USA > Indiana > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Indiana > Part 23
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"While the old schoolhouses were. whatever their dimensions, generally
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rectangular in shape, this was not always true. I find an account of two in Orange county, in Northwest and Southeast townships respectively, that seem to have been five-sided. one end being built 'in the shape of a fence corner for a fireplace.' This unique style of architecture may have been practiced cisewhere. In fact, a five-cornered schoolhouse was erected in Hancock county as late as 1830.
"Can those who attended the old cabin schoolhouses ever forget the total want of everything connected with them that was calculated to cheer and comfort the youngster in his ascent of the hill of knowledge? No attempt, whatever, was ever made by the men who constructed these houses toward beautifying them in any degree, and, judged by the standards of today. not much was done with a view to securing the comfort of the children.
"The following description of an old time schoolhouse and its furnish- ings is taken from 'Recollections of the Early Settlement of the Wabash Valley,' by Sanford C. Cox :
" 'The schoolhouse was generally a log cabin with puncheon floor, "cat and clay" chimney, and a part of two logs chopped away on each side of the house for windows, over which greased newspapers or foolscap was pasted to admit the light and keep out the cold. The house was generally furnished with a split (splint) bottom chair for the teacher. and rude benches, made out of slabs or puncheons, for the children to sit upon, so arranged as to get the benefit of the huge log fire in the winter time, and the light from the win- dows. To these add a broom, a water-bucket, and a tin cup or gourd, and the furniture list will be complete.'
"The writer omits one important adjunct, viz., the writing-table or bench, as it was in some schoolhouses not inappropriately called. This usually consisted of a broad board, sawed or sometimes rived. nailed to stout pins driven into holes bored in the logs at a proper slant upward beneath the long window. In the absence of a suitable board, a puncheon hewn to a smooth face, or even a half-log so hewn and mounted upon pins driven into the wall or upon stakes driven into the earth, was made to serve the purpose of a lighter writing table.
"It would be a waste of words to point out the squalor and discomfort of the old cabin schoolhouses. Most of us, however, who caught glimpses of learning within their portals in our younger days, think we treasure very tender recollections of them, but I suspect the tender recollections are of the youthful friendships we then formed, and of the surrounding woods and streams that witnesses indulgence in all manner of lawful sports, without a shadow of fear of trespassing on the rights of others.
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"Before advancing upon the 'masters,' the books, the methods, the man- ners and the customs of the pioneer schools, something ought to be said of the pioneer children who made these schools a necessity.
"Let me recall the reader's attention to the long paths that ofttimes stretched their serpentine ways between the cabin homes and the cabin school- houses-two, three and even four miles long, they sometimes were. In general it was a fall or winter school that was kept-most generally a winter, for every child big enough to work was required at home to aid in the sup- port of the family. We of today, with our farms all made and with a super- abundance of farm machinery, can scarcely conceive of the extremities to which the pioneer farmers were often driven to secure the planting, tilling and harvesting of the crops. And so the children, in the beginning, could be spared best in the winter seasons, and in consequence the country schools were in general winter schools.
"Happy were those children who had a fall school to attend! The long and winding school-paths threaded a region of delights. What schoolboy or schoolgirl of those far-off days can ever forget the autumn wood, with its many-hued foliage, its fragrant and nutty odors, its red, ripe haws, and its clusters of wild grapes; its chinquapins (acorns of the pin oak) and its hick- ory nuts? . And think of the wild life that was part of it all? Gray squirrels barked and chattered from tree to tree, while the voices of glad birds were heard amid the branches from sun to sun. And the school-paths themselves! Were there ever such paths as those winding over hill and through hollow, and filled, as they were, with dainty, rustling leaves that were as cool and soft to schoolboy foot as silken carpet?
"But how different the winter school! When the snow came, block- ading the paths, how it tried the temper of the young folk who were limited to one pair of shoes per winter. And how infinitely worse was it when the winter rains came. The whole face of the Indiana earth, whether along the country roads, in the cleared fields or in the woods, was filled with water like a sponge, and the most careful of school children seldom failed to reach school or home with feet soaking wet. Fifty years ago it was not the fashion for boys to wear boots. For that matter there were few men in the country places that wore them, while boot or bootee for girl or woman was not even to be thought of. Riding astride or making a speech would have been no more shocking, and so boots were seldom or never seen in the schoolroom. but it was the custom of both boys and girls, on occasion, to draw over the ankle and the top of the shoe a sock or stocking leg, or a piece of cloth, which.
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being well tied to shoe and ankle, kept the dry snow out of the shoe fairly well.
"I have known boys and girls to attend school in the fall long after the hard frosts came, and even after the ice began to form, with their feet encased in old socks or stockings so badly worn at the toe and heel as to be fit for no other purpose than wearing in this manner, and so common an occurrence was it that no one thought it worthy of special attention. Sanford Cox, in his 'Wabash Valley,' draws a graphic word picture of the town of Lafayette, as it appeared to him about 1825, in which he tells us that he had 'often' seen the Lafayette juveniles skating upon the ice, 'some with skates, some with shoes, and some barefooted.' It would seem that if the boys of Lafayette were of such hardy nature we might expect to find in some other places satis- factory evidence that the winter weather did not deter the barefooted from attending school. I have, accordingly, carefully looked through such records as have fallen in my way, and candor compels me to say that I have found only one other instance. This is related by the author of the 'History of Monroe County,' who says:
" 'It was then the custom to go to school, winter and summer, bare- foot. That seems unreasonable, but it was done, and how? The barefooted child, to begin with, had gone thus so long that his feet were hardened and calloused to resist the cold by several extra layers of epidermis. He could stand a degree of cold which would apparently chill him to the bone, and could walk for some time in the snow and frost without suffering more than he could bear with reasonable fortitude. When he had to do extra duty in the snow and cold, however, he would take a small piece of board, say a foot wide and two feet long. which had been seasoned and partially scorched by the fire, and after heating it till it was on the point of burning, he would start on the run toward the schoolhouse, with the hot board in his hand, and when his feet became too cold to bear any longer, he would place the board upon the ground and stand upon it till the numbness and cold had been partly over- come, when he would again take his 'stove' in his hand and make another dash for the schoolhouse. Sometimes a flat, light piece of rock was substi- tuted for the board and was much better, as it retained heat longer.'
"While we may feel assured that there never was a time when it was the fashion in Indiana generally for the children to attend school in the winter- time barefoot, nevertheless I have no doubt that during the territorial and early state periods it so frequently occurred as to occasion little or no remark. "I find but one reference as to the buckskin clothing worn by school chil-
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dren during the earlier periods mentioned. In the early school of Vander- burg county the local historian tells us that the boys wore buckskin breeches and the girls wore buckskin aprons. Though this is the only statement found by me, yet there was a time when buckskin clothing must have been as com- mon with school children, especially boys, as it was with their fathers.
"One of the greatest drawbacks to the efficiency of the pioneer schools was the want of competent teachers. This want was felt from the very be- ginning and continued on down for many years. "The pioneer teachers were generally adventurers from the East or from England, Scotland, or Ireland, who sought temporary employment during winter, while waiting for an open- ing for business,' said Barnabas C. Hobbs on one occasion. The Southern states furnished their quota, and western Pennsylvania was not behind any section of equal area in the number sent forth to become educators of the youth of the land. Of course there were many of the old-time teachers who were admirably equipped for their work, and who did it so well that they found a place in the lasting remembrance of their pupils; but while this is true. it is. on the other hand, equally true that the admirably equipped teachers were the exception. So loud were the complaints of the inefficiency of the school teachers throughout the state that they reached the ears of the governor. In his annual message to the Legislature. in 1883. Governor Noble thus calls attention to the subject :
" 'The want of competent teachers to instruct in the township schools is a cause of complaint in many sections of the state, and it is to be regretted that in employing transient persons from other states, containing but little qualification or moral character, the profession is not in that repute it should be. Teachers permanently interested in the institutions of the country, possessing a knowledge of the manners and customs of our extended popula- tion, and mingling with it, would be more calculated to render essential service and be better received than those who come in search of employment.' And he proposes as a remedy for the evil the establishment of a seminary for the special training of our native teachers, or the incorporation of the manual . labor system with the preparatory department of the Indiana College at Bloomington.
" In the beginning of our state's history and for many years thereafter the people held in slight esteem the vocation of the pedagogue. Not because he was a pedagogue, but because he did not labor with his hands. Lawyers and ministers and even doctors who did not show their mettle now and then by acts of manual labor were very apt to receive less favor at the hands of the
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people than otherwise. An Indiana secretary of state once, while in office, kept a jack for breeding purposes, and he caused the announcement to be made through the newspaper that he gave to the business his personal attention. It was considered a very proper thing for a secretary of state to do. This one was an invincible politician before the people. It is related of an early Posey county teacher. one Henry W. Hunt, that when he first applied for a school the people looked upon him as a 'lazy, trifling, good-for-nothing fellow who wanted to make his living without work.' What was true in Posey in peda- gogue Hunt's case was generally true in every pedagogue's case throughout the state.
"Teachers quite often in those days went on the hunt for their schools. They were a kind of tramp-homeless fellows, who went from place to place hunting for a job. When the prospect seemed good the candidate would write an 'article of agreement,' wherein he would propose to teach a quarter's school at so much per scholar. With that in hand he tramped the neighbor- hood over, soliciting subscribers, and, if a stranger, usually meeting with more scorn than good-will. He was too often esteemed a good-for-nothing who was too lazy to work. 'The teachers were, as a rule,' says the historian of Miami county, 'illiterate and incompetent, and selected not because of any special qualifications, but because they had no other business.' The only re- quirements were that the teachers should be able to teach reading, writing and ciphering. The teacher who could cipher all the sums in Pike's arith- metic, up to and including the rule of three, was considered a mathematician of no mean ability.
"The wages paid the ordinary teacher were not usually such as to give respect to the profession. One of the curious chapters of the times is the low wages paid for all manner of intellectual labor. The governor received only one thousand dollars per year, and a judge of the circuit court but seven hun- dred dollars. Teachers were by no means an exception to the rule. Rev. Baynard R. Hall, the first principal of the State Seminary, at Bloomington, came all the way from Philadelphia to accept of the place at a salary of two hundred and fifty dollars a year, and John M. Harney. who subsequently made such a figure as editor of the Louisville Democrat, walked all the way from Oxford, Ohio, to apply for the chair of mathematics at a like salary, also, of two hundred and fifty dollars per annum. Jesse Titus, an early schoolmaster in Johnson county. taught a school during the winter of 1826-27 at one dollar per scholar, which yielded him six dollars per month. out of which he paid his board of one dollar per month. The first school taught on the present site of
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Moore's Hill was by. Sanford Rhodes, in 1820, at seventy-five cents per quarter for each pupil, which was paid mostly in trade. In 1830 John Martin taught in Cass county at eight dollars per month. Seventy-five cents per quarter was a price quite commonly met with as late as 1825, or even later, but the price varied. In some sections one dollar per scholar seems to have been the regu- lar price, in others one dollar and fifty cents, while in a very few instances two dollars was paid. In many cases, probably a majority, the teacher was obliged to take part of his pay in produce. I find wheat, corn, bacon, venison hams, dried pumpkin, flour, buckwheat flour, labor, whisky, leather, coon skins and other articles mentioned as things given in exchange for teaching. 'At the expiration of the three-months' term,' says one writer, 'the teacher would collect the tuition in wheat, corn, pork, or furs, and take a wagon-load to the nearest market and exchange it for such articles as he needed. Very little tuition was paid in cash.' One schoolmaster of the time contracted to receive his entire pay in corn, which, when delivered, he sent in a flat-boat to the New Orleans market. Another, an Orange county schoolmaster. of a somewhat later period, contracted to teach a three-months' term for thirty- six dollars and fifty cents, to be paid as follows: 'Twenty-five dollars in State scrip, two dollars in Illinois money, and nine dollars and fifty cents in cur- rency.' This was as late as 1842, and there were seventy school children in his district. ·
"A large per cent. of the unmarried teachers 'boarded around.' and thus took part of their pay in board. The custom in such cases was for the teach- ers to ascertain by computation the time he was entitled to board from each scholar, and usually he selected his own time for quartering himself upon the family. In most instances, it is believed, the teacher's presence in the family was very acceptable. The late A. B. Hunter, of Franklin, once taught a school under an agreement to board around, but one of his best patrons was so de- lighted with his society that he invited him to make his house his home during the term, which invitation the young man gratefully accepted. It was not the practice for the married teachers to board around. If not permanent resi- dents of the neighborhood. they either found quarters in the 'master's house,' or in an abandoned cabin of the neighborhood. Quite common was it to find a 'schoolmaster's house,' which had been erected by the district, hard by the school house, for the use of the married masters.
"The school terms were usually called 'quarters.' There were two kinds of quarters known in some localities, the 'long quarter' and the 'short quarter.' The long quarter consisted of thirteen weeks, and the short quarter of twelve weeks.
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"Notwithstanding the people were inclined to look upon the pioneer schoolmasters as a lazy class, yet they were looked up to perhaps as much if not more, than in these days. I have already said that the presence of the schoolmaster as a boarder in the family of his patron was welcome, for he was generally a man of some reading, and his conversation was eagerly listened to by all. Books and newspapers were scarce in those days, and so conversation was esteemed more than it is now.
"A few years ago I had occasion to look into the standing and qualifica- tions of the early teachers of my own county, and on looking over my notes I'find this statement : 'All sorts of teachers were employed in Johnson county. There was the "one-eyed teacher," the "one-legged teacher," the "lame teacher," the "teacher who had fits," the "teacher who had been educated for the ministry but, owing to his habits of hard drink, had turned pedagogue," and "the teacher who got drunk on Saturday and whipped the entire school on Monday."' A paragraph something like this might be truthfully written of every county south of the National road, and doubtless of every one north of it, but as to that I speak with less certainty, for want of knowledge. The lesson the paragraph points to is that whenever a man was rendered unfit for making his living any other way, he took to teaching. Mr. Hobbs, I believe, states that one of his first teachers was an ex-liquor dealer who, having grown too fat to successfully conduct that business any longer, turned schoolmaster. It is related of the first teacher of the first school in Clay township, in Morgan county, that he was afflicted with phthisic to such a degree that he was unable to perform manual labor ; but he was a fairly good teacher, save when he felt an attack of his malady coming on. 'That was the signal for an indiscriminate whipping.' The first schoolmaster of Vanderburg county lived the life of a hermit, and is described as a 'rude. eccentric individual, who lived alone and gained a subsistence by hunting, trapping and trading.' John Malone, a Jackson county schoolmaster, was given to tippling to such excess that he could not restrain himself from drinking ardent spirits during school hours. He carried his bottle with him to school. but he seems to have had regard enough for the proprieties not to take it into the schoolhouse, but hid it out. Once a certain Jacob Brown and a playmate stole the bottle and drank till they came to grief. The master was, of course, properly indignant, and 'for setting such an example,' the record quaintly says, 'the boys were soundly whipped.' Wesley Hopkins, a Warrick county teacher. carried his whisky to school in a jug .. Owen Davis, a Spencer county teacher, took to the fiddle. He taught what was known as a 'loud school.' and while his scholars roared
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at the top of their voices the gentle pedagogue drew forth his trusty fiddle and played 'Old Zip Coon,' 'The Devil's Dream,' and other inspiring profane airs with all the might and main that was in him. Thomas Ayres, a Revolu- tionary veteran, who taught in Switzerland county, regularly took his after- noon nap during school hours, 'while his pupils,' says the historian, 'were sup- posed to be preparing their lessons, but in reality were amusing themselves by catching flies and tossing them into his open mouth.' One of Orange county's early schoolmasters was an old sailor who had wandered out to the Indiana woods. Under his encouragement his pupils, it is said, 'spent a large part of their time roasting potatoes.' About the same time William Grimes, a teacher still further southwest, 'employed his time between recitations by cracking hickorynuts on one of the puncheon benches with a bench leg.'
"How hungry did some who were boys here in Indiana fifty years ago become for something fresh and entertaining to read! Often have I heard that lover of good books, the late A. B. Hunter, of Franklin, tell the story of a book that was owned by a man living on the outskirts of his neighborhood. . He had read everything owned by the neighbors that he cared to read, and now came the story of a new book-one unlike anything that he had thus far seen, and he was wild to get hold of it. At last there came a day when his father could spare a horse from the .plow, and young Hunter went in pursuit of the new book. which was found, borrowed, and subsequently read with a zest almost unknown up to that time, for it was one of Sir Walter Scott's immortal stories.
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"It seems to me that scarcely any other thing so distinctly marks the difference between the present and the past of which I am writing, as the great scarcity of reading matter in that past, compared with its great abund- ance now I think it not too much to say that in my own 'Shiloh neighbor- hood,' all the books, excluding Bibles, hymn books and spelling books, owned by the neighborhood, could have been packed in a bushel basket. I call to my mind 'Hozzy's Life of Marion,' 'Trumbull's Indians,' 'Carey's Olive Branch.' a 'Natural History,' 'Western Adventure,' a 'Life of Selkirk,' 'Young's Night Thoughts,' 'Josephus,' and 'Pilgrim's Progress,' and that was about all. No wonder if a boy living in that neighborhood would become so hungry for something to read that he had recourse to the inside of the lid of a certain big box in which was stored the family linen, that he might read the two exposed pages of a copy of the Western Luminary that had been pasted thereon The story may seem incredible, but that boy thus read the two pages of that old Luminary many a time, and every time he did so he imagined he found a freshness in it that was charming.
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"But it is to the school books, or rather want of school books, of that time that I wish to call attention. There were comparatively few school books published in those days. Every school child, at least after learning the letters, was expected to have a spelling book, and Dillworth's and Web- ster's American were used in the beginning. The child who had not been taught his letters out of a Bible or hymn book at home, usually brought a primer. I have, however, seen a paddle with the alphabet pasted thereon used instead of a primer or spelling book. I never saw Dillsworth's Web- ster's elementary spelling book, the most wonderfully successful strictly edu- cational book that was ever published in America, at an early day occupied the entire field in Indiana, and practically held it until the appearance of McGuffey's Eclectic Speller, which was published somewhere about 1850. The elementary served the double purpose of spelling book and reading book. The old schoolmasters placed great stress on spelling. The custom, it is believed. existed universally in the country schools, at least up to and for some tinic after 1850, for the whole school to stand up twice a day and spell for head. A half-day in every week was given to a spelling match, besides which night spelling schools were of frequent occurrence. No one ever grew so large or so learned that he was exempted from the duty of spelling. I have known the head man of a long row of pupils to spell the first word with- out dictation, after which the next in line would spell the next word, and so on down to the foot, and then from the head on down again. The words in the elementary spelling book were generally written in a sort of rythmical order which made them easy to memorize. There were spellers who claimed to be able to spell correctly every word in it.
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"I have said the elementary spelling book was used as a reader as well as a speller, and so it was. On nearly every page was reading matter made up of moral sentences in each of which was usually found one or more words belonging to the annexed spelling lesson. It was the practice to teach a pupil to spell first, after which he might read. Some teachers, after the scholar had learned to spell sufficiently well, required him to pronounce the words in the book at sight. and after he was able to do this sufficiently well he was formally set to reading. The 'pronouncing lesson,' as it was called, may have had its uses, but I have no doubt that many a pupil was reading quite well at home before being allowed to read at school. Do I not remember the first reading lesson in the elementary spelling book? No matter if the pupil could pronounce at sight all the words in the book, Charles Disbrow. of blessed memory (my old teacher), insisted that he who was going to take the
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