Amanda Reist - Teacher

However, Crow Hill is no Eden. Some of the older boys laughed at the
"silly ideas" of "that Manda Reist" and disliked the way she taught
geography and made the pupils "play in the dirt and build capes and
islands and the whole blamed geography business right in the school-
yard."

It naturally followed that adverse criticism grew and grew, like
Longfellow's pumpkin, and many curious visitors came to Crow Hill
school. The patrons, taxpayers, directors were concerned and considered
it their duty to drop in and observe how things were being run in that
school. They found that the three R's were still taught efficiently,
even if they were taught with the aid of chestnuts, autumn leaves and
flowers; they were glad to discover that an island, though formed in
the school-yard from dirt and water, was still being defined with the
old standard definition, "An island is a body of land entirely
surrounded by water."

If any other school had graduated Amanda, her position might have been
a trifle precarious, but Millersville Normal School was too well known
and universally approved in Lancaster County to admit of any
questionable suggestions about its recent graduate. Most of the people
who came to inspect came without any antagonistic feeling and they left
convinced that, although some of Amanda Reist's ways were a little
different, the scholars seemed to know their lessons and to progress
satisfactorily.

Later in the school year she urged the children to bring dried corn
husk to school, she brought brightly colored raffia, and taught them
how to make baskets. The children were clamorous for more knowledge of
basket making. The fascinating task of forming objects of beauty and
usefulness from homely corn husk and a few gay threads of raffia was
novel to them. Amanda was willing to help the children along the path
of manual dexterity and eager to have them see and love the beautiful.
Under her guidance they gathered and pressed weeds and grasses and the
airy, elusive milkweed down, caught butterflies, and assembled the
whole under glass, thus making beautiful trays and pictures.