General Educa- 
 tion Board, 61 Broadway, N. T. Free. 
 
 Teacher's Cottage. U. S. Bureau of Education. Free. 
 
 School Closing Exercises. Stoltzfus. Department of Extension, Univer- 
 sity of Texas. Free. 
 
 School Flags. The Chicago Flag and Decorating Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Thrift. "The Teaching of Thrift." Bonner and Shawkey. Address State 
 Superintendent M. P. Shawkey, Charlestown, W. Va. 
 
 School Savings Banks. Bulletin No. 1717. University of Texas, Depart- 
 ment of Extension. 
 
 Sanitary Water Supply. See School Buildings, School Grounds, and School 
 Equipment. Free. State Department of Education, Austin, Texas. 
 
 Visual Instruction Through Lantern Slides and Motion Pictures. Univer- 
 sity of Texas Bulletin. Free. 
 
 War Information 
 
 The Great War, The Nations at Arms, The Government of Germany, 
 The National Service Handbook." Address : Committee on Public Informa- 
 tion, Washington, D. C. ; U. S. Food Commission. Washington, D. C. 
 
 A LIST OF MAGAZINES FROM WHICH TO SELECT PUBLICA- 
 TIONS FOR THE SCHOOLHOUSE READING TABLE 
 
 The successful teacher like the successful physician must keep 
 up with his profession. One way to do this at home is by reading 
 good educational journals, and other current literature bearing 
 on his work. Publications* selected from this list will be help- 
 ful to patrons and pupils as well as to teachers. 
 
 Agriculture 
 
 Farm and Ranch, Dallas, Texas. Weekly. Two years, $1.00. 
 The Progressive Farmer, Dallas, Texas. Weekly. $1.00. 
 The Southland Farmer, Houston, Texas. Semi-monthly. 50 cents. 
 The Farmer's Wife, Webb Building, 55-79 E. Tenth St., St. Paul, Minn. 
 
 Semi-monthly. 35 cents. 
 The Breeders Gazette, Sanders Pub. Co., S. Dearborn St., Chicago, 111, 
 
 Weekly. $1.00. 
 
 *The proceeds from a box supper will furnish money for necessary 
 subscriptions. 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 55 
 
 Boys and Girls Magazines 
 
 Boys' Life. Boy Scouts of America, 200 Fifth Ave., N. T. Monthly. $1.00. 
 
 Wohelo, the Campfire Girls Magazine, 461 Fourth Avenue, New York. 
 Monthly. $1.00. 
 
 Youth's Companion, Boston, Mass. \ Weekly. $2.00. 
 
 Bop Patriot. Boy Patriot, Cedar Rapids, la. (Anti-cigarette organ). 
 Monthly. 25 cents. 
 
 Rural Manhood, International Committee of Toung Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation, 124 East Twenty-eighth St., N. Y. Monthly. $1.00. 
 
 The Young Women's Christian Association Monthly. Publication Depart- 
 ment, 600 Lexington Ave., N. Y. $1.00. 
 
 Child Welfare 
 
 Texas Motherhood, Dallas, Texas. Monthly. 75 cents. 
 
 Child Welfare Magazine, Child-Welfare Co., 41 N. Queen Street, Lancaster, 
 Pa. Monthly. $1.00. 
 
 The Mothers Magazine, David C. Cook Pub. Co. (Headquarters for parent- 
 teacher programs), Elgin, 111. Monthly. $1.50. 
 
 Entertainment 
 
 The Drama League. Marquette Building, Chicago, 111. Monthly, except 
 June, July, and August. $1.00. 
 
 General Information and Current Events 
 
 The World's Chronicle. A weekly paper of current events. The Little 
 
 Chronicle Co., 542 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, 111. $1.50. 
 The Independent, 119 West Fortieth Street, New York City, N. Y. The 
 
 Independent Lesson Plans and Outlines for Debate on current topics. 
 
 $3.00. 
 The Literary Digest. Lessons on currents events. Funk and Wagnalls, 
 
 New York City, N. Y. Weekly. $3.00. 
 Lessons in Community and National Life. 5c. single copy; 100 copies, $2.00. 
 U. S. Food Administration, Washington, D. C. Designed for use in 
 public schools. Most valuable for training American citizens today. 
 
 Geography 
 
 National Geographic Magazine. The National Geographic Society, 16th and 
 M Streets, Washington, D. C. Monthly. $2.50. 
 
 Home Economics 
 
 The National Food Magazine. The Pierce Publishing Company, Inc., CooperS- 
 
 town, N. Y. Monthly. $1.00. 
 United States Food Administration Leaflets. U. S. Food Administration 
 
 Department, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Manual Training and Drawing 
 
 School Arts Book. The School- Arts Pub. Co., 120 Boylston St., Boston, 
 
 Mass. Monthly, except July and August. $2.00. 
 Manual Training Magazine. Manual Arts Press, Peoria, 111. Monthly. $1.25. 
 
56 University of Texas Bulletin' 
 
 Nature Study 
 
 Bird Lore. D. Appleton and Company, N. T. $1.00. 
 
 Hampton Leaflets. Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hamp- 
 ton, Va. 
 Cornell Leaflets. Cornell University, Ithaca, N. T. 
 
 Play 
 
 The Playground. Playground and Recreation Association of America, 1 
 Madison Ave., ' New York. Monthly. $2.00. 
 
 i 
 Story-telling 
 
 i 
 The Story Teller's Magazine. Story Tellers Co., 80th Street and 5th Avenue, 
 New York. Monthly, except August. $1.50. 
 (Bound volume of "Story-Teller's," $2.00.) 
 
 Teacher's Magazines 
 
 Texas School Journal. Dallas, Texas. Monthly. $1.25. 
 
 School Board Journal. Milwaukee, Wis. Monthly. $1.50. 
 
 Normal Instructor and Primary Plans, F. A. Owen Publishing Co., Dans- 
 
 ville, N. Y. Monthly. $1.25. 
 Journal of Education, 6 Beacon Street, Boston. Weekly. $2.50. 
 
 (A ^eacher's newspaper, edited by Dr. W. B. Winship.) 
 Primary Education. Educational Publishing Co., Boston, Mass. $1.00. 
 
 Thrift 
 
 Thrift Tidings. Mrs. Sarah Oberholtzer, Phila., Penn. Monthly. 15 cents. 
 
 When the magazines have been read they should be filed, and 
 added to the school library. Elementary book binding can be 
 done in the manual training class. Address Manual Arts Press, 
 Peoria, 111., for books on teaching it. 
 
 "The glory of man's work is the chiefest glory of his life. 
 Selected. 
 
 "I will love, to do my work." 
 
A LIST OF SELECTED AND TRIED ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 For Primary Grades 
 
 1. Christmas Bell Drill* Twelve boys, twelve grils. 15 cents. 
 ' 2. Christmas at Golden Gulch. Six boys, six girls. 15 cents. 
 
 3. Mother Goose's Party. Twenty-eight boys, sixteen or more girls. 25 
 
 cents. 
 
 4. Three Drills and a Farce. By three teachers who have used them. 
 
 30 cents. 
 
 5. The Christmas Stocking Drill. Four, or eight little girls. 50 cents. 
 
 6. Mistress Mary's Garden. Flower exercise for thirteen little girls, two 
 
 little boys. Flower costumes of tissue paper. 15 cents. 
 
 7. The Honest Shoemaker. Characters : Elves, creditors, shoemaker and 
 
 his wife. 15 cents. 
 
 8. Children^' Classics in Dramatic Form. Readers. H. M. 
 
 For Intermediate Grades 
 
 1. American Authors and Their Birthdays. Programs and selections. 15 
 
 cents. H. M. / 
 
 2. A Case of Suspension. Comediata in one act. Six girls, four boys. 
 
 15 cents. 
 
 3. Bess Goes to Europe. 35 cents. 
 
 4. Dramatization of Longfellow's Hiawatha. For school and home. 15 
 
 cents. H. M. 
 
 5. Flora, or the May Queen. Cantata. Easy. 30 cents. O. D. 
 
 6. Ideal Drills. 30 cents. P. P. 
 
 7. Sweet Girl Graduate. Seven girls, four boys. 3€ cents. 
 
 For High Schools 
 
 1. A College Toivn. 25 cents.* 
 
 2. A Box of Monkeys. Two boys, three girls. 15 cents. 
 
 3. Alvin Gray or the Sailor's Return. Rural operetta adapted to ama- 
 
 teurs. Bright music. Given five times to good audiences by one 
 school. 75 cents. W. S. 
 
 4. Every Senior. Morality play in one act. Eight girls. 25 cents. 
 
 5. My Uncle from India. Thirteen boys, four girls. 25 cents. 
 
 6. Men, Maids, and Matchmakers. 25 cents. 
 
 7. Not a Man in the House. Five girls. 
 
 8. Professor Pep. 25 cents. 
 
 9. Rebecca's Triumph. Sixteen girls. 25 cents. 
 
 10. Surprises. Three girls, two boys. 25 cents. 
 
 11. The Man from Brandon. Three boys, four girls. 15 cents. 
 
 12. The Elopement of Ellen. Four boys, three girls. 25 cents. 
 
 13. The Christ Child in Art, Story, and Song. Beautiful Christmas enter- 
 
 tainment. Stories, music, and lantern slides illustrations. C. F. G. 
 Music 35 cents. Story and program, 35 cents. 
 
 *Note : If abbreviation of publisher's name is omitted, address The Eld- 
 rilge Entertainment House, Franklin, Ohio. See pages 59, 60 for key to 
 abbreviations. Get catalogs for further description of plays. 
 
58 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 i 
 
 14. The Great Umbrella Case. Mock trial for fifteen or more boys. 25 
 
 cents. 
 
 15. The Ladies of Cranford. Twelve girls, one little boy. 25 cents. 
 
 16. The Minister's Wife. Story of college girl's prank. 15 cents. Six 
 
 girls. 
 
 17. The Piper's Pay. 25 cents. Seven girls. S. P. 
 
 18. The Teeth of the Gift Horse. Four girls, two boys. 25 cents. S. F. 
 
 19. The School Ma'am. Five girls, six boys. 15 cents. 
 
 2 0. The Pennant. Operetta. Chorus of football players and college girls. 
 $1.00. 
 
 21. Ye Village School of Long Ago. 25 cents. 
 
 22. When a Man's Single. 25 cents. 
 
 Other Sources of Information on Entertainments 
 
 1. See Appendix. 
 
 2. A Guide and Index to Plays, Festivals and Masks. 25 cents. H. B. 
 
 3. Story Plays for Little Players. E. P. C. 
 
 4. Plays for Amateur Acting and Plays for Children. 25 cents. D. L. 
 
 of A. 
 
 5. Festivals and Plays by Percival Chubb and Associates. $2.00. H. B. 
 
 6. Addresses for Dramas and Entertainments: 
 
 1. Houghton, Mifflin Co., N. Y. 
 
 2. Oliver Ditson Co., Boston. 
 
 3. Penn Publishing Co., Phila., Pa. 
 
 4. White-Smith Music Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 5. Clayton F. Sumey Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 6. Samuel French Publishing Co., N. Y. 
 
 7. Harper Brothers, N. Y. 
 
 8. Educational Pub. Co., Boston, Mass. 
 
 9. Drama League of America, Chicago, 111- 
 
 10. Dick'nd Fitzgerald, 18th and Ann Sts., N. Y. 
 
 11. David Cook Pub. Co., Elgin, 111. 
 
 12. Edgar S. Werner & Co., 43 E. 19th St., N. Y. 
 
 13. T. S. Denison & Co., 154 W. Randolph St., Chicago. 
 
 14. Walter H. Baker & Co., 5 Hamilton Place, Boston. 
 
 15. Eldridge Entertainment House, Franklin, Ohio. 
 
 A List of Victrola Records for Folk Games and Dances 
 
 1. Ace of Diamonds. No. 17083. 
 
 2. Bleking. No. 17085. 
 
 3. Carrousel. No. < 17086. 
 
 4. Crested Hen. Tantoli. No. 17159. 
 
 5. Country Dance — Pop Goes the Weasel, Norwegian Mountain March. 
 
 No. 17160. 
 
 6. J See You. Dance of Greeting. No. 17158. 
 
 7. Looby Loo; Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow. No. 17567. 
 
 8. May Pole Dance. Don Juan Minuet. No. 17087. 
 
 9. Tenth Regiment March. No. 18017. 
 
 10. Soldier Boy. Did You, Ever See a Lassie. How Dy'e Do, My Partner. 
 
 The Muffin Man. No. 17568. 
 
 11. Shoemaker's Dance. Klappdans. No. 17084. 
 
 The above records are double-faced, and can be secured at any 
 music store for 75 cents each. Directions for playing games anrl 
 
Beginning and Developing a Rural School 59 
 
 dances, see Elizabeth Burchenal's '-'Folk Dances." $1.50. G, 
 Schrimer & Co., Chicago. Mari Hofer's "Singing Games." 50 
 cents. A. Flanagan, Chicago. 
 
 To Make Bulletins Usable 
 
 Bulletins and clippings will be of little value unless they are 
 classified and filed. A convenient method of arrangement is to 
 group the bulletins according to contents. Write a number on each 
 bulletin. Write alphabetically the general titles of these groups 
 on consecutive pages in a. blank-book. Under each group heading 
 write the specific title and number of each bulletin on that subject. 
 Make a shelf in a convenient part of the room and place upon it 
 the groups of bulletins arranged alphabetically with backs toward 
 the front. Hang the book containing the list near the shelf for 
 convenient reference. The required bulletin with topic whose in- 
 itial is C, for instance, can easily be judged and found. 
 
 A better method is to make or buy cardboard box files. Paste 
 a label on the back of the box, and arrange the files in alphabetic 
 order on library shelves. Size 3 by 10 by 7 inches is preferable. 
 
 Box files can be Obtained from Messrs. Eggers and O'Flyng Com- 
 pany, 15th and Leavenworth Streets, Omaha, Nebraska; H. Schultz 
 Co., Superior and Roberts Streets, Chicago, 111. 
 
 Key to Abbreviations and Addresses of Publishers 
 
 A. C. McC— A. C. McClurg Co., Chicago, 111. 
 A. Fl. — A. Flanagan' Co., Chicago, 111. 
 Amer. — American Book Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 A. P. — Association Press, N. Y. 
 
 B. M. — Bobbs Merrill Co., Indianapolis Ind. 
 
 B. Ed. — Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. 
 
 C. F. S. — Clayton F. Summy, Chicago, 111. 
 C. A. B. — C. A. Bryant Co., Dallas, Texas. 
 
 C. K. S. — Chicago Kindergarden College, Chicago, 111. 
 
 C. P.- — Comstock Publishing Co., Ithaca, N. Y. 
 
 D. L. of A. — Drama League of America, Chicago, 111. 
 
 E. P. C — Educational Pub. Co., Boston, Mass. 
 Ginn. — Ginn & Co., Boston, Mass. 
 
 G. S. — George Schirmer Music Co., Chicago, 111. 
 G. P. P. — G. P. Putnam's Sons, N. Y. 
 
 G. W. J. — George W. Jacobs, Publishers, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 H. B. — Harper Brothers, New York. 
 H. M.- — Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, Mass. 
 L. Ex. In. — Life Extension Institute, N. Y. • 
 
 M. A. C. — Manhattan Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kansas. 
 Mac. — Macmillan Co., N. Y. 
 M. A. P. — Manual Arts Press, Peoria, 111. 
 M. B. — Milton, Bradley Co., Kansas City, Mo. 
 M. E. M. — Missionary Educational Movement, N. Y. 
 M. Y. — Moffat, Yard Co., N. Y. 
 
60 University of Texas Bulletin 
 
 i 
 
 New. — Newson Co., N. T. 
 
 O. D. — Oliver Ditson Co., Boston, Mass. 
 
 O. B. P. — Orville Brewer Publishing- Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 O. S. S. — Office State Supt., Charleston, W. Va. 
 
 P. P. — Penn Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 R. McN. — Rand, McNally Co., N. Y. 
 
 R. P. — Row, Peterson & Co., N. Y. 
 
 R. S. F. — Russell Sage Foundation, N. Y. 
 
 S. B. — Silver, Burdette, and Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 Sc. F. — Scott, Foresman & Co., Chicago. 
 
 Scrib. — Chas. Scribner .& Sons. 
 
 S. F. — Samuel French Publishing Co., N. Y. 
 
 S. W. — Sturgis, Walton & Co., N. Y. 
 
 W. S. — White Smith Music Co., Chicago, 111. 
 
 W. B. — World-Book Co., Dallas, Texas. 
 
 Wiley. — Jno. Wiley & Sons, New York. 
 
 'The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge." — Bible. 
 
 'The greatest of all acquisitions is common sense. 
 
 "Do a little good every day at some cost to yourself." 
 
 "What we do and the way we do it are the determining factors 
 of our lives." 
 
TEACHERS! CAN YOU THINK? THEN THINK OF 
 THESE FACTS. 
 
 1. The supply of cheap teachers is greater than the demand. 
 
 2. The demand for high-priced teachers is far greater than 
 
 the supply. 
 
 3. The army has taken so many good teachers that there has 
 
 never been a time in the .history of Texas when addi- 
 tional education would pay so large a cash dividend. 
 
 4. The University of Texas, during the summer of 1918, will 
 
 run a full three-month quarter divided into two equal 
 terms. The Summer School will begin about the mid- 
 dle of June. 
 
 5. The University Summer Normal will be held during the 
 
 first term of the Summer School. 
 
 )6. A single registration fee of five dollars ($5.00) will entitle 
 you to attend either or both terms of the Summer School, 
 or the Normal. 
 
 7. Courses both elementary and advanced will be given during 
 each summer term by the members of the regular Uni- 
 versity faculty. 
 For information address E. J. Matthews, Registrar, Austin, 
 
 Teas. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 021 731 604 2