USA > Iowa > Story County > History of Story County, Iowa; a record of organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 45
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THE HIGH SCHOOL.
The editor's strongest interest at the time and for some years after- ward was in the high school, which occupied the third floor of the new brick school building in Mills's addition. The portion of the present build- ing which is north of the hall is a later addition ; and as matters then were there were two grade rooms each in the basement and on the first floor, with two grades of scholars in each room. Upon the upper floor the east end of the high school room, as it now is, was partitioned off into two reci- tation rooms, and the pupils in the main room sat facing the partition wall to the east. In the middle of that wall hung the picture of George Wash- ington-a copy of Stuart's most famous portrait-which even yet looks down upon the youth of the city to remind them of the lessons of truth and patriotism that are ever associated with the face and name of the "Father of his Country."
The teachers were the senior Payne as principal, his wife as one of the assistants and Miss Lou Curtis of Independence, Iowa, as the other assistant. The last named resigned at the end of the first school year to become Mrs. Foster and aside from a few of her pupils there are proh- ably not many here now to remember very much about her. But she is
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remembered with respect and affection by those who were brought under her instruction. She was a recent graduate of the Agricultural College, was strong in mathematics, and put her highest class through nine books of geometry and also plain trigonometry in one school year, which record has always kept the writer guessing why in the present day High school curriculum-not in any one particular school, but in High schools gener- ally -- it seems to be thought necessary to devote two years to the same work. Along in the summer, however, with her wedding day only a few weeks off, it appeared to be a good deal of an effort for her to hold her attention strictly to the business in the class-room, and in her musings it seemed to make little difference whether the youth at the blackboard was really demonstrating something or was only talking, if only he kept the words coming fluently and wound up properly with "Q. E. D." But cer- tainly the situation excused any such lapses; for the school, having been opened late in the previous fall, was kept going without any vacation at the holidays-Christmas and New Year's coming on Saturdays-and with only a week's vacation in April, clear until the end of June; and with the coming of the hot summer days there was occasion enough for mental relaxation, even if there were no wedding ahead to be interested in.
The course of study, as it had been definitely outlined for the first time, put the work of the senior year above the attainments of any mem- bers of the school; but there was a strong junior class, with which the newcomer was so fortunate as to find himself identified. Holding the first place in the school for two years and being the first of all to pass through the formalities and celebrations of a graduation, this class had more than its legitimate share of fun and glory. Another respect in which this class proved exceptional was in the degree to which its members continued to reside in Nevada after growing up. Of the nine who graduated. Minnie Alderman Mills, Rose Murphey. Helen Harper and the writer still make their home in the town of their school days; Will Hague is only a little out of town on a rural route and Peter Joor prescribes for the ailments of people in and about Maxwell. Only a third of the class-Newton Sim- mons, Lina Hambleton Auers and Flora Dana Corey have moved far away. Others who were identified with the class but dropped out at or near the end of the first year. were the two Laytons-Will and Mollie-and Ililda Iloel. In the next class at that time were Will McCord, Bruce Harper. Mont Cessna, Ella Shugart Funson, Carrie Ross Horton, Ella Wright Lor- ing and Mame Hambleton Streit, who completed the course, and Rollin Davis, Emily Purkhiser Hornberger, and Georgia Warrick, who did not quite do so. Then in the next lot there were Ed. Alderman, Clyde Lock- wood. Channing Tichenor, Belle Hempstead Siddall and AAgnes Harper Horton ; while a crowd of others yet younger followed on.
Calling them all back in memory, some may be here omitted that should be included in an enumeration of the representative High school pupils of that time; but the foregoing were substantially the crowd who
HIGH SCHOOL BUILDINGS, NEVADA
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by age and rank-not counting the first year pupils-stood for the High school of thirty years ago this winter. They were a good crowd of, youngsters; and fortunate indeed was any boy or girl to find himself or herself admitted to their fellowship. Ability, character and youthful energy and ambition were qualities well and liberally distributed through the lot ; and the rivalries of the classroom and of the athletic field, the experiences of the Friday afternoon exercises, the quarrels and reconciliations over nothing in particular that are common among people of that age, all were contributing to make men and women of the lot. And without entering upon any eulogiums or particularizations, we think that an inspection of the list above in the light of present knowledge will warrant the state- ment that Nevada's boys and girls of that time have turned out fairly well. We do not know that any of the lot have won fame or fortune in very exceptional measure; but practically all, so far as known, have become useful and fairly representative citizens. Here, there and elsewhere they are doing the work which circumstances and opportunity have laid out for them. It is said that there is upon a tablet in Westminster Abbey the epitaph that "all his sons were brave and all his daughters virtuous ;" and some such encomium would not be out of place for the High school of that day. We do not think there is a boy in the list that ever became an habitual user of liquor, and the girls, we know, are ornaments to the state.
Although a majority of the first class have staid in the county, nearly all of the others named have gone far away. Ed. Alderman is here and Mont Cessna sleeps on the western border of the city; but these are the only exceptions. Flora Dana Corey lives at Seattle, Lina Hambleton Auers at Mission Creek, Minnesota ; Newton Simmons has not, so far as we know, any permanent address; Will Layton lives in Colorado but is frequently seen in Des Moines; his sister Mollie is married and in South Dakota ; Hilda Hoel married and died in Colorado, and her daughter came back here and married Fred Wells and went with him to California ; Will McCord lives in Des Moines and travels the west over as general agent for a school book house ; Bruce Harper was clerk of Monona county ; Ella Fun- son lives at Minneapolis, and Mame Hambleton Streit teaches at St. Paul ; Ella Loring lives at Lynden, Washington, and Emma Hornberger at Lin- coln, Nebraska ; Georgia Warrick has been for years the principal of one of the great ward schools in East Des Moines ; Rollin Davis is nearly lost to the sight of his old friends, but he is supposed to be in Kansas or Nebraska ; Clyde Lockwood is a successful engineer at Portland, Oregon; Belle Sid- dall is at Clinton and Agnes Horton at Creston; Channing Tichenor in some unaccountable way drifted down to Arkansas, whence he returned only once and that for his mother's funeral.
So they have scattered-all but a little knot of the older ones -; but the same school bell still peals on in the same old way, calling a much younger generation to the same scenes and to similar experiences, and it will doubtless do the same in turn years hence for some of their children. Vol. 1-26
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But the new faces are not the old faces, and the occasional visitor within the once familiar walls finds it too hard to call back the shades of old as- sociates. Men and women may keep their spirits young; but youth itself comes only once ; and about the old school house cling memories, among the fondest and dearest for all who have ever been sheltered there.
AMUSEMENTS IN THE 70'S.
As to the first winter of our residence here, that of 1875-6, the chap- ter on amusements, so far as we can remember, will have to be much like one on the snakes in Ireland. We think that what really passed with the young people as a substitute for amusements, not because it was funny but because it was the only thing going, was a protracted meeting conducted at the old Methodist church by the pastor, Rev. J. C. R. layton. Mr. Layton was an carnest preacher and had a most powerful voice and combative nature. He was strong on the polemics of religion, and he waged war alike on the sinner outside of the church, upon the recalcitrant within the church and upon the dissenter who divided the church with new doctrines or the revival of others so old as to be out of date. His meetings drew all the crowds that the church would hold, and they kept the school boys and girls who attended so late out of bed that the youngsters were likely to have a hard time of it keeping up to their work the next day. He also debated with Elder Kilgore, an Ad- ventist preacher then stationed here, and the two of them drew closer attention to the history and succession of the Sabbath than the matter has ever had here at any other time.
But of formal public amusements there were practically none during that winter. The only hall in the village was "Briggs' Hall" in the old building on the east side of Lynn street which survived all the fires better than any other building in town except the old hotel, but which finally did succumb, without the very carnest protest of the fire department, to a fire that was bad enough to make it not worth repairing and not so bad as to endanger other property. So there really was a poor chance for shows, although we believe that the first theatrical troupe of our recollec- tion did come along and play for a season in the old hall sometime in the spring.
But the second winter things were different. The high school had been having exercises right along on Friday afternoons ; there were now in the school five regular classes, the juniors of the previous year having become seniors, and the pressure for room in the lower departments having forced the highest grammar grade into the high school room for seating accommodations ; and it was time to have an entertainment for the benefit of the school. The senior class naturally took charge of the performance, but necessarily accepted some help from the juniors. Two of the latter that we distinctly remember as participating were Will McCord and Sam
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McHose-now of the tile factory-, who had come into the school for this year and graded between the two upper classes. The performance after much preparation-about which we remember little-was given upon a platform erected in the high school room, and it was unanimously voted a great success. The main part of the show was a parlor play, "Cast Thy Bread Upon the Waters," and we guess the piece was all right. What we are sure of, however, is that Will McCord got excited and sprung the denouement of the play before the others had brought things properly up to the climax. Then it was time for the rest to get excited, and there was a scurrying around to repair the damage. Sam McHose had to get on the stage quick, when he was not ready to go; and he used worse language than we ever heard him use at any other time in his life. But they all got around somehow; and though some of the spectators thought that the play was a little incomplete, none of them ever charged the youngsters with having mixed the show.
Along toward the end of the school year there was another high school entertainment in which the main performance was a pantomine about the bride who ran off and hid herself in a box that she could not get out of and in which her bones were found a long time afterwards. What we remember best about this show, however, relates to a rehearsal one night when it rained; for the heavens were indeed opened that night, and it was very late before it was practicable for the boys to scatter out to see the girls home and help them steer around the trees that had been blown down in the way. The next morning the bridges were all out of the creek, and out by the railroad crossing there had been washed the hole which is more or less of a swimming hole to this day and which was a splendid place of amusement so long as we had any taste for such diversion.
The purpose of both these entertainments was to raise funds for a set of Appleton's Cyclopedias, which were in time duly purchased and in- scribed with the names of the first graduating class. In the presenta- tion Mr. Gallup, the then editor of the "Representative," also bore a part ; for he donated a year's advertising for the cyclopedia and so secured a discount in the price of the work, which discount was a very material matter in making the finances of the transaction come out even. The cyclopedias unquestionably were put where they would do the most good, for they did service in the high school for more than a quarter of a cen- tury, and after so much hard usage they became a sight for the occasional visitor to behold; but they have now been replaced with an up to date edition of the "International."
During this second winter two or three other things happened to make things pleasant. One was that the weather was the mildest that we have ever experienced here for the season, and in consequence the school boys were able to play ball all through February and from that time on through the spring with only occasional interruptions. It was really fine; and
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though the first football had been purchased by collection during the previous season, football as an amusement was yet to become established and it in no wise interfered with the continuity of the baseball season.
Another thing happening was that the Good Templars' lodge took a boom, and nearly all of the older pupils of the high school became men- bers. From this time on for a considerable period the lodge was really the focal point for young people's society in the village. It would be hard now to tell why the lodge meetings were so interesting; but the young folks were all there; there was apt to he some sort of program, for which nobody cared; there was the later parceling out to go home ; and once in three months there was the election, which gave an oppor- tunity for the exercise of political instincts and activities.
Perhaps also real interest in the temperance cause may have had a little to do with the success of the lodge; for at the time there was much temperance work in progress; and two further illustrations of this fact are afforded by the temperance revival which was conducted that winter in the Methodist church by the local preachers and lay speakers, and by the presentation in April in Briggs' hall-the last notable entertainment to be given there-of the play of "Ten Nights in a Bar Room." This performance was given on two successive nights by a company of the older set, and Josie Snyder, then a compositor in the "Representative" office but now and for many years Mrs. S. H. Carhart of Mapleton, had the star part of May Morgan, whose privilege it was to plead. "Father, dear father, come home with me now."
This presentation was so much of a success that the younger set concluded to imitate and outdo it the next winter, when Rose Murphey, Ella Wright, Will McCord, Jim Tanner, Homer Swafford and others presented the same play under more favorable conditions in the new opera hall. The performance was along toward spring sometime and was, we believe, the concluding appeal to the voters to vote the dry ticket in the spring election. We believe that the political end was not wholly realized ; but the dramatic triumph was without qualification. There was abundance of real talent in the company; there was little of superior talent here known with which to make comparison ; the public was stirred up over the theme of the play and aggressively in sympathy with its moral; and the opera hall was packed with the biggest crowd that we have ever seen jammed into that room.
HOME DRAMATICS AND OTHERS.
Pursuing the subject of the home dramatics that figured here in the later 'zos. They began in 1877 and continued for five or six years, and they were typical of what may be considered the second stage in the de- velopment of the village. The opera hall was built in the summer of 1877 : and with its completion opportunity was afforded for the acknowledge-
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ment of thespian aspirations that had up to that time had small chance to get before the public confessional. As before noted, there had been one recorded visit of a traveling dramatic troupe, and an older set had staged "Ten Nights in a Bar Room" in the old Briggs hall; but with the opening of the new and ample hall a new spirit seized the community. In the new situation every show was a novelty, and the way in which nearly every- body, old or young, turned out to the entertainments, at least a part of the time, was something to make the heart glad, if one were seeking either glory or diversion behind the foot-lights. So Nevada became at once a show town, and at the same time it furnished a good part of its own shows.
The opera hall itself, it should be noted, was practically a public enter- prise, which grew out of a happy suggestion by Judge Balliet, late of Des Moines. It happened that in the spring of 1877 Nevada had a little busi- ness movement to the west, and that four business men at once started to put up buildings across the street north from the new court house. The men were J. A. Fitchpatrick, John Beatty, Dr. A. G. Gorrell and J. S. Frazier, and they all got their workmen on the ground at once to put up some little frame buildings such as were still the recognized type of busi- ness architecture in this section. Mr. Balliet came along to see the work and remarked that it was too bad that those buildings could not be more substantially built so that the town might put a hall over them. The idea struck everyone so favorably that the whole gang quit work and a public meeting was called for that evening to consider the matter. The outcome was that a company was formed with Mr. Balliet as president, an addi- tional lot secured wide enough for a stairway, and the general plan of con- struction adopted that is shown in the present building. In the new deal Mr. Frazier dropped out; but Mr. Fitchpatrick assumed his interest and obligation, and the scheme was thus successfully carried out. Everybody was interested and took stock in the hall company ; and perhaps here was an additional reason why when the hall had been completed and opened, everybody was favorable to the shows. At any rate it was the best time for shows that there has ever been in Nevada.
The opera hall was opened in December, 1877, with the "Two Orphans," presented by the Manton Marble company, and the opening performance was followed up on the succeeding evenings with the "Gilded Age" and a couple of other plays that we did not see and hence do not remember much about. Soon afterward the Home Dramatic Club which had already been practicing presented its first performance and from this time on for sev- eral years the entertainments in the opera hall which have survived that third of a century of forgetfulness were those which the young people of the village themselves put on the boards. The first of the series was a dramatization of Tennyson's "Dora;" and along toward spring of the same season there was a reproduction of "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," which was given for two nights and which on the second night at a ten
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cent price drew what was probably the most densely packed crowd that ever filled the opera hall. The next winter there was "East Lynne" and "Camilla's Husband :" and the next brought out the "Two Orphans" again, and an Irish comedy the name of which is forgotten, even by the one of the performers who helps us in our efforts to get the story straight.
The writer went off to school and missed in consequence several of these performances ; but "East Lynne" happened to be presented in vacation time, and that performance along with "Dora" and "Ten Nights" is well fixed in memory. We believe that the old time dramatists consider "Dora" their best performance : but somehow the one that stays with us the best is "East Lynne." Possibly the reason therefore is that the undying popu- larity of "East Lynne" has brought it around where we have seen it oftener than any other play on the boards with only the doubtful exception of "Uncle Tom's Cabin:" but it is not unreasonable that the spectator of "East Lynne" for the first time should have been impressed somewhat as have thousands of others who have heard it and been pleased and have gone to hear it again and again until the whole story and even many of the lines have become familiar. But whatever the reason. the lapse of time from youth to middle age has not been sufficient to dim the impression that that performance of "East Lynne" was a good one. Ella Wright as Isabel. Rose Murphey as Barbara, and Jim Tanner as Sir Francis had the lead- ing parts ; and with their able support they made the story and lesson of the wayward wife as forceful as it ever needs to be. Perhaps we might think as well of "Dora" if we had heard it so often ; but we never could see anything to Farmer Allen but a pig headed old fool who made himseli and everyone else miserable with his obstinacy: and if there are out here in this free land on the prairies any old fellows who need the lesson that is in that story and play presented, they are very likely included in the number who would not be out to the theatre. "Camilla's Husband" was a Spanish play for which the performers had elaborate costumes, and when we got home from school some time everybody was talking about it; but in fixing the date for the performance the company did not have in mind the thought of getting themselves properly written up in this history, and so they omitted to accommodate the presentation to our convenience.
The Home Dramatic Club assisted various charities and worthy pur- poses with the proceeds of their entertainments. The "Temperance Re- form Club," which was another of the institutions of those days, was helped ont of its financial difficulties a couple of times by the Home Dra- matics ; but a considerable share of the net earnings went for scenery and stage-fittings for the opera hall. \ hall well equipped as well as spa- cious was desired by the public in general and by the youthful performers in particular ; and as a consequence there was investment of earnings in material that for many years furnished the stage settings with which play-goers here were most familiar-and may even yet possibly sce put
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on for some occasions. Perhaps if the club had lasted longer, the local interest in things dramatic would have longer continued as strong as it was in the days when plays were a novelty for nearly all; but the dramatists scattered or went to school teaching-as young people do-, and the subject dropped. But in their day, the Home Dramatics gave the people of the village a considerable part of the current amusement, and got out of the performance a considerably larger amount of fun themselves-which illustrates once more that the people who seek to entertain others are the ones who best entertain themselves.
THE "R. E. C. A."
A local organization which impressed itself much upon the youngsters in the middle 70's, bore for its title the mystic letters R. E. C. A.
The organization was very secret, and it took possession of the high room in the old brick school house which had been abandoned by the dis- trict when the new school house was completed and which was later torn down and worked over into the O. B. Alderman residence. There were about sixty members, and the real purpose of the order was chari- table, to which end all of the revenues were devoted. The practice was to leave groceries, dry-goods or other necessary supplies at midnight at the doors and the windows of the orphans, so that none might be the wiser, save those whose distress was thus recognized and relieved. The order had a ritual that had come from somewhere; but there was no central organization having authority over subordinate lodges, and the lodge here was essentially independent and local. As a matter of fact, however, it was the working organization that for a time did the local lodge business; and it flourished from about the time that the old school house was abandoned by the district until about the time that building was torn down. The methods and practices of its initiatory ceremonies are naturally a little hard to learn all about, but one tradition is that the unfortunate was marched unconsciously and blindfolded upon a blanket and then asked if he was ready to go to heaven. About the time that he acknowledged that he would as soon go there as anywhere, the corners of the blanket were violently pulled and he started up. What we are sure of, however, is that shouts of laughter used to wake the echoes about the old school house; and we have never heard mention of "R. E. C. A." in the presence of one of the old boys, that he did not at once break forth in laughter.
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