USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of Mifflin County : its physical peculiarities, soil, climate, &c. ; including an early sketch of the state of Pennsylvania Volume I > Part 20
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY
where love delights to sip its nectar. Its dark caverns, where re- morse hangs its head and quaff's its cup of gall. Its lofty dome, where hope all radiant sits enthroned, and the low, dismal valley where despair sits down and groans. The battle-field, where the soldier meets for murder, the trysting place, where the tempter comes to beguile us. Like the sea, never waveless. Now like old ocean lashed into fury by the rushing storm, its mighty billows roll- ing and plunging and dashing themselves into fury against the rocky cliffs ; again like the placid lake, its gentle ripples sparkling in the evening sunshine, and returning its softest murmurs the echoes of love's own song. Now like the wild tornado turned loose upon the prairies, gathering force as it sweeps the plain. Now like the soft zephyrs kissing the cheek of beauty. Though sleep may draw its drowsy curtains down upon the senses and close them up, yet the ever busy brain will wander through the night, struggling in the pelting storm or roaming Elysian fields in happy dreams."
Our Educational Facilities.
Having on the preceding pages spoken of a mental, moral and physical education, we now refer more in detail to the facilities pos- sessed by our county of Mifflin, for disseminating the benefits above set forth, the values of which are incalcuable. Education leads into exercise the active powers of man, those which God has en- dowed and made active for this end. Science-all science enlarges these faculties, and gives them scope and vigor. The memory, the understanding, the taste, the power of association are all to be cul- tivated.
They grow by exercise, and only in this way. We premise by saying that the trust conferred upon those having the management and superintendency of our schools, is a responsibility not inferior in importance to that of the administration of the Government.
The Government depends, in no slight degree, upon the educa- tion of those by whom it is hereafter to be controlled. . Amid the various conflicting opinions on moral, political and religious sub- jects, there is need of charity and forbearance, concession and compromise. Citizenship is of no avail, unless we imbibe the liberal spirit of our laws and our institutions. Through the medium of our common schools are the rising generation of all nationalities assimilated, readily and thoroughly forming the great Amercan people. The schools of Mifflin county are alike open to the rich and the poor, the native and the foreigner, the citizen and the
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
stranger. It is the duty of those to whom the administration of our- schools are confided, to discharge that duty with magnanimous, christian kindness and liberality. While the law should reign su- preme, and obedience to its commands should ever be required, yet,. in the establishment of the law which is to control, there is no princi- ple of wider application, or of higher wisdom, commending itself to the broad field of legislation, or of municipal action, to those who enjoy its benefits and privileges. and to which all should yield a cheerful observance, than a precept which is found with nearly verbal iden- tity in the teachings of Confucius and those of Jesus Christ, acknowledged by all and endeared to all by association and.educa- tion, viz : " All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." The fundamental laws of our State on this subject, provides for the free exercise of religious profession and worship, without discrimination, shall be forever guaranteed ; and that no person shall be denied any civil or politi- cal rights, privileges or capacity on account of his religious opinions. No person is required by law to attend or support any ministry or place of worship against his consent ; nor is any preference given by law to any denomination or mode of worship.
It is the duty of the instructors of our youth to take diligent care and exert their best endeavors to impress on the minds of the children under their instruction, the principles of morality and justice, a sacred regard for truth, a love of country, humanity and universal benevolence, sobriety, industry, frugality, chastity, mod- eration, temperance and all other virtues which are the ornaments of society. The duties above set forth are in conformity to our laws and our Constitution.
The Bible. concerning the eternal interests of man, the standard of sound morality, the foundation of all civil government, and the exponent of those virtues so desirable to be cultivated, should have a place in all our schools.
Reading the Bible in schools is no more an interference with religious belief than the reading the mythology of Greece and Rome, or Mohammadism, an interference with religious faith. Our Legislature very wisely leaves the selection of books to be used in our schools, to the directors, teachers and superintendents, who are elected by a majority of the people for whom they act, thus reflect- ing the will of their constituents. There is no compulsory attend- ance; no religions tests required ; no essentials of belief; no pro- perty qualifications required to entitle a scholar to the benefits of
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
our common schools of Mifflin county or our State. He may be a Jew or Mohammedan, Catholic or Quaker, Protestant or Hin- doo ; he may believe much or little, or have no belief at all, but in no case can he be deprived of instruction. If the writings of Gal- lileo, Copernicus or Newton should be derogatory to the opinions of any individual, is that any reason why the youth of our country should be educated in ignorance of the teachings of these philoso- phers ? Shall Locke, Bacon, Milton and Swift be stricken from' our list of authors because some church voted them heretical writers? Hence the wisdom of our laws, in placing the selection of" books in the hands of school officers, elected by the people whom they serve, as before stated, thus reflecting the will of their con- stituents.
Our grand system of democratic equality regards the Pagan and Mormon, Brahmin and Jew, Swedenborgian and Buddhist, Catholic- and Quaker all as possessing equal rights under the beneficent laws of our common schools. The decrees of a council, or conference, or diocese, or the decisions of a ulema, are alike powerless before our laws. The Law is the supremacy of the people, and that all government is founded on their authority, and instituted for their benefit. We defend our common schools. They are our alma mater. It is the enviable lot of the age in which we live to see: " The church and state that long had held
Unholy intercourse, now divorced,
She, who on the breast of civil power
Had long reposed her harlot head,
(The church a harlot then when first she wedded civil power,)
And drank the blood of martyred saints
Whose priests were lords,
Whose coffers held the gold of every land, Who had a cup of all pollutions full."
It is a fact that is observed by all that the best, most vigorous- and comprehensive minds have arisen from the masses-from the common people. This is the rule, not the exception, and exceptions to this rule is rare, and is attributable to our school system. It is ability and power that makes progress and advancement, and ob -. tains eminence in politics, law, or scientific attainments. We admire the persevering energy that, amid poverty and disadvantage, sits down on the top-most round of the ladder, breathless it may be, but triumphant and beckons to the world to follow. We once attended a noted school examination where the son of an Irish- laborer carried away the first honors in all his recitations, and the
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
son of a wealthy citizen, and high official, was excused, after he made repeated failures, from further recitatiou. Money, position and influence will not buy talent and energy, perseverance and application. The greatest men in the history of our government were graduates of our common schools. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, Prof. Morse, Joseph Henry were self-educated men, and their names will go down to prosterity as long as the American Constitution, Bunker Hill monument, or heavens own lightning shall be subjects for human contemplation, or the steam engine and the magnetic telegraph are subservient to human wants.
The Schools of Mifflin County.
The common school system of Pennsylvania was adopted in 1835, although it has since received amendments ; but previously educa- tional affairs had been conducted very loosely, and the preservation of statistics much neglected. The principal aim of this article will be to sketch the primitive system in contrast with the present, so we may get a glance of comparison by contrast. At the beginning of the free school system there were no graded schools in the county, nor had there been any so far as the records show. From an experienced teacher of the present day, we get the following : "The teachers are not yet as well qualified as they should be. This is an undeniable fact. That they have greatly improved as a class, is equally true. The standard of education is very much higher than it was a few years ago. In the early history of this country, high scholastic attainments were not required of the teacher. If a man had a fair knowledge of arithmetic and could write a legible hand, read tolerably well, and possessed muscle to wield the birch, he had the necessary qualifications for a teacher." Teachers of fifty years ago gave no attention to professional culture ; educa- tional meetings were not known ; works on the theory and practice of teaching were not studied. It is true that many of the teachers were men of experience in the school room, but they plied their calling in a tread-mill style, few of them knowing anything of the laws of mental growth and development, or the science of educa- tion. As the cause of education has grown and developed, not only greater selfolastic attainments, but more thorough professional training has been demanded. The teachers of Mifflin county, com- pare favorably with those of other counties in point of attainments and zeal in their work. In the good old times of subscription-
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
book schools, none but men were employed in this work of teacli- ing. We have no record of any female teachers previous to the adoption of the free school system. Female teachers, in Mifiin county, as well as.in others, had to meet opposition. They had to fight superstition and gross ignorance, and the most unreasonable prejudices, only to conquer, to come off victorious. They have es- tablished their right to patronage by their meritorious worth. Rc- sults prove that they have met with more uniform success than male teachers; some of the best diciplined, the most carefully trained, and the best taught schools in the county have been taught by female teachers. At the present time, it is estimated that about one-third of the schools in the county are taught by female teachers. During the war it is supposed that about one-half were females.
The efficiency of our schools has been greatly increased by the late attention given to classifications. Formerly there were as many classes in each branch of study, as there were pupils pur- suing it. Two books of the same kind were seldom found in a school. At the opening of a term book cases and libraries were ransacked by pupils in their ambition to have a book different from any other in school. Teachers themselves were ignorant of the value of classification, and did not encourage it. There were fewer branches taught in the schools at that time than at the present, and instruction was given in a very different manner. Arithmetic was not recited. When the pupil found a problem he could not solve, it was taken to the teacher by whom the solution was placed upon the slate, and returned without explanation or comment. The pupil retired to his seat with his new acquisition and resumed his work. Previons to the adoption of the present school system, little else was taught in our schools than spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic. In addition to these branches, teachers are now required to pass an examination and be prepared to impart knowledge in mental arithmetic, geo- graphy, grammar, history of the United States, and the theory of teaching. In a number of schools, vocal music, algebra and draw- ing to a limited extent, and a few of the higher grades are also taught, etymology, physiology, philosophy and astronomy. In text-books our schools also approach very nearly to uniformity. In an old communication we find the following description of a primitive school house : " It was built of round logs, and covered with clapboards which were kept in their places by heavy logs laid on them to keep them down. The floors were made of round logs
.
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
split in two and laid with the flat sides up. Snakes would often crawl up through the holes between them. In the end of each building was a great fire place, with a wooden chimney. The light was admitted through large cracks in the wall, eight to ten inches wide, covered with greased paper for glass, and woe betide the- urchin who ran his finger through the window, as often happened." School architecture has not yet reached a high degree of perfec- tion in the county, but most of the houses latterly built are neat, comfortable and commodious. They are generally as good, we presume, as the means of the district justifies, and are certainly very superior to those used half a century ago. Perhaps the greatest improvement in connection with our schools is the apparatus with which they are generally supplied. A majority are supplied with maps, globes, charts, writing tablets, &c., also dictionaries and blackboards. Statistics of the present schools of Mifflin county are as follows :
Number of schools in the county, - 107
Number of teachers in the county, - 107 -
Number of teachers now holding certificates, - 115 -
Number of teachers holding permanent certificates,
16
Number of professional, -
6
Number of provisional, -
93
Number of female teachers,
- 47
Number of male teachers,
68
Number of school houses,
87
Number of pupils last term,
4,400
Number of children not attending, nearly,
400
Number of directors,
84
Number of districts, .
14
Number of boroughs, -
14
Number of independent, -
1 ..
The following poem illustrates one phrase of female education. of these modern times :
Miss Pallas Eudora Von Blurky
She didn't know chicken from turkey;
High Spanish and Greek she conld fluently speak, But her knowledge of poultry was murky.
She could tell the great uncle of Moses,
And the dates of the Wars of the Roses, And the reasons of things,-why the Indians wore nings In their red, aboriginal noscs!
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
Why Shakspere was wrong in his grammar,
And the meaning of Emerson's "Brahma," And she went chipping rocks with a little black box And a small geological hammer!
She had views upon co-education And the principal need of the nation, And her glasses were blue, and the number she knew Of the stars in each high constellation.
And she wrote in the hand-writing clerky, And she talked with an emphasis jerky,
And she painted on tiles the sweetest of styles;
But she didn't know chicken from turkey!
Kishacoquillas Seminary.
This institution is beautifully located near the centre of Big Val- ley, in as rich an agricultural region as the State affords, and was chartered by the Legislature, in 1854. Mr. John S. Easton and James Alexander raised the stock for the purchase of the land and the erection of the building on the following conditions, viz : That all subscribers of shares of one hundred dollars each, should have one scholar free for five years and a vote in the management of the school. It was a fine success ; they raised five thousand three hun- dred dollars, the cost of the building. Nine trustees were then elected by the stockholders to proceed with the work. The grounds were donated by Mrs. Elizabeth Alexander.
The first principal was Prof. Nelson, of Salem, New York, who done a good and a satisfactory work for the first session, so much so that he was continued also a second session. He was followed in a third session by Prof. Easton, then Hngh Alexander and Prof. Green. These sold to Prof. Z. Sharp, who taught two or three years, and then sold to Prof. Martin Mohler, who taught two years, and sold to John W. Bell, who continued it in successful work for seven years, and then sold to Mr. Garner, who occupies it as a res- idence and mercantile business, the school being now non est. A fine library occupied one room, and was the property of a literary society which is still in existence, though the library has passed into private hands. It is to be regretted that the institution conld not have been continued, as its commodious building, location and many other things made it a very desirable enterprise.
The Primitive School.
We wish we could picture to the scholar of the present day the primitive school house and its primitive teacher and discipline. To
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
do this the reader will excuse us in the use of our own personal ex- perience and recollections as the best source of the information sought. We give names and dates as they occurred in the old log school house in the burying ground attached to the Little Valley church. Fifty years ago, the present summer, the writer first at- tended school in that old log house, viz: 1829, and Major David Hough, now an old and honored grey haired resident of Lewistown, was his first teacher, and though half a century has since then elapsed with its lights and shades incident to human life, and none has been more varied than that of the writer, yet we recall with the vividness of yesterday the days we spent there to master the mys- teries of our alphabet from a blue covered primer, under the guid- ance of Mr. Hough, our first teacher. The house was a large, square room, built of hewn logs, and conld seat comfortably eighty to ninety scholars in double rows along three sides, while the desk and seat of the teacher occupied the centre of the west end in a line with the door and stove. The outer row was seated against the walls, with writing boards in front for those who used the pen and pencil. Long benches with low backs stood nearer the stove for us little fellows who did not use the pen. A huge ten-plate stove stood near the centre of the room between the teacher's desk and the door. Our school was considered the best in the country, as I presume it was, under the management of Mr. Hongh and his suc- cessors. In our brief time, were Messrs. David Rothrock and Ja- bez Spencer. The branches taught were reading, writing and arithi- metic. Here we learned our a, b, c's, and then our a-b, ab's class, and then the one syllable and two and three syllable spelling classes, and finally into the reading class. We were kept in our spelling class long after we could read, but our teacher, at that time, Mr. Ja- bez Spencer, was not aware of our ability to read until he accident- ally caught us reading a piece of newspaper, when he changed us to a more advanced class.
A system of corporeal punishment then was the unrepealable, never to be suspended law. This we regard to-day, both in the school and in the family, a relie of barbarism, descended to us from the dark ages. The " dunce block " was another of the primi- tive means of punishment ; and the use of the " ferule " was a most popular chastening.
The days of public schools and free schools had not yet come, and the teacher was paid a certain sum per scholar each quarter. If he was a single man, as was usually the case, he boarded with
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
the families who patronized his school, a certain time for each scholar ; and it was a commendable feature of this that each family sought to excel in the comfort and the entertainment of their guest.
The last session of the school we attended at the old house before referred to was at the age of nine years, in 1834. Jabez Spencer was the teacher. He had served us two or three terms, and was now about to leave, as was the writer with our family for the West. When school was dismissed, the last evening thereof, Mr. Spencer took a position at the door, to shake hands and say farewell to each of his little friends, for all the scholars were his friends, made so, not by chastisement, for Mr. Spencer had ignored this, but by his kindness and sympathy, had controlled his school.
Thus we parted, and well, to-day, do we remember our over- flowing heart as he took our hand to say farewell. We remember his words but we could not speak in reply. In our day, another feature of the school was the attendance of the minister to teach us in the catechism. Oh, how we used to dread that day when Mr. William Annon, then pastor of the Little Valley church, was to be with us. But we faced the trying ordeal and was glad when it was over. This morning we received a communication from Rev. Wil- liam Annon, which we insert in another part of this work. That- veteran minister still lives, though far down the Western declivities of life's journey, and perhaps nearing the other shore, soon to pass. over " That river, that cold, dark river, to gardens and fields that. are blooming forever."
Lewistown Academy.
This institution was chartered in 1814, but was not erected for- many years afterward ; and the gentlemen still reside near it that. hauled the stones for its firm foundations, on which it rests.
Among its first teachers have been Gen. A. T. Warner, of Ohio; Washington McCartney, afterwards professor of Lafayette College.
Among its former students, occupying responsible positions, arc : Bishop Wiley, of the M. E. Church, who, in 1877, made a mission to China and Japan ; Judge James B. Belford, afterward member of Congress from Colorado: William Mitchell, Gen. Hancock's chief of staff; Rev. Charles Halc, of New York ; Hon. Thaddeus Banks, of Hollidaysburg; Col. A. M. Norris, Philadelphia; Judge S. S. Woods; Lieut. James Woods, of the regular army, who died in Mexico; David Macay, A. P. Jacob, Esq., and many others
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTI.
who have held prominent positions, public and private, in Church and State. .
The building has been repaired and much enlarged by the addi- tion of a boarding hall, and begins its sixty-sixth year in Novem- ber, 1879. It has revised courses of studies, and competent principal and teachers, and a high grade of scholarship is aimed at in each department, and especial attention is given to preparations for col- lege. The building is beatifully located on Third street; and its splendid grounds, and the fine, tasteful ornamentation thereof, is an ornament to the town.
Public School House.
Lewistown has just reason to be proud of her public school edi- fice, fronting on Third and Wayne streets, erected in 1872, at a cost of about thirty-four thousand dollars, and will accommodate over five hundred pupils.
The schools are graded, and under the supervision of most com- petent teachers. The grounds are capacious, nicely graded and finely set in sod ; but floral shrubbery and shade trees should yet be added to them for health and beauty.
The school rooms and grounds should be attractive, and a home- like resort for their youthful occupants, and should ever be made pleasant and attractive.
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
NEWSPAPERS.
T YO give a perfect sketch historically of the newspapers published in Mifflin county at various times, is at this time, an impossi- bility, but enough is known to fix with certainty, that the first was established here about the year 1795 to 1800, by a Mr. John Doyle, and he was succeeded by a second one, by a Mr. Pope, and a third one, in 1806, by Edward Cole, and a fourth one called the " Western Star," vol. V, No. 27, 1805, is yet in existence ; and a fifth in 1811, called the " Gazette," by Dixon and Elliot, the latter gentleman still a resident of Lewistown (see biography). Perpetuity has not been a characteristic of this important industry, " the art preserva- tive of all arts," that is so much the pride and so very justly the boast of our age and country.
The art of printing is second to no other. Of its first origin, histories differ, but enough is known to prove its existence in Asia long before its discovery in Europe, and printed mottoes on the lids of terra cotta coffins, have been disinterred in Southern Greece and Egypt, olderthan any record of the human race. Its discovery in Europe, threw new light over the dark ages, when darkness had shrouded the world for over three centuries.
If old John Guttenburgh could only see what his old wooden press of 1443, would develope when he was gone.
Now shaft and pulley and pinion and wheel Arms of iron and nerves of steel, Clang and clatter with ceaseless zeal, In the work that he started them o'er. It would frighten his ghost if it only knew
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