Page 49 - 1930 October - To Dragma

48 To DRAGMA

talent for farming; not because he was educated for i t , but because
he was not educated for anything else. He used the methods he had
seen used by his father and grandfather before him. When this youth-
ful country girl and boy started out, no doubt their horizon was rosy,
dreams of a bright future buoyed their spirits, but as time went on a
drab gray replaced the rose, the brightness of the dream became so dim
that it utterly faded. Somehow they had lost that path which had seemed
so clear in youth. Oh! the pathos of this thing that is happening every
day among us!

Of course, we sent for this woman and many others like her. God
grant that they received a spark to lighten their darkness.

But oh, the joy of the children! A l l of life was before them, and
they seemed to feel that they must crowd each moment full. I f you
could have heard those young voices lustily singing "America" or "John
Brown's Baby has a Cold upon his Chest," so that the very rafters
seemed to quiver, you would have thought, "Here's whole-souled en-
thusiasm that seemingly can accomplish anything. Surely discourage-
ments can never blight this. Will these young faces too, become leathery
and weatherbeaten? Will those glowing eyes lose their luster and be
the tired eyes of the future? We must prevent that change!"

Perhaps the handcraft hour would appeal to you, and you'd climb
the stairs of the school house, for in the second floor nearly every room
had some phase of handcraft activity in progress. Such a buzzing of
saws and tap-tapping of hammers, punctuated by happy laughter. As
you peeped at the toy makers, you could almost imagine they were a
band of busy little leprechaums. Or perhaps you might look in at
the book shelf department, or the belt makers, or the rooms full of
busy basket weavers, or the art class happily painting. I know you'd
love the rustic bird houses the older boys were making. I f you were
a woman, I am convinced you'd have stopped where the raffia purses
were being made. Perhaps you'd do what a number of other women
did—immediately get some material and go to work, even though you
knew it was planned for girls only. Perhaps you'd linger where
they were making cypress hanging baskets. D i d you ever hear of such
a thing? Cypress knees going to waste by the thousands, and we didn't
dream they could be made into porch ornaments!

You musn't pass the rope-makers without looking in on them, for
I don't believe I ' m more proud of any department! The little Boy
Scout teacher had come to me when we were laying our plans and
said with seeming reticence, " I won a prize at the Boy Scout Camp
for my rope making machine—and say, it's lots of fun making rope—
don't you want me to show some boy at Folk School how?" The second
day his class grew to sixteen, and he handled them like a general. The
third day the machines were completed, and the first strands of rope
were made. At the end of that day the young teacher brought me six-
teen strands tied together—the first efforts of the class. When I ad-
mired it he said, " I t is yours, we wanted you to have the first we made!
Can't you wear i t around your waist?" I was proud of this youngster.