S539 G8H8 n Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000230262 Cornell University Library S 539.G8H8 A "Hampton" in Macedonia 3 1924 000 230 262 The Board of Directors of the Institute Leander T. Chamberlain, D. D. Honorary Chairman, Pasadena, California. Lucius H. Beers, Esq., New York Rev. Lewis Bond, Plainfield, N. J. Rev. H. B. Frissell, LL.D., Hampton, Va. Rev. E. B. Haskell, D.D., Salonica Wm. B. Isham, Jr., New York Rev. Irving W. Metcalf, Oberlin, O. Rev. George S. Payson, D.D., New York Eli G. Partridge, Esq., New York Rev. George Washburn, D.D., LL.D., Boston, Mass. L. Hollingsworth Wood, Esq., New York Rev. J. Henry House, D.D., Salonica Officers of the Corporation J. Henry House, President Lucius H. Beers, Vice President Eli G. Partridge, Secretary, 49 Wall St., N. Y. Wm; B. Isham, Jr., Treasurer, 27 William St., N. Y. Executive Committee, Salonica Edward B. Haskell J. Henry House W. C. Cooper Contributions can be sent to Wm. B. Isham, Jr., 27 William St., New York City. Friends in Great Britain can send contributions to the Rt. Hon. Lord Kinnaird, Treasurer of the Bible Lands Missions' Aid Society, 7 Adams Street, Strand, London. Form of Bequest I give and bequeath to "The Thessalonica Agricultural and Indus- trial Institute" incorporated in 1904, under the laws of the State of New York, its successors or assigns, the sum of dollars. A "HAMPTON" IN MACEDONIA BY JAMES HENRY HOUSE Principal of The Thessalonica Agricultural Institute, Salonica REPRINTED FROM THE SOUTHERN WORKMAN FOR JANUARY 19*3 Press of The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute Hampton, Virginia 1913 A "HAMPTON" IN MACEDONIA BY JAMES HENRY HOUSE Principal of The Thessalonica Agricultural Institute, Salonica I BOUT twenty-five years ago, the writer, while calling upon the Bulgarian Agent in Constantinople, received from him an urgent plea for the establishment of an Ameri- can school or college in Macedonia which would do for that country what Americans were doing for other parts of Turkey. Three days later this Bulgarian was assassinated. It is not improb- able that he was one of the first of a long line of victims who have died as a result of the agitation over the freedom of Macedonia, an agitation which we hope is drawing to a close as a result of the ter- rible war that has cost so many brave young lives. Time passed, and at length the dream of many years, of an industrial school in Macedonia, found fulfillment. In 1902 fifty- three acres of land were bought about three miles from the city of Salonica, and in October, 1904, The Thessalonica Agricultural Insti- tute was incorporated under the laws of the state of New York. The land itself is treeless and without water, but it is on the road lead- ing from the finest part of the city to the hot springs six or eight miles beyond. These springs gave the name of Therma to the city before it received its present name of Thessalonica in honor of the wife of Cassandra, who beautified the city and named it for his wife, the sister of Alexander the Great. Salonica is growing rapidly in the direction of the school. The farm may soon be within the city limits, and the land, which has increased already to five times its original value, will then be worth much more. The first work done on the place was to build a little hut for an old caretaker and to set out four thousand mulberry trees. The old man was rather afraid to stay in the hut, for we soon learned that the gully just beyond the farm was so haunted by robbers and evil men that the villagers were afraid to plow their land. The old hut is gone now, but near the same spot a fine, new school building stands. There are five other buildings on the place — the farmer's house and carpenter's shop, shoemaker's cottage and oven, carriage house, chicken house, and last but not least, our barn, the pride of the school. There are also an arbor with a pump in the center for THE FIRST BUILDING OF THE SALONICA SCHOOL the use of passers-by and a tool shed built by the boys. The story of how the barn was built is worth giving. There was no money, but the boys dug the foundations and drew the stone. Before they had finished laying the foundations a gift of ten pounds from a Swiss friend living in India enabled us to buy some bricks, and work was begun by the boys under the direction of their master, who was ■H THE PRESENT MAIN BUILDING himself a member of the Theological Class that was preparing three young men to preach in our village churches. From this beginning the work went on. A gift of five pounds helped us to buy more bricks, an added gift from another source paid for boards and cement for the floor, and slowly the barn was completed. The academic course' consists of five of the eight years' course of a European gymnasium, from which school students pass to the A TYPICAL MACEDONIAN VILLAGER university or professional school. The remarkable thing about it is that our boys, who work one half-day and study the other half, still go over, year for year, the same course, essentially, as that given in the gymnasia. Then our boys, as far as mental training is concerned, are better fitted for life than boys who have passed through the same number of years in the other schools, because, with their book knowl- edge, they have that additional education which comes from the training of the mind and hands together to do things, which means SALONICA WITH ITS WHITE TOWER greater exactness and permanence of knowledge. They are taught to think out practical problems for themselves, and, besides, they learn the dignity of honest labor in a country where a graduate of a gym- nasium esteems it disgraceful to work with his hands. Mr. Karavellof, one of the most gifted of Bulgarian prime minis- ters, once told me that the people who gave the Government the most trouble were the graduates of their gymnasia, who looked to the Government to supply them with positions either as clerks in the various departments or as teachers in the national schools, and as there were not enough places to go around, the disap- pointed youth frequented the cafes and wine-shops at night and TYPICAL MACEDONIAN WOMEN were the disturbers of the peace of the capital of the country. " The craftsmen," he said, " are our best citizens. They work in the day time and sleep at night." It seems to fall to Americans to teach the nations of Europe the dignity of labor, and this school is the only institution in all that region which teaches, as it ought to be taught, this great Christian doctrine. Besides the academic department, there are also the farming, carpentry, masonry, tailoring, and shoemaking departments. Farm- ing is the occupation in which every pupil gets some instruction, as v ****. SCHOOL BOVS BUILDING THE BARN all are obliged to study the theory of agriculture ; and each boy in the trades works at least one day a week on the farm for the sake of health and physical development. Farming in our school includes gardening, horticulture, and silk-culture, besides general farm work. There are over 2000 mulberry trees on the farm for raising leaves for feeding silk-worms. Our silk cocoons are the finest in the market. In the vineyards there are over 6000 grapevines and a good many fruit trees — almonds, apples, pears, plums, apricots, cherries, persim- mons, and walnuts — all upon land which ten years ago was a barren, treeless waste. 8 The farming department is supplied with some of the best of American implements — a Syracuse sulky plow ; Syracuse and Oliver common plows ; double- and single-disc, straight-toothed, and Acme harrows ; adjustable-spring and common cultivators ; an Empire seeder ; a sub-surface packer ; and a McCormick reaper and binder. The reaper and binder is a great wonder to the people. Last summer a Turkish soldier who had passed the farm was telling in the city the wonderful story of a machine that not only cut grain but tied it into bundles and threw it aside. His companion was not impressed. The thing was impossible ! A bet was made, and the unbeliever brought out to the farm to see the wonder for himself. THE NEW BARN COMPLETED Accurate thermometers and a rain-gauge from London give us the record of temperature and rainfall. The rainfall is so small, from 13 J^ to 11 }4 inches a year ordinarily, that we use what is called in America dry-farming. This consists in conserving by every known means all the moisture which is found in, or reaches the soil. Two of the pictures accompanying this article represent a grain field on our farm and one on a neighbor's farm across the road on equally good or better soil, where dry-farming methods are not used. They speak for themselves. A villager, passing one of the school grain fields, cried out as he saw the tall, beautiful grain, " Mash-allah ! " ( God defend us ! ) " How do you do it ?" He listened appreciatively while it was explained to him. A Turk 9 who owned a larger farm further to the south asked, when pass- ing, why we harrowed the growing grain, we seemed to him to be destroying the beautiful young grain fields. When I told him, he said, " I will try it. " So the influence of the school is spreading and our farm is becoming known far and wide. Very soon, doubtless, all the larger farms will have the reaper and binder. Last year I was told that the demand in Salonica was greater than could be supplied. Farming machines have been introduced into Turkey in the past, and some, many probably, have been thrown aside for want of the man who knew how to use them. Here they are seen at work in charge of boys who know how to manage them. We contemplate extension work when we can have the means to put the school on its feet — practical talks on the farm to the farmers who can gather there, and conferences in the villages in the winter, when the people are free to attend them. The whole rural world of that country is open to the influence of such an institution as this, when it is properly equipped. The carpentry and masonry departments go together in this country. The mason is expected to be a carpenter and the carpen- ter a mason. From the tailoring and shoemaking departments the boys are supplied with clothing and foot-wear. The shoe shop pro- duces fine hand-made shoes which are beginning to have a reputa- tion at a distance. For all these departments we are searching for skilled masters who should also have the missionary spirit which now so fully pervades its present body of instructors. The school, although non-sectarian, is thoroughly Christian. The students are trained in the ideals of Christian service for which the institution stands. Two of the graduates play the organ for the services in the churches they attend. One boy writes of his interest in an effort to build a larger church in his town. Another stu- dent, while on a visit to his village, wrote of his talks with the young people, of his efforts to start a temperance society in the village, and of distributing Testaments. More than onp of the students has left his own Testament in his village while at home on a vacation, and many send leaflets and booklets to absent friends and to the prisoners in the Seven Towers of the city. Our visitors are many, of many nationalities — Turkish, Bulga- rian, Greek, English, German, Swiss, Servian, and Jewish, also a few Americans. In the future we hope that there will be more who will come over to see what America is doing for the people of Mace- donia. Teachers of the Bulgarian gymnasia of the city visit the school and go away and write columns in the native papers of HARVESTING BY OLD METHODS IN MACEDONIA what they have seen. We cannot advertise the school because it is already so full that every year we must turn away boys who apply to enter. Our capacity now is only fifty boys, as all must be board- ers. My associate, who is in charge during my absence, writes HARVESTING IN THE NEW WAY ON THE SCHOOL FARM HASSAN, THE ALBANIAN GUARD that we could easily fill another dormitory. We need another building, a better equipment for our carpentry department in wood- working machinery, and a new carpenter's shop. Iron-working should be added to the curriculum. Here, then, is one of America's great opportunities. A well- equipped school of this kind is not only a Christianizing, civilizing, and uplifting influence for rural and civic life, but one of the best investments for our business world. The director of the school has THE BOYS OF THE SALONICA SCHOOL 12 been asked repeatedly by other farmers in the vicinity to give a list of necessary tools for a farmer's outfit. The opening of a new era is upon us. The overturnings of this terrible Balkan War will bring about new conditions., Salonica may become, like Hamburg, a free city. Shall America take her part in the civilizing influences and the commerce which are to prevail there now in the birth throes of new national life? This is the time and the opportunity for the useful investment of money towards the development of an important and naturally fertile region, and of a people who, after centuries of serfdom, are now struggling heroic- ally for freedom and the better things of a Christian civilization. Not only money, but men are needed — men who are filled with the power and spirit of Christ. A MACEDONIAN VILLAGE The Thessalonica Agricultural and Industrial Institute (Incorporated in 1904 under the laws of the state of New York) Situation Three miles south of Salonica (Thessalonica), Mace- donia, near the ^Egean Sea. Equipment A farm of about 75 acres, one main building, and four smaller buildings. Its aim To give poor boys the elements of a good education together with manual training, in which the main em- phasis is placed upon agriculture, but the industries most needed in village life are added : shoemaking, tailoring, carpentry, and masonry. It stands for the dignity of laboring with the hands. Its ideal So to mingle study with work as to give the three- fold training of heart, mind, and hand at one and the same time. Some of its needs For currrent expenses each year on present basis $9,000 Twenty-five scholarships for orphans and poor boys, each 50 A new dormitory to treble the number who can enjoy the privileges of the school . 25,000 Additional annually for better equipment of teaching force .....' 2,500 For completing water works for irrigation . 1,000 A low phaeton 150 A pair of heavy horses for plowing .... 200 A typewriter 75 An Eastman kodak . 35