History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 32

Author: John F. Haines
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051

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If the teacher were a single man he "boarded around." Some of these teachers were strong men-strong intellectually and physically, and left their impress on the minds of the boys that influenced their whole future, while the marks made on the bodies of the pupils soon faded out. But many of these so-called teachers were "tramp teachers," who went from neighbor- hood to neighborhood, staying for only a term or two in each. Some of them were very illiterate and incompetent and took to teaching only because they had no other business.

From 1824 to 1837 three trustees were authorized to examine applicants for schools, but no attention was paid to this law in Hamilton county, as the few schools of these early years were "private" and the teacher was not re- quired to have a license. From 1837 to 1861 the law required the judge of circuit court to appoint three examiners to examine teachers and issue certi- ficates to those who possessed the proper qualifications. These examiners were not chosen for their "much learning." Sometimes the examinations were very perfunctory. On one occasion the applicant was asked what pre- paration he had made for teaching and he replied that he had his winter's wood cut. "You will do," responded the examiner, and wrote out his certifi- cate.

In 1861 a single examiner, appointed by the board of commissioners, was substituted for the three which had been presiding, and examinations then were public and the standard of efficiency raised. The following were the county examiners in this county under this new provision : David Moss, P. C. Lawyer, A. P. Howe and S. N. Cochran.

In 1873 the County Superintendency Law was passed. This increased the powers and duties of the examiner. The following persons have held this latter office in Hamilton county: Stanley Losey, A. P. Howe, U. B. Mckinsey, F. M. Householder, A. H. Morris, E. A. Hutchens and J. F. Haines.

PRIMITIVE SCHOOL HOUSES.

The first school houses erected were made of logs, most of them of hewn logs. They had at one end a large fire-place with stick-and-clay chim-

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neys. The windows were made by removing a log and covering the opening with greased paper. The floor was of puncheon, split from the nearby timber and smoothed on the upper side with an adz. The furniture consisted of logs split into halves and provided with legs. These were the seats. The writing desk was a long slab placed on pins at the proper angle beneath the window.

Later on, when saw-mills were erected in the county, came the little frame box-car school house. The only one of this type that still is occupied for school purposes is Number 13, in Washington township. Into these small houses were often crowded from sixty to eighty pupils. The buildings that gradually replaced these frame structures were mostly of brick. But five frame buildings now remain in the county. These brick houses are of various styles of architecture and none of them, except the few erected for consolidated schools within very recent years, meet the requirements of the Sanitary School Building Act, yet they are for the most part comfortable and contain more than enough room in many instances for the waning dis- trict school.

Of the recently erected school buildings the one at Arcadia stands at the head. It is modern in every respect and is equipped with all modern con- veniences. The building at Westfield is a pioneer of the better class of school buildings in the county and at the time of its erection was one of the best in central Indiana. It is now inadequate and will soon have to be enlarged. Fishers has an excellent building in point of convenience and beauty of de- sign. The modern building at Clay Center is well equipped, but is inade- quate to the needs of the community. Noblesville, Sheridan and Cicero have good buildings.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCHOOL COURSE.

The elaborate Course of Study, containing more than two hundred and fifty pages, issued by the State Department of Education for 1914-1915, with outlines and suggestions for the teaching, not only of the "eight com- mon branches," but also for music, drawing, agriculture, domestic science and manual training, was not of quick growth. It is the result of much labor by far-seeing and earnest men, many of whom were actuated by ideas far in advance of the day in which they lived.

In the first schools in Hamilton county each pupil took whatever book was at hand. It was usually the New Testament, or Webster's spelling book, or Walker's dictionary. To be able to read intelligently in the New

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Testament, to spell words of four syllables in Webster's speller, to spell and define the words in Walker's dictionary (with "public" spelled "publick"), to cipher to the "Double Rule of Three" in the Western Calculator, or Pike's arithmetic, was proof of a very high grade of scholarship. Sometimes a few of the brighter pupils ventured to study Kirkham's grammar.

A little later a series of readers, by Lindley Murray, the famous gram- marian, was widely used. These consisted of "An Introduction to the Eng- lish Reader." "The English Reader" and "A Sequel to the English Reader." They were always spoken of as "The Introduction," "The Reader," and "The Sequel." The author stated that the purpose of these readers was "to assist young persons to read with propriety and effect; to improve their lan- guage and sentiments; and to inculcate some of the most important princi- ples of Piety and Virtue."

Most of the selections in these books were very abstract. The young people of the present day, with the multitude of books at hand, could hardly be induced to read such selections as "The Pleasures of Virtuous Sensibility," or "Piety and Gratitude Enliven Prosperity." However, these books seem to have been much appreciated by the young people of pioneer days.

Next came McGuffey's readers and spellers. These readers have never . been surpassed in the excellence of the selections they contained and the in- fluence they exerted upon the pupils who read them. McGuffey's readers were used for many years in our schools. They were finally superseded by Swinton's readers, and these, in turn, by the American Educational. Since March 2. 1889, when the "Uniform Text Books Law" became effective, the state books have been used. A few more years will remove from earth the remaining pioneers to whom the little old "Blue-back Spelling Book" was familiar, with its columns of words once so well known to them, with its crude pictures so often looked upon with childish delight. and its wise sayings so thoroughly committed that they yet linger in the memory. The generations that succeeded these pioneers used McGuffey's speller, and many of the readers of these pages can remember the days when the small boys and girls stood up and spelled "b-a, ba, k-e-r ker, baker," and the larger boys and girls wrested with such words as "daguerreotype" or "incommunicabil- ity", and instances were not rare of pupils who learned to spell correctly every word in the book.

In addition to the long columns of words in McGuffey's speller there were "dictation exercises," which were used as memory exercises in spelling. The teacher read the sentence once to the class and each pupil. in his turn,

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was expected to remember the order of the words in the sentence and spell the one belonging to him.

The McGuffey speller was used to teach the A B C's. It was thought necessary in those days to learn the names and be able to recognize all the letters of the alphabet before trying to read. The Word Method, the Sen- tence Method, and the Phonic Method were not then in vogue. After the letters were learned there began a series of "b-a ba, b-e be, b-i bi, b-o bo, b-u bu," and "a-b ab, e-b eb, i-b ib, o-b ob, u-b uh." It was quite an achieve- ment when the child could spell and pronounce the words of the pictorial alphabet, as "A-x-e, axe; B-o-x, box: C-a-t. cat, etc. The word for V was vine, but the picture showed a large bunch of grapes, and it was not unusual for the little learner to innocently say "V-i-n-e, grapes."

DeWolf's speller was much used in advanced classes. It contained long lists of the most difficult words that could be found in the English language.

The spellers of late years have been those selected by the state board. Some of these spellers have been "made up" with some special point in view. The present one bears the name of Alexander, and is supposed to contain only such words as the pupil can learn to use in sentences.

THE BUGBEAR OF GRAMMAR.

Grammar was a subject that was generally neglected. The boys re- fused to study it and the parents of the girls often objected to their daugh- ters taking the subject because it was popularly thought to consist princi- pally of the conjugation of the verb, and unfortunately the early grammar- ians always selected the verb "love" for conjugation, and it was considered almost rude and brazen for a large girl to arise in her class and say, "I love, thou lovest, he loves." The grammar used in pioneer days was Kirkham's. The copy that lies before me belonged to my mother and bears the date of 1836. Its title page is as follows: "English Grammar, in Familiar Lectures, accompanied by a Compendium; embracing a new systematick order of Parsing, a new system of Punctuation, Exercises in False Syntax, and a System of Philosophical Grammar in Notes, by Samuel Kirkham. One Hun- dred and Fifth Edition."

In his first lecture he says: "To the young learners. You are about to enter upon one of the most useful, and, when rightly performed. one of the most interesting studies in the whole circle of science. If, however, you, like many a misguided youth, are under the impression that the study of grammar is dry and irksome, and a matter of little consequence. I trust I shall succeed

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.One of the first arithmetics used in the schools of this county was the Western Calculator. Many problems in this book were very difficult and' worded in language that would seem strange to pupils of this day. Pike and Deyhold were used in some schools. Then came Ray's Series of Arithmetics. The Third Part of this series was widely used. To go through Ray's Third Part, solving the last one hundred examples, was the goal of every boy and girl who wished to boast of their knowledge of arithmetic. There was a period when Mental Arithmetic occupied a prominent place. Stoddard's Juvenile and Stoddard's Intellectual Arithmetics were in the hands of almost all the pupils. In the primary classes the tables were repeated until they were thoroughly learned. The multiplication table was often chanted in concert. "Two times one are two, two times one are two, two times two are four, two times two are four," will bring back the old times to many of the readers of these lines.

The usual way of "reciting for head" was practiced in the mental arith- metic classes. Stoddard's Intellectual Arithmetic contained chapters of alge- braic problems. These were really difficult problems. The pupil must have them so well learned that he must give a complete solution without referring to the book after the teacher had read the problem not more than twice. The "fish." the "hare and hound," and the "time" problems were the rocks on which the bark of many a pupil foundered. But the drill was excellent and the teaching of arithmetic would be much improved today if more mental and not so much written work were done.

The old arithmetic contained many subjects that have been discarded by the modern writers. Alligation Medial. Duodecimals, and Progressions have gone into the waste basket. but the modern book still contains a number of subjects that ought to go along with those just mentioned.

OTHER SUBJECTS IN THE COURSE.

The subject of geography was a favorite one. It consisted principally of learning the names and location of countries, cities, bodies of water, etc. A favorite exercise was singing the states and their capitals. "State of Maine, Augusta : it's on the Kennebec River," was sung first with the rising inflection and then repeated with the falling inflection. In like manner each state, with its capital and location of the capital, was sung.

The Legislature of 1865 passed an act adding history and physiology to the course of study. These subjects did not come in at once, but gradually

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found their way. Cutter's Series of Physiologies, with the motto, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made," were taught in a few schools. The student was required to learn the names of all the bones of the body, but not much attention was given to rules for good health.

United States History came in later than physiology. The first book that was popular was Barnes' Fourteen Weeks in United States History. It was written in a very entertaining way and was the principal book studied for many years. The writer remembers the first class in United States History at No. 4, Noblesville township. The teacher, W. W. Chappell, purchased the books for use and brought them on Monday morning. By the close of school on the next day the writer had read his book through. During the last month of the term but two members of the class remained in school-myself and Webster Patton. In those days a great many dates were required. Webster could remember the dates but could not recall the events; I could relate the events but could not give the dates, so I would give the events and Webster would supply the date. Our teacher often said we were like Jack Sprat and his wife-we "licked the platter clean."

As stated above, in the first schools pupils took whatever books they had to school. There was no uniformity. Later adoptions, or selections were made by communities, usually influenced by the teacher; then came the adoption by separate school corporations, and finally an adoption by the · board of education (consisting the county superintendent, township trustees and presidents of town school trustees ) for the whole county.

UNIFORM TEXT BOOKS.

The Legislature of 1889 passed a Uniform Text Book Law, which took effect in March of that year. By this law the State Board of Education selects the common school text books for all the schools. The following is a list of the books now adopted and in use: Readers, Child Classics; arith- metics, Silver, Burdett; writing, The New Outlook; geography, Frye's Lead- ing Facts; United States history, Gordy ; spelling book, Alexander ; physio- logy, Conn; lessons in English, Scott-Southworth.

The Legislature of 1913 passed a Vocational Law, requiring the teach- ing of agriculture, manual training and domestic science in the schools. The schools of Hamilton county stand first in the state in these subjects. Already these subjects were taught in many of our schools, and school officials in many other counties looked to us for plans and methods of doing vocational work.

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The subject of music has been required in all schools of the county since 1904. Teachers are required to pass an examination in music and at least one vocational subject.

Hamilton county claims the following :

I. First boy's corn club ever organized.

2. First corn club excursion to Purdue.

3. First course in agriculture-High school at Westfield.

4. First school fair in state-Wayne township.

5. First manual training shop outside a large city-Walnut Grove.

6. First sewing class outside large city-Walnut Grove.

7. First domestic science kitchen outside a large city-Westfield High

school.

8. First manual training in country school-No. 2, Fall Creek town- ship.

9. First mandolin and guitar club-No. 15. Jackson township.

EARLY SCHOOLS OF COUNTY.

The manner of conducting these early schools was entirely different from that of the present day. It was not "teacher and pupil," but "master" and "scholar." It was just as necessary to have two pegs driven in the wall just over the teacher's desk to hold the supply of switches as it was to have a quill pen with which to write. On his way to school the teacher would re- plenish his supply of switches with a fresh beech gad. The public opinion of the times seemed to require just this kind of discipline, and the teacher who attempted milder forms of government, such as the fool's cap or dunce stool, was put down as "afeard" to whip and the larger boys immediately arose in revolt. It was the custom with some masters to conduct a "loud" school, that is, to require the schools to study "out loud," so that it could be seen and heard whether or not the scholar was studying. My father at- tended such a school as this near Westfield. Sometimes the scholars would get their voices on a high pitch and the volume of sound produced by a large school could be heard a half mile distant from the school house. Sometimes a boy would find a word with a sonorous sound that just suited his fancy and he would repeat this word over and over. One boy declared he shouted the same word for three days. Judge Banta tells of one teacher who solaced himself by playing on his fiddle while his pupils were shouting their words.

One custom that was frequently practiced in this county was that of compelling the master to treat on a holiday. Oftentimes he would rebel, but

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if there were enough big boys attending school he was usually brought to terms, often by a ducking in a nearby pond or creek, and sometimes through a hole cut in the ice. I have found a number of the older men still living in this county who can tell of the part they took in "ducking the master." Gradually the customs have changed and reason has taken the place of force and kindness has supplanted brutality.

Many peculiar forms were resorted to. Besides the customary way of flogging the teacher often fell upon some other method. At the old Aboli- tion school house that stood in the north part of Westfield the teacher one day put a strap around the body just under the arms of a boy and hung him up on one of the large pegs that was driven into the wall for the purpose of hanging wraps and dinner buckets. A spelling class was called. The pupils stood around the wall reaching almost to the boy suspended by the strap. It so happened that a number of the pupils at the foot of the class missed a word: the boy hanging on the wall spelled it correctly. The teacher lifted him from the peg and carried him above the pupils who had missed the word and hung him at the proper place on another peg. During the whole recita- tion the boy was moved up or down as he spelled or missed, but always a convenient peg was near to hang him on. A teacher at Strawtown required the offenders to go out and grub stumps as a punishment.

STRUGGLE FOR FREE SCHOOLS.

The report for the school year showed an enrollment in the public schools of Hamilton county for the school year of 1913-14 of five thousand five hundred thirty-six pupils, with an average daily attendance of four thousand five hundred twenty-eight. The report also shows that there were paid out of the tuition fund to teachers one hundred and one thousand seven hundred eighty dollars and eighty-five cents, and out of the special school fund for the support of the schools, ninety-nine thousand six hundred sixty- four dollars six cents. Only two generations ago, in 1848, Hamilton county cast one thousand four hundred thirty-one votes on the question of free schools, and of this vote thirty-nine per cent. was for and sixty-one per cent. against. The free schools carried in the state and the "Law of 1849" was passed by the Legislature. In 1849 an election was held in each county on the acceptance of this law. This county cast one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five votes, twenty-eight per cent. for the law and seventy-two per cent. against it.

Since 1849 public opinion has greatly changed and now we not only

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pay for the education of the children within our own county but we con- tribute liberally to the support of schools in the poorer counties of the state.

SEMINARIES.

Under the County Seminary Law of 1818 commissioners were to be appointed to take charge of certain funds designated to be used for the estab- lishment and maintenance of county seminaries. When these funds should amount to five hundred dollars the commissioners in each county, or after his appointment, the seminary trustee should proceed to erect a building. The ground was usually donated. At the November session, 1830, of the board of commissioners, Lot Number I, in Square Number 7, in the town of Noblesville, was donated to the county for the use of the Hamilton County Seminary, and a common school. This lot had been donated to the county for the use of public buildings by Polk and Conner. It was ordered that "the title of said lot be vested in a board of trustees that may hereafter be elected agreeable to the statute in that case for the uses and purposes first above named and no other."

In 1825 John D. Stephenson had been appointed seminary trustee and the sum of seven dollars placed in his hands. In 1832 Stephenson was re- appointed to this office, but resigned a year later and Albert B. Cole was ap- pointed in his stead.

At the December session of 1846 bids were received for the construction of a seminary building on "Seminary Square," in the town of Noblesville. The building was to be of brick, thirty-two by forty-five feet, and two stories high: the first story ten feet, the second, twelve. The bid submitted by William Bauchert for one thousand nine hundred ninety-three dollars and fifty cents, was accepted. The construction of the building proceeded very slowly and it was not until September, 1852, that it was received off the hands of the contractor. From this time forward the building was used - regularly for school purposes.

Private seminaries were established by the Friends church at Westfield, Carmel, Poplar Ridge and Spicewood. Perhaps the school that had the greatest influence was Union high school at Westfield. It was organized in 1861 by the Society of Friends as an institution of learning in which stu- dents should have an opportunity of preparing themselves for college, for laying the foundation for a good general education and for fitting them- selves to teach school. This school, like the other seminaries or academies, was erected by private subscription. The building at Union High was a

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brick building of two stories with three rooms in each story. The school opened January 7, 1861, with John R. Hubbard, A. M., as principal, and Susan Hubbard as associate principal. Among those who have been prin- cipals were Enos Doan, Martha Doan, Zenas Carey, Lewis A. Estes, Huldah C. Estes, William Howland, James Sanders, Nathan Wilson, Phoebe Fur- nas, John Pennington, Absalom Rosenberger, Amos Sanders, Irvin Stanley, Dr. Erastus Test, J. F. Brown, A. V. Hodgin.

At one time the attendance arose to three hundred students. From a number of counties in Indiana and from some of the adjoining states young men and women came to Westfield to attend school at Union High. Its in- fluence was felt throughout the county. Many of the public schools were taught by its students.

At present it has a small attendance and is now known by the name of Union Bible Seminary.

The Richland High School (called also Carmel Academy) was erected by the members of the Richland Monthly Meeting of Friends. It was a brick building, two stories high, the first story containing two rooms, the second story one room. The elementary school occupied the lower rooms and were provided for at public expense. The high school occupied the second story and for the first few years was conducted as a private school, but later was free to residents of Delaware and Clay townships. The first principal of this school was James Sanders. He was a mathematician of more than ordinary ability and created an interest in higher arithmetic and algebra that lived for many years in that community. Some of the princi- pals that followed him were: Mr. Hastings, Alva Jenkins, Lewis Estes, Isaac N. Cox, Zeri Fodrea, J. F. Haines and David Wells. The course of study for the high school was a mixture of common school and high school subjects. It was the beginning of the modern high school and the line was not sharply drawn between the common school subjects and the high school subjects.

The high school room at Richland (or Carmel) was used as a Com- munity Center. Public meetings were often held here. A flourishing literary society was conducted for a number of years. This society met on Friday evening and gave a program of recitations, essays, dialogues, etc. It accu- mulated quite a library of miscellaneous books and was the training school for many young men who later became public speakers in the court, teach- ers' meetings and the church.

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History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 32

Author: John F. Haines Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1051

Author: John F. Haines
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051