Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 174, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 July 1916 — Page 3

.All the young men and •women students at Blackburn college work their way to education. The plan is proving successful

BY ROBERT H. MOULTON

a 1 "“IHE boy is certainly making good; his grades are up in the nineties, he is an excellent cook, a first-class laundryman, and can plow more acres of land in a day than any other boy in college.” Rather a remarkable statement for a college president to make concerning a college student, yet hardly more remarkable than the institution which the student Is attending—Blackburn college at Carlinville, 111. Blackburn, as a matter of fact, occupies a position unique among Institutions of learning In this country. No other college, perhaps, is conducted along exactly the same lines. Its aim is to train young men to be not only scientific, but practical farmers, Inculcating in them at the same time a love of the soil, and to make of girls and young women practical housewives, who will be able to cook and sew, and to take care of a home. Also, and this is where the unique feature comes in, It is conducted upon a plan of self-help, whereby young men and women of the most limited means are afforded an opportunity to avail themselves of a standard college education. The plan has been tried only a year, but during this period it has proved so successful, literally knocking the high cost of living all to pieces, that the great problem next fall will be what to do with the students. .1 The charges for the year at Blackburn have been placed at SIOO, and three hours’ work per day at some sort of manual labor. This pays for a furnished room with steam heat and electric light, board and tuition. The first thing one is likely to say on hearing this Is, “It’s too cheap; It can’t be done.” That was exactly what the college trustees said when, after tailing Dr. William M. Hudson to the presidency, they listened to his revolutionary scheme for rejuvenating Blackburn. x But Doctor Hudson had some convincing figures out of his past experience. He was optimistic and persistent. So finally the trustees agreed they might as well try it for a year. “It may blow us up,” they said, “but better that than rotting down. At any rate, an explosion will attract more attention.” It was nearing the noon hour when I reached the little group of college buildings nestling In a grove of fine old elm and oak trees on the outskirts of CarUnvftle, and the president suggested that we would better go down and see the girls getting dinner. Here was something hew. In the present age, -when the average college girl spends a goodly portion of her time in social amenities and athletics, the Idea of students preparing their own . meals was decidedly novel. Yet there they were, a dozen of them, In school dresses covered with long white aprons, busily engaged In preparing a menu which ■ had been written on a blackboard ,ln the kitchen—* kitchen, by the way, as Immaculate as the mostexactlng housewife could desire.. This combination of earning and learning Is one of the unique features of Doctor Hudson’s plan. The young women get the theory of domestic science in the classroom and then put It Into practice Tn the kitchen. They do all the cooking, with the exception of a certain amount of help from some of the young men students. That they also do It scientifically and well was attested by the meal that followed a little later. This meal consisted of cream of tomato soup, roast beef, baked potatoes, creamed celery, bread and butter, tapioca and .cake, and there was an abundance of each. I made bold to ask if dinners like that were served every day. “Certainly,” replied Doctor Hudson. “It’s not a visitor’s menu by any means. We didn’t know you were coming, and if we had we would have gone along just the same." “And the cost?” I Inquired. For answer Doctor Hudson beckoned to Miss Sparks, the capable head of the domestic science department, who not only teaches the subject, but plans the various meals and figures down the cost to a quarter of a cent, not even omitting such small things as the flout, in the graty and the salt in the potatoes, and repeated my query. “The cost per capita for the materials," said Miss Sparks, “was a fraction under eight cents.” By way of making the lesson, more impressive, she added that the only other expense, since the students do all the cooking and serving, was for the fuel consumed in the range, an amount so small ghat it could hardly be figured rat as so much per

Where Earning and Learning Go Hand in Hand

capita. Breakfasts and suppers usually cost less than the dinners, the average for the three meals per day being 21 cents. Having no help to pay or to feed, important items in figuring up the cost of serving food In most colleges, has played an important part in this economical showing. The self-help plan not only cuts down expenses, but gives the young women such a practical course in domestic science—part of the laboratory work is to prepare each week four new dishes In sufficient quantities to feed all the people in the dining hall—that they will be benefited by it all their lives. They not only, study domestic science, but do all of the work In their own rooms, the laundry work, etc., and at the end of four years they will come out able, and, It is expected willing, to do anything and solve any problem that is likely to confront a woman In the home. The president led the way to a window from which was visible a fine rolling stretch of farmland, part of which was ready for the planter. This is the college farm, consisting of 80 acres. Next fall the students will be fed from the product of that farm. Some of It, of course, will be fed to the cows, but they will produce milk for the college commons; some of it will be fed to the pigs, but they will be growing into meat all the time; and some of it will go directly to the kitchen. In this way-the young men supplement the work of the young women. They produce what is cooked, and are learning to be practical as well as theoretical farmers. All of the farm buildings are put up by the students under the direction of the farm superintendent They recently completed a poultry house which is a model of its kind. A huge barn and silo are soon to be started. As Doctor Hudson remarked, those boys are likely to be much better farmers than their fathers. Another unique feature at Blackburn is that the students know as little of the cost of high living as they do of the high cost of living. The college puts a han on smoking, drinking, and the other evils commonly found In the youth world. A boy must keep himself clean, If he belongs to the Blackburn college community. Two particularly Interesting students are foreigners, a bright-eyed little Jap and a curly-haired Persian. The Japanese student came to America to get an education, believing that all one needs to do is just to come here and after that everything is free. But he was disappointed in his dreams. He had planned to spend three years .here and then go home to found a. little school on the fundamental principles of Christianity. A friend in Japan had said that he would furnish the money as soon as the young man finished his education. So he tried a large state university. They were very sorry, but th'-y had so many American boys, and then he knew nothing about our language or customs. They didn’t see how they could do anything .for him. Then he went to a large endowed university, and the story was the same. Finally he heard of Blackburn and went there. The president asked him what he could do, and he said he believed he could cook. So he was put tn the kitchen and he works there three hours a day, assisting the young women. The other boy came all the way frcta Persia, with the same exalted notion of opportunity In America. He had received a little training in a hospital, but he wanted to be a real doctor and go home to his people as a medical missionary. He spent 14 months looking for a college that he could afford. A Persian doctor in Chicago directed him to Blackburn and he went right along and has' made a fine record. He is the head of the Sweeping force. *■ .. The students ,at Blackburn all work—three hours a day. ATI pay the same and work rhe same. It is a communism. They don’t pay so much per hour as most colleges do, but each std-

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

women the other colleges have passed by, the great class of young people who are willing enough to work and hungry enough for an education to do almost anything to get it, if they only knew how to set about it. It Is not our purpose to help any student who ought to help himself, but simply to provide the means whereby he may secure an education when otherwise it would be impossible. “We are especially interested in the young women. It’s a stiff proposition for a young man to go away from home to get his living and his education at the same time, but It’s almost Impossible for his sister. That is why we are providing for the girls, too.” While the fixed charge at Blackburn is SIOO, that, of course, does not provide for everything. It costs the college a hundred more for each student, even after buildings have been provided. This is made up out of the endowment and the help that is received from time to time from generous friends of the cause.

ROYAL MATRIMONIAL FIELD.

Britain’s royal house will be at a loss for royal families to marry into when this war is concluded. German royalties, even If the Hohenzollerns are left on the throne, can never again marry or be given in marriage with kings or queens, princes or princesses of Britain’s royal family. Royal families of Germany and of countries sympathetic with Germany are excluded from the list of candidates for wedlock with British royalties. Russia’s state church Is on brotherly terms with the Church of England. Religious difference would not absolutely forbid a Russo-British royal marriage. Europe is not the home of many royal houses that are at once Protestant and pro-Brlt-ish. War’s effect on future royal marriages in Britain is more Interesting than important. British peoples are now concerned with more awful and momentous issues than those related to the intermarriage of royalties. British princes and princesses for all time to come will have to look elsewhere than Germany for brides and bridegrooms.—Toronto Telegram.

ONE RESULT OF THE WAR.

A delightful old lady of a little town in Nebraska was discovered one morning in the act of killing a chicken. “Why, Mrs. Brown, I thought that you were afraid to kill a chicken,” said a neighbor in surprise. “Yes, dearie, I did useter be, but since the war broke out I’ve done it right smart.” “I don’t understand you; what does the war have to do with It?” “Well, you see, it’s this way: I useter think that bloodshed was an awful thing, but since I’ve been readin’ about all them men-killin’s In Europe I just get a rooster by the feet, lay his head on the block and say to myself, ‘Now, Sarah, ’tain't near so bad as killin’ a man. Where’s your nerve?* And then I just shut my eyes and whack.”— Youth’s Companion.

ACTIVITIES OF WOMEN.

St. Louis has a policewoman who receives a salary of $65 per month. In the Philippine islands women and girls are employed as road workers. The first requirement of a girl seeking work through the Young Women’s Christian association in Loe Angeles is that she wear big shoes, it being claimed that tight shoes make a bad temper. Probably the only woman professional golf player tn the world is Mrs. Gourley Dunn-Webb, the noted English player, who has come to the United States on account of the war.

dent works the same time and pays the same amount They don’t pay him; he pays the college. He does not work for himself, but for the college. They believe, at Blackburn, that after young men and young women have spent four years working for the college, they will be better fitted for citizenship than if they had spent those years working for themselves. “There Is a lot more to our plan,” said Doctor Hudson, “than just helping young people to get through college who would not otherwise get there on account of the expense, but they are all side issues. That is our main object We are looking out for the young men and the young

Common American Birds

’ Arkansas Kingbird Tyrannus vertically Length, nine inches. The white edge of the feather on eacfi side of the tail distinguishes this from all other flycatchers except the gray and sal-mon-colored sclssortail of Texas. Range: Breads from Minnesota, Kansas, and Texas to the Pacific ocean and from northern Mexico to southern Canada; winters from Mexico to Guatemala. Habits and economic status: The Arkansas kingbird is not so domestic as its eastern relative and seems to prefer the hill country with scattered oaks rather than the orchard or the vicinity of ranch buildings, but it sometimes places its rude and conspicuous nest in trees on village streets. The bird’s yearly food is composed of 87 per cent animal matter and 13 per cent vegetable. The animal food is composed almost entirely of insects. Like the eastern species. It has been, accused of destroying honeybees to a harmful extent, and re- ♦

mains of honeybees were found to constitute five per cent of the food of the Individuals examined, but nearly all those eaten were drones. Bees and wasps, In general, are the biggest Item of food (38 per cent), grasshoppers and crickets stand next (20 per cent), and beetles, mostly of noxious species, constitute 14 per cent of the food. The vegetable food consists mostly of fruit, such as the and other berries, with a few seeds. This bird should be strictly preserved.

Blue Jay Cyanocltta cristata Length, eleven and one-half inches. The brilliant blue of the wings and tall combined with the black crescent of the upper breast and the crested head distinguish this species. Range: Resident in the eastern United States and southern Canada, west to the Dakotas, Colorado, and Texas. Habits and economic status: The blue jay is of a dual nature. Cautious and silent In the vicinity of its nest, away from It it is bold and noisy. Sly in the commission of mischief, it is ever ready to scream “thief* at the slightest disturbance. As usual in such cases, its remarks are applicable to none more than Itself, a fact neighboring nest holders know to their sorrow, for during the breeding season the jay lays heavy toll upon the eggs and ypung of other birds, and in doing so deprives us of the services of species more beneficial than itself. Approximately threefourths of the annual food of the blue jay is vegetable matter, the greater part of which is composed of mast, L e., acorns, chestnuts, beechnuts, and

the like. Corn is the principal cultivated crop upon which this bird feeds, but stomach analysis indicates that most of the corn taken is waste grain. Such noxious insects as wood-boring beetles, grasshoppers, eggs of various caterpillars, and scale Insects constitute about one-fifth of its food.

Chickadee Penethrestes articapillus . Length, about five and one-fourth Inches. Range: Resident in the United States (except the southern half east of the plains), Canada, and Alaska. Habits and economic status: Because of its delightful notes, its coniflding ways, and its fearlessness, the chickadee is one of our best known frird*- It responds to encouragement.

Interesting Infor* mation about them supplied by the Bureau of Biological Survey of the United States □Department of

and by hanging within Its reach a constant supply of suet the chickadee can be made a regular visitor to the garden and orchard. Though insignificant tn size, titmice are far from being so from the economic standpoint, owing to their numbers and activity. While one locality Is being scrutinized for food by a larger bird*

ten are being searched by the smaller species. The chickadee’s food is made up of insects and vegetable matter in the proportion of seven of the former to three of the latter. Moths and caterpillars are favorites and, form about one-third of the whole. Beetles, ants, wasps, bugs, flies, grasshoppers, and spiders make up the rest. The vegetable food is composed of seeds, largely those of pines, with a few of the poison ivy and some weeds. There are few more useful birds than the chickadees.

Song Sparrow Melosplza melodla Length, about six and one-fourth. Inches. The heavily spotted breast wth heavy central blotch is characteristic. Range: Breeds in the United States (except the South Atlantic and gulf states), southern Canada, southern, Alaska, and Mexico; winters in Alaska and most of the United States southward. Habits and economic status: Like the familiar little “chippy” the song sparrow is one of our most domestic species, and builds its nest in hedges

or in garden shrubbery close 'to houses, whenever it is reasonably safe from the house cat, which, however, takes heavy toll of the nestings. It la a true harbinger of spring, and its de* lightful little song is trilled forth from the top of some green shrub in early March and April, before most of out other songsters have of leav« Ing the sunny South. Song sparrow* vary much in habits, as well as in size and coloration. Some forms live along streams bordered by deserts, others fa* timbered regions, others on rocky barren hillsides, and still others in rich, fertile valleys. With such a variety of habitat, the food of the species naturally varies considerably. About three-fourths of its diet consists of the seeds of noxious weeds and onefourth of insects. Of these, beetles, especially weevils, constitute the major portion. Ants, wasps, bugs (including the black olive scale), and caterpillars are also eaten. Grasshoppers are taken by the eastern bird*, but not by the western ones.

Famous Mosque of St Sophia.

Mohammedans reverence Constants nople next to Mecca, and St Sophia, or the “Church of the Divine Wisdom,” holds first rank in the affections of the faithful. Commenced in th* year 532 A. D. on the site of several successive Christian churches of th* same name, no fewer thap 10,00* workmen are said to have been emi ployed upon its construction, undid the direction of 100 master builder*. -