USA > Iowa > Lucas County > History of Lucas County, Iowa containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc > Part 58
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From the first, the Leader assumed a position of influence in both county and state politics of its party. Its late editor was a vigorous writer, and in the scramble of life, he frequently cast aside the dignity of his position and would "everlastingly go for things," a disposition which he appeared to have in a degree beyond that which is necessary to success. However,; he possessed many good journalistic qualities, and made a paper so excellent in its make up, that it neutralized much of the sting of his lash.
Mr. Branner, the present editor, is a writer of considerable force and originality, and with riper experience will make the Leader a power for good works in the community. It is an eight column folio, and its make
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up is a credit to its publishers, which, like the Patriot, is entirely of home production; and the various interests of the county find in it a ready and intelligent support.
The press has supplanted the bench, the pulpit and the rostrum, as the guiding, thought-moving impulse of the world. A great responsibility, therefore, rests upon the directors of this power; sought, as it is, to aid in building up nations, and to assist in the overthrow of governments as well.
THE CHARITON REPUBLICAN
was established in the centennial year of 1876, by a joint stock company, the result of divisions or differences in the republican party of the county. While owned by this stock company, the paper was under the manage- ment of T. W. Fawcett. A while after its establishment, the paper passed into the ownership of Clark & McCoy, who in turn soon sold it to Miller & Hale. It was not a paying property, nor long lived, as it suspended in a few months after it was started, the material reverting to the original company, and was taken to Kansas where, it is producing a newspaper for the jayhawkers. However, the paper was soon revived in name, by Betzer & Jarnagin, who continued its publication until 1878, when it was purchased by George H. Ragsdale, and consolidated with the Patriot.
OPINION, CHRONICLE, CONTINENTAL.
This trio of newspapers were born and died in this county in 1878-in fact, they really died "a-borning." The Opinion, and the Cronicle were daily issues, and the Continental was a weakly greenback sheet. It thus appears that this community, has, like many others, been surfeited with ephemeral sheets, either for the promotion of some impractical and short- lived hobby; or, as the vehicle of persons who expected to revolutionize the world in the field of journalism. Like the Roman,
They came, they saw, but they did not conquer.
The only paper ever attempted outside of Chariton, was a little sheet printed at Melrose, Monroe county, by a man named Wood, and sent to Russell for distribution. It was a "patent" paper in the fullest meaning of the term-both sides being of foreign make-up.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS.
There is nothing more remarkable in our time than the great progress in the matter and methods of education. This has necessitated new modes of mental culture, and placed in the hand of the educator new material to aid him in reaching broader and grander results. Among the changes which the new education has wrought is the recognition of cer- tain philosophical facts in the training of youth, the importance of due attention to the hygiene of school-room life and study, and the place of
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new studies in the educational curriculum of the common school. Time was, and not far back, when "reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic" were deemed the only essentials of an education. But this has changed, and the history of the change is one of that long struggle against the preju- dices in favor of the oldest methods of the old schools in which the early settlers had been educated, and to which they had become attached; a struggle in which the county is still interested; one that comes to it laden with the accumulated facts of ages, hoary with years, yet beneficent in influence; a struggle in which opinions and theories covered with honors have been marched off the stage of action and supplanted by facts and principles which it has cost years of toil to discover, and more years still to establish.
The result of all these is, that it is now not only conceded, but very gen- erally demanded, that the teacher should be subjected to a thorough course of training before commencing to discipline other minds. To meet this end, not only have normal schools been established and normal courses added to the curricula of the colleges, but normal institutes, at the expense and under the auspices of the county, have been established to meet a demand ever growing greater. The reason is, that there is a need in popular education that may only be met by first meeting a like need felt by those who have that work in charge. The teacher occupies but partly, the high place of an apostle of complete civilization-for nothing less is his task and that is his place-a preacher of complete manhood and womanhood. Instead of drilling boys and girls upon the multiplication table; he is to profoundly affect human destiny for good. That there is but a feeble demand for this highest type of teachers, arises not only from an unconsciousness of the immeasurable value they are to mankind, but also from the imperfect style of teachers that now stand before the public.
There is probably no question in which the citizens of a county are so directly interested as this one of teachers of known and tried ability. The time has long since passed when any person could teach school. The claims of to-day can no longer be met by the appliances of even a decade ago, for experience is beginning to show that teaching, like every other department of human thought and activity, must change with the changing conditions of society, or it will fall in the rear of civilization and become an obstacle to improvement. The educational problem of the day, is, how to get more meaning into the training of the schools; a meaning that shall excite the youthful mind to the highest type of intellectual activity and vigor; that shall educate for lasting national life. A nation's safety lies wrapped up in the intelligence of its people. And as the scope of human activity and thought is ever widening, so the claims of culture are ever increasing, and the state has the right to expect due attention to
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them from its constituency. By the general diffusion of knowledge only, is it possible to put wisdom at the helm of state; keep mediocrity out of responsible offices; remove corruption from places of trust; banish vice and peculation, and so sweeten the fountains of public morality, that justice and fairness shall be the condition between all classes of men in all the relations of life. To this is opposed, oftentimes, the foolish objection that "too much book learning is not to the best interests of individuals." Nothing is more foreign to a true spirit of culture and progress, or more · fruitful of invidious results, than that the matter and aim of education are not akin to the most common-place affairs of life. Education is intensely utilitarian, directly so; there is not an avocation to which it has not brought its benison by way of improvement or correction.
An illustration from that kind of labor to which our country owes its institutions and its perpetuity-husbandry-may be in point. In early ages the products of agriculture were thought to be the gifts of various divinities, who gave or withheld according to their caprice. The golden grain was the special bounty of Ceres -just as Minerva bestowed the olive, and Bacchus the wine. The seed grain did not quicken except by favor of the rural god, who kept watch and ward over this process; their sheep and their bees were under the guardianship of Pan, and a troop of frolic fauns brought back life to the fields, and opened with their busy fingers the buds of spring. Over all the operations of nature was some presiding divinity, and, as they were prosperous or adverse, they inferred that the divinity was kindly or malignant. But since that time the physi- cal sciences and chemistry have given to the farmer a new heaven and a new earth. The lightnings are no longer the manifestations of an angry divinity, but an indispensable agent in the scheme of vegetable growth and production. Noxious elements, once the source of untold miasm and death, are constantly eliminated from the air he breathes-taken up by the lungs of the vegetable system, and transmuted into valuable and use- ful forms. Now, his culture comes to temper the austere sky, his enter- prise rolls back the forest like a scroll, and there appears a more genial sun, until the frozen circle itself seems pushed northward, and abundance smiles where unassisted Nature was stern, and niggard, and unfruitful. The field of improvement is yet boundless, though the most beautiful of the sciences are his handmaids. A vast change in the direction and ten- , dency of thought is that from the time when
" The sacred seer with scientific truth In Grecian temples taught the attentive youth; With ceaseless change, how restless atoms pass From life to life a transmigrating mass,"
to that of to-day when men's thoughts are turned outward toward Nature seeking the cause and explanation of its phenomena, not in the "influence
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of the gods who haunt the lurid interspace of world on world, where never creeps a cloud nor moves a wind, nor ever falls the least white star of snow, nor ever lowest roll of thunder moans, nor sound of human sorrow mounts to mar their sacred everlasting calm,"-but in Nature itself. Men may question Nature, and where shall that questioning better begin than in the common school room, surrounded by proper and appropriate influ- ences, and under the guidance of skilled and trained teachers. The work of such a teacher will be more than a mere perfunctory discharge of mechanical duties; such a teacher will never be content with the orderly management and systematic communication of other people's results. Agassiz recognized in 1871, the need of teachers, trained not alone in the common branches, but in science, for how else shall the attention of hun- dreds of thousands whose alma mater is the common school, otherwise learn to read the truths that lie like diamonds on every hand, or nod smil- ingly out from every flower? Said Prof. Louis Agassiz: "The times seem to have come when to the received methods and approved topics of popular education, such branches of physical and natural science should be added as have acquired real importance for the business of life during the last fifty years. There is only one difficulty in the way of this most desira- ble result. There are no teachers to be had, whatever efforts might be made to introduce these studies at present, and the demand is likely to become more pressing every day. It would seem, therefore, to be the part of wisdom to consider what may be done to prepare the way, and I hold it will be best to organize a special normal school for the training of scientific teachers. The world will require them everywhere before many years are past." It is the happy lot of the teacher of to-day, to live in one of those most eventful periods of intellectual and moral history, when these oft-closed gates of discovery and reform stand open at their widest. How long these good days may last, none can tell. It may be that the increas- ing power and range of the scientific method, with its stringency of argu- ment and constant check of fact, may start the world on a more steady and continuous course of progress than it has moved on heretofore. It is for those among the teachers of this county, whose minds are set on the advancement of education and educational methods, to make the most of present opportunities, that even when in future years progress is arrested, as checked it may be, it shall be arrested at the higher level.
Aside from the qualifications that should be required in teachers, there is another important feature of the common-school system that should by no means be overlooked-that of the superintendency. It is now a recognized fact that a system, the workings of which are as complicated as is our common-school system, needs some responsible head to which the teacher, in trouble or in doubt, may appeal. This is found in the highest school
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officer in the county-the superintendent of schools. The very nature of his task and the duties of his office, make it imperative that he should be a man of large experience and broad views, able both to advise and cor- . rect. It is an office indispensable to the workings of the system as now constituted, and is more effective, and most effective when fitness is consid- ered as the sole recommendation. It is not only a notorious, but a dis- graceful fact, that the aims of the office are defeated by party ends, and its usefulness abridged by unwise partisan selection. From the school and · its direction: its teaching and its teacher, all questions of a political nature should be banished. The school-room is not the proper place for their discussion, and the selection of a superintendent on a political basis alone, is a most flagrant error. To insure the efficiency of the office, men of sterling worth, tried in school methods and able to direct, should be selected, and the choice ought to be unanimous, and made with a view to the highest interest of the patrons of the school.
Another feature of equal, if not greater importance, is the retention of good teachers. The educational interests of a county can usually be safely intrusted to the care of professional teachers. Their avocation makes them necessarily jealous of their reputation, and jealousy of this kind almost invariably leads to greater and more enduring successes. The earlier teachers, and this is not meant altogether disparagingly, kept school rather than taught, and even then, their duties were confined to a few months' task in winter or summer. Aside from the few paltry dollars they saw in it, they had no interest in their occupation, and were con- stantly leaving the teachers' ranks for other and more remunerative employment. It is a sad fact that this same evil prevails to-day, and the necessities of education demand that it should be remedied. Greater per- manency in the vocation of teaching must be guaranteed, or talent and culture will be induced neither to enter or remain in the work. So long as this remains a prevailing neglect, the schools will be shorn of their greatest efficiency, and the development of youth into a nobler manhood prove a failure. After city and township districts select suitable men and women to take charge of schools, and find that they possess the requisite qualifications, let them allow no moneyed nor any other consideration to influence these successful teachers to withdraw from their tested positions. Unless this principle more commonly obtain, continual experiment must necessarily take the place of a true educational philosophy.
There is another feature rapidly becoming a part of the common school system which promises the greatest results. That feature is the normal institute work, now being annually inaugurated and conducted through a term of weeks in this county. The system has been tested in other coun- ties, and with the most flattering success. The amount of work com- pressed into a short month's study in one of these normal trainings is truly
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astonishing. The county superintendent vigorously co-operates in this matter, and thus new life and enthusiasm is infused in the teachers present. To foster this new adjunct of popular education should now become one of the main self-imposed duties of school officials throughout the county, for thus will be given them the better classes of teachers-classes ever be- coming stronger in their avocation from both study and experience. While a certain per cent of new teachers must continually be presented, it is not necessary that employment be given them because they are cheaper. The country districts especially suffer from this inimical policy, a policy which, while it annually saves a few dollars, ruins very often the educa- tional capabilities of a child. The school-room blunders of experienced teachers are often grievous and many; it is hence the hight of folly to subject a school to the immeasurably more disastrous ones of totally inex- perienced teachers.
Passing from these general considerations to the purely historical phase of this chapter, it may be remarked that the progress in educational matters and interest has been commensurate with the material growth of,the county in other respects. The attention of the reader is now invited to a summary of this growth.
It must not be supposed that while the pioneers, who settled these prai- ries, were busy redeeming their wildness and surrounding themselves with domestic comforts, they forgot to plant the seeds of those institutions among which they were reared. As soon as a sufficient number of children could be gathered together the school-house made its appearance, rude at first, like the primitive houses of the settlers, but adapted to the circumstances of the people in those times. Pioneer school-houses were usually log structures warmed in winter by fire-places similar to those in the pioneer houses. Slanting shelves were used for desks, along the walls, and in front of these were benches made of slabs. These were for the " big scholars." A row of similar benches stood in front of these, upon which the smaller pupils sat. The buildings were sometimes without doors, and paper was made to subserve the purpose of window glass. The books then in use were such as would not be tolerated now. They were well adapted to the capacities of those who had mastered the branches of which they treated, but not to those of beginners. The meth- ods of teaching were then quite different from the present. The early settlers, as had been their fathers before them, were reared with full faith in the maxim, " spare the rod and spoil the child" The first teachers were usually anxious that. pupils should not spoil on their hands, and many old men retain a vivid remembrance of what school discipline was in their boyhood.
An account of the exercises during half a day of school in the olden time would be amusing, though, in some respects, it is an open question
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whether modern customs are all great improvements. Many can remem- ber that when word was passed around, "the master's comin'!" a grand. scramble for seats occurred, so that every one was found in his place, and a suspicious kind of order prevailed when the august dispenser of wisdom · entered. It must be admitted, however, that notwithstanding the miser- able text-books then in use, and in many respects, the awkward methods of teaching which prevailed, the schools of that period furnished some excel- lent scholars; perhaps, almost, a larger proportion than those of the pres- ent time. It is not meant that people then knew more; indeed, if the truth must be told, they knew far less. But ability to conquer intricate prob- lems, and without aid, is almost a thing of the past in the country school. More that is really necessary to, and applicable in life, is now taught, to be sure, and herein lies the great superiority of the common schools of to-day.
The chapter covering the history of "townships, towns and their growth," farther on in this work, will contain, in detail, so far as facts and tradition allow, much interesting matter in relation to the schools of the county in its early days-the first ones established, the first school build- ings and how they were provided, the early teachers, etc. The experi- ence of early day teachers is often interesting, and illustrates the progress which are educational system of to-day, has made over that of years ago. As an instance, we give the experience of Mr. J. N. Elliott, in early day teaching, as narrated by himself, and tells its own story, thus:
Having been requested to furnish a brief sketch of my experience in school teaching in the pioneer days of Lucas county, I do so, thinking it way be inter- esting to the teachers, in this county, of the present day. I came to Lucas county in 1854, being then a boy seventeen years old. I had been attending school at Fairfield, and had gained some knowledge of arithmetic, geography and grammar, and concluded to " go west " and teach. Reaching this county, I soon found my services were wanted some twelve miles west of Chariton, on what is known as the " Mormon trace road." The school director who proposed to employ me, was Jacob Taylor, whom many now remember, as the Old United Brethren preacher, who expected to live a thousand years,or until the millennium, and always preached from the prophecies of Daniel. Thisold veteran of early pioneer life, said to me, that if I would secure a certificate of qualification signed by James Baker, a leading lawyer, and Dr. Charles Fitch, a leading physician of Chariton, I should have their school. This I assented to, and after being taken through the ordeal of an examination lasting an hour or more, by these two men, learned in the law, and in physic, I was assured that victory was mine. How- ever, I remember that Dr. Fitch said to me, "we will give you one more stunner, as a test of your mathematical skill, and if you solve this, you shall be counted qualified, and have your certificate." The "stunner" was this: "A woman started to market with six dozen dozen eggs, she broke half a dozen dozen on the way, and sold the rest for one cent a piece. What did she receive for her eggs?"
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I unraveled the knotly "stunner" which left the propounders somewhat astonished. Suffice it to say, I received my coveted certificate of qualification, and left the learned examiners with proud satisfaction.
The school house in which I "taught the young idea how to shoot," was located on a hill just west of where the old Goshen Baptist church was built in after years. It was constructed of logs, chincked, and daubed with clay, with a clapboard door. The seats were the primitive slab, with a rough oak board fastened to pegs in the wall, for a writing desk, running the whole length of the room on each side. A large wood stove stood in the middle of the room, around which were rude benches, forming a square, upon which sat the smaller and other pupils, that they might keep warm, as that winter-1854-5-was a bitter cold one, accompanied with deep snow.
Outside of this square I took my stand, or rather beat, for I had to keep on the move, with a heavy, blue blanket, overcoat on to keep from suffering with cold, which coat I was compelled to wear almost during that entire term. It was the custom, at that time, to board around, a week at a place, with your pupils. You teachers of to-day, that have your nice, comfortable boarding places near your school, with your cosey rooms, and all the comforts of the pres- ent times, can never appreciate the luxury and novelty of what it is to " board around." Had I the ability a ready writer, I might stop here and give a chap- ter on the old primitive term of " boarding around " which might be of interest to many teachers of the present day, but suffice it to say, I was treated with a kindness and generous hospitality by those old pioneers of Lucas county, that I shall never forget.
A number of young men came to my school, some walking four and five miles, many of them older than their boy teacher by five or six years. It was a custom of those early school days of Lucas county, for the teacher to give a treat to the school on Christmas, or do worse, take cold bath at the nearest pond. So as Christmas times drew near, the large boys or young men, waited on me with the customary demand of a treat. I hesitated, and told them I would see, but that did not seem to satisfy them. I was politely told " a treat or take a ducking." But you may be assured that raised the fire in my blood, and the hair on my head was already red, so I emphatically told them, that I would under no circumstances, be compelled to treat them, nor did I expect to take the ducking. But the boys were determined, claiming that custom made law, and law must be obeyed. I appealed to the old director, but he had never been inside of the school room, and did not propose to interfere now, besides, some of his own boys were among the leaders in this, then considered a laudable enterprise. I well remember that memorable Christmas morning, of 1854, when I took my place in that old log school house, with much misgiving, but with determination that no such bulldozing and intimidation should awe me. The Chapmans, Taylors, Byrleys, Woods' and others, were all there in full force. As soon as school was called to order, to forestall any action, I took the floor, and gave the school a flow of eloquence in favor of justice and order. Suffice to say, the boys gave up; their better nature was brought to the sur-
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