A survey of the entire country from one side to another reveals a deplorable state of affairs in respect to the conditions of the typical rural schoolhouse. In thousands of cases, there is nothing more than a dingy, little, old one-room building, scarcely suitable as a place wherein to shelter chickens or pigs, and with nothing in the surroundings to suggest or even hint at a place where young minds are taught how to aim at the high things of life. Now, these crude structures were once a necessity. In pioneer days the little, old box schoolhouse, or even the sod structure, served a mighty purpose in the transformation of the plains and the wilderness. But times are now radically changed. The wealth of the country is abundant. Improvements of nearly every other sort have gone on as the times advanced. But too often the little, old cheap schoolhouse on the bleak country slope became a fixed habit. In setting forth plans for a newer and better country school building, the author cannot improve upon those prepared by E. T. Fairchild, State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Kansas, and published in his Seventeenth Biennial Report. We therefore quote as follows:-- 1. _Location._--"In selecting a site for a school building, the questions of drainage, convenience, beauty of surroundings, and accessibility should have prime consideration. Select, if possible, some plat of ground slightly elevated, and of which the surface may be properly drained and kept free from mud. It should be especially seen to that water may not stand under the building. If the elevation is not sufficient, this trouble should be overcome by proper filling in beneath the building. The location should be as nearly as possible central with reference to the pupils of the district. But other things should also be considered. It is better that some pupils should be put to a slight disadvantage than that attractiveness of surroundings, remoteness from environment likely to interfere with the work of the school, or other essentials, should be sacrificed." [Illustration: PLATE XI. FIG. 12.--A cozy little country schoolhouse in the tall, picturesque woods of California. FIG 13.--This model country school building, planned by State Superintendent E. T. Fairchild, of Kansas, is being copied in many places.] 2. _The water supply._--The purity of the water supply for the school is no less important from the standpoint of health than that of the air supply. The greatest danger lies in the use of water taken from wells that are used only a portion of the year. Such water is certain to become stagnant. In the autumn before the term commences special care should be taken to pump all water out of the well and to clean the same if necessary; thereby much sickness may be avoided. The well, of course, should be so located as to avoid any contamination owing to vaults or drains.