This topic involves two preliminary questions and two main questions. The preliminary questions are, What is meant by “athletics”? and, What is meant by “college”? The main questions are, What is the place which athletics should occupy in college work? and, What kinds of athletics are best adapted to accomplish this purpose?
The term “athletics” is commonly understood to mean outdoor sports, games, and exercises, as distinguished from gymnastics, or those exercises which are conducted within the gymnasium. To this meaning the discussion will adhere.
The only question about the meaning of the term “college” in the topic grows out of the fact that this Association is composed entirely of Christian denominational colleges. The men present to-day are Christian men, the representatives of these Christian colleges; hence it would seem to be hardly worth our while to discuss the place of athletics in secular or State colleges. I therefore understand the term as referring to Christian colleges; and from this standpoint shall proceed to the discussion of the first of the main questions, restated as follows:—
What is the place of outdoor games and exercises in a Christian college?
Place refers to rank or importance or appropriateness of related objects. What place, for example, should Bible study have in a Christian college?—A very high place indeed. The Bible is the handbook of Christianity, and hence its place would be found in the front rank of studies in a Christian college. What place should the study of agriculture have in such a college?—Clearly it would not be out of place. Indeed, it is deserving of a higher place than it has; for not only are its study and practise in harmony with Christianity, but they can be shown to be conducive to the growth of the principles of Christianity. However, no one would think of according to agriculture as high a place as to the Bible in the curriculum of a Christian college. What place should the study and practise of gambling have in a Christian college?—None whatever. Gambling is subversive of the aims of Christianity, and would be entirely out of place in a Christian college.
Similarly, we must ascertain the place of athletics in the work of a Christian college. Is that place in the front rank as becoming a matter of greatest importance? Is it subordinate, as something in harmony with the aims of a Christian college and helpful in reaching those aims? Or are athletic games entirely out of keeping with the work of a Christian college? The only way of reaching a satisfactory answer to these questions is by considering the aims and purposes of a Christian college, and noting whether athletics are in harmony with such aims and purposes and adapted to their promotion.
A Christian college is a place where men go to obtain a general summary of the world’s knowledge, to learn how to interpret this knowledge in the light of the teachings of Jesus Christ, and to prepare to use in the world’s work the knowledge thus gained as the great Founder of the Christian religion would do if he were in their place. Christian colleges should not pattern after the colleges of the world. They have a mission peculiarly their own; viz., to stem the tide of worldliness and commercialism, which at present threatens to sweep everything before it, and to hold aloft the banner of Christian principles, in following which is found the world’s only hope of salvation. Anything adapted in its nature, and shown by experience, to be good for promoting Christian principles should be welcomed to a large place in such a college. How stands the case with athletics?
One of the fundamental principles of Christianity is this, that the body, as the instrument of the soul and the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit, should be kept as free from defilement and as perfect in health as possible. This principle is thus stated: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Rom. 12: 1. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Cor. 3: 16, 17. “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6: 19, 20.
It is clear, therefore, that anything which promises to promote the health of the body and to develop and build up its various organs is entitled to a place in the work of a Christian college. Now the practise of athletics makes this very promise, and with large show of fulfilment. It calls the student out of stuffy rooms into the open air, floods his lungs with life-giving oxygen, sweeps the poisonous gases from his blood, and sends him back to his books with mind invigorated for its work. It gives exercise to his muscles, develops strength, courage, and endurance, cultivates accuracy and skill in the use of his members, and, in short, prepares the body to become the ready and efficient instrument of the mind. All these results are conducive to the growth of Christian character and the practise of Christian principles, and hence that which produces them should have an honorable place in a Christian college.
But that place should be a subordinate one. There are matters more important than the cultivation of the bodily powers. The soul powers are more important than those of the body. As Watts replied when the queen asked in disappointed surprise, “Is this the great Dr. Watts?”—
“Were I so tall to reach the pole,
Or mete the ocean with my span,
I must be measured by my soul,
The mind’s the measure of the man.”
It is important to cultivate the powers of the body, but it is more important to develop the powers of the soul. By athletic exercises the body may be made strong to subvert the principles of Christianity. Whether the cultivation of the bodily25powers is a blessing or a curse depends upon the mental and moral powers which control the body for good or ill. Clearly, then, the place of athletics in a Christian college is subordinate to the main work of such a college.
This conclusion would not seem worth stating if it were not for the fact that athletics sometimes seem to occupy a more prominent place than morals, judging by the attention they receive and the excitement they occasion. How large a place should athletics occupy in college life? This is a difficult question to answer. Before attempting to do so, it may be well to consider some of the dangers growing out of the practise of athletics. It was President Roosevelt who said that “athletic sports, if followed properly, . . . are admirable for developing character.” But what if they are not followed properly? What if, for example, they are followed so immoderately as to injure the body? What if they absorb so much of the student’s time and strength as to leave little of either for his lessons? What if they develop so great a desire for the mastery that foul means for winning are used, as well as fair? What if in the pursuit of athletics the passions are so aroused that life and limb are in jeopardy, and games of strength and skill become slugging matches? What if they become the occasion of regular betting? What if limbs are broken and scores of lives are annually sacrificed in the worship of athletics? That these evils are well-nigh inherent in the system as commonly followed is evident from their prevalence in spite of public sentiment and the efforts of colleges to allay them. But these evils are contrary to the principles of Christianity and subversive to the end of a Christian college. Unless they can be cured, the place of athletics in a Christian college is small indeed. If I were asked to define it, I would say: A place large enough to secure the advantages of open-air games, but small enough to exclude the evils that have been mentioned. What this place is will appear more clearly in the discussion of the final question, What kinds of athletics are appropriate in a Christian college?
Here men will differ in judgment, according to their conception of a Christian college and their perception of the fitness of things. I shall therefore content myself with noting three classes of athletic games, and expressing my opinion merely as to what place they should occupy in a Christian college:—
First, those games which furnish good exercise, call forth only gentle rivalry, and do not commonly have evils connected with them; such as, walking, rowing, running, swimming, skating, jumping, vaulting, and bicycling. These I would accord a place in a Christian college, as being likely to do good and not harm.
Second, those games played in teams, where the rivalry is more pronounced, but still friendly and not rising to the point of ill feeling, and where the danger from accident and overexertion is comparatively small. Here I would mention baseball, basket-ball, tennis, lacross, quoits, and tug of war. These I would admit, but would safeguard them by prohibiting match games, which are liable to arouse ill feeling and stimulate to overexertion.
Third, three very popular amusements—football, boxing, wrestling—I would exclude entirely, as tending to develop the same characteristics as did the games of ancient Rome; namely, love of domination, pride in mere brute force, and disregard of life. It will be observed that in these games the strength and skill of each actor is exerted largely upon the person of his antagonist, which is doubtless the reason why these games have a strong tendency to arouse ill feeling.
It should not be forgotten that “the tendency of most athletic sports is a subject of anxious thought to those who have at heart the well-being of the youth. Teachers are troubled as they consider their influence on the students’ progress in school. Frequently they are carried to excess. Their influence does not always tend toward refinement, generosity, or real manliness. They stimulate the love of pleasure and excitement, and thus foster a distaste for useful labor and a disposition to shun practical duties and responsibilities. They tend to destroy a relish for life’s sober realities and its tranquil enjoyments, thus opening the door to dissipation and lawlessness.” Hence I may be pardoned, in conclusion, for calling attention to some nearly obsolete forms of athletics known as plowing, hoeing, digging, pitching, spading, sowing, planting, pruning, reaping, etc. It is true that this suggestion is like the doctor’s prescription, between the lines of which his patient thought he could read the word “work;” but nevertheless, if carried out, it might solve some of the perplexing problems which now surround the question of athletics. If our Christian colleges had farms and extensive gardens to cultivate, the students would be interested in these forms of recreation, and would not only receive the benefits of fresh air, pleasant exercise, and genial sunshine, but would be impressed with the dignity of labor, and would learn the great lesson that all creatures have a part to act in the economy of God.
C. C. LEWIS.
The Importance of Industrial Training in Our Schools
By Florence Howell
(Concluded)
SINCE knowledge is so broad, and life is so short, it is impossible for us to learn everything. And one of the first things to do is to choose the certain branches of knowledge that are of most importance and value to us. For instance, one may learn the distance between every town and hamlet in England, and this knowledge might be useful to him sometime, if he were ever so fortunate as to travel through that country. But is there any proportion between the time spent in memorizing these facts and the value of the knowledge thus gained? The question is not whether it is knowledge, but whether that knowledge has intrinsic value to us.
Is not an acquaintance with the industrial side of knowledge of intrinsic value to us as a people? If so, it should be listed in our curriculum. But you say these things can be taught at home and thus save the school hours: but can they be taught at home? Is it not true that the work done in the home very often is governed by the necessity of the case without any regard to its suitableness to the age of the child or his previous knowledge and drill? And we know that order is a time-saver in educational lines as well as in others. Isolated facts are not easily remembered. We learn everything in connection with what we have known before, and this spasmodic method of learning is certainly not the easiest nor by any means the best method to follow. The perfect educational system is the one that fits us for life, says Herbert Spencer. Then do we need industrial training in our schools?
In order that the physical welfare of our people as a whole and the different families, as individuals, may be insured, the children in our schools must be obtaining knowledge along these lines. “The proper cooking of food is a most essential acquirement, especially where meat is not made the staple article of diet. Something must be prepared to take the place of meat, and these foods must be well prepared, so that the meat will not be desired.”—“Special Testimonies.”
Our children must learn the composition of various food substances before they can combine them to the best advantage to supply all the needs of the body. A professor in a university, being asked by a class in psychology, “What one thing has the most to do with the production of a strong mental condition?” unhesitatingly replied, “A good supply of pure blood to meet all the requirements of the brain,” thus emphasizing the fact that the best physical condition is necessary to the greatest mental growth, and I might add spiritual growth as well.
They must learn the elements of botany, that they may choose intelligently the substances used for food, and of zoology, that they may battle against the disease germs, and by knowledge of sanitation reduce the danger from these enemies of the human race to a minimum. They must not be ignorant of the subject of physics, and be helpless before the plumbing, the range, and the other mechanical devices of a kitchen. A fair knowledge of physiology and simple treatments is of vital importance; but this subject is so broad and, I am glad to say, well known that I will not enter into a discussion of it. These subjects are not subjects for high schools and colleges only. In their entirety they are, but the principles are simple enough, commonplace enough, and necessary enough to come into our church-schools.
The children may be taught that any work ignorantly or carelessly done is degrading and displeasing to our Great Teacher.
By means of industrial work the teacher has an excellent opportunity to teach tidiness, cleanliness, patience, consideration for others, prompt obedience to directions, and the gentle art of hospitality. Personal prejudices against some kinds of work are overcome.
Manual art is not to be despised. The love for the beautiful needs to be developed among us. A desire for beautiful things is not wrong. God himself is the author of beauty, and when the creation was finished, and God pronounced it good, he felt that satisfaction which we feel (only ours is in a lesser degree) when things are as they should be. This is beauty. We have left it too much out of our lives.
Articles of hand work have much value in eye and hand training. The development of accurate work is very much needed, and the making of these articles26is one of the best ways to develop this accuracy. These things need not be ornamental merely; they should be useful, and this will lead directly to the making of larger articles of furniture. What shall we do with industrial training?
FLORENCE HOWELL.
Why We Should Study Literature
By Robert A. Beckner
WHY should we study literature?—Because by the study of the literature of a nation we become acquainted with the best thought of the best minds, and we have brought to our notice the highest ideals and the noblest motives of that nation’s noblest minds. By beholding we become changed; and by constant association with that which is high and noble, we acquire a distaste for that which is coarse and unworthy, and turn from it as we would from base, or low, associations.
The study of the lives of writers is not always beneficial; for they can never rise above their ideals, and often fall far below them. The knowledge of this could only detract from the good that is in their writings. We want the best that an author can give. “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise; think on these things.”
All true wisdom comes from God, either by the written Word or by the language of nature or by the promptings of the Spirit on the inner consciousness of men. We should always keep in mind that even men of great genius are subject to the same human passions as ourselves, so we can not expect perfection in them.
Now come the questions, What shall we read? and what is literature? In a general sense, literature embraces anything written or printed. There is light literature, which requires no thought on the part of the reader; trashy literature, which has no real value; pernicious literature, which is really harmful; then there is esthetic, or polite, literature, and the literature of art and science. But true literature is that which is marked by vigorous thought, a keen insight into human character, and a knowledge of the workings of nature. The language will be clear, expressive, symmetrical, and pure in diction. There are works that rank as standard literature that do not have all these qualities, but have some things of merit that give them a permanent value.
It is the test of years that decides what is standard literature. Such literature is valuable to the people as long as its language is spoken. It is addressed to no class or sect, but to the individual, and will be handed down from generation to generation. The Bible is the most striking example of this. Its history, its prophecies, its precepts, its promises, its exhortations, were written for our instruction as well as for those who first heard them. Books that do not have the power to appeal to all classes are not likely to be long lived; they may make a commercial success, and be good current literature, but they do not add to the store of true literature.
There are two classes of literature—that which instructs, and that which arouses. There are some writings, however, that impart knowledge, whose chief aim is to arouse, and others that arouse, whose chief aim is to instruct. Books whose aim is only to instruct make no appeal to the emotions, but exercise the intellect alone. They are mechanical and accurate; and while they form a good storehouse for reference, they are not the only useful books. Literature that arouses has a mighty office. It inspires. It not only gives play to the intellect, but it excites the emotions. It not only makes men feel, but makes them act. It touches the heart, and shows man his relation to God, to his fellow men, and to nature, and gives him a love for all. Since nothing can reach its highest development except through its own action, the finer qualities of our being must be developed through their own action; and any book which calls them into healthy action, has been a power for good.
A good test of a piece of writing is the state in which it leaves us after we have read it. If it leaves us with a deeper reverence for God, and a sense of our obligations to him; with a warmer feeling toward mankind in general; a feeling for, and a greater desire to rescue, perishing humanity,—it has been a good thing for us to read. Sometimes a book is so exciting that the reader must wait until he gets back to his normal state (if he ever does) before he can decide on its effect upon him.
However, the all-important question to be asked in regard to any production is, Will it be useful hereafter? The more we learn to appreciate the wonderful works of God now, the greater will be our ability to appreciate them in the world to come. ROBERT A. BECKNER.
The Home in Education
By W. A. Alway
AFTER years of thoughtful consideration of the educational element of this message, weighing carefully the many serious obstacles to be encountered, together with the numerous mistakes that we have to acknowledge both in method and in management during the inceptive struggle of this movement, I am fully convinced that there is no wider field of service and no higher calling to which the youth of this people can respond than that awaiting the consecrated Christian teacher.
Much has been said by way of emphasizing the necessity of an independent system of Christian education, of the skeptical tendencies in our public schools and higher institutions, and, while I do not believe that too much can be said along this line, yet I wish to call attention to other defects which I feel are equally serious.
The thoughtful observer can not have failed to note the growing tendency in the modern educational system to invade more and more the traditional rights of the home, narrowing its sphere of influence and dictating its social standards and economic sentiments.
From the chart grade of the public school to the highest institutions of learning in our land, the social life of the child and youth is all provided for independent of home influence or sentiments. These social provisions include the whole round of popular entertainments, balls, card-parties, etc., and not only does the social committee decide the character of these entertainments, but also demands the means to meet the large expense incurred, and in some instances, dictates the style of attire that is considered essential to the successful competition of one class with another in these social contests. To rebel against these unjust demands, either from principle or from lack of money, means social ostracism, petty persecution, with perhaps diminished honors at the end of the course.
Considering these powerful opposing influences, it is not surprising that we are compelled to bemoan the passing of the old-time home with its endearing sentiments and its loyal, self-sacrificing hearts and its independent sovereign power in society. Nor is it strange that the sacred individuality of a man thus educated should be easily swallowed up in the social order, and the home be supplanted by the club-house.
Then, too, this collective method of social training in youth makes easy the pathway to social slavery, and is responsible in great measure for the present complex and extravagant modes of life which are driving many to dishonesty and suicide under the relentless lash of these artificial demands.
The call of the hour is for a return to more simple and rational standards of life. But such a reformation, if it is to succeed at all, must begin at the foundation. It must comprehend a system of Christian education taking in the early years of the child,—a system that will prove a supplement to the home, and will respect the sacred rights of that heaven-established institution. It must provide soul and heart culture rather than mere external polish. It must aim at the production of men instead of clubs and federations; it must cultivate simple appetites, love of simple truth, and loyalty to simple duty.
For the championing of this great reform the third angel's message seems especially adapted. It was born in simplicity; its early pioneers were men of simple, honest motives. In its magnificent platform of principles and social standards there are no artificial sentiments. The people who have become the exponents of its principles have cultivated a moral hardihood, under pressure of popular censure and criticism, which ought to provide the godly courage equal to the task. O, that the youth of this denomination would now rise to the opportunities of the present hour, and laying their all upon the altar of simple service to the Master, carry on to glorious triumph the work so nobly begun by those sturdy pioneers, who, holding aloft the torch of truth, blazed the way before us through the gloomy wilderness of man-made tradition and error to the dawn of that perfect day revealed in the simple Bible truth for this generation. W. A. ALWAY.
Children as Missionaries
By A Teacher
As our aim is, “The gospel to the World in This Generation,” the problem which must confront every Seventh-day Adventist teacher—the primary teacher as well as the intermediate and college teacher—is, In what way can I help the most in sending this gospel?
We are not all called to go to foreign lands to labor, and who would train the growing generation if we were?27
I believe the teacher who, with the help of God, trains the child’s mind in such a way that he will have no other aim in life than to be a missionary is in the truest sense of the word a missionary herself.
Believing that the best way to accomplish this end was to set the child to work doing something, a short time after school opened this fall, we began making plans for a missionary society.
Having so many classes and the children being behind in their studies, it was a problem when to have it. I finally decided that one half hour each Wednesday morning could be spared by omitting the opening exercises and drawing lesson.
The first thing we did was to appoint a committee of three to nominate officers, which were to be as follows: president, vice-president, secretary, and assistant secretary. This committee was also to suggest a name for our society.
After the officers had been elected, and a name had been agreed upon, we set about planning for work. I was not to be elected to any office, but was to be their counselor in all things.
The first thing we decided to do was to have the children take care of their papers and bring them each week to the missionary meeting, where one or two were appointed to wrap them, address them, and hand them to the secretary, who would mail them. At each meeting a penny collection is taken to pay the postage.
Soon we had a surplus on hand. We used this to buy copies of the Life Boat and of Liberty. We sent for about thirty of each the first time, and found no trouble in selling them.
In the meantime the children gathered up outgrown clothes, which were to be sent away. The surplus obtained by selling the papers was to go to pay the freight on these clothes.
At our meetings we plan our work, and tell our experiences. Sometimes we study the different fields, and sometimes we prepare programs, for which occasions special songs and missionary recitations are learned. A TEACHER.
An Experience in the Nashville (Tenn.) Church-School
By H. F. Courter
Self-Control
An Experience in the Nashville (Tenn.) Church-School
I BEGAN school here Sept. 18, 1906, and have had from twenty to twenty-two pupils on the roll all the time after the first day. The pupils' ages range from six to seventeen years, and the grades are from the first to the seventh, omitting the sixth.
The chief aim has been the conversion of every individual in the school. To this end I have constantly held up the importance of gaining that self-control that will enable them, by the help of God, to do right in the absence of parent or teacher. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.” This is the promise to the children as well as to the grown people. Unless we overcome, we can have no hope of eternal life. This does not mean that we shall keep right on disobeying father, mother, and the teacher until our names are called in the judgment. They who do thus can not in any sense be called overcomers. Before our names are called in the judgment, a space of time must elapse during which we have not committed any known sin. Otherwise we could not be called overcomers.
At my request, the trustees said that I might use the last hour of each school day during the week of prayer in studying the prepared lessons with the children, instead of having the usual Bible study. Just before the readings began, confessions were made to me and to one another. This continued until the close of the week. Opportunity was offered at the last two sessions for any one who wished to make things right or to testify. The Lord came in by his Holy Spirit and softened all our hearts. All who were old enough made public confession one to another, asking forgiveness. In some cases at least this spirit of confession went with them to their homes. Things were confessed of which the parents knew nothing. In all this there was no excitement; but from one to six were on their feet at once, and a deep earnestness to get right with God prevailed. In all my teaching, or in the work of the ministry, I never saw anything like this before.
There has been a wonderful difference in order and discipline since then. But as some unpleasantness, some disputes and harsh words had been indulged in, I thought best one week ago to give an opportunity to straighten up the difficulties. After I had read a part of Gal. 5: 19-21, and called attention to the statement that those who do such things shall not enter the kingdom of God, the Lord again visited us by his Spirit; and the work went deeper if possible than before. Nearly all spoke two or three times before they were satisfied; usually the last time it was to ask for prayers for the conversion of some friend. The Lord is helping these children to gain victories.
May God help us as parents and teachers rightly to direct these lambs of the flock. H. F. COURTER.
Missionary Work in the Church-School
By Mildred Wilson
The object of the church-school is the salvation of souls; not only the souls of the children and youth in our schools, but of those for whom they may have the privilege of laboring, both while they are in school, and when their training is completed, and they are prepared to take up life's duties in earnest.
There are many lines of missionary work that might be carried on in the church-school. In our school our work, so far, has consisted in giving away reading-matter. We are sending the Life Boat for one year to an acquaintance who is confined in the State Reformatory, and we also send him the Youth's Instructor every week. Then we are sending the Youth's Instructor and Our Little Friend to a lady who advertised in one of our daily papers for reading-matter for her nine-year-old girl. All the other papers we can get are distributed among our neighbors, and we also send some to the Southern field to be used in the work there.
We have our missionary meeting every other Friday afternoon. We then have either a Bible study or a missionary study, and wrap and address our papers.
We are also trying to raise money to get some much-needed helps for our school. We are now hemstitching handkerchiefs, which we expect to sell, and shall use the money for this purpose. Later we expect to make some iron-holders, which will also be sold to help increase the fund.
We trust in this way to inspire the members of our school, while young, with a desire to work for others, so that they will finally be led to consecrate all they have and are to the service of the Master. MILDRED WILSON.
Among Our Schools
By Frederick Griggs
At the suggestion of the General Conference Committee, I have recently made a visit to the majority of our schools east of the Rocky Mountains, visiting the following schools in their order:— Mt. Vernon College, Mt. Vernon, Ohio; Adelphian Academy, Holly, Mich.; Cedar Lake Academy, Cedar Lake, Mich.; Emmanuel Missionary College, Berrien Springs, Mich.; The Battle Creek Industrial School, Battle Creek, Mich.; Fox River Academy, Sheridan, Ill.; Beechwood Academy, Boggstown, Ind.; Bethel Academy, Bethel, Wis.; Stuart Industrial Academy, Stuart, Iowa; Union College, College View, Neb.; Keene Academy, Keene, Tex.; Oakwood Manual Training-school, Huntsville, Ala.; The Nashville Agricultural and Normal Institute, Madison, Tenn.; and the Southern Training-school, Graysville, Tenn.
There is a spirit of progress in all these schools. I was particularly gratified to find such thorough work being done in the intermediate schools. The industrial phase of their work is a very important feature. Nearly all the schools which I visited have agricultural departments. In these departments a good work is being done. A number of them are paying attention to the raising of nursery stock. In the raising of poultry, cattle, and horses there is a strong movement toward the best-blooded stock. Quite a little is being done in one or two of the schools in the way of growing seeds. These features of the industrial work are very encouraging, as they offer most excellent educational advantages to the students engaged in these departments of work, and in every way lift the standard of this important feature of the work of those schools.
The class work in these schools, generally speaking, is very strong. Our intermediate schools have been a subject of much study and discussion during the past six or eight years, and the majority of them which I visited have been established during these years. It is gratifying to find them doing such thorough work, and having in them such a sturdy, strong class of boys and girls. There is a strong religious influence in these schools, and the missionary spirit seems to permeate all the departments of the work in each.
In our training-schools there is also an onward movement. While there is a strong effort to maintain a high standard of spiritual life, there is also a tendency to carry on the intellectual phase of our educational work in a thorough and systematic manner. I was particularly pleased to notice the improvements in the laboratories—physical and chemical—at Union College. We are to study God and his purposes28concerning us through his works as well as in his Word, and we need to have in our schools thorough provisions for the study of the sciences.
There is an earnest effort being made to strengthen the Emmanuel Missionary College at Berrien Springs, Mich., so that the young people of the Lake Union Conference may find in this school and Mt. Vernon College that thorough training which is necessary to prepare them for efficient service in the cause. There is also a movement in our training-schools to carry on thorough work in short courses for an older class of students, whose age and experience is such as to make it seem unwise for them to spend a long time in study.
In every school which I visited, the strong, good features of work greatly predominated over any apparent weakness. However, the faculties of these schools are aware of the fact that there are weaknesses in their work, and they are bending every effort to make these weak points strong; so that altogether the outlook for this next year in these schools is most encouraging.
FREDERICK GRIGGS.
Can a Small Conference Have an Intermediate School?
By C. L. Stone
At the present time there are few conferences that do not have one or more church-schools within their borders. Whether a conference be large or small, the effect of primary schools is to create a demand for a more advanced school.
For a conference of fifteen companies composed largely of families in moderate circumstances, to undertake the establishment of an academy seems unreasonable. The task is all the greater with the present circumstances in which each conference is pressed almost to the limit with financial burdens. Hence none may depend upon his neighbor to help.
Let it be borne in mind that in many of the smaller conferences in the States and in the islands, but few of the youth are prepared to meet school expenses with cash. Instead of inducing some philanthropic brother to invest a hundred dollars to meet the year's expense of one young man, lead him to invest that amount in an industry or in the development of some natural resource, that one or more young men may, by economy in their use of time, earn their way for a period of years.
Suppose, for example, good timber land is obtainable. In some of our conferences land having on it valuable timber can be bought for a reasonable price. Suppose a conference raise two thousand dollars in cash, and this is all invested in timber land. By looking about, some brother, having an experience in running a sawmill and in methods of marketing timber, and who needs the help of a higher school for his family, can be secured to settle on this land; thus a resource is at once established.
In opening the school secure all the earnest young people of the conference, as well as tents sufficient to accommodate them. With tents for homes and a schoolroom, with the woods for a resource and a field of labor, and with young men of energy for students and for laborers, open the school.
Building and furnishing material can be largely secured from your own land; and as the land is cleared, bring it under cultivation.
The writer has known more than one young man to do a very fair year's school work with less than twenty-five dollars in cash as a resource. This has been possible in a few cases, but it requires such close economy of time and means that very few will pay the price.
It is a mistake to struggle with debts incurred by erecting too large buildings. Let the buildings all be simple, neat, and befitting the use for which they are erected. Likewise they should be adapted to climate and locality, and with a view to increasing accommodations as the needs demand.
With proper watch-care for the credit of work done, and with a careful marketing of the finished product, such a school may not only stand above debt, but increase its facilities as resources are developed. C. L. STONE.