Western Washington Intermediate Schools
By F. M. Burg
THERE are two intermediate schools in this conference, one located three or four miles from Mt. Vernon, a thriving little town about seventy miles north of Seattle on the Great Northern Railway, and the other at or near Manor, in a good farming district in Clark County, about sixteen miles northeast of Vancouver, and about two miles from a branch road of the Northern Pacific. Forest Home Industrial Academy, as the school at Mt. Vernon is called, has been in operation for about two years, and a very encouraging work has been done for the youth who have attended. During the year just closing there have been at the school about fifty young persons; and from what I learned by a short visit at the school recently, there has been a work accomplished for many of them that will yield a rich harvest in eternity. This school for the northern section of the conference has two good buildings erected, though only partly finished and very plainly furnished. These buildings are sufficient to accommodate very comfortably about fifty students. There are about twenty acres of land connected with the school, all of which, except a small parcel which the students and their teacher have thus far cleared, is unimproved. It will take work to clear it; but the land will be productive when it is brought under cultivation. More land adjacent to this twenty acres can be secured if wanted by the school. The survey for the county road direct from Mt. Vernon promises a good graded road before long, which will reduce the distance to town and to the railroad station to about two miles and a half. When the pledges which have been made for these intermediate schools in western Washington are paid, their buildings, furnishings, and equipments can be put into better condition. It is hoped that before another year's work opens, there will be paid into the conference treasury a goodly sum for the carrying on of this work for our dear youth. The Meadow-Glade Intermediate School at Manor, in the southern part of the conference, is not so far along in its buildings and other improvements as the northern school. But notwithstanding all this,—the lack of buildings, furnishings, and facilities,—there has been excellent work done at this school, with most gratifying results. I have just made a visit to the place, and am glad to have had this privilege; for what I have seen of the good results of the work done in the school, and a survey of the immediate vicinity and of the possible constituency and the prospect for students in the southern section of the conference, have disabused my mind of some unfavorable impressions that I had had. There is a good community of people and a good farming district surrounding the Manor school—as good an average chance to get a home and make a living out of the soil as you can find. This school has also twenty acres of unimproved land. But though unimproved, six or eight acres of it can very quickly and with no unreasonably hard work be put under grass for pasture. Between one and two acres is now under cultivation, and will produce an excellent crop. There is quite a supply of good, marketable timber on the place. The campus can, in a little while, be made very attractive. But buildings are needed. If the readers of this sketch could have visited the school with me, it would not be necessary for me to say this. Buildings, furnishings, and facilities for the work that is started at Manor should be supplied before another school term begins. I am glad to say that a number of our brethren who are near enough to have seen the working of this school and to know its prospects are fully aroused; and the Board has decided to start the erection of a building which will be more in keeping with the interests involved. I should state that lumber is already on the ground and paid for, to put up the frame of a building thirty-two by forty feet, and to enclose it. This will be done at once; and then money will have to be solicited to finish and furnish it. I appeal to our people in western Washington in behalf of our dear youth who are just at that age where the world is bidding for them. No longer regard these schools as an experiment, but recognize them as a permanent factor among us. If our brethren and sisters will fall into step with this good work for our promising young people, both of these schools in western Washington will be taxed to their utmost to accommodate them. In another paper I will present a few thoughts concerning the object of these schools, their possibilities for good, who should attend them, and will also tell what the young people of the Manor school did during my visit among them that illustrated in a beautiful way to the community the value and merit of the work that the school is doing.