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A. «Journal of Education, Rural Progress, '>Sj
and Civic Betterment
Vol. XIV. No. 8. RALEIGH, N. C., APRIL, 1920. Price: SlaYear.
0rass
Gather a single blade of grass, and examin e for a minute, quietly, its narrow sword-shaped
strip of fluted green. Nothing, as it seems there, of notable goodness or beauty. A very little
strength, and a very little tallness, and a few delicate long lines meeting in a point — not
a perfect point, neither, but blunt and unfinished, by no means a creditable or apparently
much cared-for example of nature’s workmanship; made, as it seems, only to be trodden on
to-day, and to-morrow to be cast into the oven; and a little pale and hollow stalk, feeble and
flaccid, leading down to the dull brown fibers of roots. And yet, think of it well, and judge
whether of all the gorgeous flowers that beam in summer air, and of all strong and goodly
trees, pleasant to the eye or good for food — stately palm and pine, strong ash and oak, scented
citron, burdened vine— there be any by man so deeply loved, by God so highly graced, as
that narrow point of feeble green. It seems to me not to have been without a peculiar sig¬
nificance that our Lord, when about to work the miracle which, of all that He showed, ap¬
pears to have been felt by the multitude as the most impressive — the miracle of the loaves —
commanded the people to sit down by companies “upon the green grass.” He was about to
feed them with the principal produce of earth and the sea, the simplest representations of
the food of mankind. He gave them the “seed” of the herb; He bade them sit down upon
the herb itself, which was as great a gift in its fitness for their joy and rest as its perfect
fruit for their sustenance ; thus, in this single order and act, when rightly understood, indi¬
cating forevermore how the Creator had entrusted the comfort, consolation, and sustenance
of man to the simplest and most despised of all the leafy families of the earth. And well
does it fulfill its mission. Consider what we owe really to the meadow grass, to the covering
of the dark ground by that glorious enamel, by the companies of those soft, and countless,
and peaceful spears. The fields! Follow but forth for a little time the thoughts of all that
we ought to recognize in those words. All spring and summer is in them — the walks by
silent, scented paths — the rest in noonday heat — the joy of herds and flocks — the power of
all shepherd life and meditation — the life of sunlight upon the world, falling in emerald
streaks, and failing in soft blue shadows, where else it would have struck upon the dark
mould, or scorching dust — pastures beside the pacing brooks — soft banks and knolls of
lowly hills — thymy slopes of down, overlooked by the blue line of lifted sea — crisp lawns,
all dim with early dew, or smooth in evening warmth of barred sunshine, dinted by happy
feet, and softening in their fall the sound of loving voices; all these are summed up in those
simple words; and these are not all. — Rusk in: Modern Painters, Vol. TIT., Part 4, Chapter 14.
Contents of Chis Humber
SPECIAL ARTICLES. rage
A Summer School Program for North Caro¬
lina Teachers, E. C. Brooks . 3
A Message from the Now Inspector of High
Schools, Henry Highsinith . 4
A Changed Viewpoint on the Salary Ques¬
tion, L. A. Williams . S
How Consolidation Will Vitalize the Rural
Schools, Edgar W. Knight .
О
Some Tilings that Make a Nation . 0-11
The Now Plan of Organization of the Teach¬
ers’ Assembly . 5
What School Libraries
ЛУШ
Do for the
Schools, Joy Elmer Morgan . S
EDITORIAL.
Page
Pit!) and Paragraph . . 12
Playgrounds in Wadesboro . 13
Pamphlet on Renewal of Certificates . 13
Snpt. 1. C. Griffin a Member of the State
Hoard of Examiners . 13
The New High School Inspector . . 13
DEPARTMENTS.
Advertisements . . . 2 and 14-24
News and Comment About Books.. . . 14
State School News . Hi
MISCELLANEOUS.
A National Program for Better Schools. .... 7
Falling Off in Teaching Forces . 5
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