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pantry, kitchen, and storerooms. But the school board, fearing that
a third building could not be erected soon, planned to add a second
story, one end of which, left unfinished, could be used for a time as a
chapel, while the remaining portion could be made to accommodate a
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dozen boys with sleeping quarters.
When the work on this building was about two thirds done, the
treasurer reported that the funds were exhausted, and that the work
must move slowly. But the time was nearing when the school was to
be opened, and the friends of the enterprise felt that unpreparedness
to care properly for those who should come would be disastrous.
“The school must open on the date advertised,” Mrs. White insisted,
when told of the difficulties surrounding the school board. To this the
builders replied, “It is impossible; it cannot be done.”
There remained one resource,—the united and unselfish cooper-
ation of all in a supreme effort to bring about that which seemed so
utterly impossible. Mrs. White determined to appeal direct to the
people. “We appointed a meeting for Sunday morning at six o’clock,
and called the church together,” she afterward wrote of the experiences
of the weeks that followed. “We laid the situation before the brethren
and sisters, and called for donated labor. Thirty men and women of-
fered themselves for work; and although it was hard for them to spare
the time, a strong company continued at work day after day, till the
buildings were completed, cleaned, and furnished, ready to be used at
the day set for the opening of the school.”
At the time appointed, April 28, 1897, the school was opened, with
Elder and Mrs. S. N. Haskell and Prof. and Mrs. H. C. Lacey as
teachers. On the first day, there were only ten students. When the
word went abroad that the school had actually opened and begun work,
others came; and a month later, when Prof. and Mrs. C. B. Hughes
came to join the teaching force, there were nearly thirty students in
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attendance. As the term advanced, and the character of the instruction
given was told in the churches, others made great efforts to join them,
and before the close of the term there were sixty students in all. About
forty of these were accommodated in the school home.