USA > Illinois > Bureau County > History of Bureau County, Illinois > Part 49
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The effects that have and are yet to come of the war, in all their multiform bearings, cannot now be told in history, because they are continuing and may yet continue for many and many a year. Let us hope that under nature's kindly ministrations the evil effects have passed swiftly away, and that the good may be perpetual.
Solomon Williams
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CHAPTER XXXI.
SCHOOLS-WHEN THEY CAME AND WHO BROUGHT THEM-THE SUB- JECT OF EDUCATION CONSIDERED-AND GENERAL MATTERS DE INTEREST TREATED, ETC., ETC., ETC.
F OR more than 1,700 years the subject of schools has been of interest to most of the civilized people of the world. In their present form they have been a thing of slow growth. Like nearly every other permanent institution they have been in varions degrees of efficiency and force, in nearly every age and with nearly every different people. For centuries among all the autocratic nations, schools were only supposed to be for the pur- pose of enlightening the nobility, and the great mass of men were supposed to have no concern in the subject. The educated and the uneducated have always been separated by a high, and nearly always a supposed im- passable wall and deep ditch. Then the time came when royal blood was supposed to be born above the needs of common mortals, and they left education to those of meaner blood, and the great old kings could only sign their name with their signet rings.
Early in the second century of the Chris- tian age, the present system of schools was founded in Egypt. They were simply pie- tistic schools to train young men for the priesthood. And then for many centuries the priests were supposed to be the only men who had any concern about education. The schools were a mere annex of the Catholic Church, and the church was eager to extend its power through this as other channels. A priest who could read and write became an awful person in the minds of the illiterate and superstitious world. It was the mastery of the magic art, the mysterious powers of necromancy, in their estimation, for a man to be able to read the thoughts of others from
the dead pages of papyrus. Can you imagine the thoughts of the Indian savage, when the white man got him to go to a neighbor and carry a block of wood on which he had written his request, when the savage saw the one write and the other read and understand? It was not only mysterious, but wholly incomprehensible and startling. The Manitou had never come down and so worked wonders for the Indian. And like ignorance everywhere, it was folly to tell him such wonderful things were not supernatural.
In the long centuries the schools have to some extent grown away from their alma mater, the church, and have started along life's highway, scorning longer to reach up and steady its steps by the extended hand that had so long guided and protected it. It has come to feel and know that education is for all men-even for all women, too-and that there is something more in it than com- mitting to memory the church prayers, rubrics, disciplines and the Lives of the Saints. And the singular fact is found in history that the church eventually found it necessary to say to its too inquiring priests, that the pious orders "had not time from their prayers and meditations to investigate the movements of the heavenly bodies." Thus it was forced to become the friend only of that education that made believers in its dogmas, and the enemy of all so-called education that dared to pass beyond this sacred ground. And to-day ignorant church- men draw the rigid line at about the same point. They cannot comprehend that all truth and all truths are good mental food. They frankly confess that, except themselves, men are incapable of such investigation, without rushing into confusing donbts when they approach the study of the physical laws that environ the universe. Hence, their ideas of real education are vague and nebu-
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lous. They persist in believing that the morals and intellects of the human families are distinct things-things that conflict in some inscrutable way, and that the best Christian, therefore, is not the best thinker, but the best believer.
While the history of the school is one of profound interest, yet the subject whether the system has reached that stage of perfec- tion that it can go no further is a more prac- tical and still greater theme for contempla- tion. The church, the school, the law and the government are always telling the world what they have done, in tones of loud and confident assertion. These mere arrogant assumptions are as often baseless as well founded. And to men of ordinary penetra- tion of mind they are heard with many grains of allowance. What truth there is in the claims is freely granted, and the errors are generally passed in charitable silence, in the unalterable conviction that the truth never dies, and that the ultimate judgment will come the moment the mind is ready to under- stand it. Certainly the greatest improvement , in the public school is the gradual and nearly complete separation of the school from the exclusive proprietorship of the church. Whether its transfer to the State was the wisest thing that could be done with it is another and perhaps as yet an unsolvable problem. The average man will tell you, if you attempt to discuss this part of the subject, that you are opposed to education, and if you are the enemy of education of course you have no right to talk about the great work they are doing, much less to criticise it, or point out any imperfections, or possible improvements; because the average man thinks exactly as the fleet-footed race horse would run with hobbles on his feet. The very large majority of men, not quite so great a proportion now, probably, as formerly, seize upon one or two
axiomatic truths about all such practical sub- jects, and from these form instant judgments, and are hot and impatient of all doubts as to their infallibility upon questions they are . unable to ever know-questions that may command the patient study and tireless inves- tigation of the greatest philosophers and biologists. When such able investigators come eventually to look in upon this vital subject, it is easy to imagine some of the questions they will confront on the very threshold of their examination. For instance: Does the vital economy of nature require that to educate children they must be herded to- gether in crowds -- rooms full, great buildings full, and then classed and graded and divid- ed, and so many assigned to each different teacher, or all to one teacher where the num- bers are not too great for the holding capacity of a single school room ? Is that the one and only way to do, to build schoolhouses large and small, ranging from the little cabin to the splendid university, and the work of educating is taken away from the home and transferred to the school room, and the paren- tal responsibility is taken charge of by the teacher? Is this modern invention of rigid grading the child's true interests, or the teacher's comfort ? Are the modern improve- ments real or imaginary ? Is committing to memory education ? Is there anything else in the system as now practiced except com- mitting to memory ? Is a text book of any value in a school room ? If yes, then are both a teacher and a text book prime necessities ? Which should be abolished, if either? And while it has only occurred here as a "lastly," it is probable it would come to the great phil- osophic mind as a "firstly" -- what is educa- tion ? Now, reader, you must bear in mind that it is not treason to the intelligence and education of the human race for the mind that is able to do it, to dispassionately con-
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sider all these subjects. The ultimate wel- fare of civilization hangs upon these and a similar scrutiny of all subjects whose wide range takes in mankind. And then again, is the entire curriculum, after you pass reading, writing and the four first rules in the arith- metic-or addition, subtraction, division and multiplication-of any practical value in after life, except for those intending to be school teachers? And seriously is there any more urgency to build great schools to teach Latin and Greek than there is for Chinese and Choctaw ? Has a man education in fact when he knows all the text books and can read and translate Latin, Greek and Hebrew? All these are questions that should be discussed in every literary society, in every newspaper and magazine, in public gatherings and in the private circle. They are questions of transcendent importance, and the overwhelm- ing evidence of their importance -- the im- perative demand there is for correct answers to the above and many other questions about the schools-is the fact that upon the first asking of the questions ninety-nine men in a hundred would doubt your being serious, and would tell you that they had all been forever settled hundreds of years ago. But with suf- ficient discussion nearly all men of quick and strong comprehension would come to see their importance, and that time or age cannot take away the right and the duty to look into all questions, each for himself, and strike always for the truth. It would be another great step in teaching men that error is wrong and igno- rance a crime. It would widen the door to the world's great schoolhouse, broaden and deepen the human grasp of thought, and pave and smooth the rugged highway for the com- ing school and school teacher, as well as bear the golden harvests of that distant and glo- rious summer of a higher and better civiliza- tion. To better the condition of mankind,
to relieve suffering, give health, lighten and equalize the heavy burdens, to make men bet- ter, happier and wiser is the only supremely noble work in this world. He who aids most in this noble work and transmits such bless- ings to the future ages is not only the great- est but the best in the tide of time.
An interesting fact in the long history of schools of every kind or variety is the fact that their entire, real advances in the way of improvement have, like every other social in- stitution, been forced upon them by outside power. The churches have been thus liberal- ized and bettered, and so have the schools, the political economy of nations, governments themselves as well as all other great social concerns. The school men have not been marked by any greater reluctance to be pushed; forward than have any of the others. Civilization grows always in this apparently anomalous and tortuous course. For in- stance, a law is adopted. Possibly (though not as a rule) it was the very best device for all at the time of its adoption But in the long course of time it outlives its usefulness. In the great onward highway it is passed and becomes a laggard and a criminal. The people suffer and suffer, and eventually from the ranks of the oppressed there arise seri- ous mutterings; it is openly attacked, the rebellion grows and deepens and the execu- tors of the now bad law strike valiant blows in its defense. They are alarmed at this spirit of evil, as they regard all innovation on the sacred arrangements of the fathers, and they yield only when compelled to do so. And when they have thus reached and real- ized the improvement, they are forever pro- claiming the glorious advancement and soon come to believe that they really did it all themselves-that they fought out the good fight and covered themselves with glory. These are curious phenomena, presenting in-
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teresting studies for the student of history, and so unvarying are they that they become subjects of philosophical investigation.
To reach the best possible educational sys- tem is the grand approach to the highest attainable civilization. It is, therefore, the subject of deepest interest to all men. The old saying has it: "'Tis education forms the common mind." Not true, but it is a stagger in the right direction, and is a fit companion piece of the grand advancing idea of our Revolutionary fathers, when they incorporated in the celebrated ordinance of 1787 the bold declaration that "knowledge, with religion and morality, are necessary to the good government of mankind." The governing power in every nation is of necessity an educated one, be- cause in every ruler or his advisors there must be some knowlege of international law, of domestic relations, of finance, of com- merce and the organization of armies and navies. England has cared little for the education of its common people, but it has carefully attended to the education of its ruling classes. It has differed radically from this country (not so much now as in the past) in drawing a line and educating the nobles to the fullest extent, and neglecting the laborers or massas of the people. And yet the people when they were left to care for themselves have not been far surpassed in the race for great intellects. Indeed, is it not a startling comment that will force itself upon the minds of the student of English history, that her great men have come from the ranks of the poor -- the neglected-in a large majority of instances ?
When the survey of the Northwest Terri- tory was ordered by Congress, it was decreed that every sixteenth section of land should be reserved for the maintenance of public schools within each township. The ordi- nance of 1787 proclaimed that " schools and
the means of education should forever be encouraged." By the act of Congress passed April 18, 1818, enabling the people of Illi- nois to form a State Constitution, the "sec- tion numbered 16 in every township, and when such section had been sold or otherwise disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto and as contiguous as may be, should be granted to the State for the use of the inhab- itants of such township for the support of schools." The act further stipulates "that 5 per cent of the net proceeds of the lands lying within said State, and which shall be sold by Congress from and after the 1st day of January. 1819, after deducting all ex- penses incident to the same, shall be reserved for the purposes following: Two-fifths to be disbursed, under the direction of Congress, in making roads leading to the State; the residue to be appropriated by the Legislature of the State for the encouragement of learn- ing, of which one-sixth part shall be exclu. sively bestowed on a college or university." In other words, Congress donated to the State a full township, six miles square, for seminary purposes, and the thirty-sixth part of all the residue of public lands in the State and 3 per cent of the net proceeds of the sales of the remainder. to support com- mon schools and promote education in the then infant State. Truly a most magnificent and princely, donation and provision for edu- cation. The sixteenth section, so donated, amounted in the State to nearly 1,000,000 acres; in Bureau County to over 16,000 acres.
Laws were first passed directing Commis- | sioners' Courts to appoint three Trustees for the school land in each township where the inhabitants of such townships numbered twenty white persons. These Trustees had power to lease the school lands at public out- cry, after twenty days' notice, to the highest bidder for any period not exceeding ten
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years, the rents to be paid in improvements, or in shares of the products raised. The laws were crude, and fell far short of their intended object. The school lands, under the lessee or rental arrangement, yielded lit- tle or no revenue; many of the renters, hav- ing no title to or common interest in the land, only opened and cultivated enough for a bare support, and, of course, produced nothing to divide. Then squatters took pos- session of a considerable portion, and wasted the timber, and in many ways depreciated the value of the lands. As a result, the cause of education languished, and was at a stand-still for years. There were a great many influences and obstacles in the way of a general diffusion of knowledge. The set- tlements were sparse, and money or other means of remunerating teachers were scarce; and teachers, competent to impart even the common rudiments of au English education, were few and far between.
This state of affairs continued until 1825, when Joseph Duncan, then a member of the State Senate, introduced a bill for the sup- port of common schools by a public tax. The preamble to the act was as follows: " To enjoy our rights and liberties we must under- stand them; their security and protection ought to be the first object of a free people; and it is a well-established fact that no nation has ever continned long in the enjoy- ment of civil and political freedom which was not both virtuous and enlightened; and believing that the advancement of literature always has been and ever will be the means of developing more fully the rights of man; that the mind of every citizen in a republic is the common property of society, and con- stitutes the basis of its strength and happi- ness; it is, therefore, considered the pecul- iar duty of a free government like ours to encourage and extend the improvement and
cultivation of the intellectual energies of the whole." The text of this admirable law may be divined from the preamble. It gave education a powerful impetus, and common schools flourished in almost every settlement. But notwithstanding all this, the law was in advance of the civilization of the times. The early settlers had left the older States- the Southern States, where common school education never has flourished as it should- and plunged into the wilderness, braving countless dangers and privations in order to better their individual fortunes and to escape the burdens of taxation, which advanced refinement and culture in any people invaria- bly impose. Hence, the law was the subject of much bitter opposition. The very idea of a tax was so hateful that even the poorest preferred to pay all that was necessary for the tuition of their children, or keep them in ignorance-which was generally the case- rather than submit to the mere name of tax.
This law-the Duncau law, as it was called-is the foundation upon which rests the superstructure of the present common school system of Illinois. The law provided for the division of townships into school districts, in each of which were elected three School Trustees, corresponding to Directors of the present day, one Clerk, one Treasurer, one Assessor and one Collector. The Trustees of each district had supreme control and management of the school within the same, and the employment of teachers and fixing their remuneration. They were required to make an annual report to the County Com- missioners' Court of the number of children living within the bounds of such district between the ages of five and twenty-one years, and what number of them were actu- ally sent to school, with a certificate of the time a school was kept up, with the expenses of the same. Persons over the age of twenty-
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one years were permitted to attend school upon the order of the Trustees; and the his- tory of education in Illinois discloses the fact that it was no uncommon thing for men beyond the meridian of life to be seen at school with their children. The law required teachers, at the close of their schools, to prepare schedules giving alphabetically the names of attending pupils, with their ages, the total number of days each pupil attended, the aggregate number of days attended, the average daily attendance, and the stand- ing of each scholar. This schedule was sub- mitted to the Trustees for their approval, as no teacher was paid any remuneration except on presentation to the Treasurer of his schedule, signed by a majority of the Trust- ees. The law further provided that all com- mon schools should be maintained and sup- ported by a direct public tax. School taxes were payable either in money or in produce, and teachers would take the produce at mar- ket price, or if there was no current value the price was fixed by arbitration. Fancy the schoolma'am of the present day taking her hard-earned salary as a teacher in pota- toes, turnips or coon skins! We have heard it related of a teacher in one of the counties bordering the Wabash River that he was paid in coon skins for a ten weeks' school; and after his school was out he footed it to Vincennes with his pelts upon his back, a distance of over thirty miles, and there dis- posed of them.
When this wise and wholesome law was repealed by the Legislature, Gen. Duncan wrote, as if gifted with prophecy, "that coming generations would see the wisdom of his law, and would engraft its principles on their statute-books; that changes in the con- dition of society might render different ap- plications of the same necessary, but that the principle was eternal, and the essence of free
and enlightened government; and legislators who voted against the measure will yet live to see the day when all the children of the State will be educated through the medium of common schools, supported and main- tained by direct tax upon the people, the burden falling upon the rich and poor in proportion to their worldly possessions." These predictions, yellow with the years of a half-century and over, have been faithfully fulfilled and verified.
The Duncan school law remained in force only a little over two years, when it was re- pealed. The great objection, as we have said, to the law, was the tax clause. This was, substantially, that the legal voters of any school district had power, at any of their meetings, to cause either the whole or one- half of the sum necessary to maintain and conduct a school in said district, to be raised by taxation. And if the voters decided that only one-half of such required amount was to be so raised, the remainder was to be paid by the parents, masters and guardians, in proportion to the number of pupils which each of them might send to such school. No person, however, could be taxed for the sup- port of any free school unless by his or her consent first obtained in writing, though all persons refusing to be taxed were precluded from sending pupils to such school. In al- most every district there were those who had no children to educate, and then there was an uncivilized element of frontier life, who believed education was a useless and un- necessary accomplishment, and only needful to divines and lawyers; that bone and muscle and the ability to labor were the only require- ments necessary to fit their daughters and sons for the practical duties of life. A prov- erb then current was (in many localities), " The more book-learning the more rascals." To quote a localism of the day, "gals didn't
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need to know nothin' about books, and all that boys orter know was how to grub, maul rails and hunt." That senseless prejudice, born of the crude civilization of the early period of the country, has descended, in a slight dregree, to the present, and yet tinges the complexion of society in many different localities.
After the repeal of the Duncan law, edu- cation, for nearly a generation, was in any- thing but a flourishing condition, either in this county or in the State. Like the stag- nant waters of a Southern lagoon, it was difficult to tell whether the current flowed backward or forward. For many years the schoolhouses, school books, school teachers and the manner of instruction were of the most primitive character throughout the whole of southern Illinois. The houses were the proverbial log-cabin, so often de- scribed in the early annals. A few of these humble schoolhouses, unused and almost rotted down, may still be occasionally seen, eloquent of an age forever passed. The early books were as primitive as the cabin school- houses, and the early teacher was, perhaps, the most primitive of all. The old-time pedagogue was a marked and distinctive character of the early history-one of the vital forces of the earlier growth. He con- sidered the matter of imparting the limited knowledge he possessed a mere question of effort, in which the physical element predomi- nated. If he couldn't talk or read it into a pupil, he took a stick and mauled it into him.
The school-master usually, by common con- sent, was a personage of distinction and im- portance. He was of higher authority, even in the law, than the Justice of the Peace, and ranked him in social position. He was considered the intellectual center of the neighborhood and was consulted upon all
subjects, public and private. Most generally he was a hard-shell Baptist in religion, a Democrat in politics and worshiped Gen. Jackson as his political savior. But the old-time pedagogue-the pioneer of Ameri - can letters-is a thing of the past, and we shall never see his like again. He is ever in the van of advancing civilization, and fled before the whistle of the locomotive or the click of the telegraph was heard. He can- not live within the pale of progress. His race became extinct here more than a quarter of a century ago, when the common school system began to take firm hold and become a fixed institution among the people. The older citizens remember him, but to the young of to-day he is a myth, and only lives in tradition.
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