USA > Michigan > Genesee County > Flint > The book of the golden jubilee of Flint, Michigan 1855-1905. Published under the auspices of the Executive committee of the golden jubilee and old homecoming reunion > Part 10
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musical, and some of the young people, now elderly people, remember with pleasure the musical gatherings held in the evening in the old Walker school house, and conducted by a Mr. Nutting, an accomplished southern gentleman.
Long ago there was a May Day festival held on the North Side,-a brilliant affair for the young people, and an enjoyable one for their seniors. There were guests from Detroit and Saginaw. The name of the May queen was not given me. Presumably there was not as much competition for the queenly honor as in present times there is for the scepter of the queen of the carnival.
With all the social activity of those days, the good people could find time and inclination to listen to three sermons on Sunday. Surely there was then less of rush and hurry than now.
"And when did you come to Flint?" said I to an elderly lady who kindly consented to be my third victim, as I sat with pencil in hand at her home. "Well," said she, "I came tc this place in 1842, from Batavia, N. Y." "And how old were you then?" She peered through her glasses half hesitatingly and I explained that I had no deep laid plot to put figures together so as to figure out her present age, for ladies, even the best of them, are just a little shy on that subject. "I was fifteen years old when I came to live in Flint." "A winsome, wide-awake lassie I think you must have been." She confirmed my guess by telling how she once peeped throught the cracks of a primitive dwelling to see how the older people got along at a kind of "hail fellow well met" function, in which, for some reason, she did not participate. It will hardly do for me to record the names or sayings or doings of some well remembered people whom our fifteen year old lassie with an inquiring turn of mind saw through the cracks. I know not if one of them is here to-day, certainly there can be at most but few.
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"Won't you tell me what people used to do in those days in a social way? Surely they did not work all the time." "By no means was it all work. There was a good deal of play, a good deal of fun, and any amount of good feeling. Yes, we did have good times.
"While building a better house, people used to live in shanties of considerable size, but no matter how primitive the shanty, it was good enough to receive company in, and such temporary buildings were often the scene of festive gatherings that are pleasant to remember.
"There is a feature of our social life at present that was never heard of in the early days. Ladies now get together in the afternoon, sometimes in the evening, and not a gentle- man is to be seen there, and I don't like it a bit."
I checked my pencil on hearing this statement and gave utterance to an amen, that, like the curses of Macbeth, was not loud but deep, for I, like many another man, have painful memories.
The elderly lady seemed amused at the heartiness of my response and then went on:
"In the early days I never heard of such a thing as a lady sending out invitations for a social gathering composed exclu- sively of ladies. Why, it would have been the tamest affair on earth. We old timers never did such a ridiculous thing as that. Men were of some account when I was young. Husbands went with their wives, young men went with some young lady or two, and both the masculine and feminine element were fully, represented. They did not wait for bedtime before lighting their lanterns and starting out. Our parties in those days, when the evening church service used to begin at early candle light, were in full career by seven o'clock."
"Was there music at your parties?" "There was more or less, but pianos were scarce. My mother's was the second
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piano in Flint, and the possession of such an instrument gave considerable dignity to the family in whose house it was."
"Those must have been happy days when there were only two pianos in the place," said I. "Now please think of some- thing else that used to be done to enliven your social life."
"Well, we used to play games, especially the old fash- ioned game of forfeits. Even very dignified people quite enjoyed a game of blind man's buff. How would Flint's four hundred look to-day in evening dress playing that game? Yet we enjoyed it."
There was a good deal of dancing. The square dances were in high favor, interspersed with polkas, cotillions, schottisches and waltzes. If the dances are improperly named, O reader, pardon the ignorance of the writer and believe that in Flint's early social life all kinds of dances were possible and were brilliantly executed. The only draw- back to the dancing was the music. No one then fiddled for pay, and for that reason he who could play the violin was always welcome.
Mr. Robert Stage excelled as a scraper of cat-gut, and his appearance at a party with his violin always produced great uneasiness of the feet, and soon developed rhythmic motion.
"When I was quite a young lady there was comparatively little card playing. People did play, but would have been shocked at the idea of playing in the day time. The men then had no club rooms to go to where they could smoke and play cards, to the neglect of business, and the women would have found it intolerably stupid to play cards alone."
"Tell me, if you please, about the refreshments they used to serve on social occasions in the early days of the place, Were they easy to be obtained when marketing facilities were not what they now are?"
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"Not so easy to be obtained, but they were good, and not merely refreshing, but absolutely distressing by reason of their abundance."
"Suppose you give me the menu that was customary to serve on really elaborate occasions."
"Oh, menu-they did not have any use for that word then. But I will call to mind as well as I can what I have often seen served at an old time social gathering.
"First as to the meats. They were placed often on a side table and carved in sight of the guests. One gentleman would carve the turkey, and I call to mind Mr. ... who was especially skillful in turkey carving. Seeing him carve was next thing to eating itself.
"Another gentleman would slice the ham, a large boiled ham fancifully decorated with cloves. Still another would distribute the 'chicken fixin's,' and in those days poultry was abundant. There were also still other kinds of meat. Boiled tongue, and wild game, such as partridge, quail and pigeon often graced the tables. Even the most prosperous people, however, did not own dishes enough to hold all this rich abundance. So the good housewives used to lend their dishes to each other, and a keen eyed woman could generally see something on the table that reminded her of home.
"Cakes of all kinds were in evidence and they were placed in full view of the guests. Spectacular effect was aimed at as well as the pleasure of feasting upon the fat of the land. A cake pyramid, whose structure was too complicated for any man to comprehend, loomed up in the center of the table. Its height was less than that of the pyramids of Egypt, but it was pretty high, and was the symbol of a high time for those who witnessed its gradual demolition and disappearance."
I ventured to ask with what liquids these delicacies and substantials were floated out of sight? "O, we had coffee,
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of course, and in many places there was a well filled side- board. Wine and brandy were not infrequently served at social gatherings such as I have just described."
"How about ice-cream, did you have that?" "Have ice- cream! Yes, indeed we did. The cow in those days was not a four-wheeled affair and milk was not kept from turning sour with formaldehyde.
"The cream was genuine, and the women who froze it were genuine, too, and the ice-cream they made did have a certain richness and flavor that you can't find in boughten ice-cream."
'We used, on many occasions, to have two immense molds of ice-cream that looked like small mountain peaks, one at each end of the table, each with a different flavor, vanilla and strawberry were the favorite flavors." "If the first flavor did not quite satisfy, could a gentleman be allowed a second helping from the second little mountain peak?" "Yes, indeed, gentle- men were not bashful about such things in those days, and the ladies enjoyed helping them a second time."
I expressed my regrets that I was born many years too late.
Wonderful men and women at the table were our early settlers. I have read that "there is a satisfaction in seeing Englishmen eat and drink, they do it so heartily, trusting that there is no harm in good beef and mutton and a reasonable quantity of good liquor. Thus our early coming people seem to have at least eaten, with no fear whatever of the failure of the American stomach.
"How were the gentlemen usually dressed on festive occa- sions?" "Generally in neat business suits. The swallow tail was quite uncommon, and a man in one would not have felt entirely at home."
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"What next occurs to you on the subject of early social life?" "Well, I must not forget the sleighrides. I can almost hear the jingle of the bells now, and the many voices that I shall never hear again.
"Not infrequently after a good, long ride we would all meet at Aunt Polly Todd's, where a well spread table would be ready for us."
"Were stylish sleighs then common?" "By no means, We used to charter large lumber sleighs, with no seats at all except for the driver. With clean straw on the bottom and good buffalo robes on the straw, and us young folks (just look at me now) on the robes. A sleigh ride with us was democratic, but it was full of enjoyment.
"Many times have we driven to Grand Blanc and Flush- ing. There was little style about the sleighs, but the horses were not at all slow, neither were the young men.
"On one occasion one of the gentlemen had secreted a bottle of brandy in his over-coat pocket. The handsomest woman in Flint, (she is not living now and you must not breathe her name) picked his pocket, and dropped the bottle out into the deep snow, where it was found in the spring when the snow melted." "Was the brandy still in the bottle?" "I cannot tell you, sir, but the bottle was found."
"What was the favorite amusement in the early days?" "Dancing was decidedly the favorite. There were dancing schools as early as 1848. Dancing was taught in the old hotel, opposite the court house, and after the pupils had received their instructions the old people dropped in and danced." On one such occasion, the lady now speaking for your benefit, O public, was greatly amused. There was a young man present who could not dance at all. His best girl could, and greatly enjoyed it. She was a beautiful girl, and was in great demand as a partner in the dance. On this occasion her future husband
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looked on as a wall flower, and with such an expression on his face that had his thoughts been expressed in words, they would probably have been a fine brand of cuss words. The girl enjoyed the dance and the spectators enjoyed the agony of the onlooker who could not dance, and who could not keep his best girl from dancing with his rivals.
"Did the church social count for much as a social factor in the early days?" "Yes, it counted for more than it does now. There were fewer counter attractions for the young, and there was a condition of social good feeling among the churches.
"It can hardly be called a social factor, and yet as there was a social side to it, I may mention that there was much horseback riding when I was a young lady.
"I cannot forget the high, old-fashioned fire-place that was a great attraction in so many homes. It was a social force in its way, for talk will be at its best before a good wood fire, in a big fire-place, when it would languish over a furnace register.
"Customs have gradually changed. Looking back a long way, I cannot fix the time when the gentlemen gradually faded out of united social life, and went, alas, too much, by them- selves. And the ladies began to issue invitations to social func- tions for ladies only. It was not the good old way, and it is no improvement at all."
Here let me insert three invitations to social functions, the last of which was musical, as well as social, and many will doubtless call to mind most of those whose names appear on the invitations.
The writer of this sketch lived in New York City for ten years previous to coming to Flint. In New York he was familiar with the Knickerbocker custom of making New Year's
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calls and found the custom pleasantly recognized when he came to Flint in 1864.
This good old Knickerbocker custom, now falling into "innocuous desuetude," has been a factor in the early social life of Flint that is deserving of consideration.
It began there at a much earlier date than I had supposed, if my informant has an accurate memory. As far back as 1842, when her parents had moved from the State of New York, a neighbor said to her mother, "Now when New Year's Day comes you must expect to see Indians in your house. They will expect something, and they will surely come." I doubt if there were any doorbells to ring in those days. But the visitor who called could use his knuckles for a knocker, and thus apprise the inmates of the house that some one would like to come in.
The Indian callers gave no intimation of their wish for admission. They simply went in, and with their moccasined feet they glided in so silently that many a time the lady of the house has been surprised to find a number of them in her front room looking over the appointments of the apartment. They did not mean to be rude, but it was their way.
A piano was to them an object of special wonder. On New Year's Day they would go from house to house with this salutation : "Ugh ugh, Hoppy Noo Year, Hoppy Noo Year." Whether or not they painted up and feathered up for such occasions I did not learn, but Indian callers on New Year's Day would certainly now be almost as unique a feature as some New Year's turn-outs that white men have figured in within my memory.
I have been fortunate enough to find calling cards left by gentlemen callers during the years 1872, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879 and 1880.
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What the lady receiver of calls used to do in the early days I have been unable to ascertain, but as far back as 1864- 1874 they used frequently to combine in considerable numbers and form an assemblage that no man could approach without a certain trepidation lest he should forget himself and say the incorrect thing. I regret that this good custom is slowly dying out.
The early settlers of Flint, as far as I am able to learn, were people of far more than average ability. Pioneer social life under any circumstances will differ widely from the social life of the same locality as wealth increases and lines are drawn and the "our set" idea emerges into prominence. One thing I have noticed in the inquiries I have made of elderly people about the early social life of Flint. They all speak well of it.
They look back upon it with pleasure, and there is a feel- ing of intense loyalty for the men and women who impressed their own ideas of social life upon society in its plastic condi- tion. They who still survive are proud of those who have gone before them. The afterglow that follows the sunset lights up the horizon lines with a splendor of picturesque effect that the midday sun can never produce.
We of the present think the sun of Flint's prosperity and glory is at the zenith. They of the past, who still survive early associates and early ways, look back regretfully and dwell with tenderest love and admiration upon the afterglow whose mild radiance so beautifully lights up the horizon line of their early social life.
Profoundly should we respect the early settlers and the later but somewhat remote comers who are still with us. Never should we forget them. I have tried to sketch the early social life of Flint in prose and doubtless it is prosy enough. Bear
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with me a little while longer and allow me to present in verse a very imperfect but well meant tribute to men and women who were brave, energetic, hospitable and happy in the early social life of a city that they loved in her cradle and are proud of in her mature and matronly beauty.
'LEST WE FORGET."
KIPLING.
Who were the men and whence came they Who bravely swung their axes, And felled the forest day by day, Unterrified by taxes?
Of Puritanic stock were some, Self poised, serene and saving :
New York spared others, glad to come, Red men and ague braving.
They brought good wives their toil to share, More than their share oft taking : A heaven on earth with woman's care, Of their log cabins making.
The social life of early days How pleasantly it glided. Each vied with each in social ways, And no one felt one sided.
Around those cabins oft at night The skulking wolves came prowling,
And half in dream, half in afright The sleepers heard their howling.
The timid deer that roamed the wood Fed round the little clearing, And in the distance often stood Half curious-half fearing.
Bright shone the ample fire place, As winter crept on slowly : Contentment beamed on every face ; Home's altar fire was holy.
How groaned your tables with good cheer When, resting from your labors, Guests came to dance from far and near, A jolly band of neighbors.
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What changes in this city fair Have passed before your vision ! Old timers you did your full share, To make our town elysian.
You courted by a tallow dip, A feeble glimmer shedding : Sometimes, perhaps, there was a slip But oftener a wedding.
You've seen the lamp with kerosene That once your parlors lighted, Give way to gas whose radiant sheen Made every heart delighted. . .
Then "press the button" came this way, And women now are looking, To that not far off happy day, When it will do their cooking.
The Fenton stages h- on wheels When Boss was in his vigor, Fond memory to your appeals, You've felt their ancient rigor.
Where now broad busy streets you see, You have been drawn by cattle : But on our year of jubilee, You heard the street car rattle.
New ways of thought are also here, There's less of brimstone Sunday : If in our hearts there's less of fear, There's more of love on Monday.
Some feathers dropped from faith's white wing, Prove not that faith is bolting : With sweeter note God's love she'll sing When she has finished moulting.
You heard the guns in days of yore, When treason stalked defiant :
You saw the time when peace once more With freedom stood reliant.
Now looking forth from jubilee, From banners, music, speeches, How strange the contrast that you see As backward, memory reaches.
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Hats off to you who gave our town Her glorious beginning, And started her towards that renown, Which more she's winning.
Old timers, time has thinned your ranks, But few are left to tell your story : You smile when speaking of your pranks Before your heads were hoary.
But some, thank God, are living yet, Old times they all remember : Those days they never will forget Till fades life's dying ember.
THE SCHOOLS OF FLINT
By C. T. BRIDGMAN
The citizens of Flint are justly proud of its schools. Taxes for their support are always willingly and cheerfully voted and paid. There is scarcely an instance of a refusal on the part of our citizens to provide suitable buildings and equipments for school purposes when asked for by the Board of Education, and the necessity of the case presented in a clear and intelligent manner.
But it is certainly a far cry from Daniel O'Sullivan, "The Irish Schoolmaster" of the settlement of Flint River in 1834, and the shanty on the river's bank to this year of Golden Jubilee which finds us with eight magnificent public school buildings, most of them of exceptional architectural beauty, fully equipped with all the modern improvements, and with a competent and faithful corps of teachers.
As intimated above, the first schoolmaster of whom we have any record or knowledge was Mr. Daniel O'Sullivan, who arrived at the Flint River settlement in July, 1834. During the following fall he opened a school in a small log cabin which stood upon the site of the present Genesee Mills. His terms were ten cents per week for each pupil. The scholars were about twelve in number and were the sons and daughters of John Todd, James McCormick, R. W. Stevens, James W. Cronk, Lyman Stowe, and his own.
In 1835 a man by the name of Aaron Hoyes taught a school in the same place, and he becoming ill, a young lady cxxxiii
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by the name of Lucy Riggs temporarily filled the place. The scholars at that date were as follows: Leander, Albert and Zobedia Stevens; Corydon, Walter and Abigail Cronk; Edward Todd; Adaline and Emeline Stowe; William K., Ann Elizabeth, and Sarah McCormick.
During 1836 a small shanty for school purposes was erected on the corner now occupied by Fenton Block. The first school in this building was presided over by a Miss Over- ton. Her compensation was one dollar per week.
"The first record that we can find of anything relative to public schools in this vicinity is that of the organiza- tion of School District No. 1, at a meeting of the school inspec- tors held April 11, 1837; Ephraim L. Walker being chairman and Orrin Safford clerk. The first official report of the School Inspectors was made Oct. 20, 1838, from which we learn that the whole number of scholars attending was 60; of whom 39 were between the ages of five and seventeen years; and the number under five and over seventeen being 21. Duration of school, six months. Amount raised by tax was $586; of which $499 was for building a school house, and $87 for the support of the schools. This house was located on the corner of Clifford and First streets. The support of this school was under the rate-bill system and was far from satisfactory. Hard times came on and it was decidedly difficult to raise the money for the support of the school. After struggling along for several years, the friends of education made a rally on the union school system. That portion of the district lying north of Flint river having been set off as a separate district, those remaining purchased an entire block, the site of the present Walker school, and proceeded to erect a commodious school building." The old building with some repairs has been in con- tinuous use for school purposes up to three yeas ago when it gave place to the present magnificent structure. "On the com-
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pletion of the house a union school was inaugurated in the fall of 1846 under the charge of Mr. N. W. Butts, with an ample force of teachers. While good work was done, the attendance was very irregular. As an illustration we cite a report for the term ending August, 1853; whole number enrolled 64; aver- age attendance 18 ; average absence 46." It is quite evident that no truant officer was employed at that time.
"At the annual school meeting in 1855 the following reso- lutions were adopted, prefaced with a preamble setting forth that the experiences of ten years had demonstrated the failure of the union school system to give any adequate return for the expense incurred, etc.
"Resolved, That the union system as adopted, so far as it goes to establish the academic department in said school, be and the same is hereby abandoned.
"Resolved, That we have ten months of school the com- ing year in this house. That we have one male and two female teachers, qualified to teach the primary and English branches of education.
"Resolved, That, in the opinion of this meeting, the great interest of education in our city would be advanced by a divi- sion of Union School District No. 1, so that Saginaw street should be the dividing line.
"In accordance with this expression of public sentiment, upon petition of the parties interested, the division was made by the school inspectors, and District No. 3, embracing the Third ward, was formed. But, the disintegration having com- menced, another division was called for and made, forming District No. 4, of that portion of the Third ward lying north of Court street.
"The old District No. 1, was now left in an anomalous position, for, as might have been expected, with the adoption of the foregoing resolutions, no provision was made for sus-
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taining a public school, the customary assessment of one dol- lar per scholar being ignored, with the following curious result : From the report of 1855-56 it appears that the whole amount of teachers' wages was $1,235, of which the amount assessed on rate-bills ($646.47) was more than one-half, while the moiety of less than one-fifth ($214.82) was derived from the primary school fund and mill-tax, and $343.52, more than one-fourth was received from non-residents, a proportion un- paralleled in the history of our schools, and an evidence of the popularity of the teacher then in charge, Prof. M. B. Beals.
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