The gazette-times., April 22, 1915, HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION, Page 11, Image 17

( : HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
11
One County School That Woke Up
REGARDLESS of how it may here be
told, this is a big story, told In the
Spokesman-Review. It relates how
a lonely little schoolhouse, partly sub
merged In Whitman County's tide of
growing wheat half the year, was de
veloped Into a lively center of community
Interest and genuine social enjoyment.
There is considerably more in It than that
when account Is taken of new ideas and
aspirations awakened, home possibilities
uncovered and unused faculties brought
Into play.
The contrast offered Is that between
a small uninviting building occupied
some of the time by a few-children as a
matter of routine, and an Institution In
which all the district inhabitants, young
and old, find pleasure aud pride of pos
session. If this statement correctly conveys the
community center objective, Kenova
school is an unmistakable guidepost to
the new era in farm life.
New Teacher Asked Questions.
N.'V. Rowe took charge of the school
In September, 1913. It was then a frame
building measuring 16 by 32 feet, three
and a half miles west of Pine City. He
began at once to inquire as to social ac
tivities and possibilities and discovered a
barren prospect in those particulars.
Little of the kind had occurred to any
body for years, despite the fact that the
district contained more young people than
the average community. They had fall
en Into the rut of tanch life in which the
year offers Just two events sowing and
harvest both of which are widely sep
arated and are mainly suggestive of hard
work.
But the new teacher was the kind who
recognized that miles of grain can be per
mitted to become as monotonous as the
same area of dry sand and that there Is
one kind of starvation common to both.
He began to look Into the situation and
likewise to stir It up.
Started With Sunday School.
It proved to be a case of oversight
merely, for plenty of parents were found
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who recognized the value of keeping the
young people In their home community,
especially on Sundays. The new -teacher
founded a Sunday school as an introduc
tion and took the post of superintendent.
It is still thriving.
When the district term began Mr. Rowe
again prospected for pleasure spots to
scatter through the season and the pro
posal of a rural school fair was the re
sult. The children, of course, were given
full sway In the planning and you can
imagine how the youth of the very first
farming counties on earth entered into
the project. They not only organized a
fair, but they advertised it broadcast with
posters in the language of people con
fident that they had something to exhibit.
In the heat of their publicity campaign a
spirit of wholesome local pride was re
vived that brought grown folks as well as
children and young people under Its Im
pulse. They Bought a Cookhouse.
You can't call folks in the country to
gether without figuring that somebody
Is likely to get hungry and Kenova school
prepared for that. They moved a cook
house upon the grounds. Now a cook
house fails to compare in several respects
with Davenport's, but it is" organized to
feed harvest hands and any function like
a fair is not going to disrupt Its serenity
noticeably If properly operated. The folks
didn't have to go without lunch.
They also bad something to listen to,
for speakers were present from state and
county departments of education, Cheney
Normal and the Washington State Col
lege. Everybody had a good time and It
was a great day for District No. 131, es
pecially for the little folks who had
worked and puzzled to make It so. They
bad no money on hand when the fair
opened but their efforts were rewarded
by the distribution of nearly $40 in cash
prizes before It closed.
Raising Funds.
Every cent of expense incurred was
paid before January 1, together with $10
for incidentals and $20 for the purchase
of library books. Funds were raised
partly by subscription and partly from
basket socials, which latter also paid
dividends of more fun and closer friendly
acquaintance. The result waa a general
demand for a public Christmas tree,
something they hadn't had in the com
munity for ten years. The Sunday school
responded and packed the little school
house. They took up a collection and
sent the proceeds to the children's home
society.
No sooner were the holidays ended
than Inquiry arose as to what they should
have for January. A poulty show was
the answer, and the school gave one to
crow over. Lacking room In the build
ing, the older boys procured a large tent,
In which the birds were shown. That was
also advertised as "a school show that's
different," and "you miss it If you miss
it." Another of those grand old country
lunches crowned the happiness of the
occasion.
Then a New Schoolhouse.
Folk for as far around as you would
care to drive were now thinking and
talking of the little schoolhouse and the
diversion It offered them. They began to
figure that If a little of It was good, more
would be better. The board, consisting
of John Bach, Sr., chairman; Josiah Ed
wards, secretary, and L. D. Addington,
also went to figuring, and before the end
of that January the district was bonded .
for $3500 for a new school building.
The organization of Kenova Grange
followed shortly, which opened the way
for more lunches and social gatherings
as the Grange met in the schoolhouse. In
that country plenty of the best there is
to eat is readily forthcoming on slight
'provocation and there Is no known meth
od of making the provocations too num
erous to be appreciated, once you get
those Whitman County cooks started.
Outsiders Take Xotice.
By this time Kenova had begun to raise
a ripple out in the world. They held a
community center meeting, which Jose
phine Freston, State Superintendent, and
Katherlno Montgomery, of the Belling
ham Normal, came from the coast to at-,
tend. Likewise everybody had plenty to
eat on that occasion, as they have had
on every other here enumerated.
When school closed the classes put on
their visiting clothes and held a joint
picnic with two other schools. This was
in the deep green growing season, when
the finest privilege anyone can usk is sim
ply that of being outdoors. But a boy or
girl can't get the full value of it around
the house or at work instead of letting
loose at a regular picnic once In a while.
On September 26 of this year Kenova
held its second fair under the following
statement of purposes:
"To boost for our school and commun-'
Ity, to help the boys and girls to take a
greater Interest in the possibilities of
farm life; to encourage them to do things"
for themselves; to encourage true home
building; to cultivate among the grown
ups a get-together spirit, so essential to
the progress and welfare of every wide
awake community."
"Crank up and come," was the advlc
they offered Id their advertising and it
wasn't wasted. They offered special
prizes, the practicability of which is in
dicated In the following samples:
Best and most attractive parcel post
package containing at least three kinds
of farm produce.
Best basket of two dozen eggs consid
ering shape, weight, uniformity and
color.
Best two or three ears of corn on a
single stalk.
Then they auctioned the prize exhibits
to the highest bidder.
They had a programme of sports, one
of the events being a test of how rapidly
and accurately men could measure
clothesline. The girls and women had
a tug-of-war that was a classic. Among
the parade prizes was one for the most
beautifully decorated automobile and
right with it another for the best saddle
horse. As an item of interest from the
wheat country it Is likely that more au
tomobiles than saddle horses were as
sembled at the fair.
The education features were as promi
nent as before, with speakers on the pro-,
gramme from the state's advanced insti
tutions. . By this time they had the new school
house, a white brick veneer building,
plastered Inside, with a 36 by 40-foot
basement. The two main rooms have
the rich appearance given by light tan
and cream tints. In addition to a class
room, the school has a library and a
manual training department. It com
mands the advantages of a branch station
for the state traveling library.
Grange Hall Open to All.
In the basement of the new building
the Kenova Grange has its home, and
the same apartment furnishes a hand
some place for all public meetings of the
community. A new piano occupies a
place on the platform, there are 10 bur
lap curtains on the windows, and com
fortable seats await everybody, due to
the care and foresight of the grange in
furnishing the hall.
In the manual training department the
girls are as energetically engaged as the
boys. Mrs. Rowe gives them practical
instruction in needlework and operation
of the sewing machine. They make
dresses, aprons, handkerchiefs, shopping
bags, embroidered lingerie and numerous
other articles it pays womenfolk, big and
little, to know about. Mrs. Rowe was
busy with them all last year, and the
character of her achievement has at
tracted general attention.
Although,.the boys got a later start in
their branches of special training, they
are showing amazing results. In order
to avoid interference with regular les
sons they began the manual course at
8:30, the time when city youngsters are
getting ready to start to school. They
work until 9:15, when lessons begin, and
on Saturday they have the teacher's time
and use of the tools until 10:30. They
also receive training in drawing and
drafting.
Old House I'tilized.
With all that the old schoolhouse Is
not abandoned. The teacher and family
are living in it and the building is to be
remodeled into a cottage.
And that Is the record of a school for
a single year with but one teacher, aided
by his wife. Beyond what has been ac
complished other new ideas will be tried
out as they develop values. Officers and
patrons of the district modestly believe
they have done something worth while
and that the extra effort has been en
tirely justified.
To the readiness of a majority of pa
trons In helping the work along and the
untiring persistence of members of the
board Mr. Rowe credits results exempli
fied in the new building and its excellent
equipment. They say the rest of it de
pends upon the teacher with grit enough
to tackle big, new departures and will
ingness to stay on the job continuously in
order to keep things moving. Altogether
they have put a new and alluding aspect
upon the daily affairs of the community.
Daisy T. Busbey, School Superintend
ent of Whitman Comity, said no district
in the state can show a better record of
actual achievement than this made by
what used to be the little frame school
house by the roadside at Kenova.
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