USA > Indiana > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Indiana > Part 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
Digitized by Google
239
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
long leap into the reading world should read the first lesson. As the boy who could read the Testament at home and pronounce all the words of the spelling book at school stepped up to read his first and formal lesson, consisting of words of three letters, how silent that hitherto loud school would become, and how loud his own voice would sound as he read :
"'She fed the hen. The old hen was fed by her. See how the hen can run.'
"Was ever ordeal worse than that? After the book had been read through and through, say half a dozen times, another reader was in order, provided it could be had. There were few school readers in those days. Here and there was to be found an old copy of the 'English Reader' or the 'Columbian Orator.' Rev. George K. Hester tells us that he read a dream book and 'Gulliver's Travels.' I have seen Gulliver myself in the schoolroom; and so of the 'Life of Marion,' 'Pilgrim's Progress,' histories, sermon books and the Holy Bible. Henry Eaves, a pioneer schoolmaster of Switzerland county. in his extremity, took the Frankfort Argus into his school, which served the uses of a 'reader.' About 1835 B. T. Emerson's readers came into use to a limited extent. Somewhat later-five years, perhaps-McGuffey's Eclectic series appeared and ultimately occupied the field to the exclusion of all others. The introduction of this series marked an era in the schools of the state. They were of incalculable benefit to the people of the Western country. I think it not too much to say that the higher readers of the series did more to cultivate a taste for the better American literature than any other books of that day. But for them the names of Percival, Bryant, Longfellow, Hawthorne. Irving. Paulding and other American authors of the first half- century would have been known to few indeed of the school children of Indi- ana of thirty and forty years ago.
"The pupil having learned to read sufficiently well, he was next set to writing. The mothers usually made the copy-books by sewing a few sheets of foolscap together. The geese furnished the quills that were fashioned into pens, and the ink was home made. Maple bark, sumach and oak balls and vinegar were the materials out of which most of the ink of that period was made. In its season pokeberry juice was sometimes used, but. notwith- standing its ornamental capabilities. its use was never very general. It was too apt to sour. The inkstands were generally home-made also. A favorite inkstand was a section of a cow's horn, sawed off and fitted with a wooden watertight bottom. Another favorite one was made of lead or pewter. Many of the boys of the old school days understood the art of casting ink-
Digitized by Google
1
240
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
stands. The pupil's first exercise in writing was the making of 'pot-hooks' and hangers. In the fulness of time his teacher would set him his best round- hand copy, and in doing so he never failed of placing before the eyes of the scholar some moral or patriotic precept worthy of his remembrance, such as, 'Commandments ten God gave to men'; 'Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty'; 'Washington was the father of his country'; 'Evil communications corrupt good manners.'
"The next thing in order for the boys was arithmetic. Not many girls gave any attention to this study. Not much was ever said about it as a girls' study, but I think it was generally considered that the girls did not have 'heads for figures.' Instead of arithmetic, they took to geography and gram- mar, when they took to anything. It was the practice with a good many teachers to require their arithmetical scholars to copy all the 'sums' in a 'ciphering book.' George Adams, who attended school in Johnson county away back in the twenties, had, a few years ago, such a book, and judging from it the writer must have understood fairly well his subject. Students in arithmetic never recited, they simply 'ciphered.' The teacher seldom paid any attention to them unasked. The boys usually helped each other, but when help failed in that quarter the teacher would, on request 'work the sum.' The majority of teachers though they had done all that was necessary when that much was done. Sometimes a boy would 'sneak' his arithmetic and slate. into the school and 'cipher' for a considerable time before the teacher dis- covered it. I did this myself, and traveled over addition, subtraction, multi- plication and short division, before my teacher let on that he knew what I was about. I had reached long division, which I found so very hard that I broke down at it in despair. Washington Miller, my old teacher, seeing my trouble, came to me, and without any reproaching gave the needed assistance, and thence on I was recognized as an arithmetical student. My friend, Mr. Hunter, who is mentioned above, went to school to a teacher who did not pre- ' tend to teach arithmetic beyond the 'single rule of three.' Young Hunter had advanced beyond that. He took his seat in the schoolhouse, however, and ciphered away till he went through the book. There was a greater variety of arithmetics than any other school book. Pike's was the one most generally in use. The familiar pages of a copy of this old veteran are now before me. Their matter consists of abstract rules and of examples. I am not much surprised that I stalled on the long division hill on that school day so long past. 'Take for the first dividend as few of the left hand figures of the dividend as will contain the divisor, try how often they will contain it, and
Digitized by Google
241
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
set the number of times on the right of the dividend,' and so on. Not a word of explanation; no development of the process; nothing but the abstract rule. The other arithmetics of the time were Smiley's, Bennett's, Jess's, Dillworth's, Western Calculator, and probably some others. Smith's and Ray's appeared shortly before 1840, and in five or six years the latter had the field.
"The geographies used were Moore's, Woodbridge's, Smith's and Olney's. These were the only school books, and there were very few children who did not delight to turn the leaves of a geography and look at its pictures. Lindley Murray's English grammar was the first in the field; after that came Kirk- ham's. There was not much studying of either geography or grammar in the early days. As to the former, it was considered a proper enough study if one had the time to spare for it, but by some the study of the latter was deemed useless waste of time. As late as 1845 the trustees of Vevay in em- ploying a teacher required in the written contract that he should 'not teach grammar.'
"The first schools I attended were 'loud schools.' Loud schools were the rule in the beginning here in Indiana ; silent ones were the exception. The odds in the argument were believed to be in favor of the loud school. A cele- brated Scotch teacher, Alexander Kinmont, of Cincinnati, as late as 1837, would conduct school by no other method. He claimed that it is the practical, philosophical system by which boys can be trained for business on a steam- boat wharf or any other place. Both boys and girls spelled and read at the tops of their voices, on occasion, and sometimes the roar of their lesson-get- ting could be heard for a half to three-quarters of a mile. It is not much wonder that Owen Davis took his fiddle to school and solaced himself by playing airs while his scholars were shouting over their lessons. The teacher of a loud school who would keep his pupils at work labored under a great disadvantage. The idler who was roaring at one word, or over a line of poetry, or trumpeting through his nose, was, for aught the teacher knew. committing his lesson. It was said of one boy in an Orange county school that he 'repeated the one word "heptorpy" from morning till noon and from noon till night in order to make the teacher believe that he was studying his lesson.'
"Fifty or a hundred years ago the swishing of the switch was heard everywhere. in the family circle and in the schoolhouse. throughout the length and breadth of the land. The fathers made their children 'mind.' The switch was the usual instrument. and its prompt and free use doubtless gave birth to such expressive phrases as 'lick and a promise.' 'the word with the bark
(16)
Digitized by Google
.
242
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
on,' and 'tan your jacket.' The schoolmaster, standing in the place of the parent, punished as freely and savagely, and usually with the full approval of the parent .. One of the most curious phases of the flagellating period was the almost universal prevalence of the sentiment that the schoolmaster who neg- lected the frequent use of the rod was a failure as a teacher. I had a friend who, much less than fifty years ago, was in the habit of occasionally playing pedagogue. In one of his schools he had a nice company of country urchins, between whom and himself there was the very best of feeling. After the school had run smoothly for a month or six weeks and no whipping done, his patrons began to think something was wrong. One morning one of them met him and bluntly told him that he was making a mistake-that he was 'not whipping anybody.' 'Why, who'll I whip?' he asked. 'Whip Sam,' was the prompt answer. 'What for? He's lazy, I know; but I can't whip him for laziness, can I?' asked the pedagogue. 'Yes, give it to him. Sam's my boy and I know he needs it every day.'
"Now and then the circumstances were so ludicrous that the master's punishment, instead of inspiring terror, provoked laughter. I once heard a story told on a Johnson county teacher to this effect: He was in the habit of opening his school with prayer. His pupils, for some reason distrusting his sincerity, sometimes during the services would wink and smile and even snicker out. One morning he carried an empty flour sack to school which he put on the seat beside him, and while he was praying that morning, the irrever- ent conduct of two or three of the larger boys atracting his attention, he broke off his prayer and, seizing the empty sack, he struck each of the misbe- having lads over the shoulders, powdering them all over with the white flour, after which he concluded his prayer. Mr. Chute was an eminent school- master in Evansville at an early day, who opened his school with prayer. He always stood, with a 'long fishing cane in his hand,' and prayed with his eyes open. 'When he caught a boy in mischief during prayer he would stop short and call out : "Woe be to you. John," and strike him over the shoulder with his long cane, and then resume his prayer.' Another and similar but better story than either of the others comes from Pleasant township in Switzerland county. An old gentleman by the name of Curry taught in that township for several years. 'He was a widower and married man by turns.' Once when in the former state he went to the schoolhouse early in the morn- ing to write a love letter. When the pupils came he carelessly left it on his desk and proceeded to open school with prayer. Kneeling down he prayed with his 'whip in his right hand and his right eye open.' One of the boys,
Digitized by Google
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA. 243
stealing up to the desk where the love letter lay, began reading it; but ere he was aware the old man broke off in the middle of a sentence and, collaring him, gave him a sound thrashing, after which, adds the historian, 'he resumed his devotions with equanimity.'
"It was the custom to whip on the slightest provocation, and not infre- quently without any provocation at all. There is scarcely a county in the state that has not had, at one time or another, its teacher who would drink to intoxication on Saturday and soundly thrash every scholar in the school on Monday. The neighborhoods are full of the traditions of the savagery of the old schoolmasters. The schoolhouses fairly bristled with switches cut from the neighboring thickets. According to the historian of Morgan county, 'these old instruments of punishment were always present and usually hung on wooden hooks over the old fireplace, so that they became so hardened by seasoning from the heat that they resisted the severest exercise of the teacher in an application on some offending pupil. and even cut the wooden benches as the teacher in his fervor pursued round and round the howling culprit.' I read of a Bartholomew county school master who 'kept his switches stand- ing in the corner or lying on pegs in the wall. but the cat-o'-nine tails lay in the desk. He punished with the former and terrified with the latter.' A Martinsville school master flogged his pupils. it is said, on the least provoca- tion, with a 'long hickory gad, well-seasoned in the hot embers of the fire.'
"It would be a mistake to infer that there were no other punishments, save corporal, given in those days. The 'dunce block,' the 'fool's cap,' the 'leather spectacles,' 'bringing up the switch.' 'standing in the corner.' 'stand- ing on one foot.' 'sitting on the girls' side,' and any and all other schemes the wit of the old school master could devise were tried. I remember to have seen a teacher remove a puncheon from its place in the floor and incar- cerate a big girl in the 'hole under the floor,' which had been dug for clay to make the hearth, jambs and backwalls of the fireplace. I shall never forget how he pushed her fingers off the edges of the floor when he fitted the punch- eon back in its place.
"Among the school customs of early days which have entirely disap- peared was that described as 'turning out' or 'barring out' the teacher, a sport that was never indulged in in Indiana at any other than Christmas time.
"The ostensible object in barring out a teacher was to compel him to treat his school. It was a sort of legalized rebellion of the scholars against the master's authority. accompanied by a forced levy with which to purchase the particular article that was to compose the treat, or else to furnish the
Digitized by Google
.
244
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
treat outright himself. Usually the deposed monarch furnished the money and the rebels bought the 'treat.'
"The 'treat' here in Indiana, as far as I have seen, always consisted of something to eat or drink. In western Pennsylvania, according to Brecken- ridge's 'Recollections of the West,' the object was to compel a vacation. In all cases the barring out was made the occasion of more or less revelry and disorder. According to a statement made in the 'Life of Thomas Jefferson Fisher.' a Kentucky preacher, barring out was observed 'on the first holiday that came, or at the end of the session.' I find no evidence of its observance in this state at the end of the session, although some teachers were in the habit of making presents to their scholars at that time. Such presents were always voluntarily made, however, and as far as my observations went, al- ways consisted of something else than articles of food or drink.
"I find but two instances of the use of whiskey in this state with which to treat the school. One of these was in a school in Jefferson county and the ·other in Morgan. The episode in the last-named county is reported to have occurred at Christmas of the cold winter of 1825-26. When the teacher reached the school house on that extraordinarily cold morning he found the door barred and all the big boys inside. Of course the pedagogue wanted in, but the boys declared that it would take a 'treat' to open the door that morning. Accordingly. Mr. Conduitt, the teacher, went to the nearest 'grocery' and purchased about a gallon of whiskey, with which he returned and again applied for admittance. The door was at once unbarred and the man with the jug admitted, whereupon a season of 'high jinks' followed. The master dealt out the liquor liberally, it would seem, for some of the boys, becoming 'too much for utterance,' had to be 'sent home in disgrace.' One of these boys, it is recorded. 'went home swaggering, happy as a lark, loaded to the muzzle with a ceaseless fire of talk, but his father quietly took down the big gad and gave the boy a dressing that he remembers to the present.'
"The following account of a 'turning out' will prove of interest in this connection. It occurred in Nashville in this state. 'The custom,' says the historian. 'was so universal that the scholars demanded their right to it. and were upheld by their parents. Christmas came, and Mr. Gould was informed that he must treat. The scholars refused to come to order when called and the teacher refused to treat. After a short time the larger boys forcibly captured the teacher, bound him hand and foot, and carried him down to Greasy creek to be severely ducked in cold water unless he surrendered and treated. Several men of the town accompanied this novel expedition. The
Digitized by Google
245
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
stubborn teacher was carried out into the stream by the larger boys, who took off their shoes and rolled up their pants and waded out. A parley was held, but the teacher was obstinate and was on the point of being unceremoniously baptized, when W. S. Roberts interceded, and after some sharp words, pro and con, secured from the teacher the promise to treat on candy and apples. He was released, and the cavalcade marched up to the store. where all were given a taste of the above-named delicacies.
"Stubborn teachers did not always come out as well as did this Brown county man. The school boys of a certain district in Posey county, having determined to compel their teacher to treat, 'upon his refusal he was promptly sat upon by the boys, who soon overcame him and carried him down to the creek and broke the ice. The alternative was once more given him, but he was stubborn and held out. Without ceremony he was plunged beneath the icy water, and, yet holding out, his tormentors placed chunks of ice on his bare bosom, and but for the arrival of outsiders who rescued him, serious consequences would doubtless have been the result.' It is more than probable in this case that the victim had been a hard master, and his pupils took ad- vantage of their opportunity to get revenge. Jacob Powers. a Hancock county teacher, fared worse. He had recently had a tooth extracted. and, despite his warning as to the risk, was plunged in the cold waters of a creek. The result was lock-jaw, from which he died.
"While the teachers, as a general rule, resisted the demand to their utmost, there were others, however. who fell in with the humor of the occa- sion and found as much fun in it as the boys themselves. Indeed. if the teacher resisted in good earnest, even to the point of being ducked in the ice-cold water, he was, nevertheless, 'expected to forgive his enemies,' and I do not remember to have come across an instance of a teacher ever being accused of subsequently holding malice against any one who had wronged him in a Christmas frolic.
"It must be said that those teachers who looked on the bright side of the custom, and gave in after a brief show of resistance. usually came out the best. On one occasion the big boys of one William Surface's school harred the school door against him. On reaching the school house he was, of course, refused entrance except on the usual condition. But the teacher declined answering their oral demands, because he said. 'some dispute might arise as to what was said.' If they had terms to propose they must present them in writing. This seemed reasonable, and so the boys put their demand" on paper. which, together with pen and ink, was handed to the diplomat on
Digitized by Google
.
246
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
the outside. Beneath the boys' scrawl he wrote, 'I except to the above propo- sition-William Surface,' and passed the writing back. The boys were satis- fied, and at once opened the door. 'You had better read with care what I have written,' said the master to the scholars, when safe within. 'It is one thing to accept a proposition and quite another to except to it.' The boys, now crestfallen, acknowledged their mistake, but the teacher, after 'improv- ing the occasion by warning them against the evil of carelessness in the business transactions of life,' generously treated, and was thereafter loved better than ever before.
"A teacher by the name of Groves, who taught in a district close up to the Marion county line, found himself barred out one Christmas morning. Living in 'the school master's cabin,' hard by, he called in his wife to assist him. The weather was extremely cold, and it occurred to him that if he could drown out the fire he could freeze out the rebellion, and so, ascending the roof to the top of the chimney, his wife handed up buckets of water, which he poured down on the school fire. But it was all in vain. The boys, raking the coals out upon the broad hearth, defied him. His next thought was to smoke them out, and to that end he laid boards over the chimney top. But the boys had thought of that and provided themselves with a long pole with which to remove the boards. Not to be outdone. Groves replaced the boards over the chimney and calling upon his wife, who seems to have entered with spirit into all his plans, she gallantly mounted to the comb of the roof and took her seat on the boards to hold them down while her hus- band stationed himself at the door below. But the boys tried the pole again, and with such vigor that they overthrew the master's dame. who at the risk of her life and limb, came tumbling to the ground. Picking herself up, she retired to her own domicile. leaving her lord to fight the battle out as best he could. As the girls and smaller children arrived he sent them to his own cabin, where his wife agreed to keep watch and ward over them. One by one the garrison became captive to the vigilant master, who stood guard at the door, and was sent to the other house. By the time for dismissing in the afternoon every rebellious boy had been taken in and the school was in full blast in the master's cabin."
LIBRARIES.
Ten per cent. of the proceeds of sales of lots in county seat donations was, under the early statutes, to be applied to the use of a county library. The fund began to accumulate almost at the beginning of our county's his-
-
Digitized by Google
247
JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
tory, for we find in the final settlement account of the first county agent, John Campbell, this item: "John Campbell, agent, is allowed $2.6134 for whisky and stationery furnished while agent [no doubt to stimulate interest in the public sale of the lots], also 131/4 cents depreciation in library money." The fund did not grow rapidly, of course, and nothing further is known of the library until twenty years after. In 1845 Royal S. Hicks was appointed by the county board a "commissioner" to collect together all the books be- longing to the Johnson County Library, and at the next term he reports that he has collected "forty-four volumes belonging to said library, also some fifteen pamphlets." No Johnson county library was ever incorporated, and the funds accumulated having been spent in books and they lost or worn out, the Johnson county library evidently passed out of existence before the middle of the last century.
Township libraries were encouraged by special laws under the new con- stitution, and in at least one instance a corporation was organized to manage a township library. Deed record N, page 213, contains the record of a meet- ing of the citizens of Franklin and vicinity at the court house on April 9, 1852, who had subscribed to stock in a corporation to start such a library. F. M. Finch presided at the meeting, and A. B. Hunter was clerk. It was found that sixty-one persons had subscribed five dollars each, and directors were chosen in the persons of G. M. Overstret, M. W. Thomas, G. W. Branham, F. M. Finch, Henry Fox and Thomas Williams.
Under the law of 1852 township libraries became very generally estab- lished and for the next thirty years afforded the best opportunities to be had for general reading. But at their best, township libraries were of limited usefulness. From statistics at hand, it is probable that the total number of volumes belonging to such libraries in Johnson county never exceeded one thousand five hundred. They were under the control of the township trus- tee, and no effort was made in most townships to maintain the library or to encourage the circulation of books.
One movement deserving special mention was the Young People's Read- ing Circle, instituted under the auspices of the State Teachers' Association in 1887. It was specially designed for the children of the district schools, and the book lists were carefully made out by a state board. This movement reached its highest efficiency in the early nineties. In the year 1896, two thousand fifty-nine school pupils (almost one-half of the total enrollment) were members of the reading circle. The books were very generally bought by the trustee, and when he failed to do so, schools arranged entertainments
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.