text
stringlengths 0
662
|
|---|
But, just as funds had grown to what Mayor Gadsby thought would fill |
all such wants, a row in Council as to this fund's application got so |
hot that "His Honor" got mad; _mighty mad!!_ And said:-- |
"Why is it that any bill for appropriations coming up in this Council |
has to kick up such a rumpus? Why can't you look at such things with a |
public mind; for nothing can so aid toward passing bills as harmony. |
This city is not holding off an attacking army. Branton Hills is not |
a pack of wild animals, snapping and snarling by day; jumping, at a |
crackling twig, at night. It is a city of _humans_; animals, if you |
wish, but with a gift from On High of a _brain_, so far apart from all |
dumb animals as to allow us to talk about our public affairs calmly and |
thoughtfully. All this Night School rumpus is foolish. Naturally, what |
is taught in such a school is an important factor; so I want to find |
out from our Organization----" |
At this point, old Bill Simpkins got up, with: |
"This Organization of Youth stuff puts a kink in my spinal column! |
Almost all of it is through school. So how can you bring such a group |
forward as 'pupils?'" |
"A child," said Gadsby, "who had such schooling as Branton Hills |
affords is, naturally, still a pupil; for many will follow up a study |
if an opportunity is at hand. Many adults also carry out a custom |
of brushing up on unfamiliar topics; thus, also, ranking as pupils. |
Possibly, Bill, if you would look up that word 'pupil,' you wouldn't |
find so much fault with insignificant data." |
"All right!" was Simpkins' snap-back; "but what I want to know is, |
what our big Public Library is for. Your 'pupils' can find all sorts |
of information in that big building. So why build a night school? It's |
nothing but a duplication!" |
"A library," said Gadsby, "is not a school. It has no instructors; you |
cannot talk in its rooms. You may find a book or two on your study, or |
you may not. You would find it a big handicap if you think that you can |
accomplish much with no aid but that of a Public Library. Young folks |
know what young folks want to study. It is foolish, say, to install a |
class in Astronomy, for although it _is_ a 'Night School,' its pupils' |
thoughts might not turn toward Mars, Saturn or shooting stars; but |
shorthand, including training for typists amongst adults who, naturally |
don't go to day schools, is most important, today; also History and |
Corporation Law; and I know that a study of Music would attract many. |
Any man or woman who works all day, but still wants to study at night, |
should find an opportunity for doing so." |
This put a stop to Councilman Simpkins' criticisms, and approval was |
put upon Gadsby's plan; and it was but shortly that this school's |
popularity was shown in a most amusing way. Branton Hills folks, in |
passing it on going out for a show or social call, caught most savory |
whiffs, as its cooking class was producing doughnuts and biscuits; |
for a Miss Chapman, long famous as a cook for Branton Hills' Woman's |
Club, had about forty girls finding out about that magic art. So, too, |
occasionally a cranky old Councilman, who had fought against "this |
foolish night school proposition," would pass by; and, oh, hum!! A |
Councilman is only an animal, you know; and, on cooking class nights, |
such an animal, unavoidably drawn by that wafting aroma, would go in, |
just a bit humiliatingly, and, in praising Miss Chapman for doing "such |
important work for our young girls," would avidly munch a piping hot |
biscuit or a sizzling doughnut from a young girl's hand, who, a month |
ago, couldn't fry a slab of bacon without burning it. |
V |
Just as Gadsby was thinking nothing was now lacking in Branton Hills, a |
child in a poor family got typhoid symptoms from drinking from a small |
brook at a picnic and, without any aid from our famous Organization, |
a public clamor was forthcoming for Municipal District Nursing, as |
so many folks look with horror at going to a hospital. Now District |
Nursing calls for no big appropriation; just salary, a first-aid |
outfit, a supply of drugs and so forth; and, now-a-days, a car. And, |
to Branton Hills' honor four girls who had had nursing training soon |
brought, not only small comforts, but important ministrations to a |
goodly part of our population. In districts without this important |
municipal function, common colds may run into long-drawn-out attacks; |
and contagion can not only shut up a school or two but badly handicap |
all forms of public activity. |
"Too many small towns," said Gadsby, "try to go without public nursing; |
calling it foolish, and claiming that a family ought to look out for |
its own sick. BUT! Should a high mortality, such as this Nation HAS |
known, occur again, such towns will frantically broadcast a call for |
girls with nursing training; and wish that a silly, cash-saving custom |
hadn't brought such critical conditions." |
At this point I want to bring forward an individual who has had a big |
part in Branton Hills' growth; but who, up to now, has not shown up in |
this history. You know that Gadsby had a family, naturally including a |
woman; and that woman was fondly and popularly known throughout town |
as Lady Gadsby; a rank fittingly matching Gadsby's "His Honor," upon |
his inauguration as Mayor. Lady Gadsby was strongly in favor of all |
kinds of clubs or associations; organizing a most worthy Charity Club, |
a Book Club and a Political Auxiliary. It was but a natural growth from |
Woman's part in politics, both municipal and National; and which, in |
many a city, has had much to say toward nominations of good officials, |