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The good people of Ravinia dedi- cated their new school house Satur- day afternoon. The people~men, women and childrenmcame from all directions in little groups, neatly dressed. The exercises began about 3:30, Mr. McKenzie in the, chair. Rev. Mr. Heathcote, pastor of the local church, ofl’ered prayer. after which speeches Were by John Healer, W. D. Cross. the new teacher, and both did well, Mr. Healer showed good ability and a carefully prepared speech, while Prof; Cross spoke more of his work and the pupils. He said he was from Iowa. and you would gueSS as much from the good sense he exhibited. The editor of the NEWS made some desultory remarks. after which President Mc- Kenzie read a short paper, practical and pertinent to the occasion, when some six or eightsli-ttle girls had a sort of medley recitation that was very pretty, apt and just fitted to the occasion, and done so well, too; all enjoyed it immensely. Mr. Mc- Kenzie called on half a dozen others, but they declined. Two stanzas of “America" closed the formal exer- cises. We ought to have said the first thing done was to run up a new flag. with cheers of delight, and the last thing was to go out in the grove and sit down to a lavish supply of choice ice crcum, cakes and lemon- ade.nnd none of your Sunday school lemonadeâ€"~4wo lemons to ten gallons of waterrrrrâ€"but the genuine article. All this made for llfi a pleasant after- noon. A word about the school houae. It is admirably planned, one large room, 48 desks and plenty of floor and blackboard room; desks all face north, abundantly lighted, and a smaller room. when the school comes up to it. Thvro is :1 large vntrnnct‘ hall and two cloak and hat rooms. A good, well-lighted collar is under the whole of it and a fl‘lrndm will not only be: It but lhoronahlv \vntil :m- it. It is finished in southern VOL II _ ‘ WAWWARKEL” §EPTEMBER 17-, 1397 Highland Park News. THE 'RAVINIA DEDICATION. As to location, they have a fine lot, triangular, with the ” house at the base. and the apex some 300 to 400 feet away gives ample play ground, with shade trees, etc. The outbuild- ings and rear yards are admirably arranged,,and the building commit- tee,_whoever they are, deserve .great credit. The house is on one side of the district now, but in ten years you will see wonderful changes; very likcly‘two districts then, with a new school over west in Jacobs’ ad--. ditionl' pine and well done, too; the joints are wellumade, the dobrs and winâ€" dows fit and everything is in good shape. Finally, we congratulate Ravinia on so good, complete and up-to-date, wellâ€"built, admirably finished and furnished a s'cl'iool house. Ravinia has reason to be proud,~ and every- body connected with that school should be grateful. No school house or church was ever built without some friction. but that will all be gone in six months or less. They appropriated $2700 and have used for building and furnishing so far less than $2000; good men some- where to make aldermen of, if they do like that. A neighbor asked us the other day how to keep a garden free from weeds. There is only one way, and that is successful always and every- where. Kill every weed you see for five to ten years. ' ()ne vigorous Weed, going to seed this year in your garden, means a crop of fifty new ones next year. We see gardens all about us where the weeds are left to their own sweet will after the first of August. and of course the results are disastrous to the gar- den. Weeds and forest fires are two things which flourish in spite of drouth. The Military Academy Cadets he gan coming back Wednesday morn ing and by the opening hour‘ six o'clock p. m. of thatday, most of them were in place at roll (-all. McGregor Adams’ barn and con- tents were burned to the ground Tuesday morning a little after 4 o’clock. How or ‘where the fire orig- inated is not known. It seems that Mr. Adams and one of the servants were startled by the brilliant light and on looking out saw the east end of the barn loft all ablaze. Mr. Adams went out and led out his horse, and then drew out his two- seated and top buggy; the road cart, tarmacart, several harness and all the farm and garden tools were burned; also four or five tons of hay, “is little grain and all the wardrobe of his colored man. Everything being so dry outside and in, the barn and contents were all gone in a very short time. The man sleeping in the loft had just time to jump from one of the chamber Windows without stopping to dress or to se- cure his clothes. He was badly burned about the face, neck and shoulders. hands and feet and was sent to the hospital in Chicago, after being cared for by Dr. Haskins. When we saw the ruins in the af- ternoon it was only ashes and one or twu bits of smouldering fire. The extent of the loss we could not learn, nor is it known whether Mr. Adams will rebuild this season, though we suppose he will; he is not the man to give up‘ for a fire even. Having heard that the sidewalk down on Sheridan road was in bad condition, we examined it Tuesday between Mrs. Jones’ house and the Yerkes watering fountain. Below the Roberta‘ house. and at it‘s drive- way several planks are rotted out, some are gone between the Rolxerts’ and Meyers' homes, and several. this side of the Meyers, where the Acker- Miss Nellie Palmetier, who has spent some weeks in Winthrop, Iowa, lmr home, is back again. THE ADAMS FIRE. NO 16. LA 33