The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 26, 1917, Page 11

=TT The extension work of the agricul- tural college is doing much to help settle the question of keeping our boys and girls profitably and properly .in- terested. Many of our perplexing problems will somewhat adjust thems= selves through the active co-operation of our young people who are more than willing to do their part if they are given a chance and know how. The constantly increasing cost of the very necessities of life is some- thing that concerns all of us individu- ally. We are all prone to overlook the importance of little things and, con= sidering them not worth our attention, The poultry yard, the garden and chores around the farm are in so many cases merely a side line and they are accordingly looked after. Not so after the boys or girls have seen the importance of small details necessary to do things well. When they attend even a short course they get right down to doing things, such as seed testing, caring for stock, build- ing sheds—in fact anything pertaining to farm life. These things mean the boys return home with a desire to try out some of the things they have done in. school. The girls too, come in for their share of attention in the domestic science department and they can choose other lines also. The boys’ and girls’ clubs scattered all over the Northwest give them an opportunity to do things never For Boys and Girls— Musical Instruments MUSIC WITH STRINGS Stringed instruments have always been made of such perishable material that it is a difficult matter to trace their origin. The natives of New Guinea have a very small lyre which makes a sweet, tinkling sound when pulled with the fingers. These people are sensible, intelligent, and their use of the lyre shows us how fir man had advanced by the time he came to use a stringed instrument. First he:learned to sing after a fashion, then he began “to learn a rude sort of harmony, or playing two different notes at a time. As soon as the Egyptians learned to use the lyre, they improved it wonder- fully. They discovered two very im- portant facts about this kind of in- strument. The first was the need of a sound-box and the other a way of “stopping.” Try the experiment of fastening a piece of elastic to an empty wooden box—only so as not to touch the wood—then twang it. You will find the sound to be much louder than before. This gives you a good idea of e sound-board which all stringed in- struments have in some shape or other. “Stopping” in stringed instruments is the shortening of a string so that it will sound a higher note. Take the piece of elastic pinned on to the hollow box and press it in the middle with your finger so that it touches the wood, then pull it again. If you press down much nearer one pin than the other, the short end will sound much higher than the long one. We can now see how it is possible to make a great number of notes with very few strings. WHAT THE HINDUS USE The Hindus still have a most curious-looking box called the - vina with nineteen bridges and instead of a gound-box, two large hollow bulbs. Gradually there came to be a great number of stringed instruments. Some were played with the fingers, some with a plectrum like the mandolin. Again some were struck with little hammers which finally developed into our modern piano. The history of the violin is one of difficulty, for no one seems to have been able to definitely trace its origin. It is quite possible that the Welsh and the Arabians may have discovered the use of the bow, independently of each other and that it grew out of the old- fashioned plectrum. At any rate two kinds of bowed instruments came to be used all over Europe. None of these " fnstruments looked much like our vio- lins. They all had sound-boxes and bridges and some of them had a clum- gy sort of neck. GREAT VIOLIN MAKERS The violin bg ae very popula.r! and Mrs. Albe Let the‘ Farm Young Folks Help = == They Need New Opportunities and Responsibilities Something the practical boy or girl can make. This is simple and easily made and yet just the thing for Bigldy and her bréod. dreamed of in their mothers’ day. The fruit and‘ vegetable canning and con- tests for the young people will give them a chance to find out just what they can really do in helping to cut : tlie composers began to give it much more work in the orchestra . than formerly. This called for a better kind of instrument, so many workshops making violins arose in south Germany and northern Italy. The three best violin makers were Amati, Stradava- rius and Guarnerius. By this time the instrument was exactly the same shape it is today. There are just four sizes in the modern string choir, the violin, viola, violoncello and the bass-viol or double-bass. The superiority of the ‘‘strings” over all the other members of the orchestra is seen in several ways. They can be used in a great many different kinds of music. By means of the bow, the player can hold a note longer than on a wind instrument. Lastly, exceeding- 1y quick passages can be played on the violin which ‘are impossible on the wood-wind or brass instruments. The violin is the highest of the string choir. The string choir is the very heart of the orchestra, all the other instruments being arranged around it according to the character of the music to be played. In this way we see that our orchestra is the very opposite of that of the Chinese with the bang and rattle of the percussion instruments.” Now we hear the pure, clear tone of the violin above all the rest of the orchestra put to- gether. I hope you can now better lis- ten to music, since you know some- thing of the story of the instruments which waft to you the beautiful airs we love to hear. down the high cost of food. This is one of our big problems of today and we grownups need the help of the boys and girls to bring this about. Much advice is being given nowa- days to plant every bit of ground with vegetables and here is the great big chance to let the young people do their part. They have the opportunity now to prove their citizenship in a very practical way. Many of us have lived long enough to realize that most of our young people only need to be happily and busily occupied to be contented. Then when they see some returns financially, our young folks will not be looking with longing eyes towards the city. Rather than do nothing, a commun- tiy might adopt some war orphan, or city orphan (financially), and then see what it could accomplish with things they could sell through their ewn ef- forts. This is real philanthrophy and would be giving the boys and girls a taste of real living. The possibilities of the things our young people can do to help us grown- ups are unlimited and we need all the ° assistance they can possibly give us to get to the fundamentals of these great problems. The Northwest has no small part to play in providing some of the things which will lessen the strain incident to the high cost of food stuffs particularly. This means an abundance of garden stuff which is another way of saying plant all the garden you can manage well and give your boys and girls the chance: they want. They. will do their part well thereby taking responsibility as fu- ture citizens. Some Ideas of Country Women Did it ever occur to you that much sorrow and bitter enmity are caused by people being too proud or too stubborn to admit they were wrongs? I taught my baby to apologize at eighteen months when she could merely lisp “I *poligize” in order that she might have the spirit so well grounded in that it would not be hard when she was grown up. Now at two and a half years she emerges from her tantrums and squalls with a smiling “I ’pologize for being naughty” without being told it is due to her playmates or elders. I think this much better than no acknowl- edgement of wrong doing. I have found she will not do it unless en- tirely over her mood and this helps me in knowing just what state of peni- tence she is in. It seems to me if every mother would do this, it would make life easier for the poor teacher later on and eventu- ally make for happier homes and better citizenship. MRS. FRUTCHEY. An article in a February issue of the Nonpartisan Leader addressed to the mothers and Tathers who read your paper, attracted by attenpion. Since there are two sides to all questions, I do not like to let this article go un- challenged. Forbid corporal punishment in the school and see what will happen. The gang, as Mrs. Francis calls this class, will have their way as mever before. Any one who has taught school A promising farm garden ELEVEN knows that there are rare cases where corporal punishment is necessary as a last resort. This article stated that corporal punishment was a brutal prac- tice. There may be a few who abuse this right, but their number is limited today. Scholars and noted men in educa- tional fields are agreed that it takes more courage to whip a child than to let him go unpunished and wuncon- quered, and that a good sound spank- ing Wwill do more for some types of —children than any other form of pun- ishment. If your teacher is using corporal punishment unwisely put a stop to it, but before attempting any reform bhe sure your judgment is unerring. Some parents make the mistuke of placing -their child’s honesty and integrity above that of the teacher. They either for- get or do not know that the education of a child is merely leading him from a state of savagery up to the present state of civilized man. A good teacher has reached this advanced stage and therefore knows how to help others at- tain it. In conclusion let me say, use the rod sparingly but do a good job when you do resort to it. A child who has the right kind of home training gives very little trouble at school and is seldom if ever whipped. A N. D. “SCHOOL MARM.” o SUPPORT THE TRUTH Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Good government is simply jus- tice to the masses. The ideals must be kept in mind. We know the truth. ‘Let us support the paper that talks and cartoons the truth. Here’s my renewal. May the Baer's paw never lose its cunning. H. WHITTEMORE. Pomona, Cali. P. S—You will notice by my envelop that we tried to start something in Idaho six years ago. We could not get the sinews of war.. Impress upon your readers the importance of a heavy war chest.—H. W. WILL STIR MINNESOTA The National Nonpartisan League is preparing to make a real stir in this . state. One hundred Fords have been bought for the canvass, and it is pro- posed to make a personal visit to every farmer in the state. If the League does half as well in Minnesota as it did in North Dakota, there will certainly be a great political shake-up in the North Star state—LITTLE FALLS (MINN.) HERALD.