USA > Indiana > Bartholomew County > History of Bartholomew County, Indiana : From the earliest time to the present, with biographical sketches, notes, etc. : Together with a short history of the Northwest, the Indiana Territory, and the state of Indiana > Part 46
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school lands in the several counties to take charge of the same and to prevent the wasting of sugar trees and other timber thereon. No further important legislation was had on the subject of schools during the existence of the Territorial Legislature. The great principle herein recognized was slow in being carried out. although there was from the first a class of public-spirited men who were the fric 's and earnest advocates of popular education.
The First State Constitution .- That part of the ninth article of the Constitution of 1816, in reference to common schools, is as fol- lows: " Knowledge and learning generally diffused through a com- munity, being essential to the preservation of a free government, and spreading the opportunities and advantages of education through the various parts of the country being highly conducive to this end, it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide by law for the improvement of such lands as are or may hereafter be granted by the United States to this State for the use of schools, and to apply any funds which may be raised from such lands, or from any other quarter, to the accomplishment of the grand object for which they are or may be intended; but no lands granted for the use of schools or seminaries of learning, shall be sold by au- thority of this State prior to the year 1820, and the moneys which may be raised out of the sale of any such lands, or otherwise ob- tained for the purposes aforesaid, shall be and remain a fund for the exclusive purpose of promoting the interests of literature and the sciences, and for the support of seminaries and common schools.
"It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as soon as cir- cumstances will permit, to provide by law for a general system of education, ascending in a regular gradation from township schools to a State University, wherein tuition shall be gratis and equally open to all. And for the promotion of such salutary end, the money which shall be paid as an equivalent by persons exempt from mili- tary duty, except in times of war, shall be exclusively, and in equal proportion, applied to the support of county seminaries; also all fines assessed for any breach of the penal laws shall be applied to said seminaries in the counties wherein they shall be assessed."
The General Assembly passed an act, December 14, 1816, providing for the appointment of Superintendents of school sections
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in the several townships, who were authorized to lease school lands for any term not exceeding seven years. Every lessee of such lands was required to set out each year, twenty-five apple, and twenty-five peach, trces, until 100 of each had been planted. January 9, 1821, the General Assembly by a joint resolution ap- pointed a committee of seven members to draft and report to the next Legislature of Indiana, a bill providing for a general system of education, with instruction to guard particularly against " any dis- tinction between the rich and the poor." This committee drew up and reported the first general school law of Indiana, which was re- vised and published in the Revised Statutes of 1824, under the title of " An act to incorporate Congressional Townships and providing for public schools therein."
This law required the inhabitants of each township to meet at the sixteenth section, reserved by Congress for the use of schools, or at some place convenient thereto, to elect three persons of their township as Trustees who were vested with the general control of school lands, with power to divide their respective Congressional Townships into geographical districts, appoint sub-trustees for the same, and to manage the school lands and schools generally. The law provided for building school houses as follows: "Every able bodied man of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, re- siding within the bounds of such school district, shall be liable to work one day in each week until such building be completed, or pay the sum of thirty seven and one-half (377/2) cents for every day he may fail to work."
The same act gave directions for building the school house, in these words: " In all cases such school house shall be eight feet between the floors, and at least one foot from the surface of the ground to the first floor, and finished in a manner calculated to render comfortable the teacher and pupils, with a suitable num- ber of seats, tables, lights, and everything necessary for the con- venience of such school, which shall be forever open for the cduca- tion of all children within the district without distinction." Whenthe house was completed it was examined by the Township Trustees, and if unsatisfactory the workmen were called back to complete the job. When accepted it was numbered and named. If the
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" Young America " of to-day who attend school in one of our latesi modern style of country school houses, built of brick with cut stone foundation, slate roof, plate glass windows, and finished in the best style, seated with modern desks and furnished with everything for convenience that experience can suggest or art devise, with a janitor at hand to supply every want, could attend school for a few days in one of those old-fashioned log cabins built in regulation style and furnished as required by " Statute," what queer notions they would obtain of " ye olden time " ideas of being " made comfort- able." For many years after the adoption of the first Constitution, but little progress was made toward establishing a system of free schools in Indiana. Some of the difficulties in the way of the earl- ier establishment of the public school system, were the want of funds to build school houses and to pay teachers, the difficulty of obtaining teachers properly qualified, the sparseness of the popu- lation in school districts, the mis-management of school funds, and the prejudice on the part of many against popular education under the name of "Free Schools." Yet amid all there difficulties the friends of a general system of education continued to work and to look forward with hope for ultimate success. Space forbids that we enumerate the acts passed since the adoption of the first Consti- tution, yet at almost every session some law, general or special, per- taining to education in some form, can be found on the Statute Book, for the incorporation of acadamies, colleges, universities and public libraries.
Changes in School Laws .- In these generally wise provisions we may see the grain of mustard seed planted by patriotic hands, which has since grown into our great educational tree. We have cited these acts not only because the history of the school system of the State is the history of the county system, but for the reason that a careful study of them will enable us to understand the con- dition and progress of public opinion in the development of our system of free public schools as nothing else can. It will also bring out the fact that our fathers builded more wisely than they knew or dreamed of; thus laying the foundation of our State system, now acknowledged to be the simplest and the best in the great Union of States, embodying and carrying out the ideas of its founders to es-
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tablish a system of free schools "ascending in regular gradation from township schools to the State University," wherein tuition shall be gratis and equally open to all. It is now. supported by a permanent school fund of nearly $10,000,000, "which may be in- creased but shall never be diminished." This fund is now larger than that of any other State in the Union by $2,000,000, and is con- stantly increasing.
The men of foresight and of broad and statesman-like views, in the Congress of the United States, who not only consecrated this vast Territory of the Northwest to freedom, but laid the foundation of the maintenance of free schools in all the great States which have been carved out of the Territory, are deserving of the grate- ful remembrance of all generations who shall inhabit this highly favored region of country. In a proportionate degree are those also deserving of grateful remembrance who have borne the bur- den and heat of the day in the contest for the inestimable princi- ples in the Territory and State of Indiana. "The laws which have been enacted," says our state historian, J. B. Dillon, "are memo- rials of only a small part of the labor that has been performed by the friends of education in Indiana." Many perplexing and impor- tant questions in reference to school laws, school funds, etc., have been decided by the courts and the Superintendents of public instruc- tion. The labors of Legislative committees, county conventions, township and district meetings, Teachers' Associations, etc., must not be forgotten in taking account of the vast amount of labor per- formed in perfecting our system of public schools.
We have now brought down the history of school legislation to the date of the organization of Bartholomew County. Our pur- pose shall be to note only the more important acts as we develop the history of country schools.
Early School Days .- Bartholomew County was organized in 1821. Her adult population of less than 1,000, with possibly 200 children of school age, fell heir to the magnificent heritage of more than 7,000 acres of school lands - the noble gift of a patriotic Con- gress - perpetually devoted to the cause of education. Within the memory of many of the residents of our now beautiful and highly cultivated county it was an unbroken wilderness. As time passed
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on the hardy pioneer felled the timber and built his cabin here and there. The forests gave way to smiling fiells of grain and the evidences' of advancing civilization were seen on every hand. Coeval with this state of affairs the old log school house made its appearance, with its puncheon floors and clap-board roof, 'its greased paper windows, backless seats, " cat and clay" chimney, and its broad fire-place - being the first seminaries of learning dedi- cated by those noble pioneers to the cause of education for the benefit of their children. But there were no funds to build school houses, or to pay the teachers, notwithstanding the State owned about 600,000 acres of land set apart for the use of schools. HIence the appropriateness of the school law of 1824, already cited, for building and keeping in repair school houses. As soon as the house was finished the inhabitants of the district were called together by the Trustees to determine whether a tax of money or produce should be levied to support the school, also to determine its length and what proportion of the tax should be paid in money. A report was made to the Township Trustees, who made a record of the proceedings and attended to the collection of the tax, as well as the rents of the school sections. Next in order the District Trustees, by and with the advice of the inhabitants of the district, selected a teacher. An " article of agreement " was drawn up with the teacher, " on the most advantageous terms," stating what part of the amount should be paid in produce, and where delivered, what part should be paid in money and whether the teacher would " board round " among his patrons. A copy of the contract was required to be spread upon the records of the Township Trustees.
Qualifications of Teachers .- The Township Trustees were re- quired to examine the teachers in reference to their qualifications, and particularly as respected their knowledge of " English Gran- mar, Writing and Arithmetic." These were also required by the statute to certify whether in their opinion the applicants would be useful persons to be employed as teachers in the schools. In IS31, the language of the Revised Statutes in speaking of the legal branches, was changed to read as follows: " as respects their knowl- edge of reading, writing and arithmetic." Whether this change in
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substituting reading for English grammar was made because of the difficulty in procuring teachers who were qualified to teach the sub- " ject of English grammar, or because of a prejudice by the mem- bers of that particular Legislature against the use of our Mother Tongue in its purity, or for some other reason, we are unable to de- termine. Whatever may have been the reason, we are certain the day of the three R's was "no myth," but a reality legally in existence until near the advent of the new Constitution in 1851. We may remark that the minds of the pedagogues who held sway for a brief period over " the young scions of royalty " within those rude walls were often as rude and unpolished as the rough logs and boards of which the houses were built.
The simple statement that the country was new and sparsely settled and money scarce, and the grain rents received by the Township Trustees from the few acres of school lands under cultiva- tion for a score or more years after the organization of the county, being little more than sufficient to pay the expense and trouble of collecting and selling, will explain the meager salary of teachers and necessity of " boarding round." From $10 to $12 per month was the maximum price paid, except in rare instances in favored localities, during the continuance of the first Constitution. Teachers being poorly paid, with but few text-books in their schools, and those of a poor quality, often entirely unsuited to the age and re- quirements of the pupils; with no training schools for teachers, it is no wonder that their knowledge was limited, or that their pupils failed to show much advancement. It will be remembered by those who attended school forty or fifty years ago, the "school master " who could take his pupils through the single rule of three and could give them a smattering of fractions and simple interest in Pike's Arithmetic, stood at the head of "the profession." The majority of the patrons believed the earth to be as flat as a pan- cake, and " jography " was voted out of the school as a nuisance. It was only taught by some Yankee from down east, or by a teacher from the old world.
The law touching the examination of teachers was changed in 1837 so as to require the appointment. of three examiners in each county to examine teachers, thus relieving the Township Trustees
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from this important work. This was a long step in advance for the teachers. Their certificates were valid in any part of the county.
Examination of Teachers .-- The writer well remembers. his first experience in appearing before the Hon. Samuel Goodnow, Examiner of Jefferson County, this State, more than forty years ago. The fear and trembling of the applicant as he approached the august presence of the official, whom he found engaged in some domestic duties at his home; the cordial greeting, the words of welcome and re-assurance which came to his relief when the intro- duction of the important " business was over," an hour of social con- verse, the simple but practical questions, especially upon the subjects of orthography and arithmetic, not entirely forgetting geography, grammar and reading. Then came the first class cer- tificate, giving a permit "to teach the young idea how to shoot," the starlight ride home feeling as proud as any youth with his first nair of bifurcated garments, all pass the mind in rapid review, bring- ing up many pleasant memories. Barnabas C. Hobbs came from Salem, Ind., to Bartholomew County in 1833 at the age of eighteen years, and taught school in Sand Creek Township near the present site of the old Friends' Church. At this school five families fur- nished twenty-five scholars-Willis Newsom, Nathan Newsom, William Cox, Isaac Parker and Joel Newsom. The school was taught in a new frame house which had taken the place of the old log cabin. His experience in obtaining his first certificate as related by himself is as follows: "I shall never forget my first ex- amination. The only question asked was, 'What is the product of 25 cents by 25 cents ?' We then had no teachers' institutes, nor- mal schools nor best methods. We were not as exact then as now. We had only Pike's Arithmetic 'which gave the rules and sums. How could I tell the product of 25 cents by 25 cents, when such an example could not be found in the books ? The examiner thought it was 614 cents, but was not sure; I thought just as he did, but this looked too small to both of us. We discussed its merits for an hour or more, when he decided that he was sure I was qualified to teach school, and a first class certificate was given me."
Francis J. Crump, our late fellow townsman, often related to
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the writer his experience as School Examiner, when Township Trustee of Town (5) five, Range (9) nine north, Columbus « Township, this county; he being the only one of the three Trustees who could " read, write and cipher," it became his duty to examine the teachers, and certify to their being suitable persons to place in charge of a school. One of his questions given to an aspirant for pedagogical honors was: "Given a plank 1, 800 feet long and one- half inch wide; how many feet, board measure, does it contain ?" Or again: " What is the As part of 16?" Or some equally puzzling question with which he was familiar. He stated that the young man became confused and could not answer.
The Pioncer Teachers usually came from the Eastern states, or from England, Ireland or Scotland. Yet we are indebted to the old North State for very many teachers both in this county and in others in the State. Barnabas C. IIobbs before mentioned, is from North Carolina. His name and fame as an educator and philan- thropist is known, not only in this State, but throughout the Nation, and even across the waters in many States of Europe. The main features of a legal school room, have already been described, and yet some points of interest may be noted; and as this was the best building that could be realized or hoped for, the majority of the houses were far below the model. It is a fact that the first schools were taught in old deserted log cabins, which had been built and used for dwellings. Many of these had only the bare earth for a floor, or at most a floor made of rude puncheons, with a log out on two sides of the house to admit the light. Over these openings greased paper was pasted, which kept out the cold and let in the light. The flat rails or puncheons for seats,. the dunce block in one corner of the room, the backless seats, and the teacher's desks, with lock and key, to hold the copy books, and the ruler and flattened lead pencil to mark them off with; the leather spectacles for boys whose eyes wandered around the room, not forgetting the pins on the wall to hold the long whips, which often fell without warning on our backs, all rise up before the mind like a panorama of bygone days. The teachers made our pens of quills from the sturdy gander and the old gray goose, deftly cutting the nibs on the thumbnail of his left hand. He ruled our copy books with a piece
WilsonS. Shengel
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of bar lead flattened, and set the copies of straight marks or pot hooks, in fine hand, coarse hand or round, as our needs required. And woe be to the luckless wight who mis-spelled his words or blotted his copy book. The writing was done with ink made from ripe elder berries or maple bark boiled down to the consistency of thick paint; we dipped this ink with our goose-quill pens from ink- stands made by sawing off a section of a cow's horn and fitting in a wooden bottom so as to hold the ink. Our slate pencils were often made from a soft soapstone found in the caves along the banks of rocky streams.
Rules and Customs .- At some schools the pupils who came first in the morning said their lessons first and took the head of the class in reading and spelling for the day. Some teachers cut out a sec- tion of writing paper in circular form and notched it all around. On this they would write "head of the spelling class," with pupil's name, and date. This certificate was highly prized by the pupil to whom it was given.
In many schools it was the custom to hang up a paddle by the door, in easy reach of all pupils, on one side of which, in small capitals, was cut the letters O. U. T .- out; on the other side the letters I. N .- in. By rule, only one pupil was allowed out of the room at a time; he was required to turn the paddle, showing that he was out. On his return he must turn the paddle to show that he was in. It was customary to greet the teacher with a polite bow on coming in the morning, and when school was dismissed, each pupil was compelled to face the teacher and bid him good evening, the boys making a low bow, the girls making a courtesy. One custom which we are glad to note has rapidly passed away, was for the larger boys to take possession of the school house on Christmas morning and bar out the teacher by nailing down the windows and placing the long benches against the door. In this way they would hold the fort until the teacher would agree to stand treat to apples and cider, or give them a holiday. Those who have read the " Hoosier Schoolmaster" know that sometimes these boys would be outwitted and punished for their rudeness.
Other Customs .- Loud schools were common among the early teachers. The writer attended one in 1839. Occasionally silence
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was commanded, but usually loud talking in " getting the lessons," and " doing the sums" was heard on every hand. When the time " came for learning the spelling lesson we had confusion confounded. The lesson was rapidly spelled over many times; it was considered a work of great merit to spell and pronounce the words a dozen or more times. As spelling was considered the foundation of all learning it was given special attention. "Head marks" in the spelling class were held in higher esteem than in any other branch. Hence every means to become a good speller was eagerly sought. Spelling matches on Friday afternoon, or spelling bees during long winter evenings, were common in pioneer days.
Sometimes one school would challenge another to see who should wear the laurels, the entire community taking great inter- est in the results.
Readers .-- As there were no " graded readers" in the carly days, it was necessary for the child to learn to call all the long words in Webster's spelling book, ending in osity and ation, at sight, before he could read in the English Reader or Moral In- structor. It was a very difficult task, but it was accomplished somehow. The New Testament was used in almost all schools as a reading book, and no doubt many good and lasting impressions were made by its teachings. McGuffey's readers were introduced about 1838 and were a much needed improvement. A revolution in the methods of teaching reading and spelling was the result.
Arithmetic .- This branch was given greater prominence be- cause of its practical value. Pupils were not, classed in this branch, each one being left to learn the rules and work all the sums as rapidly as po sible. At the second time in going through the book, the pupil was required to copy all his work neatly in a ciphering book. As books were scarce and expensive, some pupils copied the rules and tables entire. Pike's arithmetic was the first in use. Next came Smiley's, which was but a little improvement over the first named. About 1838, Ray's arithmetic came into use in In- diana, and did much to systematize the work of teaching this · branch.
Geography .- The text books in use on this branch until near 1840 were Morse's and Olney's. Following these were Smith's
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and Mitchell's. Each had an atlas containing the maps. This science was regarded with much prejudice, and in some schools it was voted out as a nuisance. The earth was believed to be flat, and it was also thought that it stood still while the sun " rose and set " by passing entirely around it.
Grammar .-- This branch was taught only by teachers who had enjoyed superior advantages. Murray's Grammar came first and was regarded as a standard work. It was in general use up to 1830-35. This was followed by Kirkham's, which was written in a more popular style and did much to encourage the study of this science. Later came Smith's and Butler's, and a host of others, each in turn to be supplanted by some more popular work.
County Seminary .- Certain fines which were assessed by Cir- cuit Court for breaches of the peace were set apart by an act of the Legislature, to constitute a fund for the establishment of a County Seminary in county, which was intended as a sort of high school or connecting link between the common schools and State University. In 1838, this fund had increased until it amounted to $2,516, which sum was paid over to Trustees appointed by the court, to manage the fund. A lot of ground adjoining the city on the northwest, was purchased of George Doup for the sum of $25, on which was erected a brick building, 60x24 feet, and two stories high, by Samuel Patterson, contractor, for the sum of $1,196. School was kept in the seminary building occasionally until 1853, when under the new Constitution and new system of schools, then inaugurated, it was sold to William Singleton. It is now owned by Dr. John Wright, of this city. It is in a good state of preservation and constitutes one of the interesting relics of " ye olden 'time." William F. Pidgeon, late of Vincennes, was probably the first teacher, he was followed by Thomas F. Thompson, Mr. Scott, Rev. Benjamin Nice, and others.
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