It will be a part of the lasting glory of the State of Kentucky that it has taken the lead in this movement. It is the first state to offer to all the people, of whatever age, an opportunity to learn to read and write, and thus break away from the prison wall of sense and silence within which the illiterate man and woman must live. Whatever else Governor James B. McCreary may do for his State, this proclamation and his recommendation to the legislature that it provide for the appointment of an Illiteracy Commission must always be accounted among his wisest and most important acts. CHAPTER IX THE FIRST TEXT-BOOKS FOR ADULT ILLITERATES Attractive and easy texts and school supplies for adults which would enable them to learn quickly and would stimulate them to further endeavor was a manifest need. The little newspaper had been valuable for a county campaign, but was not so easy to carry out for the State, with its varying conditions and its remote sections to be reached. Someone had to provide the tools with which these men and women could dig their way out of the mental dungeon in which they were imprisoned. A reader was prepared for them and brought out as quickly as possible. The first lesson was: Can you read? Can you write? Can you read and write? I can read. I can write. I can read and write. This lesson contained but six words. It appealed to the ego, referring as it did to the student himself, and related to the activity in which he was, at the moment, engaged. As the lessons progressed, farm improvement, good roads, civics, health, home economics, horticulture, sanitation and thrift were woven into them, and each lesson accomplished a double purpose, the primary one of teaching the pupil to read, and at the same time that of imparting instruction in the things that vitally affected him in his daily life. It was a correlation of subjects which, in adult education is even more necessary than in that of the child. The lessons on the road, placed side by side, compared the advantage of the good and the disadvantage of the bad roads. The first was: This is a road. It is a good road. It will save my time. It will save my team. It will save my wagon. The good road is my friend. I will work for the good road. On the opposite page appeared this lesson: See this bad road. It will waste my time. It will hurt my team. It will hurt my wagon. The bad road is my foe. I will get rid of the bad road. The key-note sentence in each lesson appeared in script form at the bottom of the page and was to be copied by each student a number of times.