USA > Illinois > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 19
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A paper was published at Murphysboro' in the '60's, called the Murphys- boro' Argus. It was well edited, and was Democratic in politics.
A SONG FOR THE PRESS. By William H. Bushnell.
A SONG for the Press! the Printing Press ! That has ruled the world alone, Since the finger of God first graved His laws On the tablets of senseless stonc ; Since a spark of His wisdom downward sent Woke the slumbering thought to birth,
And the Press, as a meteor, flashed thro' the gloom. The darkness that lowered o'er carth.
A song for the Press ! more potent far Than the fiat of erowned king- Than the cohorts of war-than the steel-clad nien That the mightiest can bring.
Kingdoms, and tower, and palace wall, That have braved a century's might,
Crumble in ruin, and totter and fall, When the Press wakes the giant Right.
A song for the Press-the lever long sought The world to sway, in times olden- To check the power of Oppression's hand- Break the rule of the seeptre golden ;
Pierce the gloom of the dungeon-the captive free, Rive oak door and iron rod,
And send broadcast o'er a sin-bound world The words of a living God !
A song for the Press-the Angel that lines, In light on its record page, Each glorious thought, and each noble deed- Each aet of the passing age :
The historian's pen, and the poet's wand- Each triumph-each God-born rhyme-
Is recorded there, and for ever lives, Defying the touch of Time!
A song for the Press ! Like the armed men That rushed o'er Rome's ivy'd wall, When Liberty swayed and trampled in dust Cæsar's pride and judgment hall ;
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
So its silent step wakes the down-trod one, Mid his thraldom, his fear and gloon), And thunders in wrath round the crowned king, Foretelling of death and of doom !
A song for the Press-the east-born star ! Of religion-of liberty-power -- Untrameled by wealth, by passion unswayed, 'Tis the index-the scribe of each hour ; And still shall remain-still the slender type Shall " click " and all nations bless ;
And the last star from earth that ever fades out, Be the God-model'd Printing Press !
CHAPTER XIV.
COMMON SCHOOLS.
BY SAMUEL E. HARWOOD.
SCHOOL FUND ESTABLISHED-FIRST FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM-SCHOOL-110USES AND FURNITURE-FIRST HOUSE USED FOR A SCHOOL ROOM-SCHOOL-OFFICERS AND TEACHERS.
O understand the growth of the county in educational matters, one must examine the origin and development of the State Law. The consideration of this will answer the question, How came we with the Common Schools? It will also enable one to see more clearly the causes of the conditions of these schools in their various stages of growth. The county came by them in the same way the State did, but with much less contention and confusion. The State fought the battles for all the counties, and they reap individually the benefits of their collective efforts.
The present system of " free schools" was entered upon in 1855. That date proved to be the turning-point in the history of Illinois. The influences growing out of this school system are worthy of the attention and critical study of historian and philosopher. They have affected, not the average in- telligence alone, but the character of every calling, and have developed advantages previously unrealized. The work of 1855 was not the beginning. There had been labor and growth for years before. The idea of making knowledge common reaches farther back, beyond the existence of Illinois as a separate territory. The celebrated ordinance of 1787 declared education to be "necessary to the good government of mankind," and enjoined that " schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."
Paper manifestoes are not often dreaded, and proclamations seldom have existence longer than that of the paper upon which they may be written ; but this ordinance of 1787 seems to be an exception, and in 1887 some of the " mankind " of Illinois will be reaping benefits from the influences of its declarations and injunctions.
Some of the encouragement meant in this document came in a material form in 1818. Congress, in the Enabling Act for this State, April 18th of that year, appropriated three per cent. of the net proceeds of public lands within the limits of Illinois, for the encouragement of learning, one-sixth thereof to be bestowed on a college or university. From this the State has its "School Fund Proper," which, in 1876, amounted to $613.362.96. Beside this, two townships, in addition to one donated some time previous, were given for founding and maintaining a seminary of learning. This formed what is now known as the " Seminary Fund," and amounted last year, to &59,838.72. One-sixth of the above named three per cent. donation, went to form the " College Fund " of the State, and now amounts to $156,613.52.
The proceeds of the three per cent. fund, were blended in 1835, and borrowed by the State at six per cent. interest. This interest was to be dis- tributed annually for school purposes. How much of it was thus distributed is not known.
The most valuable donation from Congress, was the sixteenth section of every township. If this was sold, lands equivalent to it, were given for school purposes. This donation amounts to 998,449 acres. Properly
managed, this would have released forever the people from local taxation. But there were innumerable causes for waste, and taxes had to be added to the meager returns from so magnificent a gift. Unfortunately, the Legisla- ture authorized the sale of these lands, and borrowed the money to defray the current expenses of 1828.
In 1855, the Common School Fund was $951 504. yielding an annual in- come of $57,700. The same year, the township Fund was $1,441,500, yield- ing an income of $111,191.
In 1835, the interest on school monies borrowed by the State, was first dis- tributed to counties. This distribution was based upon the number under twenty-one years of age, and was to be paid to teachers, at the rate of not more than one-half of their wages for the preceding twelve months' services. The residue, if any, was to constitute a county school fund forever. In 1855, the aggregate of this county fund was $50,000. The aggregate of these funds in 1876, was over six and one-half millions of dollars.
In 1852, the balance of the overflowed and swamp lands, after paying for drainage and levees, was granted to counties for educational purposes. In 1853, fines and criminal forfeitures on bails were added to school resources, and school property was exempt from taxation.
THE FIRST FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM
was adopted thirty years before. In 1824 and '25, Governor Coles, in his message, advised that provision be made for support of common schools The same session, Senator Joseph Duncan, of Jackson County, introduced a bill to establish schools. In this way, Jackson County can justly claim to have originated through her distinguished Senator, the Free School System, and assume all accruing honor.
The main points in this school system were :-
1. The schools were to be open to every class of white citizens between the ages of five and twenty-one.
2. Persons over twenty-one years of age might be admitted on consent of trustees and upon the agreed terms.
3. Districts of not less than fifteen families were to be formed on petition of a majority of the voters.
4. Officers were to be elected and sworn in. The system was very full and complete.
5. The legal voters at an annual meeting could levy a tax, in money or merchantable produce at cash value, not exceeding one-half of one per cent., subject to a maximum limitation of ten dollars for one person.
6. The state appropriated annually two dollars out of every one hundred received into the treasury. This was distributive of five-sixths of the interest from the School Fund, and was apportioned to countics according to the number of white children under twenty-one years of age. The counties dis- tributed this among the districts; but no district received any of this fund unless it had sustained a school of three months for the year in which the di- vision was made.
This last was the best feature of the law, and was much the same in prin- ciple as the similar provision of the present law. The whole law was in ad- vance of the times. Such was the objection to it that it was virtually an- nulled by amendment in 1827. The opposition to taxation was great, and it was provided that no person could be taxed without his written consent. The two dollars from the treasury were also denied.
This action alone would place a stigma upon the legislature of 1827. But other facts prove it to have been one of the worst that ever afflicted the state and in clear contrast with its predecessor.
Repeated revisions and amendments followed, but no efficiency was im- parted to the land. Virtue had gone out of it and could not be restored by patching. For eighteen years there was educational darkness, and Egypt might very properly have included almost the whole state. But some ener- gy and educational enterprise were among those old citizens. In 1844, a " Common School Convention " was held in Peoria. This assembly appointed John S. Wright, H. M. Weed, and Thomas M. Kilpatrick, to draft a mem- orial to the legislature on this subject. The paper was drawn, and was an able and exhaustive document. It plead for a State Superintendent with a salary of nine hundred dollars, and recommended local taxation for school purposes. The work was partially successful. The legislature yielded a partial consent. The Secretary of State was made ex-officio State Superinten- dent. Local taxes could be levied on a favorable two-thirds vote. Such was the catering to the common opposition to paying out money for another's immediate advantage. It required a long time to make plain the real prin- ciple involved.
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
In accordance with this provision, all the district tax for schools, in 1846 and '47, did not reach one mill on one hundred dollars. Such were the re- ceipts from votive taxation.
The auditor, by this bill, distributed the interest on the School Fund in proportion to the number of children under twenty years of age in the coun- ty. The counties distributed to districts on the basis of the number under twenty-one. If no school was taught during the previous ten months, the money went to the principal of Township fund.
Many features.of this law were incorporated in that of 1855.
In 1845, the qualifications of teachers were embraced in a knowledge of reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and history. It is to be supposed that a very limited knowledge of these branches was required. Because of the excessive apathy among the people on educational matters, very little was done. Indeed, the demands for knowledge were by no means wide- reaching, though the necessity for it was immense. The relations between an intelligent ploughman and a school-room were unrecognized, and scholars were not wanted in a frontier country. The effect of education on material growth remained to be made public. At this time, 1846 and '47, only fifty- seven counties out of ninety-nine made any reports at all.
In 1847, the qualifications for teachers had to be lowered, because there were so few qualified to teach. A certificate could be obtained for a know- ledge of any one of the required branches-the five above-named. Schools were by no means numerous either.
In the same year the two-thirds vote on levying taxes was changed to a majority, thus giving a sınall increase of power to those who were anxious for efficient and sufficient Common Schools.
In 1849 the standard of qualifications for teachers was again raised to the former grade. The directors could grant special privileges as to any branch. This was something like the " provisional certificate" of 1872-73, unless the directors in those days were more learned than some who manage school affairs now. Little did they know of the necessary discrimination as to local needs in the choice of a teacher.
--
In this year the local tax was limited to twenty-five cents on one hundred dollars, except in incorporated towns and cities where fifty cents was the maximum.
Another advance was made 1857. A majority of the voters assembled could levy a tax not to exceed one dollar on a hundred. But such was the inactivity in behalf of schools, that the law was almost a dead letter. The taxable property of the state was at that time one hundred millions, which should have furnished a fund of one million dollars for school purposes. The amount actually furnished, only twenty years ago, was but $51,000.
But the interest was growing. The spirit of progress had been aroused. The press took hold of the matter, and strong leaders urged the necessity of better schools. A better class of citizens was coming from the east, bringing their advanced and advancing ideas of education. Conventions met and dis- cussed the question. The people were stirred up in their own interests. Through these influences some changes were wrought. In 1854 the Legis- lature separated the office of State Superintendent from that of Secretary of State. The new officer was to receive $1,500 per annum. He was requested to draft a bill for a Free School System. Honorable - W. Edwards was appointed by Governor Matteson. He presented a well-drawn bill, which was altered in some degree and adopted February 15, 1855.
All along the scarcity of teachers was a serious trouble. The new law promised more vigorous action among the people. But whence were the teachers to come ? They were comparatively few in number, and limited in qualification. Systematic work was demanded in the new field. This was really the introduction of system into the teacher's preparation for his work. To meet this want of efficient teachers the Northern Normal was established in 1857. From this time the change in teachers, at least, is more marked. It introduced the geometrical rate of increase, with a large ratio instead of a ininute common difference.
The vital principle of the present law is this : The property and wealth of the state as well as the county shall educate their youth.
The corner-stone has been laid, the foundations have been firmly placed. and the superstructure advances grandly toward that perfection for which future generations must furnish the materials.
Such is a rapid survey of the growth of the Common Schools in Illinois, They have not come in a night, nor in a year. They are the fruitage of a generation's constant and laborious effort, and to them Jackson County owes and attributes much of character and prosperity. Like her sister counties, she may have been slow in making a beginning, but education within her borders has kept pace with her material development.
There were the rude beginnings in her farm-life and varied industries. So were there the awkward workmen and rude instruments in her school-rooms, in days gone by. Both teacher and teacher's appliances of a half century ago would now attract the eye of the archæologist as indicative of a former civilization. They were not peculiar to Jackson County. Other counties had made no greater advances, and must have had conveniences not more modern than those of this County. These did not -hint of the intelligence and learning that should be with a people winning the name of Egyptians. Indeed, in those early years, more attention was paid to filling the corn- sacks of Joseph's brethren than to filling the thought-sacks of Joseph's own mind. The instruments for the former were by no means the most modern and saving of human muscle, neither indicative of great mechanical skill, much less those of the latter and least considered question.
One thing at a time may have been a good motto ; for these ancestors of ours secured a reputation for gaining an abundance from mother earth, if they did also obtain the less enviable notoriety for Egyptian ignorance, which has required more than a score of years to remove. But a change has come over them, and the days of Manetho may yet have a counterpart in this Egypt of the Western Hemisphere. Then there will be gathered up not the genealogies of the thirty dynasties, but the principles that underlaid and in- fluenced this later growth. Then there may be some explanation of the sud- den increase of Egypt's boundaries, and the cause of her increased popularity . Some one may discover that it lies in the energetic action of these corn-deal- ers in behalf of education.
This new activity in behalf of better things may have augmented the willingness of more northern counties to be considered within the confines of Egypt. Anyhow, Jackson County may now claim a higher honor than being merely a granary for the northern counties. In early times Jacob and his sons came down with their teams for the fruits of her farms. Now their sons and daughters come from counties far remote to gather the fruits of her edu- cational institution. They carry away neither wheat, nor corn, nor barley, nor precious stones, but scientific facts, golden truths, for the strengthening of a higher life and a more rapid development of their own material re- sources.
What are some of the causes for this change in relations ? What are the steps in the advance ? Where are the way-marks of our County's progress ? They are found in the increased number and convenience of her school-houses, in the care taken of her school property, in the zeal and efficiency of her teachers, in the introduction of new methods and appliances, in the greater efficiency of her school officers, in the character of her citizens, and in the strength of public opinion in behalf of education. Some of them may be presented by contrasting the present and former conditions of things. All the data cannot be gathered. There are, however, a few known facts from which one may understand the difference in (1) the school-houses and furni- ture of to-day and yesterday; (2) the school officers and teachers ; (3) some of the principal schools ; (4) and the various curious customs. To their consideration the reader is directed.
SCHOOL-HOUSES AND FURNITURE.
The change in school- houses and school furniture has been especially note- worthy in the last decade. The original log school-house had not gone ten years ago. In November, 1867, (This is November, 1877) near Car- bondale there was such an educational centre. It measured about six- teen by twenty feet. The door was in the south side, Along the whole length of the north side was the window, the opening made by removing a log. Against this wall and facing the window was the writing-desk of primitive style. Around were the famously economical " slab benches" with their four crossed legs and hewed faces. Back supports there were none. Children's backs were made of better material in those "good old days."
The first house used for a school-room was the dwelling of William Boon, near Sand Ridge. This was sixty-two years ago. As there were none but log dwellings in those days, the accommodations for educational work must have been decidedly limited.
The first house built for school purposes was of this primitive and con- venient material. This was years ago. Since that time there has been much growth. The number of houses has increased to ninety-five, and the log-house has been superseded by the frame or brick. Still there remain twenty-eight of these solid log structures in the County. Of the others, sixty- one are neat frame buildings, five are brick, and one is stone. These ninety-
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
five houses are in ninety districts, there being no distriet in the county un- provided with a sehool-house.
Dr. Redd said of these houses in his report for 1876 : " The old log school- houses have been superseded by elegant and commodious frame houses in very many distriets, which impress upon the mind of the traveler that the county is inhabited by an intelligent and wide-awake people, who care for the education of their children." Before 1866, except the " College " at Carbondale, there was no briek school-house in the County. A few years afterwards the building at Murphysboro' was erected. All over the County the desire for neat school buildings seems to be increasing. In most cases previous to 1866, the frame houses were not good. Some of those ereeted sinee are conveniently arranged, and cost from one to two thousand dollars. This change has affected other partieulars. Blaekboards are now indispensa- ble. There must be maps, globes, bloeks, charts, telluriaus, planetariums and many other things. These charts are "for the illustration of botany, physiology, natural history, and geography. In books there was little or no uniformity before 1866. Classes were as numerous as pupils, and sometimes more so. About the beginning of Dr. Ford's term as County Superinten- dent, this uniformity was urged and certain books recommended. The move was a good one.
SCHOOL OFFICERS AND TEACHERS.
If we go baek many years we will find no sehool officers. There were none. They came with the School Law. There were teachers long before. In the beginning of official dignity, as attached to school managers, the chief was named Commissioner. He seems to have been chosen every two years. His powers were much the same as the County Superintendent's now are. Very little is known of them. It is supposed they issued certificates, watched over school interests, and drew their salaries in an entirely regular and legal manner. Whether they visited schools or held institutes can only be sur- mised.
As carly as 1852, Mr. Barrow was School Commissioner, and lived at that time in the northwestern part of the County.
Philip Kimmel, Sr., was elected in 1856, and was in office two terms.
Sinee then there have been five Superintendents elected : U. E. Robin- son, Jr., held the office from 1861 to 1865; Dr. H. C. Robinson, from 1865 to 1869; Dr. John Ford, from 1869 to 1873; Dr. L. H. Redd, from 1873 to 1877 ; and John W. Reeder was elected the 6th of last November for four years
Beside these there were under the law of 1855 other officers. In each of the laws, original and amended, from 1824 to 1876, there was a full quota of officials prepared for.
The Director of twenty years ago would generally contrast strongly with those of to-day. Then " his mark " was the rule upon records of a board's transactions. Now the majority can write their names, even if in a school- boy's serawl. Their action then could not have been always wise. It is not 80 110W. Their methods of choosing their teacher were doubtless ori- giual and peculiar.
There is this certainty. All the school officers have grown in efficiency with the publie opinion which demanded their service. They have also a share in the formation of that opinion. Treasurers, Trustces, and Directors have all a share in the work. Could the volumes of unwritten history be examined, many instruetive faets might be discovered. In the absence of positive information we ean only judge the growth of school officials by a comparison with men iu other fields of public labor.
It would be interesting to know how these Commissioners managed their examinations for certificates; what help they obtained in distributing the funds; and with what means they aroused enthusiasm iu school work.
From Mr. Philip Kimmel come these statements: "The funds eoming into my hands, the first year of my official term, were 85,676.38. No school eould draw from this fund unless six mouths had been taught in that district. Teachers then received from $17.50 to $20 per month. I appointed exa- miners at different points in the county. I also held two days' publie examination. When my teachers were good ones, I renewed their certifi- cates. The school-houses were most all log, and some very poor at that. I do believe the children learned about as much as they do now, only they are now instructed in the higher branches. The small primary elasses certainly were better attended to than they are now, and learned faster."
Mr. K. is perhaps right about the teaching of primary elasses. These classes comprehended nearly all of a teacher's work. The instruction was
all along & lower scale and from a lower standard. There was little ex- pected or required. These earlier teachers were limited in qualification, though some of them were successful in teaching. Could their beginnings be learned, what a eurious and interesting collection of facts would we have!
The first teacher in this county was John Aaron. He was a farmer as well as a teacher. This is not an uncommon coincidence now. Mr. Aaron was a married man but had no children. He was employed by William Boon to teach the first school at Sand Ridge. This was in 1814 and '15. The ses- sions of the school were held in Mr. Boou's dwelling. The term was nine months. At this school Benningsen Boon learned his letters. Mr. Aaron is mentioned as a man of steady habits and good eharaeter, having been greatly respected, though possessing meager attainments.
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