USA > Illinois > Peoria County > The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a history of the Northwest-history of Illinois-history of the county, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc., etc. > Part 68
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In the glad morning, when the dawn Comes forth to wake the silent bird - When woodland minstrelsy floats out And blithely on the hills is heard : In the hot noon tide - in the hour Whose calmness breathes of peace and Heaven And soothes unrest with whisperings To its own holy moments given.
When quiet stars are looking down Upon the joy and woe of life ; In solemn midnight, when is hushed The voice of toil, and care, and strife. In mystic darkness - when the skies Of blue their wonted luster lack - Keep then with tenderness and trust Thy silent, faithful bivouac.
They are thy comrades - whose white tents Are folded here, but pitched again Beneath a great Commander's eye Upon a vast and boundless plain. There sounds no din of battle there - No war cloud comes its light to dim ; l'ure is its Summer air - and l'eace Chants there her sweet eternal hymn. ..
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Type of our heroes : To our souls A living presence lhou dost seem, The might of Genius hallows thee. Fair effluence of the sculptor's dream. Shall not the sunlight wake thy voice As Memnon's statue woke of old
On some fair morning - when its rays Baptize thee in a flood of gold ?
Oh ! sweet the fancy - that from Heaven A vital power may yel descend
And to thy lips, and cheek, and brow, The grace of thought and feeling lend.
That thy grand ministry of love May win the gift of life for thee - That with thy comrades, thou may'st wear The crown of Immortality.
Then watch thou ' Till the angel's trump Shall wake earth's silent sleepers, stand ' Till the Greal Captain's voice is heard In mighty and supreme command,
Bidding the land and sea restore Earth given to earth, and dust to dust, Then - cease thy vigils - then yield up Our patriot dead - thy preci us trust.
At the conclusion of the reading of the poem, the benediction was pronounced by Rev. John Benson, and the crowd dispersed. In the afternoon of the same day impres- sive exercises were held at the Soldiers' Monument in the Court-honse square. with an eloquent address by Col. R. G. Ingersoll.
DECORATION DAY.
About 1872. Mrs. Curtenius removed to New York, and as the Society wished to per- petnate its existence for the purpose of securing the observance of Decoration . Day from year to year. Mrs. Alex. G. Tyng was elected to fill the vacaney made by her absence. Mrs. George A. Wilson was elected Secretary. These officers are still at their posts. A donation of four condemned pieces of artillery was secured from the Government and stand to mark the corners of the soldier's lot at Springdale. At the annual call of the President the women of this society meet with unabated interest, and, with the co-oper- ation of a committee of gentlemen, made arrangements for the proper observance of this day. While these ladies live the soldiers' graves will never be neglected or forgotten, and we do not doubt that as their ranks are thinned by death or removal others will come for- ward to do the work. At these times not only are the graves on the soldier's lot decor- ated with flags and flowers, but also those of every soldier, officer. and private, buried in Springdale cemetery. On the morning of Decoration Day this sad and yet pleasant office is performed by a committee of ladies from this society, who, with their own hands, place these tokens of loving remembrance upon the soldier's graves, before the exercises at the soldiers' lot in the afternoon.
It is but a deserved tribute in this connection to mention the uume of Mrs. Heity HI. Easton one of the most devoted workers of the League from its birth, and always one of this committee to decorate the scattered graves of the soldiers. To her, a soldier's grave is a hallowed spot. There are over sixty in different parts of the cemetery. A record of these graves is carefully preserved and the name of every new soldier who dies is faithfully added, for the guidance of those into whose hands it will fall when we, too, have finished life's battle.
[As a fitting elose to this chapter, the following beautiful sentiment spoken by one whose gifted eloquenee is not alone admired and honored hy the people umong whom he lived for so many years, but throughout the civilized and educated world, is deemed exceedingly appropriate .- ED.]
" These heroes are dead. They died for liberty - they died for ns. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm. cach in the windowless palace of Rest. Earth may run red with other wars- they are at peace. In the midst of battle. in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death."
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CHAPTER XIV.
EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.
Little Provision for Schools in early times - School Commissioners, School Superintendents - Women Superin- tendents - Weekly Institutes - The Centennial Exhibit - Order for Building First School-house - A Queer Document.
In 1819, when the little colony of emigrants from Shoal creek came to Fort Clark, there was not a building in all the the territory included in the great State of Illinois worthy of the name of a school-house. Now, after a little more than half a century from the date of that settlement, there are thousands of them, from the ordinary frame structure of one room and one story, to magnificent brick and stone edifices of two, three and four stories, with numerous departments, and colleges and seminaries equal in all respects to the colleges and other institutions of learning in any of the older States. In this county alone there are one hundred and sixty school-houses of different grades of excellence.
For a good many years after the settlement of the country of the Peorias commenced at Fort Clark, there were no school-houses, nor school districts, nor school money. Edu- cational affairs, like every thing else, was in chaos, without form and void, for the coun- try was a wilderness, and the pioneer fathers were left to to their own resources and management.
As settlements advanced and schools were desired, a central location as to the neigh- borhood and convenience of the scholars was selected and a log school-house erected. Each settler who had children large enough to go to school, volunteered a certain amount of work toward its erection. In no case was the school-house large or pretentious. One window in each side of the structure furnished light -that is, if the settlers had money enough to buy the sash and glass. If not, greased paper supplied the place of glass, and just as likely as not a part of a log was cut out of each side of the building, and greased paper fastened over the aperture, made to serve as a window. There was a puncheon door in one end of the building, and a mud and stick, or sod chimney and earthen fire- place in the other end. The seats were made from puncheons, or a suitably sized tree, cut to the desired length, and then halved, i. e., split in two. The split sides were dressed down with a broad-axe. Holes were bored near the ends of the rounded sides, with an inch-and-a-half or two-inch auger, and pins driven in for supports. Writing " benches " or desks were made by boring slanting holes in the logs of the building, in which supports or arms were driven, and on which a wide plank or puncheon, with the upper side dressed smooth, was laid, and held in place by a shoulder that was cut on the lower ends of the supports. This completed the furniture, unless, perhaps, an old splint- bottomed chair was added for the teacher.
The principal books were Webster's elementary spelling book, the English reader - the best reader ever used in American schools - Daball's or Talbot's arithmetic, Morse's geography and Kirkham's grammar ; hence, the course of study was orthography, read- ing, writing, arithmetic. English grammar and geography.
Orthography was the first great principle of education, for the people in those days were of the opinion that no one could ever become a good reader or a good writer unless he was a good speller, and, as a consequence, children who were ambitions to become good scholars and aspired to become men and women of note, were anxious to become good spellers ; and no higher honor could be bestowed upon a girl or boy than to say they were the best spellers in the neighborhood. Spelling schools or spelling matches -
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who of us don't remember them " - were frequent. But why distress old fogy minds by recalling those happy days, when they met at the old log school-houses, chose their cap- tains, the best spellers, who would toss up the master's rule for first choice, and then " choose up" their lieutenants, commencing with the ones regarded as the best spellers, or, more likely, the prettiest girls, without regard to their orthographical excellence, and so on, until all the boys and girls were arranged on benches on opposite sides of the honse. Then the fun began. The " master" "gave out" the words from side to side. How quickly a " missed " word would be caught up! Those were happy days, and days that are saered in the memory of the gray-haired fathers who took part in the exercises. It would be a pleasing reflection to them to know that their children, their children's children and the children of their neighbors, were permitted, by the modern system of education, to indulge in the same kind of old-fashioned spelling schools.
The school system of the spelling-school period, and even up until within a few years ago, in many localities, was fully described in the back-woods vernacular of " Pete Jones," in " Eggleston's Hoosier Schoolmaster," " lickin' and learnin"," the " lickin'" being the indispensable requisite. The perfect, or ideal teacher of those days was a man of strong museular development, an imperious form, a sonorous voice charged with terror, punctual in bringing "hiekories " into the school-house, and a liberal disposition to use them as book applications.
But all these things are changed now. A log school-house in Illinois is a rarity. Their places are filled with handsome frame and brick structures. The rude furniture of primitive times has given way to seats and desks combined. The old books have fol- lowed the old teachers into retirement, and both are superseded by others of greater pretensions, if not of greater merit. The old spelling classes and spelling matches have followed the old log school-houses until, with rare exceptions, they are remembered only in name.
Of her school system Illinois can justly boast. It is a pride and a credit to the adopted home of the great men this State has sent out as rulers and representative men - men like Lincoln, Douglas, Grant, Shields, Lovejoy, Yates, Washburn, Ingersoll, and hundreds of others whose names are as familiar abroad as they are in the histories of the counties and neighborhoods where once they lived.
While the State has extended sneh fostering care to the interests of education, the several counties have been no less zealous and watchful in the management of this vital interest. And Peoria county forms no exception to the rule. The school-houses and their furnishings are in full keeping with the spirit of the law that provides for their maintenance and support. The teachers rank high among the other thousands of teach- ers in the State, and the several county superintendents. since the office of superin- tendent was made a part of the school system, have been chosen with especial reference to their fitness for the position.
Like the settlement of the county, the schools commenced at Fort Clark, or Peoria. As already indicated, the first schools were subscription schools, and very naturally there are no records left to guide the writer in this part of his work. The true history of these schools is buried beneath the debris of time.
In 1876, President M. Gregory, of the Illinois Industrial University, of Champaign, issued a eireular to the teachers and friends of education throughout the State, soliciting historieul sketches of the schools of the several counties. In response to that request, the following article was prepared, which is our only guide to the history of the pioneer school of the county :
" The carly French history of Peoria is so obscure that neither in tradition or fact enn be found anything reliable about the educational efforts made by the early mission- uries and voyageurs on that subject. In his diary Father Hennepin rejoiced that he had baptised one infant into his church in the Illinois valley.
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" Although Peoria was settled by the French as early as January 1, 1680, we find no account of schools nor other evidences of modern civilization. At one time several hundreds of French and Indians occupied the upper and lower villages of Peoria. No traces of an agricultural character remained after the destruction of their village by Captain Craig, November, 1812; no fruit trees, shrubbery, or grape vines, except the wild grape, to support the tradition that at one time several barrels of wine were made and shipped to France, unless it was made from the wild grape, which grew in abundance along the river bluffs. And as almost all the early French conveyances to quiet title under the act of Congress, approved March 4, 1823, were signed by marks, clear evidence that the conveyancers could not write, and hence the conclusion that no provision was made for schools.
" The first school in any part of the county, was taught at Fort Clark by a man named Peter Grant, about 1821 or 1:22. The school was necessarily small, and the teacher was paid by subscription at so much per quarter for each scholar. Graut subse- quently removed to Lewistown, Illinois, and afterwards to Palmyra, Missouri, where he died about 1840. Beyond this brief statement there are no particulars.
.. The next school, about 1823 or 1824, was taught by Isaac Essex, who was appointed teacher to the Indians by Rev. Jesse Walker, the hero of Methodism in Illinois. Although this school was intended more especially for Indian children, white children were permitted to attend.
"FIRST FEMALE TEACHER.
" The first school taught by a woman was in 1826, one year after the county was organized. Of this school, Mrs. Maria Harkness, wife of James P. Harkness, of Ehn- wood, and daughter of Isaac Waters, who was the teacher, says :
"'In May, 1826, as was then the custom, I wrote out an article of agreement proposing to teach a school at Peoria, as Fort Clark had then come to be called, and enumerating the branches I proposed to teach -- spelling. reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and needle-work, at one dollar and fifty cents per scholar for a term of three months and board, as the teachers in those days hoarded around among the patrons of schools. Thirty scholars were subscribed, and I had an average daily attendance of twenty-four. My patrons were Judge Latham, then Indian agent ; Dr. Asahel Langworthy ; Joseph Ogee, Indian interpreter ; John L. Bogardus, attorney at law; John Dixon, county clerk ; John Parker, the ferryman ; George Sharp, William and Abner Eads, Captain Joseph Moffatt, and Isaac Waters. The school was commenced in a log cabin owned by William Holland, the village blacksmith, where it was continued one week, when, because there were no windows and no light, except from the open door. it was opened the second week, and the term completed, in Ogee's new hewed log cabin, which was afterwards used as a court-house.'
"Mrs. Harkness also furnished the following statement in regard to the first schools in Trivoli and Elmwood townships.
". The first school in Trivoli township was taught by Miss Ruth Waters, in a log cabin built by Isaac, Daniel, and James P. Harkness, my husband. In Elmwood township the first school was taught hy Miss Eliza Rowley, near the village of Southport.'
This is all we find in regard to the early first schools in the localities named, and was the beginning of that system, which, fostered and encouraged from that time to the present, makes the educational advantages of Peoria county pre-eminently praise worthy, and renders the county a desirable home for parents who wish to bestow upon their children a first-class common school or commercial education.
Like the settlement of the county, the progress of schools was slow. In 1832 there were less than fifty houses, all told in Peoria. Part of these were business houses, and of course there was but a small population, and not more than enough children for an ordi- nary school. Back from Peoria, settlements were few and far between, and schools and school-houses unknown until about 1834-5-6, In 1831, however, a law was passed requir- ing the County Commissioners of each county to appoint a commissioner to sell the school lands. In 1840 the powers and duties of the school commissioner were increased and it was made his duty to distribute the school fund to the treasurers of the several
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townships. In 1841 the law was again amended and the office of school commissioner was made elective by the people.
In 1845 it was made the duty of the commissioner to enforce any system of schools proposed by the State Superintendent, and to examine all teachers who were employed in the public schools of their respective counties, in orthography, reading in English, writing, geography, arithmetic. English grammar and the history of the United States. This law was in foree four years when it was again amended (in 1>49) making the com- missioner er-officio County Superintendent of Schools : and it was also made his duty, by this amendment, in addition to the duties previously imposed, to visit every township in his county. to examine teachers. to advise with each school officer, to prepare and submit to the State Superintendent, a report of all the schools of the county.
When the general free school law passed by the Legislature in 1855. the office was retained, and the officer still designated School Commissioner, his duties and responsi- bilities largely increased, and their character in many respects, materially changed, while the compensation was allowed to remain inadequate, as it had been from the beginning. After this last change the office continued to grow in importance and responsibility, as it had never done before, and the schools, not only in Peoria county, but throughout the State, improved rapidly.
NOTE. - The first School Commissioner was Andrew M. Hunt, who was appointed by the County Commissioners at their March meeting, 1833. He held the office until June, 1837, when he was succeeded by Charles Ketelle. Mr. Ketelle served under appointment until the office was made elective in 1841. In August of that year he was elected by the people ; re-elected in August 1843, and continued to serve until June 5. 1848, when he resigned. In August, 1848, Clark B. Stebbins was elected to fill out the unexpired term, and November 6, 1849, the time of holding elections having been changed he was elected for a full term of two years. His successor was Ephraim Hinman, who was elected November 4. 1851.
In 1865, the name of this officer, by aet of the Legislature, was changed to the more appropriate one of " County Superintendent of Schools." The duties of the office were again increased and rendered still more important in their relations to the common schools, and to the general educational interests of the several counties. This law re- quired the Superintendent to visit all the schools of the county at least onee in each year, and oftener if practicable, fixing his salary at three dollars a day for a time not to exceed two hundred days each year, together with the commissions formerly allowed to the school commissioner on the distribution of the public fund, selling school lands and loan- ing the county fund coming into his hands.
In 1867 the law was again amended and the per diem increased from three to five dollars a day, for services actually rendered. The good effect of this amendment soon became apparent in the increased interest in public school affairs. Efficient superintend- ents were enabled to bestow their time and energies upon the duties of the office. Schools were visited, and more time was devoted to the examination of teachers. More and bet- ter Teachers' Institutes were at once held in almost all parts of the State, and the general impetus given to the cause of education was greater than it had ever been in the history of the Illinois school system.
In 1872, the last act of the Legislature above quoted was amended, and the pay of the superintendent reduced from five to four dollars per day for such number of days as the Board of Supervisors or County Court should allow. This reduction was of question- able economy. Fair wager and strict accountability is a rule that should govern in the management of all public interests. The law requires that the superintendent shall ex- amine all the teachers in the various branches authorized to be taught in the common schools, examine the boards of township treasurers, to assist in the management of Teachers' Institutes, and to labor in every practical way to advance and elevate the
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standard of the common schools; to give advice in all controversies arising under the school law; to receive and examine the reports of township treasurers ; to prepare and forward to the State Superintendent an annual report of the condition of the schools, and to perform such other duties as are incumbent upon the office. Besides the duties here enumerated there are innumerable questions submitted to him for consideration and decision. To properly discharge these duties is a work of no small moment, and often requires more time than is allowed. Instead of a reduction of the pay, it ought to have been increased ; at least fixed at a respectable living price. That would have been economy in the strictest sense. At reduced wages men well qualified for the duty of superintendent can not afford to accept the office without a pecuniary sacrifice. To sub- mit the office of superintendent to men who are not well qualified as educators, is to im- pair the efficiency of the school system and the success of free schools. Men well quali- fied for the duties of the office can readily enter other departments of educational inter- ests at more remunerative salaries than the law gives to County Superintendents. Time and history will prove the truth of these remarks.
WOMEN SUPERINTENDENTS.
In 1873, ten ladies were elected County Superintendents of Schools. Five of these were present at the Chicago meeting of the State Association of County Superintendents, on the 28th and 29th of December, 1874. These five were Mrs. Sarah C. McIntosh, of Will county ; Miss Mary Allen West, of Knox county ; Miss Mary W. Whiteside (now the wife of E. Emery, Esq., editor of the Transcript), of Peoria county ; Mrs. Mary E. Cary, of Boone county ; and Mrs. Mary L. Carpenter, of Winnebago county. In speak- ing of their election and their presence at that meeting, State Superintendent Bateman said in his report for 1873-4: "Their excellent official record in this office warrants the belief that they severally acquitted themselves with credit." Miss Whiteside acted as secretary of the meeting quoted, an honor to her and the people by whom she was elected.
Again the Superintendent says: "When Mary W. Whiteside presented her plan of conducting Township Institutes, it was evident she was working upon the same idea in the series of ' popular ' institutes she was holding throughout the county on Saturdays. Parents and school officers were being drawn more and more into the discussion of methods and defects. Much general interest had been excited. This will naturally re- sult in a demand for a higher standard of excellence in the teacher, and at the same time a more intelligent appreciation of his value."
WEEKLY INSTITUTES.
The honor of founding the institutes mentioned in the above paragraph, and known as the Saturday Township Institutes, belongs to Mrs. Emery, nee Whiteside. She com- menced this work in the first year (1873) of her administration as County Superintend- ent of Schools. One of these institutes, or meetings of superintendent and teachers, is held on Saturday in some one of the townships, during the Fall and Winter terms of schools. These institutes are considered very important auxiliaries in school work, as they bring the superintendent, teachers, pupils and parents in frequent contact, and make each acquainted with the desires, wants, intentions and purposes of the other, as relates to school interests and school duties. The institutes are generally well attended, and a lively interest manifested in them by all present. The line of work consists of papers and discussions thereon by teachers, class-exercises, questions and replies, etc. Miss Whiteside also inaugurated the system of a general public examination of pupils through- out the county once each year on a given day. It is safe to say that Miss W. was one of the most faithful, industrious, and enterprising local school officers known in the history of Illinois schools.
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