Excerpt from Arbor-Day Programme: May 1, 1896

In the preparation of the accompanying programme for the observance of Arbor Day in 1896 1 have had in mind mainly this thought - the beautifying of the schoolhouse by the use of those means which nature so bountifully provides.

We are beginning to appreciate the value of the right environment in the education of the child. This factor includes not merely his intellectual atmosphere, but everything that ministers to any part of his being. Attention is now paid, as never before, to the hygienic conditions of school buildings, not alone for their bearing upon the physical welfare of the pupils, but be cause of their influence upon their moral natures. Just so, the general appearance and condi tion of the schoolhouse, both within and without, act directly and positively upon the pupils, awakening in them pleasurable and uplifting emotions, or the reverse, as the case may be. How sensitive children are to their surroundings, we hardly realize. It is certain that we cannot be too particular in this matter to see to it first, that. So far as in us lies, every objection able feature shall be removed from the sacred precincts of the school premises; and second, that as many desirable features as possible shall be added thereto.

Nothing which offends the most acute sense of neatness and delicacy should be allowed a place upon the premises. Order and cleanliness should become the unwritten, and hence irrevocable, law of every school. Amid such surroundings and in such an atmosphere lessons of purity of thought and speech take root readily, spring up quickly, and thrive naturally Many school rooms within show the effects of such a purpose on the part of the teacher, but without give no sign. It is first of all for the school grounds that I wish to enter a plea at this time. The village school and the district schoolhouse should be conspicuous for the beauty of their sur roundings. The old notions that any place will do for a schoolhouse site, that there is no room about a schoolhouse for flowers and shrubs, that all effort to render it attractive is wasted, that children are natural vandals and must be given over to the unrestrained control of their natures, are beginning to give place to truer and better ideas about the child and of the manner in which to train him.

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