fy\*^l pllllllll IIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIilll illllllllllll!lll!lllllll{lilllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllll^ MERSHON'S MODERN RURAL SCHOOL ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS FRED MERSHON COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS SALLISAW. OKLAHOMA 1919 Bllllllllllillllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllilllilllllllllllllll Democrat Print, Sallisaw giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiy I MERSHON'S I I MODERN RURAL | I SCHOOL I ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS This Plan of School is Dedicated to the Boys and Girls of the U. S. A. COPYRIGHTED 1919 BY FRED MERSHON COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS SALLISAW. OKLAHOMA Qllllliiiiilllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll jVi^^A- c^ COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS SALLISAW, OKLAHOMA i£l'':;!i;:!iiiiiiii!iiiiiiii!!iii:ii!i;iiiiiiiiii!ii!ii!ii:;ii!iii;ii!i;!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii;!iiii^^ MAY -2 1919 /vcO \ MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS WHY BOYS LEAVE THE FARM "Why did you leave the farm my lad? Why did you bolt and quit your dad? Why did you beat it off to town, And turn your poor old father down? Thinkers of platform, pulpit, press, Are wallowing in deep distress; They seek to know the hidden cause, Why farmer boys desert their pa's. Some say the silly little chumps, Mistake the suit cards for the trumps. In wagering fi-esh and germless air Against the smoky thoroughfare. We've all agreed the farm's the place. So free the mind and state your case!" "Well stranger since you've been so frank, I'll roll aside the hazy bank. The misty cloud of theories. And show you where the trouble is. I left my dad, his farm, his plow. Because my calf became his cow, I left my dad — 'twas wrong of course, Because my colt became his horse. I left my dad to sow and reap, Because my lamb became his sheep. I dropped my hoe and stuck my fork. Because my pig became his pork. The garden truck that I made grow — 'Twas his to sell and mine to hoe. It is not the smoke in the atmosphere. Nor the taste of life that brought me here. Please tell the platform, the pulpit, press. No fear of toil or love of dress. Is driving off the farmer lads. But just the method of their dads!" —J. EDWARD TUFT. o 5S '^ ^ e » c; 2: o o3 ^ 9 o © e S'3aCniX392A HOVU ^ €• G G» © © e C © ^, s *S Q © © ^ J — ^ € AV/&.1101H onaAj MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS PREFACE The purpose of this little booklet is to give the rural communities a school in line with other advanced thought under the new era now dawning upon the world. The Great World War has taught us many things we never thought of before, and has enabled us to do many things we never believed could be done. In fact, we are entering the most progressive era the world has ever known. Then, why not have our school system keep pace with other modern progress and give to our rural boys and girls a chance to win in life's battle by taking the school to them in their own communities, instead of forcing them to leave home to find the school elsewhere at an expense usually prohibitive, which has always eliminated a large percentage of our rural boys and girls from a chance to even get a practical education I trust you will study this plan carefully and then let me know your honest opinion as to its practicability and adaptibility to the rural commimity. Respectfully yours, FRED MERSHON. County Superintendent of Schools. MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS Six of these schools are being established in Sequoyah County and their success is practically assured on account of the co-operation, the push and energy being put into them by the people living in the districts in which these schools are being constructed. A good many educators have already investigated this plan of school and they are prophesying that it will be the new education for the rural schools throughout the entire country and that it will take its place with other advanced thought in modern civilization brought about through war activities. 00 THE SCHOOL SITE, BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT In every school of this kind, we have purchased a ten acre block of land as near the center of the school district as we could, to locate on a public thoroughfare. We divided this block of land into two parts of six acres and four acres each. The six acre piece is being improved for an experimental school farm. The four acre piece is being laid out into public walks, grass plots, athletic ground and flower beds. Shade trees will be grown wherever needed. In fact the school campus is being arranged systematically in .order to harmonize the entire surroundings. The campus is being made large so as to provide a community park for the citizenship of the school district. We are building from two to four room fire-proof brick buildings on nearly every campus. We are erecting these buildings so as to provide a nice commodious auditorium for community meet- ings. Each auditorium is being provided with a small but modern stage, for the purpose of entertainment. A five or six room modern teacherage is being erected on each campus so as to provide a home for the superintendent of the school. This home is to be made an example for the average farm home and is to be kept in a systematic way so as to impress the child in school with a systematic home. The campus is being kept by the club boys and girls of the school and is being made the beauty spot of the entire community. Properly located on the farm is being erected a small but modern barn, poultry house and poultry yard. These, as you can readily see, will have their educational value also. The farm is being used for teaching scientific farming at first hand. Book agriculture only gives the child the shadow. Experimental agriculture gives the substance, and implants into the mind of the child, not the theory alone but the concrete facts as well, and which will, from personal touch, become a part of the boy and girl and make the thrifty citizen. Among other things, it will teach the child the difference between extensive and intensive farm- ing, a thing so much needed to be thoroughly taught in this western country. This kind of school will give the child a Junior Agricultural College at his very door. Through this school we are giving to the country boy and girl efficient instructors, men and women, especially fitted for a school of this kind. Instead of having to go to some town to complete the foundation upon which a higher education is built, the work is being done at home and in such way as to provide a love for rural life. We are employing our superintendents for these schools for tv.-elve months, with the understanding that if they make good, we will give each of them a three-year contract. They are required to MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS take the proper interest in all teachers' meetings, both state and county, and otherwise keep themselves thoroughly equipped for their educa- tional work. We are placing on each school farm at least two regis- tered gilts, three dozen pure bred chickens, a registered milk cow and from two to five stands of bees. In the course of a few years from the beginning of these schools, we will have placed on every farm in these districts a start of registered hogs and pure bred chickens. This will be done through our club boys and girls without cost to parent or child, letting merit be the key to the plan. We will in due time get into the farm journals with fine hogs and poultry for sale, which will in a fi- nancial way, more than maintain the agricultural features of the school. We will grow about one-half acre of orchard on each school farm in order to properly teach Horticulture to the pupils and have fruit for canning purposes. It takes the orchard to make the ideal farm home. We are using the milk cow for teaching the care and keeping of the home dairy. The club work is in the hands of the superintendent of the school who is an expert in scientific agriculture, which will insure its absolute success. He will see that every phase of the club work is carried cut and every report is properly made, which will definitely) solve the difficulties of getting results from this line of our educational work. The boys and girls of this school will apply the principles taught them by their teachers in the cultivation of the school farm crops to the cultivaticn cf their club plats on their home farms. Through this school will go into the homes of the club boys and girls pure selected farm seeds and the principles of seed selection and better farming, which will aid materially in bringing greater prosperity to every farmer in reach of this kind of education. In fact, this school will be the joy and pride of an educated citizenship. We are co-operating with the Extension Division of the Agricultural Department, Washington, D. C. and the A. & M. College of this State, and will eventually build our equipment and efficiency to the requirement of the Federal Gov- ernment aid for Vocational Training. 00 WAR MADE THE SCHOOL THE SOCIAL CENTER OF THE WHOLE COMMUNITY (Southwest American Editorial Dec. 24th, 1918) Ever since the middle ages great educators have tried to get the school out of its monastic seclusion. Thoughtful writers like John Dewey and William Wirt have told us that the school should have a in every field of human life. War mobilized the schools. It made them a part of the treasury department to sell Thrift Stamps. They joined the medical service! through the Junior Red Cross. They linked every war activity to the family. Domestic science departments taught community canning, preach- ed and practiced food conservation and made clothes for Belgian and French orphans. Vocational classes were fii^st aid in training for service in all the manifold trades of a mechanical war. College staffs mobilized minds and men in a multitude of fields. Laboratories fought poison gas, liquid fire and submarines to such effect that the horrors of Hun science were checkmated everywhere. MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS Scholastic psychology was drafted from its exclusive laboratories and its unintelligible vocabulary and set to the task of choosing non- commissioned officers and aviators. It did the work so well and developed such splendid machinery and methods for selecting men that the world has gained a glimpse of wholly new possibilit'es in finding^ pegs to fit its many-sided industrial, political and social hol?s. War taught us that education is not an affair of youth alone. In teaching millions of adults we learned new and wonderful short cuts to knowledge that will hasten the speed of progress for many peaceful generations. The school plant was used to tell the people all the things we all needed to know to fight effectively for our free institutions. When the school was mobilized along with the farms, the factory,- the family and every other social institution, it learned to march and serve as fellow soldiers with all of these. Like all of these its military experience has changed it forever. Like all of these soldier pals it must now mobilize for the work of improving the society it helped to save. The school will keep on with Thrift Stamps and health work. It will, as the social center of the whole community, continue to offer education to wider and wider classes. It will make use of the new methods of "intensive training" developed in officers' training- camps and wherever a nation's need drove to speed in education fdr war. Its technical departments will continue to draw closer to home and farm and factory until it is a vital indistinguishable part of each. It will apply in peaceful selections of vocations for its students, the lessons learned in picking aviators and officers. Its laboratories will war on disease and incompetence and pov^^rty as they warred on Prussianism. Schools, like men, learn as well as fight in war. PARAGRAPHS OF INTEREST I fully endorse the Consolidated and Union Graded School Plan. They are both a long step in the right direction and add materially to the efficiency of rural school education. Add the principles of my plan to them and you will still increase their efficiency. The topog- raphy and financial status of a county has all to do with consolidation My plan can be used successfully in any school district, whether con- solidated or not, which has as much as $100,000 assessed valuation. I recomm.end the marketing system in all Consclidated Schools that adopt the Modern School Plan. We have two Modern Schools in operation in Ssquoyah county now and have four more in course of construction. We are optimistic as to their success. Every progressive move since time began, was branded as a dream when it first came to light. It had to ride to success over opposition. The club boys and girls of these schools are doing the work on the school farm. They are working under the supervision of the super- intendent of the school and are being paid by the hour for all work done by them. They are being taught the scientific principles of farm- MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS ing while doing the work, which will add materially to their interest in home work. We will install a Home Cannery in each of these schools for the purpose of tak"n,c-- care of the fruit and vegetables grown on the farm. The canning club will take care of this part of the work and will there- by he taur?t the scientific principles of di'ying, canning and preserv- ing fruits and vegetables. ike homes of the children of thes'e schools will not be robbed of time needed by them. This phase of the matter can easily be handled by the superintendent and patrons of the school. Co-operation of the right kind will solve the problem. A complete set of records are being kept by the superintendent of each of these schools, showing every item of expense and income of the school farm including all live stock and poultry. The principles of keeping these records are being taught the pupils of each school. Every dollar produced on the school farm through crops or other- wise, will be placed to the credit of the school for the purpose of im- proving and maintaining the agricultural featui"es of the school. Every superintendent of each of these schools is being paid a good salary and is being furnished a nice modern home to live in while in charge of the school. They are not allowed any part or parcel of the financial income of the school. Beware of the would-be superintendent who tries to make you believe that you must contract your school on the "fifty-fifty' plan or some other partnership plan in order to make it a success. He ie not looking after the best interests of your school, he is looking after his bank account. Any honest man will be satisfied with an honest sal- ary and will do honest, efficient work for the salary. You will find a man now and then who will object to his boy doing work on the school farm. If you will look this man up, you will find that his boy doesn't work on anybody's farm. He is raising him to be an idler and a scab on society. Just any old school is a failure without the co-operation of its patrons. This plan of school will work beautifully if the patrons of the district want it to. Don't you think it is tim.e to quit making the rural school the dumping ground for inferior teachers? The present war has taught us that our school system is not as efficient as it ought to be. Let's create a system on the basis of what the world demands today, prac- tical efficiency. Each superintendent will be required to hold regular meetings of his club boys and girls during the school vacation in order to keep up the prcper interest in 11 e agricultural features of the school. The club boys and girls ar3 v/orking jointly with the superintend- ent and teachers of each of these schools in making the campus a real community park. A superintendent who will not take pride in the keeping of the live stock, poultry and baes on the school farm is not a safe man for the job. The man who will kick the most against taxes to maintain a school of this kind is the fellovv- who dcrsn't pay any taxes. He usually has from three to nine children of school age. A real good school is deep at any price. A sorry one is an MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS injury to the district. Which will you have? In time of war our schools can do any kind of work, and do it successfully. Why not in time of peace ? A school district that is financially able to install a school of this kind, is able to stock it with live stock and poultry.. Don't do any partnership business. Pay the superintendent and all other teachers a straight salary and stop at that. If the shcool produces a profit, it belongs to the school. Oklahoma is a farming state, filled up with farmer boys and girls. Then why not give them a farmer school ? If the buildings in your school district is adequate for school purposes, you can convert your school into a Modern School by enlarg- ing and improving the campus, putting in a six acre school farm, erect- ing a modern teacherage, a small but modei'n barn, a modern poultry house and yard, purchasing the required number of live stock and poultry, and complying with all other requirements for a school of this kind. An electric light plant and water works can be installed in a school of this kind at a comparatively small cost, which will add. materially to the convenience and sanitation of the school. If you cannot add all the conveniences in building a school of this kind, begin with a part of them and add the others as you can. I don't mean to leave the impression that evei'y school established on this plan will be a high school, but I do mean to say, however, that many of them will soon develop into accredited high schools. An efficient common school is far better than a sorry one. How would you enjoy taking your family and dinner basket some bright spring morning and spend a day with the children and teachers in a school where you can rest in the shade of beautiful trees on a verdant meadow, where you can inhale the fragrance of sweet smelling flowers, in a community park made and maintained by the girls and boys of the school ? Then take a stroll through the school farm crops, stopping on your way at the barn and poultry yard where you can gaze upon pure bred hogs and poultry, belonging to the school ? After having enjoyed a bountiful repast with the children, teachers, neighbors and friends, spend a few hours in a magnificent school building, equip- ped with every thing necessary for a successful school, watching the sparkling eyes of the young Americans and listening to their melodious voices while singing some of the patriotic airs of to-doy's chivalry and hear read and spoken, among other things, some of the speeches of Washington, Lincoln and Wilson ? Or would you prefer visiting the little lone school house on the hill, without a sbada tree, a grass plot or a sweet smelling rose and spend a few hours ins'do its naked walls and crowded condition with scari'ed and broken furniture and broken windows? Do you think the children's eyes would sparkle as bright and their voices be as mellow as those in the Modern School ? Do you think the difference in the two schools is worth the difference in the price of building and maintaining them, when th? future of your child depends upon its surroundings and its education ? Do you know of any better way of investing your money than to put it into a Modern School and give to ycur child an even break in its preparation for life's journey ? MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE STATES RELATION SERVICE Washington, D. C. December, 5, 1918. Mr. Fred Ingram, County Agent, Sallisaw, Oklahom.a. Dear Mr. Ingram :- I have your letter of November 27 with an outlined plan of school sites as community centers for your county. Frankly, I think any plan which will rive the schools a sufficient area and support and which will make them truly centers for more than mere school activities is an admirable plan. 1 have been saying for the last eight or nine years that the ideal county organization consists in community organizations of farmers and their families and then elected delegates from the community organisation to a county central organization. We have many counties now in West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas and other states where this ideal is being closely appi-oximated but, however, not any of them have the added advantage of a school so organized as to become a real center of interest in the community. Such an organization and such a school would add greatly to the happiness and the profit of the people. The future of agriculture lies in good broad-minded organiza- tions for real mutual help. With kindest regards, I remain. Very truly yours, BRADFORD KNAPP, Chief. January 23rd, 1919. Mr. Fred Mcrshon, County Supt. of Schools, Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Dear Sir;- I just received your booklet on "Mershon's Modern Rural School.'' You are to be commended on the interest you are taking in the rural schools. They are the most neglected schools in our country. I ap- preciate your sending me the pamphlet. Very truly yours. Professor of Agronomy& Agronomist, A. & M. College, Stilwater, Okla. Washington, D. C. January 24th, 1919. Mr. Fred Mershcn, County Sup't. of Schools, Call] saw, Oklahoma. My Dear Mr. Mershcn :- I am in receipt of your booklet, "Mershon's Modern Rural School,'" and am highly impressed with the plans and ideas advanced therein It is certainly a long step in the right direction and I feel sure it will prove a great success. MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS Oklahoma has the climate and soil necessary for high development along agricultural lines. I know it is only a question of time until we see our state rank well among the leading agj'icultu^-al states of the Union. I am deeply interested in farming and farmers and nothing pleases me more than to see a movement of this kind started. With best wishes and kindest personal regards, I am, Sincerely yours, W. W. HASTINGS, Member of Congress. Wagoner, Okla., February 1st, 1919. Mr. Fred Mershon, Sallisaw, Oklahoma. • Dear Sir:- I have just finished reading your plan of "Modern Rural School" and must say that I think it an excellent one. The school Site, Building and Equipment are very concrete and practical, as well, the "Paragraphs of Interest ' are very suggestive. I heartily agree with you in every detail and feel sure that in a short time there will be a great stride forward in the communities where these schools are located. The Extension Division will be glad to co-operate with you in the fullest, I am sure, and your County Agent is very fortunate in having such progressive Educational Officials with whom to work. Thanking you for the copy of "Modern Rural School" and assuring you that I shall be glad ot co-operate in your great work any time that I can, I am. Yours for better schools and better boys and girls, C. M. HUBBARD, County Agent, Wagoner County. Nowata, Okla., February 1st, 1919. Hon. Fred Mershon, Sallisaw, Oklahoma., Dear Sir:- I received your booklet, "Mershon's Modern Rural School". I con- gratulate you on this achievement! I am mighty glad you finally got the vision and are putting in into practical use. Your friend, H. M. WOLVERTON, Covmty Agent; Nowata County. Newkirk, Okla., February 4th, 1919. Sup't. Fred Mershon, Sallisaw, Okla. Dear Mr. Mershon:- * • I wish you could spare me one dozen of Mershon's Modern Rural school booklets. I have one sent me by State Superintendent Mr. Duke. MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS Several persons have seen this book and are asking for copies. If these books ai'e not free please give me pi-ice of same. Yours very truly, A. D. KERSEY, County Superintendent of Schools, Kay, County. Bathgate, North Dakota, Feb. 6th, 1919. Sup"t. Fred Mershon, Sallisaw, Okla. Dear Mr. Mershon :- I have at hand your plan on Modern Rural Schools and with respect to this plan of school, I must say, it is the best with which I have ever come in contact. Yours for a better educational system, PAUL A. MILLER, A. B. Oklahoma City, Okla., Feb. 12th, 1919. Mr. Fred Mershon, Sallisaw, Okla. Dear Mr. Mershon :- I have your favor of recent date, enclosing copy of prospectus of your Modern Rural School, for which please accept thanks. I shall take pleasure in looking through the little booklet, and believe that you have contributed something of great value to our public school system. Again thanking you for the favor, I am, Yours very truly, J. ELMER THOMAS, Member, Oklahoma State Senate. TENNESSEE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL J. H. Bayer, Supt. Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 19th, 1919. Hon. Luther Kyle, County Attorney, Sallisaw, Okla. My Dear Mr. Kyle:- I was indeed pleased to receive a copy of "Mershon's Moderin Rural Schools" and I M-as delighted with the scheme. I note with pleasure the expressions of appreciation for the assistance you ren- dei-ed, which I am sure was of the old time standard— the best there is. With every assurance of interest, I am as always, Most truly yours, J. H. BAYER, Superintendent. Ninnekah, Okla., Feb. 20th, 1919 Hon. Fred Mershon, Sallisaw, Okla. Dear Mr. Mershon :- I am in possession of your valuable little booklet forwarded to me MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS by my brother from Warner, Okla. I am indeed very much interested in your plan. Time will prove that you are pioneering the greatest movement of the age. This is no rash statement but one made advisedly after many years study on rural problems. When a member of the State Senate I helprd secure the first State Aid for Union Graded and Rural Consolidated Schools. As President of district agricultural schools and as superintendent of sevei'al con- solidated schools; I have had a considerable observation on this line. Yours for rural advancement, GEO. A. COFFEY. STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE President's Office Oklahoma City, February 28th, 1919. Mr. Fred Mershon, County Superintendent, Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. 1 have read with very much interest, your little booklet on the "Modern Rural School." I certainly think you have made a great step in the right direction and it will always give me pleasure to co-operate and assist you in any way that I can to advance this practical and "balanced ration" method of education. While I have no desire to take away from the farm boy or girl, the desires for a higher education, especially that that deals with chaste and correct English, the ability to read, speak and write correctly; balance this with the great practical plan of being able to produce, construct and develop the things about them. I would be very glad to have you call on me some time when you are in the city that I may get better acquainted with your plan. Thanking you for the great interest you have taken in this line of education, I am. Very truly yours, J. A. WHITEHURST, President. Stilwell, Okla., March 3rd, 1919. Mr. Fred Mershon, Sallisaw, Okla. Dear Sir:- Our County Superintendent called my attention to your pr^positi-^n on schools, and asked my opinion on the system. I am glad to say, that I see much good that could come out of them, and certainly hope that you succeed with your plans, Sincerely yours, W. M. MOBERLY, Emergency Demonstration Agent. MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS SUCCESSFUL FARMING Des Moines, Iowa, March 3rd, 1919. Fred Mershon, County Superintendent of Schools, Sallisaw, Okla. \ Dear Sir:- I have read your school plan with a great deal of interest. You have the right idea. I can see that you are following the suggestions of the Federal Bureau of Education. I see nothing in it to criticise. It seems to me you might make the appeal stronger if some of the startling facts of rural education are brought home to the people. Yours very truly, SUCCESSFUL FARMING, Alson Secor, Editor Whereas, we the teachers and school officers of Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, in convention assembled, realize that the greatest war in the history of the world has been brought to a successful close, by the nations that stand for Democracy and the freedom of mankind. During this war, we learned from actual experience many things that will go toward bettering the conditions of the human family in the reconstruc- tion of the affairs of the nation. We believe the time is ripe for a better and more practical school system. A system that will give to the boys and girls of this country a chance to fulfill some important mission in life. Our noble County Superintendent of Schools, Hon. Fred Mershon, who has worked so faithfully for the betterment of school conditions of this county and who has worked out a plan by which the rural boys and girls can secure a practical education, is entitled not only to the recognition of the people of Sequoyah County and the State of Oklahoma but is entitled to this recognition by the people of every state in the Union. His plan is simple and practical. Since so small a number of the elementary and high school pupils enter the colleges and universities, it becomes necessary that they receive such education in the elementary schools that will fit them for the most efficient public life. The community pays for the educational system and should, in return, demand something that will be of value in a vocational or an industrial way as well as in an intellectual or classi- cal way. The public is just beginning to realize that they have been receiving nothing of this nature for their outlay. When they fully comprehend the value of a practical education, such as outlined in "Mershons Modern Rural School," schools of this type will be the general instead of the exceptional. To show our appreciation of Sup't. Mershon's efforts as a school man in this County and of his Modern Rural School, we hereby place our endorsement upon this great and practical plan of school, known as "Mershon's Modern Rural School," and recommend it to every rural community not only in the State of Oklahoma but every state in the Union. To Sup't Fred Mershon, for all the good work he has done for the schools of the county in the pa.st, we wish to express our hearty appre- MODERN RURAL SCHOOLS ciation and endorsement, and wish him continued success in all his future undertakings. We the members of the Sequoyah County Teachers' and School Officers' Association, ask that a copy of these resolutions be filed with the County Superintendent and a copy be sent to the various papers of the county for publication. Signed: I. L. GEORGE, A. P. BENNETT, E. E. SUMAN. Sallisaw, Okla., March 29th, 1919. CONCLUSION In corclision, I desire to thank Hon. Luther Kyle, our County Attorney, and Hon. Fred Ingram, our County Agent, for some splendid suggestions given in working out this plan of school. I am also very greatful to Prof. James A. Wilson, Director of Extension Work of the A. & M. College of this state for some good suggestions from which we benefited materially. I further desire to express my appreciation of the splendid letter of commendation of my plan by Doctor Bradford Knapp, Washington, D. C, Chief Director of Extension Work in the South, which you will find reproduced in this little booklet. This letter was written to Mr. Ingram in response to a copy of this plan of school sent him by Mr. Ingram for inspection. In looking through this little booklet you will find an editorial of the South West Ameri- can, Vvl-'ch I pm sure v. ill be interesting to you. It very beautifully portrays the same general line of thought that I have been trying to give you, applied to our rural schools. I trust that ere another year passes by, many more will place their stamp of appi'oval on this plan of school and thus give it a chance to prove its worth to the rural boy and girl. If it succeeds, it v ill be through the co-operation of the patrons of the school, properly backed up by the County Superintendent and the School Boards. If it fails, it will be through the lack of co- operation on the part of the patrons and others having to do with the management of the schools. Tchools are largely what e :nake them. I hope you will examine this plan of school carefully, and frankly tell me what you think of it. The plan is brand new and no diubt will be improved upon from time to time until it i3 made more perfect. I respectfully invite criticism and trust you will not hesitate for one minute to give your opinion of its adaptibility and practicability to rural and village schools. Most respectfully yours, FRED MERSHON, County Sup't of Schools Sallisaw, Okla. LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS V