USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > The centennial celebration of Springfield, Ohio, held August 4th to 10th, 1901 > Part 20
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after eating the cherries from the liquor. When I see a drunken man I think of those staggering, drunken hogs. Not a man left my father's employ, and I was so proud of him I wondered why he was not at once made President of the United States. It was a joy to my little heart to carry the cups and help carry the coffee to the field that day. The impression on my mind never was effaced, and helped me ever to stand firm for temperance. Well. the Beaver Creek Mills were raised, and one or two men here may remember it to have been a perfect success as the first raising without liquor. Other temperance movements came, and in some cases seemed to die out, not one, however, but that some drunkard was reformed, some soul saved. There has been much good ac- complished by every revival of temperance, and lately people are beginning to study more closely the evils of intemperance and teaching it in our homes and schools.
I wish to speak of the Woman's Temperance Crusade. This crusade had a beginning. in Ohio, in Hillsboro and Washington Court House. Mrs. Thomson, of Hillsboro, led out the first band there and read on that occasion the One Hundred and Forty-sixth Psalm. Dio Lewis, about this time, visited Hillsboro, and came here to lecture. His talks informed and enthused the Springfield women on the temperance question. At that time we had a Woman's Benevolent Society, Mrs. Guy, President. She ap- pointed a prayer meeting, which was held February, 1874, in the Presbyterian Church. The subject of prayer was temperance and asking for Divine aid in the work. This was a wonderful meet- ing. With the devotion came a feeling of awe. The women felt that they were about to be numbered among the handmaidens of the Lord, and His Spirit was to be poured out upon them. On February 10, 1874, the first band of Crusaders started out from the First Presbyterian Church. In front of a saloon on Main street it held a prayer meeting, and crowds listened to the Bible reading, singing and prayers. On February II another meeting for prayer was held in Center Street Methodist Episcopal Church. and no old Crusader will ever forget that meeting. It was held at Io o'clock a. m., and before noon we had all become so filled with the conscious presence of the Spirit that all fear and reluctance of praying on the street, and in saloons, had vanished. From this
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meeting the second band marched forth on that most wonderful crusade. This was the first time I had gone out, and I remember I walked with Mrs. Jane Anderson-she a Methodist, I a Presby- terian. I had in my mind tried to convince myself that I need not engage in this work and pray in public, because I was a Presby- terian. And now, I feel that one great blessing through this Cru- sade was that sealed lips were opened, and the women of all the different denominations came together in a closer bond of union than ever before. Oh! what a blessing that Crusade has been, and will continue to be, in uniting Christians of all names.
I should like to have go on record the names of every self- denying, brave, Springfield woman who engaged in this most re- markable event in the history of this city. I know, however, that I could not recall the names. Mother Stewart came here some years before the Crusade, and from the first proved herself to be a most earnest and valuable temperance worker. But when, through this wonderful baptism upon our women, so many less prominent persons than Mother Stewart took in hand the leading of bands, visiting saloonkeepers, and trying to convince them of the harm they were doing, etc., this local temperance work was divided among many ; and Mother Stewart was called upon to go from town to town to lecture, and even to cross the Atlantic Ocean more than once to assist in temperance work in England and Scot- land. And we shall ever feel thankful for the assistance received from the pastors of every church in Springfield-their aid and prayers. The Rev. M. W. Hamma was an enthusiastic helper in the work. Mr. Clifton Nichols deserves mention for his timely aid in many ways; and, being an editor of one of our leading papers, had occasion to befriend the women and the cause through his editorials. Many things occurred to prove the good being done in those street meetings. I have known rough-looking boys and men to stop, evidently to make fun or.disturb the women, and after a touching song or pleading prayer these rough ones would go away with tears in their eyes. There were conversions right on the street, and often there was heard from some bystander, "God bless you." Sometimes these praying bands were badly treated by the saloonist or some rough persons, but oftener were invited, or at least allowed, to hold meetings in the saloon.
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Close upon the Crusade came Francis Murphy, and for months those wonderful Murphy meetings were held in the old Market House and in Black's Opera House. Hundreds signed the Murphy pledge. Some failed to keep it, others thank the Lord today for that pledge, because it helped them to reform. Now, Springfield was helped by the temperance Crusade, and by every temperance movement inaugurated here, notwithstanding the cry from some, "What good has ever come out of the Crusade or all these temperance excitements?" Every temperance wave has worked to save some struggling, sinking soul. One of the fruits of the Crusade here is that we have now the three well or- ganized Woman's Christian Temperance Unions, all working har- moniously, although on somewhat different lines. Each is accom- plishing much good. We need today a crusade against the liquor traffic ; perhaps not at all on the former plan, for as time goes on, new plans must be adopted. It surely cannot be that with the ad- vance that Springfield has made in one hundred years she will be slow in anything pertaining to the good of the rising generation. No, I believe that when this beautiful city celebrates her two hun- dredth birthday, the saloon will be referred to as a thing of the past and forgotten.
During the woman's meeting an exercise was given by five little girls-Dorothy Hypes, Ruth Fraser, Margaretta and Ade- laide Thomson and Margaret Hagan. This exercise was called, "When Grandma Was a Girl." and pictured by word and panto- mime how grandma spun, knit, sang and danced. This dance of the olden time was then further portrayed by eighteen little girls and boys from St. Raphael's School, who, dressed in Oriental cos- tume, gave the minuet. Their names were as follows: Marie Garrett. Emma Kavanaugh, Norene Kennedy, Helen Griffin, Marie Jones. Elizabeth Fitzgerald Helen Burke. Marie Stelzer. George O'Brien, Walter Reilly, John Burke, Ralph Lobaugh, James Swords, Raphael Shea, Walter Bentz, William Mulligan.
When Mrs. Winger. in the reading of her paper, came to that part descriptive of the Relief Home, fifteen little children,
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inmates of that institution, came forward and sang, in sweet, childish voices-
Jesus loves me, this I know, For the Bible tells me so ; Little ones to Him belong, We are weak, but He is strong.
EDUCATION.
In the afternoon the paper on "Education" was read. There was a good attendance of teachers and friends, who listened with eagerness to the reader. The great State of Ohio was cradled in the atmosphere of education. It commenced with the ordinance of 1787. it was continued in the Constitution of 1802, and for fifty years there was perhaps no message of the Governors of the State to the Legislature that did not discuss and urge the cause of edu- cation. It took half a century to reach free schools, but their con- dition today shows how well the people of the State appreciate what the early statesmen did in laying the foundation of our school system. Springfield has always taken pride in educational work. For more than fifty years she had the advantages of nu- merous private schools. They were of excellent character and were taught by men who were experts in their line. During the last half-century great advances have been made in the public schools, in extent of courses offered, in character and qualifica- tions of teachers, in buildings, in appliances, and in methods and management. While private schools of elementary grades have about disappeared. the presence of Wittenberg College, with its . opportunities for advanced work, has done much to elevate the standard of education in our city, and has brought the advantage of a collegiate training to the doors of many young people to whom the opportunity would never have come had not the college
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existed here. Our city has reason to feel proud of what has been done, and for what is now offered for the mental training of her youth. It was fitting that the closing of the Centennial should deal with this subject, which is of such great concern to all our citizens. At this meeting President John S. Weaver presided.
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PROF. W. H. WEIR.
A RESUME OF A CENTURY'S EDUCATIONAL WORK IN SPRINGFIELD.
BY PROF. W. H. WEIR.
Readers of the Waverly novels will recall a character in "Old Mortality" who spent his life caring for the tombs of those Cove- nanters of Scotland who were harried to the grave by a ruthless persecution. The inscriptions were cleared of moss and lichen, or even recut, that the deeds of Scottish martyrs might not be for- gotten, nor the lesson of their lives lost to later generations. This paper is possessed of a modest ambition-to gather from the scanty records, or fix in writing from the personal recollections of those who were actors in the early school scenes, such facts as will show the growth of education in Springfield.
In the spirit of "Old Mortality," the task is undertaken in the belief that it is worthy of record if any man or woman has given any time to the work of instructing youth, either in elementary learning or in the more advanced branches of study. Whatever rank this community now holds, or may, in the future, hold as a place of culture, the foundations were laid long ago in the little schools which dotted the streets and byways of our now fair city. Both those who builded as best they could and those who builded better than they knew, are deserving of honor at our hands. Though only for a few weeks, or months at most, the lives of
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teacher and pupil touched, neither was altogether the same as be- fore the contact. Beyond reasonable doubt every teacher was the means of imparting a moral or mental uplift to some responsive spirit in the little group that gathered about the masters and dames of our primitive schools, and whose names therefore are lovingly cherished as sweet links binding the soul to the happy past. "How far that little candle throws its beams" is the proper figure to describe the influence which these centers of radiant en- ergy have had in the formative period of many lives, but with no one to record his deeds. the fame of the wisest and best of men would soon become a dim and fading tradition. The retrospect of one generation made Goldsmith to exclaim :
"But past is all his fame: the very spot Where many a time he triumphed, is forgot."
When the New Zealander stands on the ruins of London Bridge, philosophizing on the fallen greatness about him, let him find monuments as enduring as Time to the memory of those schoolkeepers who wrought their lives into the multiplying and perpetuating lives of their pupils. The fondest hope is, that this record may be found so accurate that the future narrator in this field will not be compelled to 'the laborious search for materials, but will find a faithful outline, requiring only filling in and working out of details as fact or fiction may direct his purpose. As this paper is only a contribution to the educational history of the city, criticism is made welcome-to cut out whatever is not authoritative, to add what is omitted, and to supplement what is but partly told, that form and permanency may be given to local pedagogical history.
Schoolkeeping in Springfield goes back to the day of the log school, earth or puncheon floor, roughly hewn slabs for seats, windows glazed with oiled paper, quill pens, few maps, no charts, and appliances most meagre compared with the lavish expendi- ttires of today.
Teachers of those pioneer times had a stock of human nature similar to the endowments of the present-day men and women. and hence the widest variations in discipline were to be met. though nearly all were firm supporters of the theory alleged to
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have been formulated by Solomon. Not much discussion was made over the nature and objects of punishments ; they were ad- ministered, and the pupil was left to figure out for himself their differentiations, whether remedial, punitive or corrective. Like outposts of civilization, like bastions, or like beacons on surf- bound shore, these little schools bore a large part in the triumph of intelligence over ignorance and superstition.
Assuming that the antiquary is strongly marked in all, it will be interesting to name the buildings still standing which served as the "noisy mansions," or to point out the sites once occupied by them. It is surprising how many places, especially in the older part of Springfield. were once school sites. While for a time woodcraft and the use of the rifle were the essentials of culture demanded by a backwoods life, yet the ringing declaration : "Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged," acted as a leaven in the rugged natures of the dwellers on the banks of Buck, and steps were taken to provide schools of the same order enjoyed elsewhere in this part of Ohio.
In the year 1806, on the site occupied by the Lagonda Na- tional Bank and contiguous properties, in a building of logs, Nathaniel Pinkered opened the first school in Springfield and has the credit of giving as full a course of instruction as was usual in those times.
Before Mill Run was diverted from its natural bed to furnish power for the paper mill once operating near North street, its .course to Buck Creek followed the line of the present Center street sewer. The portion of the town lying to the west of this stream was called "Old Virginia." Close to the west bank of Mill Run. in a frame or log building about where Schaeffer's feed and grain store now stands, was a school known as Smith's Academy. The date of the opening of this institution cannot now be fixed, but was probably about 1813. Samuel Smith, the proprietor of this somewhat famous and well patronized school, was assisted in the care of smaller pupils, by his wife, in her home near by. An Englishman by birth, he enjoyed the telling of marvelous tales at the expense of the rough soil and rigorous climate of New Eng-
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land, where he had lived before coming to Ohio. Smith's fond- ness for ardent spirits, which he was at no pains to repress, is re- sponsible in part for the Munchausen character of these stories, which his serious manner of telling led his younger hearers to accept as veritable facts. After his career as teacher, and after changing his too bibulous habits, Samuel Smith became justice of the peace, and lived to a good old age, honored by all who knew him.
The first building erected in the town exclusively for religious services was almost due south from Smith's school across Main street and off Center street, about west of the Zimmerman drink- ing fountain. This building of hewed logs, thirty feet long and twenty feet wide, was put up by a general subscription in 1811, and was used by ministers of all creeds in their casual visits. In 1818 the house was used as a school, but the names of the teach- ers who presided at the desk cannot be recalled.
As closely as can now be reckoned, between the years 1824 and 1832, two schools independent of each other were conducted in a house still standing at the northeast corner of Fountain ave- nue and North street. The teachers were Reuben Miller, Esq., and James L. Torbert, Esq. Divided by a hallway, the west end was used by Mr. Miller, and in the east end Mr. Torbert kept his school. These were the pioneers in academy work, for both taught only pupils in the advanced grades.
One of the drawing cards in Mr. Torbert's school was the fact that he gave instruction in English Grammar. Judge Tor- bert's dwelling was on Main street, the site covered by Governor Bushnell's substantial business block, and here Mrs. Torbert kept school for little children, whose weariness in quest of knowledge was slept off on a settee in her back parlor, and whose hunger was appeased with ginger cookies from her pantry. Several persons are yet living who recall the facts thus recited, and who also re- member the industrial branches, such as painting and embroidery, which were included in her system of training.
One of Mrs. Torbert's pupils, afterward enrolled in Judge Torbert's school, recalls the sentence by which she was initiated into the mysteries of English grammar, parsing and analysis: "John's hand trembled." This is an interesting fact, since the
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usual introduction to parsing is through an ancient case of as- sault and battery, wherein "James struck John." But, after all, it may be a part of the same case, for, under the circumstances, what would be expected of John but that his hand would tremble preliminary to giving a synthetic example of subject and object changing places in the sentence.
These were the days of quill pens, with teacher as maker and mender. While making the rounds of his room for inspection or correction, he was wont to fix the damaged quills passed up to him. A good penknife, of proper edge and temper, was therefore an essential in the equipment of the master, and his skill and speed in pen cutting counted for much in the sum of his qualifications. One teacher had an eccentric fashion of thrusting the quills into his hair, till in his measured beat he came again to the pupil's seat. Hence by the time his round was made, his locks more and more resembled the "fretful porcupine." Engraved copies for the pen- manship exercise had not been invented, and so each teacher had to set the copy for his youthful scribes. This will explain, on the theory of heredity, why handwriting varies so, and also provides the cloak to cover a multitude of chirographic sins.
It will be understood that all the schools of that "elder day" were known as "pay schools": the idea of instruction for all at public expense, though advocated, did not yet meet with popular favor. The demand for teachers was often in excess of the sup- ply, and public-spirited men, at times, were much at a loss how to keep the schools supplied with competent teachers.
In order to provide proper training for her own children, Mrs. Ann Warder brought from Eastern Pennsylvania into her own household a well-qualified instructor, and, inviting a few children from family friends, opened a school in her homestead, then on East High street, opposite Christ Church, now owned and occupied by the Misses Burrows. In her later home, on East Main street. at the intersection of the Big Four railway tracks, Mrs. Warder conducted a school of more advanced grade, among whose teaching corps may be named Miss Armstrong and Mr. Lewis.
No teacher of the early days in Springfield will be longer or more lovingly remembered than Miss Eunice Strong. Of sturdy
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New England stock, full of right convictions, broad in mind and large of heart, she impressed herself upon the religious, educa- ional and social life of her day. When Main street was called South street, and before it was opened east of Spring, access to the ridge now called High street was by a road winding up the slope to its summit. On this road and below the Warder home- stead before referred to, in a frame structure, Miss Strong kept . school for younger pupils. Afterward, in association with Miss Parsons, on the site of the Charles Ludlow and Ross Mitchell res- idences, she had a school for older pupils. At a later period Miss Strong taught older students in a frame building on Fisher street. on the premises of the First Presbyterian Church. Many of the best years of her life were devoted to this good work, and no period of local educational history has the marks of one personal- ity more deeply impressed upon it than the years Eunice Strong lived here. In response to questions relative to her work, nearly every one exclaimed: "Why, yes! Of course I remember Miss Strong."
If fires kept burning on the altar of education in any one locality can sanctify, then the northeast corner of High street and Fountain avenue ought to be regarded as "holy ground." As early, probably. as 1836, a two-story frame stood here, and on the second floor Mr. Elliott and his sister kept school for youth of both sexes. In 1837 Miss Strong succeeded in the occupancy of this site with her young people. Following her, Misses Merrill and Tenney kept a school for girls and continued it till 1840, the year of the fire that destroyed much of the business prop- erty of the town. In 1841 Rev. Mr. Presbury, rector of the Episcopal Church, brought to this classic corner his select school for girls, which he had previously conducted at his own home.
In the course of time this frame gave place to a plain brick building of three stories, known to the last generation as the "Bal- timore Grocery." Reaching the third floor by a stairway from High street, one found a large, well-lighted room and well adapted to the school uses of that time. When, after a few years' suspension of the Public High School. the course of study was again shaped to provide a line of advanced work, the pupils pursu-
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ing it were separated from the other grades, and, in 1867, as a High School, were installed over this "Baltimore Grocery. Mr. Allen Armstrong and Miss Mary Harrison were the teachers in charge of this school.
A review of education in Springfield with Hannah Haas left out, would ignore a very long and useful career. Before she began her work in connection with Springfield Seminary, Miss Haas gathered a little school in a house standing on the southwest .corner of Fountain avenue and Columbia street. At another time she had a school in the basement of the church then known as the Associate Reformed Presbyterian and later as the United Presby- terian. This house of worship, partly torn away to make room for Mr. James Carson's wholesale grocery, was recently wholly re- moved for the erection of Mr. E. S. Kelly's business block on Limestone street. After occupying a room in "Trapper's Corner" for a brief time, Miss Haas then used the basement of the Epis- copal Church, which then stood at the southwest corner of High and Limestone streets. At another period she taught in the house on the Presbyterian Church lot alluded to in connection with Miss Strong. Whether it grew out of the sympathy felt by the church for the school, or was a source of income to meet that vexatious ·question, "current expenses," so common in church finance, it will have been noted already in this narrative that the church edifice was the usual shelter of the school.
The United Presbyterian Church was also used by Robert Black as a school of advanced grade: there are many of his stu- dents yet alive to attest to the excellence of his work in their be- half. In this same place was gathered the first public library, and here, too, a debating society held its meetings, which proved a val- uable training for many who have since been much under public gaze. Robert Black remained long a citizen of this place and was Recorder of the County for a term of years. Among others who used as a schoolroom the Episcopal Church were Mrs. Lowndes, Miss Lavinia Baird, Laura and Virginia Miller, all of whom con- ducted schools for little children.
Miss Carrie Baird has the unique distinction of having con- ducted in her own home a school for little ones who were unable to pay the fees usually asked : prompted to do this simply as a
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means of doing what good she could. Miss Lavinia Baird at a later date gave instruction in a room over the tea store now on Fountain avenue. These labors were about 1858.
Where Central Methodist Episcopal Church now is was the site of a school kept by Miss Catherine Haas, sister of Miss Han- nah Haas before named in this narrative.
Miss Elizabeth Parker at a later date conducted a school on the site of Nathaniel Pinkered's early labors.
A very interesting group of schools was located in the east- ern portion of the town. then quite in the suburbs. Fifty years or more ago the tract east of Walnut street and south of Main was farm, forest and orchard. Near the intersection of Walnut and High streets was a frame structure in which an English gentleman (particular emphasis on gentleman) and his estimable wife kept school for all grades, including instruction in languages and higher branches. So long ago manual and industrial training were in vogue, for under Mrs. Miller's oversight sewing and em- broidery were taught the girls: and women are still living who remember the instruction-and speak of the skill attained by several of the pupils. Mr. Miller is remembered for the interest he took and inspired in his students in the study of astronomy. When Mr. Miller had removed to a new school near the corner of Main and Spring streets, Miss Vicory succeeded him in the use of . the building which was a part of her grandfather Merryfield Vic- ory's farm. Here also Miss Peet had a school afterward. "Kind and faithful" is the brief but expressive eulogy pronounced upon the memory of these teachers by one of the pupils.
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