A School Conservatory

THE CONTRIBUTORS’ CLUB.

THE writer of the article The Schoolhouse as a Centre, in the January Atlantic, pleads for a conservatory in the public school building, “not for botanical uses, but for the pleasure to the eye,”and adds, “ If there is only one fountain in the village, it should be in the schoolhouse court or garden.” San Francisco is not exactly a village, and it is not a very arable city, but there is at least one conservatory and fountain in it within the walls of a public school. A high school for girls, with an enrollment of about six hundred pupils, has been the scene of an interesting and successful experiment. About two and a half years ago, the master of the school, eager to introduce some beauty into the school surroundings, persuaded the authorities to have thirty or forty loads of loam dumped upon the waste of sand which formed the playground of the school, a plot sixty-five by one hundred and thirty feet. With this loam a border was made, about three feet wide, and several patches of earth were spread about the lot. The master and bis pupils exercised their ingenuity in producing rockeries and ferneries. Everything grows quickly in California, and soon the girls had palms and ferns and varieties of tropical plants growing in the border and on the patches. To work at this gardening was a privilege, and if any plot was neglected it was to be taken out of the hands of the gardener and given to another ; but so far not more than three or four out of the ninety-eight who undertook the work have fallen under this penalty. It was perhaps rather fortunate that the lack of funds compelled this resort to volunteer labor, for certainly more than half the pleasure would have been lost if the care of the gardens had fallen to the charge of a paid gardener.

But when the desert had been thus transformed into a blooming garden, there was still a corner, formed by two brick walls, which served for a rubbish heap, and the master wished not only to get rid of the unsightly pile, but to make this sunny spot available for a conservatory. His call on the authorities for such a conservatory was met with derision ; how could a delicate plant-house possibly be cared for, even if there were funds to build it? The master’s enthusiasm and self-help carried him forward, and a year ago, in the Christmas vacation, putting off the schoolmaster and putting on the workman, he built a conservatory with his own hands, — a conservatory fourteen feet by eighteen, and twelve feet high in the peak. Thus far but one pane of glass has been broken; and as for the plants, they have flourished famously. The girls take the greatest pride in the house, helping to stock it and bringing their ailing plants from home to enjoy it, and so jealous of the good name of the school that it is the rarest thing for a blossom to be plucked. The immediate care is in the hands of the janitor.

One thing leads to another, and to the garden and conservatory has now been added a fountain, with a basin eight by ten feet, in which fish are hatched and reared and their habits closely watched by the girls. In this charming spot the pupils spend their recesses, and often a class is allowed to spend a study hour there. If a girl’s head droops or her eye grows dull, she is sent into the garden for a while, and the visit is a wonderful panacea for geometrical headaches, chemical sore throats, or optical aberrations. And as a girl takes a visitor first of all to this favorite resort, it is fair to believe that the memory of most, when it turns to the old schoolhouse in afteryears, will be a fragrant memory.