◆ SpookStack

S’-uippe d —Guyppea nO Instead of considering her environment in a@ mouniain community as @ handicap its possibilities and makes use of them in developing further abie bres teacher investigates that ingeniousness which probably will al- ways be important to the existence of these people. Miss Lewis teaches in the High- lander Folk School at Monteagle, Tennes- see, and is the author of “Deep As a Giant” published in the March 1938 issue of CHILD- HOOD EDUCATION. ISAW Joedy, a little boy of five in ragged It rv AY Wy overalls and bare feet, stoop down and pick up from the ground a forked leafy twig that had fallen from the oak tree above us. In a twinkling he placed the twig on his neck so that the luxuriant leaves clustered over his head and down his back. Was it Joedy or a horse standing before me? Without a word the transformation had taken place. As soon as the boy was encased in his glorious mane he began to stamp his feet, even his face took on a horsey expression, and he was off, gallop- ing across the field. All of the children were playing horse in some fashion. Earlier that morning we had been over to pick carrots in our school garden. On the way back we had to go through a field of old brittle cornstalks. So, naturally, when we reached the end of the field, every child was astride a corn- stalk horse. These broke very easily, but were substantial enough for a morning of fun, and the supply was endless. More nermanent was the tree horse in aVaUil pases aa, Wea fea La serie ass te grove at the corner of the school yard. ne ne re eo oe Se rR ile a Eg With On We Look for Things to Use By CLAUDIA LEWIS ak Tree aru = This was just a low branch with a fine resilient bounce. A niece of burlap thrown BREAN EAL BEA 2 PN rk are haae hs over it for a saddle and presto! this was a horse, too. It is a lucky thing, I have often thought, that here in the southern mountains it is warm enough to have our school outdoors six or seven months out of the year. It is lucky, too, that we are in a rural commun- ity where we have plenty of cornstalks and trees and spacious fields. For there is prac- tically no money for this little community nursery school operated with the help of the Highlander Folk School at Monteagle, Tennessee. And even if there were money, I question whether or not it should be Spent on expensive, ideal nursery school equip- ment. Should Billy be given a little wood- en Kraft cheese box to break up when his own father painstakingly makes novel cigarette cases out of these very boxes, in the hope of earning a little money to sup- port his family of six? Should I even give the children those bright net bags that oranges come in, when some families are glad to have them to tack over their win- dows as screens? I did furnish small scraps of good cloth for doll dresses until some of the mothers, visiting one day, saw the nice broadcloth pieces and remarked that they would make such pretty collars and cuffs for children’s dresses. The story of this Summerfield Nursery School, situated in one of the most poverty- stricken areas in our country, has been che story of the search for adequate play equip- ment in what grew around us, or in what could be secured at no cost. 2S a ~ALL