The news in this publica
tion is released for the press on
the date indicated below. No
credit need be given.
THE UNIVERSITY^OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published weekly by the
Bureau of Extension of the Uni
versity of N-orth Carolina.
DECEMBER 16, 1914
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. I, NO. 5
Editorial Hoard: E. C. Branson, J. G. deli.
Hamilt-oji, T.. R. Wilson, Z. V. Judd, >s R.
Winters.
. Entered as sM*oiid--lrt-s matter Noveiu]ier 14,
1914, at the postomcf. at Chapel Hill, N.G.,
under of August 24. 1012.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
IN ORANGE COUNTY
The University Faculty and
Community Service WeeK
A considerable' nuuiber uf tlie i'aciilty.
of thi' rnivcrsity d1' Xorth Can>lin;i [lar-
ticipat(“.i in tiie I'elel.ii’iiticin ol' Ci)unnaiiily
■Service V\'eolL in M-irioiis couutii'.s uf the
Sliite.
President (ii'aluim .spoke at llillsboro
ou ‘‘(luuity I*t'o^r(‘s.s and CVnfiM'raliou' .
n‘ is j':* llsi III iii.'lde the followilliT
addrt'ssi's dmiiif; rbi' week: At Kficky
.Ahjuiit (111 ^IdtKiuy nighl. ■‘('ouimiiiiity
Serv'jue and ( ili/.ensliip" ; at Ralei^li I'lii
Taesduy at'ternoon l>el'ore Uie North Car-
olina Literary axj'i 1 li8t(,irieal Assoeialion,
“The ^ ital StU((y of a Connty" ; at Mi'Ve-
dith ( ollege »ti \V^eflnesday nioi-iiin^.
“ Vi Oman’s (Htizi'ii,slii|)’' ; at V\’iliningtoi)
Thursday night before'the 'h«nilx'r of
Counneree, ‘'The Spirit of ('omirinaity
.Serviee eek ’: on Friday luoruing at
the hiii;i4 scliool to tlie coiuity and city
teaeliers, ‘"I'he Liir;('r ('itizeiiship'’, and
on Fi'iday afternoon }ie made brii'l talks
it the I nion and Isaac Bear si-iioo|s.
Dean Stacy went to V\'ilkesboro tor two
speeches. Profes.swr M’alk(>r was at W’ar-
rentoji .''aturday niorninj;; and delivered
au aldress. “The School and theConi-
nmnity". Pr(»fe,ssor .Judd took part in ■
the celebration aj h’aleigh and spoke on
.Satiuxhiy, “Drawing Power, a >h‘asiiiT
of School Kttieieucy’
The titled Profe.ssoi' liernard’s aildress
at GreenA'ille was “The Wealth Producing
and 'AV'ealth Ketaiiiiiig Power of Pitt
County”.
Profes.sor Xoble spoke at Ponlei* on
“Tlie Schools of .Scotland’’, ami Professor
Ij. Williams addre.ssed the countv
touchers.of'IVnder C'oitjity on “'I'Ik* W'aste
■of Illiteracy’’.
University Students and Com
munity Service WeeK
Though the day opened-with forbidding
weatlier, the University sttideiits entered
into the work of connmuiity service week
with energetic 8])irit. Over a hundred
University men took part Thunqday in
various actives concerned with the roads
and public grounds.
One liivisioii did a good ((iePe'Ol work
under J)r. .ToBeph II. Pratt, extending
the stu’facing ol iManklin si!'(M‘t toward
the township liuiits,
Othet stu(i(*ritw did a thi'(»ugh cleauiuir
^lip of the t^>wn alleys. Another sqiuid
uniier Kev. Mr, .Moss performed valiant
service in tidying up Hattie’s Park.
Sojne seventy odd mon* felled trees,
dug u]j stumps, mo\ed brick, U'velled
down a big ,saud lieap, and graded the
grounds in -front of Sw ain ITall,
State Forester Holmes, Kngin.vr Hick-
ersf.m, and Professor, ('oker, ouj- l^'auti-
tierrin-geuei-al, saw lo it that the (‘nthusi-
astic energy of youth was realized in well
plaiuied results.
Jt was a sight - to s(‘(.* (-ftMjrge i'.ut.sler.
Presidejit of the Senior cla.ss, barely e.s-
cape with his life, Ji?nb, and red sweater
from under a failing tree. Koy Home
wood threw himself into a detiant mound
of dirt with iiie same abandon and mo-
mejitum that charact(‘riz(>d his lic'rce plav-
inginlhe C'arolina-\'irgniia game. Thc‘
(.’uiversity .students laughed while they
shoveled dirt and had a good thne. They
did a good piece of work for the I'niversi-
ty, the (^immunity and the State.
.served by ii tine meeting in Hillsbijro at
tended liy a courthouse full of peopl(*
from all over the comUy,
I'u'o ijUeresting .sessions were devoted
to conferences on county conditions.
lialf dozen or nioic talks wen* niaile on
road building and maintenance, coopera
tion between town and country, Sniulay-
schools and a whole-lime health oHicer.
•Majoi'.bilui W . (iraham ]>resided, and
the discussions wen* led. by President E.
1C. Oraham. ,T, Ilyde Pratt. 1!, T, Brown,
Shepherd Srrndwick, A, S, Lawrence,
L'rank Nash. Dr, 'Vni. .loues and Mr.
("ole.
A (’ommnuity .Service Committee of
lifteen reiu-esenting all si'ctions of the
connty was a]i|)oiiireil to prosecute the
objects of (he mei'ting tliroiighotit the
year,
A liiucheon was .serveil by the bijspita-
ble jK'ople-of Hillsboro Jo all of the visi
tors.
North Carolina First
North ('arolina lirst was the keynote of
the ('xercises in the public .scliools of
Chapt^l Hill n))0n .Vorth Carolina Day,
The variel [irogram of song, story, and
pageant, covered the t0|iics ofpubhc edu
cation in North (,'arolina; what the I'ni-
\ersity is iloiiig for the State; wliat the
State is (loing for jinblic health; the good
roals movement; North (’at'olina fish-
eri(>s and manufactories; farm life and
bird liU“ in ()range. It was au interest
ing and impressive occasion.
Tile work upon the si'hool groumls was
interrupted by the rahiy weather and
postponed until a later date.
THE HERE AND NOW
Clarence Poe
U e arc anxious to know how irnr
State compares with other states, how
o'ur cuujity compares with oth(M- coun
ties, and how our community ,conf-
munity compares with other com
munities, e believe as lirudy jis
evf'r that ha\'e as ca[>abte a [K'ojtle
as the sun shines on, Ijnt that fact oidy
makes im|)erati\i“ '.he que.stion as to
M’hoHhcr these enpabihtios are lieintf
lully develop'd and pi\iperly iiset,
"e believe we have unlimited n'-
source,-;, but th.-il only makes tis in-
|tlire as to how adei|Uately each eom-
niimity is iisiug lhe.st--i'‘S(,Mn‘ce.s,
W'e know that our fiithers fou.aiit
well ill the war. but w‘ nMiiiMiiber
tliat our question from the Sphinx of
History will 1>e whether their sous
w rought well in peace. And while we
cheiish “the glory that was (ire(‘ce
anil the grandeur that was Rome.”
we_study t,hem but to conui*ct them
w ith the Here and Now—but to re
mind otirselves that men of like jia.s-
sious as we ar(‘ ha\e iiuilt beantifni
and half divine riviiizations in states
no larger than ours, in laials no moiv
l)l(‘s.sed with the .Almighty’s gifts, anil
that we have “all that any people e\ i'r
had to iusj)ire them—the 'Heavens
above us. the generous earth beneath,
and tlu' breath of life iu our no.'Jti'ils,’'
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LETTER SERIES NO. 7
County Commencements
Kvery little « bile w (> get more j'roof of
the iucri'asing jmpularity of County Coni-
uiencements. Last week we found one
Connty beginning |ire|)araltou for it.s sec-
fiiid annual occasirin r»t this soi't. In an
adjoininff county, plans were being laid
for the lirst tiuu* looking ttwari,l com
munity ro-operation iu the work of the
■sclyjol. The xiiry carelul and thorough
way in whii'h the (went was tlioiiglit
through liy this latlt'i' county is worthy
of notice.
Co-Operation
CAROLINA CLUB NOTES
Leads and Lags
.Johnston county leads the State in corn
and pork production.
Nevertheless, the food and feed cbii-
sunied by man and beast iu the run of
the year amounts to $1,960,OOOniore than
the farniera of the county raise.—Figures
ba.sed on the 1910 census.
Plus and Minus
The South will always be obliged to
i’hLsp cotton and idhacco: Imt while we
raise these cash crops, our barns and
bins, smoke-houses and cribs ought to be
tilled with home-raised bread and meat,
hay and forage.
The food-crop farmers of the middle
\\ est are self-suHicing farmers plus. The
clothing-and-luxury crop farmers of the
South are commercial farnu‘r.s minus.
So reads the les.sou of waj'—of war four
thousand miles aw ay from us I
A Good Investment
in 1913, ou the basis of taxable jiroperty.
w as only $303.
On the basis of total farm pro]KM'ti('s in
the 1910 . (‘(‘iisus^ -the country [)opulation
alone w as worth $341—against $560 in ,\1-
leghany (’ounty which raises iio cotton
and almost no tobacco,
.^[or^'over, 30 jier cent of the 1‘ittCounty
farms iu 1910 wt^re mortgaged. ^I’he per
cent is nearly tw ice the State .nerage of
nioi'tgaged farms!
The j\ealth that sticks is the wealth
that coinits.
-V committee of si.x, with the County
SuperinteuU*nt, met and -onsider('d ways
and nu‘ans. I'^ach iiHMiiber of tliis eoni-
mitt(v was made chairnjan i.if a special
committ'ee; recitation and declama
tion, athletics. I'xhibits.^ examination,
jirizes. parad>, siK'Hiug. The ’hairmen
' of the.se se\'eral conmiittec's are tn choose
their o\\ n associari^s and l(‘tcrmine the
nece.s.sary number for the etiicieni doing
of the Work. These chairmen al.si.i con
stitute th(‘ I'xecutive comniittec' in deter
mining general i.ohciesol the t'ounneuce-
uient.
Uniformity
'I'o determine prizi's and awariis. a . to
tal of one hundred poiut.s was agreed
upon and each -eointe.st was a]>portioned
a certain number of numb(>r of the.fe
points: i.i>., 40 t'or literary acti\itie.s., 30
for atliletics, 30 for exhibit.s. The school
receiving the largest total of points is to
J)C considered the iianiier school of the
county. A uniform .set of ba.siw for judg
ment, with s[)eeified values, is to be
di'awn up in-order that the township,
district and county eonte.sts may all be
judged on the .same, ba.si.s. Other gent^ral
provisions and reg-ulations were arranged
by this executive I'ommitjee.
The Ultimate Purpose
In 1914 there wen- 41 counties which
held ('ounty Commeneements. That num
ber ought to reach 75 by the clo.se of this
school year. The folks are ea,ger to know
more about the work of 11„. schools and
they have a right t.i know . the ti-iith.
Spread the good news of education to
every hamlet, iiome and heath in our
State and thus help to remove the horri
ble. M(>fencele,ss curse-of illiteracy from
our midst.
Purposeful Teachers.
ll is of imerest to note tliat iu this
Cduiiiy ai the I^eccnibef tnootiiig of
tlie (’ouiily AsHocialiMii, 53 ,,r tlio 59
learliopfs wevo presi.'Tit. a record in
all the niMr(‘ remarkable when (nie knows
tlia.l Horiu'eiM'lit or ten of iheni luul to
'hive irniii 15 to 20 over sHck, soft.
inii(I,ly Siu'h t(‘arh(‘i‘.'^ have a pur-
]*o.s(* in tlieir work and are tletehnine'i
Jicetmiplish thai purj)o.^e I'xoii at cousid-
M‘abie iK*rsonal pfsuTiHce,
A SUGGESTION FOR SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC
DISCUSSION CLUBS
(ireemille—a bright, bii.sy, buoyant
little city.
The Carolina Training School seated at
the city gates is a centre of culture and
etliciency, a star of hope hi the East.
W'right, his faculty and his school are
impre.ssivi' and pleasing. Here is another
institution that nuiltiplies many times
over th(‘ \'alu(‘ ol evtu’y dollar the State
spends U])ou it.
Just Suppose
The slK.irtage iu home-i-aised food ami
feed siijfplies iu Nash county in the cen
sus year w as 5^1.850,000 and in Fxlgecombe,
$1,790,000; ttr $3,640 in both counties.
•Just suppose these counties made
enough bread and meat, hay and forage
for man and beast, and kejit at home
even half the tobacco and cotton money
they .send away for imported supplies;
the taxable properties in Nash and Kdge-
combe would be almost exactly doubled
Community Service WeeK in
Chapel Hill
The C.'omuiunity Club of good women
on the Hill are busy the wliole year
round. But last week was a special clean
up occasion.
Back-yards, front-yards, street fronts
and alley-wayn received c-arehdattention.
The rainy weather was in the way of
their annual planting of vine.s, tre\s and
shrubbery on the (Jnivj-rsity grounds and
arid in the Church yards.
Thider the auspice.s of the ('lub. the
negro(_>s gver-hauU-d their end of tlie town,
worked the road, and generally caught
the spirit t)l int‘rested citizeii.sliip.
Tlie Club is also maturing plans for the
progressive beautirtcation of tUiapei Hill.
Community Service WeeK in
Orange
Orange County 1‘rogn‘ss Day wa.s ob-
m ten years.
Cotton and Tobacco Prosperity
Pitt (.’ounty. foi' instance, raises .sirue
23,000 bales of cott.in aiid 12,000,000 lbs.'
of tobacco, worth arounil $3,000,000 a
year. (ireenville handles, so they told
us. about twenty mlUion jiounds of to-
bcaco each .season.
ITnfortimately more than two million
dollars of cotton ami tobacco money go
out of the county yearly for fooii and fe«l
Sturt's that the county does not raise.
Pitt is one of the twenty-three .North
(Carolina counties having taxable wealth
aiiHniiiting to.ten nullion doUars or more.
If the county could only just hold
ilown ('ven one-half of the cotton and
tobacco w ealth it jiroduces every year, its
taxable prj{>etty w.nild pass the twenty
million mark iu less than seven years.
The Wealth That SticKs
On th(> other iiand, the [H'r capita
wealth of Pitt C^ounty, town and coimtrir
THE LARGER CITIZENSHIP
Jl t'very county aud cominunity in
North Carolina observwl Comninnitv
Service week afU'r the fashion an'd in the
spirit of Wilmington and Niwv Hano\er
County, it meansa wider horizon, a great
er vision, and a larger citizenship iwery-
w here in the State.
The Chamber of ('omiti(‘rce. (w'ery
school in the city, the country schools,
the city and the country school ofiicials,
the bankers and business men. th(> law
yers, tlie pliysicians, teachers and jireach-
ers, all took [lart in the various occa.sions
of the week.
W ilmington has a rarely large niimjier
of citizi'ii-patriots—lawyers Uke Carr, and
Pountree; business men like McRae and
\'an Linen, l>ear and Willard, tv>rhett
and .Sa.sser, S])riint and Taylor; liankers
like (.rrainger and (jouxeneur; physieian.s
hke Nesbit; and editors like Clawson and
Cowan.
Here are men w ho are not devoted ,sol(>-
ly and singly It.) [irivate busine.ss ati'airs.
Tiiey are not sons of .Mammon; they arc
ser\'ants of man. 'I^lu^y are community
Vmilders all; and then? are. many more in
AVilm'ingtoii.
In \ arioiis ways they and many other
iiK'ii like thtMii an* gi\iiig themselves to
generous thinking about Wilmiugton and
New Hanover (’oiiuty.
They siiptKirt .Mr. Herring, the elhcient
farm demonstrator, as he works for a
realization of tlie agricultural possibilities
of the county. They held up the hands
of M. C. Noble, and they are freely at
the comniaud of Hliiir and Catlett in
building up both the city an.1 the country
..schools.
No wonder New Hano\-er (‘ouiitv wins
distinction for its ai’hievuK'uts in health
and public .sanatatioii. No wonder the
roads of the county are the best in North
('arolina. No wonder there is le.ss illit
eracy among the native whites hi .New
Hanover than any other county iu the
State.
The wealth of Wilniingii.iu sujiportis an
eight and one-half months country school
in every school district. Hand.some,
well-eqiiijipi.Hl, brick buildings are going
u^i iu the country regions, while W'il-
niington’s tn'autiful new- .school build
ings distinguish it auii.iiig the cities of the
Ihiited States.
In a great niafty little villages and ru
ral communitio's. as well as iu the larirer
towns, there ari> groups of boys who give
the teachers trouble if they are iu school,
or, if not in .school, defy law and order
iu the community. How to interest and
direct them in ii.seful ways is the teach
er’s and community’s constant jiroblem.
The following story told by Clarence
Perry, at Aladison, W i.sconsin, in an ad-
.dre.ss urging the im))ortauce of providing
simjile athletic jind literary society e(|uip-
nu‘ut f">r the local school, shows how th('
jiroblem may be sol\'(-d,
A Recreation Center
()iie ev ening, some V(‘ar,s ag.>, a youic’
man ol very bad local ri'putatioii eutereil
i.me (it thc‘ Ni'w ^ ork Kecreation centers.
He had come then* with the avowed jiur-
po,se of cleaning out the |ilace, I don’t
know whether he had any authority from
the Health Department or not, but he
fell that he was rm a sanitary missiivn,
“Shortly after getting in and .'jeeing the
- clean-limbed athlete."5 at their work, his
]iuriio,s,. changed. The gymnast, who was
in charge of. tlu‘ boys, asked him if lie
would not like to line uji with the other
fellows and takf* jiart, \\ hen his turn
came, to his great mortification aud cha
grin, he was not able to perform as well
as the other fellows, ,-\fter the cla.ss was
through, the gymnast took him aside and
gave him .some sjiecial instructicms. He
was there again and the gymnast gave
him special atti'ntion. In a short time
he became more proficient tlian ,auy of
other fellovvs in that particular group,
The ]>riucipal had noticed ;ind found out
that he was a li>ader of a gang which had
lerrorize.l the neighborhood for several
years, so the wi.se principal asked him if
h(' would not like, bring his gang and or
ganize a basket ball team, saying ho
would lie glad if he would enter a teaiu
aiii.l ]>Iay the ‘Dreadiiaiight.s’ or some of
the other teams [ilaying there.
“The invitation was accepted, and in
ordc'i’to form a team and do the biisiues
nece.s,sary to entering the tournament,
the gang was as.signed a cla,ss room for a
meeting jilace. In ordt;‘r to carry on the
ordinary bii.siuess meeting, they found
they conid not spe.ak at the ,ame time,
aud so the club organizer fonnd an ojipor-
fluiily to giv'(‘ tlu^ui Some inst ructions iu
liobert s Iviiles ot )rdi,‘r. jn a short time
this gang was carrying on business uuH't-
iiigs in the recreation center. They form
ed a t(>am ami entered the tournament,
and became very conspicuous basket ball
players
“I( was tinally suggested to them that
perhafis their groupwould like to form a
debatuig chih, and enter their ilebate.s—a
new Sin t of gaiiK'—aud the fellows went
info it. In ord(*r to ))lay they found it
necessary to tiiid out something about the
subject they weie to talk about, so the
llbrivy came into ii.se. To make a long
.story short, it was but a short time be
fore the er.stwhile tough was the leadi'r
of a very ri'syi'ctable literary ami debat
ing .society in a .New \'ork Center,“
In .Xorth (Jaroliiia over 200 *chhils ha v e
entered the High School Debating rnion.
Other schools cuit.side the Cuion have
literary societies, and some .schools are
e(|uipp(.sl with gymua.stic apparatus and
,groiinds lor baseball, basketball, tennis,
and other outdixir^exercises.
Has your school or conunUnity laken
these iuijKU'tanl ste]>s',’
A UNIQUE MEMORIAL
The Sweet Potato State
North ('arolina leads the whole Lnited
State.s in the j>roiiiction of sweet potatoes.
Our 1913 crop was 8,000,000 bushels.
The Isaac Bear ,Ah‘Ui(U'ial School iu
W ilmington was 'erected entirely at the
expense of his brother, Mr. .Samuel Bear,
one of the li'aihng ,h‘W merchants and
citizens of the city.
The money, some $25,000 in all, was
placed in the hands of the Board of Kdu-
cation before .Mr. Bear went to Kiinjjie
last .siimmi'r. The building was erectefl
and e(|iiipped during his ab.sence. ],le at
tached no conditions to the gift, and the
property belong,s^to the city.
We do not know such another thing in
the vvhol(' history of public (‘ducatii.ui iu
.\nierica.
T( memorializt's a worthy lift* and syni-
bolize^ the larger citizenship, for which
Wilmington stands.
It is the first of such meiuorialB and will
bean incentive to many moreofsimilar ”
sort in the years to coiHe.
LECTURES ON LITERATURE
rile follow ing l(‘c(,iires on various phase's
ol Iheratiire have b(“en iiu-luded in the
listjot siibject.s which members of the
faculty oll’er for tlie 1914-15 Kxtension
Lectures Series;
.\e,sehylus. So[)bocles, and Kttripides,
being three lectures on the (ireek drama,
by Dr. ('. A\'. Bain; Tlie Fiction-Making
iVIhiii, The Irish Plays, and'I'lie Dramatie
Monologue, being three lectures, with il
lustrative readings, by Dr, .1. >1. Booker;
The Lnjoyment of Books, by President F.
FC. (.iraham; Followers of the ('Jleain—Sir
(iawayne. Sir Oalahad, Sir .\rtegal, Tlie
Scholar,—being lour studies in ideahsm
in literature, by Dr, Kdwin’trreeulaw; Tlie
South’s .^wakening, by Dr, .\rchibald
Hendei'Si)!!; The Poetry of the .\ugnstan
Dr. (T('org(> Howi>; and Recitals
from Kipling, Browning, and Tennyson,
Isy l>rof. (i. M. McKie.