GET READY FOR SCHOOL

The vacation period is drawing to a close. Soon the boys and girls will be looking up their books and getting ready for a long term of school. A number of families will come in from the outside or send their children here for the better advantages offered. In some instances it may not be convenient for such scholars to be here at the opening, but a great effort should be made to that end, owing to the trouble avoided and the advantages gained thereby. Touching this point the editor of the Helena Record, in a recent issue, says:

"When the school bell sounds the opening hour on the first day every boy and girl should be in attendance. It often happens that, for various reasons, parents are not prepared to send their children to school on the opening day of the term; frequently the pupil is not enrolled for a period of three weeks or a month. Such a practice is to be roundly condemned. The pupil who does not make the start on even terms with his mates must suffer the consequences. It is seldom that he can "catch up"; even a week of lost time is a handicap difficult to overcome.

"One of the results of the failure on the part of the parents to send their children to the class room at the start is that they are placed in grades lower than those in which they rightfully ought to be placed and would have been placed had they been on time. The effect of this is humiliation for the child and annoyance for the teacher. Parents should see to it that their children are not called upon to pay the penalty of their own negligence or carelessness. There are few, very few, instances when there is excuse for the failure of the pupil to be on hand when the year's roll call is read."