Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 44

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930

USA > Pennsylvania > Indiana County > Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I > Part 44

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"Spellers and Readers, Tower's.

"Resolved, That our thanks are due and are hereby tendered to the Trustees of Indiana Academy, for the use of their edifice during the present session of the Normal School.

"Resolved, That the above resolutions he published in the Indiana county papers, and in the Pennsylvania School Journal.

"Resolved, That we recommend to the Teachers of Indiana county the reading of the 'Pennsylvania School Journal.'

"Resolved, That we tender to Thomas H. Burrowes, Editor of the 'Pennsylvania School .Journal,' our sincere thanks for his past favors, in publishing the minutes of our deliberations.

"T. Hindman, "Geo. W. Lininger, "Rebecca A. M'Claran, "Lizzie M. White, "Louisa M. Diven, "Committee.

"Indiana, October 25, 1856."

SCHOOLHOUSES (By a Teacher in the Fifties)

It has never been our good fortune to teach in a building worthy the name of school- house. Nor in all our peregrinations in rural districts have we ever seen a schoolhouse which, in our opinion, was the place in or about which the young idea might learn to shoot.

Is it any wonder that our jails and peniten- tiaries find so many inmates? Our children become so accustomed to gloomy walls, and uncomfortable seats, to dreariness within, in short, to what a child regards as imprison- ment, that in after life they become fit sub- jeets of civil restraint.

And we will not be disappointed at the day preserver of good order in the schoolroom.

of final reckoning to find that many of the

good people of this earth are charged with violating the sixth commandment: "Thou shalt not kill," saith the giver of life and health ; and yet nine tenths of our Christian fathers and mothers persist in shortening the lives of their offspring; yes, even in torturing them to death, by confining them in poorly constructed and badly ventilated schoolrooms. Oh, how often have we gone to our school in the morning, actuated by the noblest resolves to discharge the duties of our calling, and yet, just as frequently, have returned in the even- ing sick and discouraged.

You may write and talk till doomsday re- specting good teachers, and of their capability to make the schoolhouse a pleasant place, where children love to go; but we say it can- not be done, in nine cases out of ten. The teacher may be patient-and he should possess the patience of Job; he may be educated-not in mere book learning, but in the practical duties of life ; he may possess the peculiar gift of being able to communicate his knowledge to others; he may be willing to perform faith- fully the duties of his high and responsible office; and yet, we say, he may fail to accom- plish what might be done. Never can he ren- der satisfaction to those who have entrusted to him the education of children; never can he satisfy his own conscience that all is right, so long as he is compelled to toil on, from week to week and from month to month, in our present schoolrooms. ' Parents complain that their children are unhealthy, and too frequent- ly punished at school, and teachers retort by saying that children are feverish and un- governable. Both are correct, the parents and the teacher, so far as regards bad health and want of attention on the part of the pupil. But the parent has power to apply the remedy, and until it is applied no one has the right to complain of the teacher's discipline, even though it be of the sterner kind. And we do not hesitate to say that so long as forty or fifty and even a greater number of children are crowded into small rooms, uncomfortably seated, and unventilated, just so long, if the teacher is expected to preserve good order, will he be obliged to resort to corporal punish- ment. We are no defender of the rod except in extreme cases, and it always gives us pain to inflict punishment upon a child. We have great confidence in the power and influence of kindness, and are firmly convinced that a "good time is coming," when love will be the great incentive to improvement, and the best.

But establish normal schools in every coun-

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ty ; provide the best instructors for educating to one or two of the leading points, very brief- teachers; permit no one to engage in training ly stated, wherein you may vastly assist their the infant mind who has not previously un- instructor. dergone a thorough course of physical, moral and mental discipline; remunerate them with words of sympathy and encouragement and the highest salaries yet make no improvement in the construction of schoolhouses, and your object-that of having good schools-will be far, very far, from being accomplished.

When the thousand and one unsightly schoolhouses, or, more appropriately, school prisons, that now stand at the street corners, cross roads and on the barren hilltops shall be regarded as unsuitable for the development of mind and muscle; when large and com- modious buildings shall be erected in the very best locations; when the seating shall be ar- ranged with strict regard to comfort and order; when the walls shall be covered with blackboards, maps and charts, and the teacher supplied with suitable apparatus; when the school grounds shall be neatly inclosed, and tastefully adorned with shrubs and flowers, with sufficient space for recreation ; then, and not till then, will the schoolhouse be an invit- ing place, and going to school a pleasant duty; and not till then will the teacher be appreciated.

We quote from the "Pennsylvania School Journal":

A WORD TO PARENTS HAVING SMALL CHILDREN AT SCHOOL

sibility upon the teachers of the common school; to think that the patrons of a district appear to take so little interest in the welfare and advancement of the pupils in the school ; and that many are so inconsiderate as to leave the education of their children solely to the teacher, and expect him to inspire them with ambitious thoughts, encourage them in their labors, and gain the love, respect and confi- dence of all intrusted to his care. True, this can all be done by him; but would not a little assistance from you (the parents) be of very great service to your teacher ?

Keep them regularly at school. The ab- sence of a single day is very bad-they "drop a stitch" by so doing, which the next two days cannot "lift." It deranges the teacher's plans and makes it vastly easier for the absence to occur again. Better by far suffer incon- venience than to keep them at home a single day. It would, indeed, be better to spare several dimes and some hours besides, and do the errands yourself, than keep your children home to run them.

Be sure they are punctual. Ten or fifteen minutes in the morning do you but little good and them a great deal of harm. Arriving at the schoolroom five or twenty minutes too late, they disturb the punctual ones, lose an exercise or two, provoke the teacher, and cultivate a careless and lazy habit of always being behind time. It is the habit, thus formed in the child, we look at more particularly. In after life it clings to him like frost to a lump of ice. The more he tries to free himself of the habit the closer it hugs him, as though there was truly some dignity in being last in coming.

Teach them to respect the rules of school. Show them wherein such regulations are nec- essary. Talk to them about the many tricks practiced by some pupils at school, and con- vince them that it is as easy to do right as wrong; and also when the wrong is preferred and the right rejected, that they will be most assuredly accountable to you for the offence. In this way you can teach your children to think before they act, and then to prefer the

I have often been almost overcome with the thought that there is such a weighty respon- right always. They learn to act from principle,

not prejudice, and therefore the childish dis- position is purged out, and a manly principle established in its stead, which will carry them through in after life. Let parents adopt this plan, and the teacher rarely, if ever, will have any rule in governing.

If they have lessons to learn out of school. assist them. By this the teacher judges of your interest in their progress ; if they always go prepared in these home lessons, he is care- ful that they progress rapidly in their school studies. He knows he is watched, he feels doubly interested in your children's welfare, and consequently he labors more faithfully for their advancement. But if the evidences are that you pay no attention to them at home, and permit them to loiter their time foolishly,

Your children are, no doubt, as near and dear to you as the apple of your eye. Their success at school is indeed near your heart, and you cherish high hopes of them in the future. You are anxious to help them along in without making any inquiry as regards their their studies, provided such assistance will not progress and behavior at school, or seeing that too seriously tax you. Then, we say, listen they study during the morning and evening,

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he has no evidence that you are taking an in- dition should have been raised by private sub- terest in the school; he therefore does his scription. One half of said appropriation was duty mechanically, with little hope for the to be invested in stocks and the interest thereof better. Many children get the idea, thus, that he is the only one interested in the school, and if they study at all do so to please only their teacher, sometimes not so much.

Sometimes you are at leisure and scarcely know what to do with yourself. Then bestir yourselves - assist your children, visit the school and encourage the teachers; and when- ever you have opportunity of rendering service to either, do it; for you can more than double the usefulness of the teacher, if you only have a willing mind.

When the school closes, do not suffer them to leave off study, but give them, every day, tasks as a review. Pay strict attention to them and see that they are faithful to their charge. In this way, if not constantly advanc- ing, they will be at least retaining what they have learned. Then, when the school com- mences again, they will be ready to commence · where they left off at the former school. In these western counties, where we have only four to five months school in the year, in how many schools do we hear the teacher say, "I began where my predecessor did." Now, with a little care on the part of the parents, this could all be remedied, and our schools would immediately begin to advance towards per- fection.

I sincerely hope that the time is not far distant, when every parent will be aroused to a deeper sense of his duty, and put forth all his energies for the furtherance and advance- ment of the cause of common school education. With best wishes for your abundant success and for the enlarged circulation of your most valuable Journal, I subscribe myself,

R. A. W.

Clarksburg, Indiana Co., Dec. 5th, 1855.

ACADEMIES AND SEMINARIES

The Indiana Academy was incorporated by an Act of the Legislature approved March 28, 1814, in which Act Rev. Joseph M. Hender- son, Rev. John Jamison, James McComb, James Smith, Thomas Sharp, Robert Sutton, James MeLain, Joseph Moorhead, Blaney Adair, James M. Kelly, James McKnight, Daniel Stanard, John Denniston were named as trustees, to serve until others should be elected, as provided for in the said Act.

applied to the support of the academy ; in pur- suance of which provision, stock to that amount was purchased in the "Westmoreland Bank of Pennsylvania," seventy per cent of which was finally lost by the failure of the institution. The remaining $1,000 appropri- ated was used in the erection of the building.

The trustees met at the courthouse on the 2d of May, 1814, and elected James M. Kelly secretary, and James McKnight treasurer, and on the 18th of June, 1814, James McLain was chosen president. The site of the academy was purchased and an agreement entered into with John Henry and John Loughry for the erec- tion of a stone building, which was completed in 1816. The building was located where the residence of IIon. Silas M. Clark (deceased) now stands. One room of this building was used ten or eleven years for an elementary school.

On June 1, 1818, the academy was opened under the direction of Rev. John Reid, for the reception of pupils wishing to study the higher branches, and from that time forward teachers were generally employed for regular sessions, Rev. John K. Kirkpatrick, Thomas E. Morgan, Rev. Henry S. Koons, Silas M. Clark, E. D. B. Porter, J. Willis Westlake, R. T. Cornwell, and others having charge of the school. In 1846 the old stone building was replaced by a neat brick structure, one story high, with three rooms, and was used for an academy until 1862. This school had, most of the time, a large number of students. Many of the leading men of the country acted as teachers in this institution, and an impetus was given to the educational cause that the passing years have rather increased than re- tarded.

Female Seminary .- There was for a short time a female seminary on the northwest cor- ner of Church and Sixth streets, in Indiana.

Eldersridge Academy .- Eldersridge Pres- byterian Academy is situated in Indiana coun- ty, four miles from the Kiskiminetas, a branch of the Allegheny river. It is about forty miles from Pittsburg, sixteen from the town of Indiana, and thirteen from Blairsville.

A few persons began reciting privately to Rev. Alexander Donaldson, at Eldersridge, as early as 1832, in the second story of a log springhouse. The writer has information to the effect that at first four students were in attendance: Jacob Kiers, who became a phy-

The sum of $2.000 was appropriated on be- half of the Commonwealth, to be drawn out of the State treasury whenever $1,000 in ad- sician and practiced in Detroit, Mich .; Mat-

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thew Wilson, who became a minister and tervals J. M. McElroy, also a graduate of preached at Jacksonville, Pa .; Mr. McAdoo, Jefferson College, engaged as assistant, and who settled in the oil regions; and Peter Mc- continued in connection with the institution until October 1, 1853. Goff, who became a banker and located at Franklin, Pa. This was the beginning of Eldersridge Academy.

Without at all anticipating the establish- ment of an institution such as it became, Mr. Donaldson had been induced to give private instruction in the classies and other branches to young men who were preparing to enter college, or otherwise fitting themselves for use- fulness. During the winter and spring of 1847 the number of applicants for instruc- tion had so increased as to render it necessary either to relinquish the matter entirely, or pro- cure assistance in teaching.

Accordingly Mr. J. M. Barnett, of Blairs- ville, then an undergraduate in Jefferson Col- lege, was engaged as assistant, and on the 16th of April in that year the academic school was opened in Mr. Donaldson's "study" with six- teen pupils. The whole number admitted during the first two sessions was thirty-one. During the second year (1848) twenty-five new students were received ; third year, thirty- five; fourth year, forty-one; fifth year, fifty- eight; sixth year, fifty; seventh year, sixty- two

The first schoolroom erected was very small, yet a neat and convenient one-story frame, de- signed to accommodate from twenty to thirty students. The founder built it at his own ex- pense ($320). This proving too small, the present building, a substantial and convenient two-story brick edifice, 50 feet by 30, was erected in 1852, at a cost of $2,000 besides the boundless control over those within his influ- ence.

grounds and inclosures. It is situated on a beautiful and conspicuous eminence, and con- tains a large study and recitation room capa- ble of accommodating from sixty to one hun- dred persons; a second, smaller, recitation room ; two society halls, and two smaller rooms designed for library, cabinet of minerals, ap- paratus, etc.

The institution has the advantage of an en- tirely rural situation, in an agricultural com- munity, on the ridge of farm land running parallel with the river, and which has for many years borne the name of one of the early settlers. The school was called into existence by the wants of the community and surrounding country.

Mr. Barnett remained as assistant in the academy until October, 1853, with the excep- tion of two intervals of one year each, the first of which he devoted to finishing his col- legiate education. In the second of these in-

The design of the institution was from its commencement twofold: To prepare young men for advantageously entering college; and to provide properly qualified teachers for com- mon and other schools. In both of these it has had a large measure of success.

As might be inferred from what has been already stated, the majority of the students have been young men grown. It was not de- signed chiefly for small boys, who would need the constant oversight of the teacher both in the schoolroom and at their place of boarding. A number of such have, indeed, at different times, been received, and some of them have made very gratifying progress in study. Still. it was not designed to be a boarding school in the commonly received sense of the term; and little boys who must have constant attention and oversight as a condition on which depends their improvement, parents were not encour- aged to send.

One important element of success in Mr. Donaldson's governing we believe was a kind of silent, unexpressed, unthought-of conscious- ness of power over students-an assurance entering into and forming a part of himself, and pervading every action and movement, that the students will do right: it must be so; it cannot be otherwise. This conscious power, united with a kindly disposition, supe- rior scholarship, and a commanding moral character, gives the possessor an almost

To illustrate our meaning: We have seen the principal enter the academy the next morning after an unpleasant rumor had reached his ears, and at the close of the exer- cise slowly rise to unburden his mind to the students. A more than usually grave coun- tenance betokened deep feeling within. A pause ensued, during which every eye in the room was fixed upon him who was about to speak. Slowly, and in tones of solicitude and sorrow, he enunciated the question, "Do any of our students swear ?" Another pause, dur- ing which a pinfall might have been heard, and which was only interrupted by the guilty person, a magnanimous young man, rising, in presence of teachers and fifty fellow stu- dents, to acknowledge his fault! The scene we shall never forget. It was worthy of the painter's pencil.

Assistant teachers have been numerous,

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IIISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

sometimes one at a time, but mostly two. The had the distinction of marching on Sherman's income from tuition has always been divided staff from "Atlanta to the sea." equally between the principal and each assist- ant. The following teachers, generally aid- ing themselves in professional studies, have been employed for shorter or longer terms: John M. Barnett, James A. McKnight, Mat- thew Clark, John M. McElroy, D. W. El- der, John C. Thom, T. B. Elder, J. W. Smith, S. Kennedy, James E. Caruthers, J. H. Don- aldson, F. J. C. Schneider, S. J. Craighead, A. W. McCullough, Eben B. Caldwell, G. B. Smith, S. S. Gilson, A. M. Donaldson, W. B. Donaldson, W. W. MeLane, H. B. Knight, W. J. Bollman, John Brownson, R. H. Carothers, J. M. Duncan, John B. Donaldson, C. F. Gal- laher, John A. Scott, G. W. Gilbert, S. M. Jack, Rev. A. S. Stewart, L. A. Frantz, Mag- gie M. Elder, Maude Elder, P. A. Love and Wilson Grove.

Soon after the opening of the school patron- age came from Clarion county on the north and Cambria county on the southeast, and all the intervening counties, some even from Huntingdon, Bedford and Franklin. The position taken and maintained by students from the academy in what was then Jefferson College attracted attention, and numbers who had enrolled there in the lower classes were thus drawn to this institution as a more prof- itable place to spend the earlier years of a college course. In this way the academy came to have representatives from all the sur- rounding States, principally the middle and western, but even from Mississippi and Lou- isiana.

Of its students who have attained distinc- tion over 150 have become ministers of the gospel, one at a youthful age sitting as mod- erator of the General Assembly. Many, crowned with the honorable title of D. D., are found occupying positions of eminence in the church, and nine are foreign mission- aries. Over eighty have become physicians. More than ninety have been admitted to the bar, and of these at least six have honored the bench. In educational work many are prominent, one as a college president, others as distinguished professors or as principals of academies or high schools. Three are ed- itors of papers, secular and religious. One lieutenant governor and numerous State senators and legislators are included. Many sleep in the national cemeteries or in their own churchyards in graves honored by the nation, while others still survive with military titles to testify to honorable service. One tory, Latin and Greek orations, and Valedic-

Ten or twelve families within a circuit of two miles for a few years at first accommo- dated the students with boarding at one dol- lar per week. Within ten years John Smith, Christopher Iman and John Thom had erected boarding houses. During the same time boarding rose to $1.25 and increased from year to year until it was raised to $3.50. But a large number of students have, during all these variations, rented rooms and boarded themselves at an expense of little more than one dollar per week, and while practicing the close and useful economies of such a life have taken high grade in scholarship, and as high a position in the respect and esteem of a com- munity which has learned to look kindly and encouragingly upon that class of students. For a number of years "boarding clubs," as at colleges, were introduced and the cost of boarding redneed to the minimum.

Literary Societies .- While in the building first erected all the students were included in one society, the Amphisbeteon, which held weekly meetings. When the two-story build- ing came to be occupied they divided them- selves equally between two new societies, called Ereuneteon and Matheteon, in which, as before, their meetings were held weekly. In these the exercises consisted of delivering declamations, essays, original orations and debates, either prepared or extempore. To these much and profitable attention was given, and the interest in them was greatly stimu- lated by a wholesome rivalry between the two societies. Decided opinions have been ex- pressed by students of this institution, after having graduated at college, that the socie- ties here were incomparably better conducted and more profitable than at colleges where the members of two societies are distributed into fraternities, which are more highly re- garded. These societies have annually held contests in all their various exercises. For many years they were held in April, but recently they have been held just before the holidays. Picked men are chosen from each society to contest with each other in decla- mation, essay, original oration and debate, and three literary men are chosen to decide the palm of superiority between them. An exhibition is also held at the close of every aca- demie year, in which advanced students of both societies indiscriminately read essays or deliver orations, four of the performances being awarded special merit, viz .: Saluta-

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tory. In later years the German oration was added to the contest. The greatest honor was conferred upon the winner of the Valedictory and the next honor upon the winner of the Greek oration, which is not contested for at present. This occasion afforded another op- portunity of enjoying "a feast of reason and a flow of soul" as well as of bringing together in pleasant social intercourse prized patrons, their friends and acquaintances.

Control .- Immediately after the organiza- tion of this academy, when such connections were popular, the Presbytery of Blairsville, in which this region was then included, ap- pointed a committee on the subject of a Pres- byterial Academy, and required those who aspired after such connection to report the particulars of their respective schools to that committee. When this had been done, on the report of this committee, Eldersridge, in 1848, was taken up as the Blairsville Presbyterial Academy, and trustees or, more properly, vis- itors were appointed annually to attend its examinations and advise respecting its man- agement. Very soon, however, as several members of the Presbytery became interested in other schools, which were starting up one after another within the bounds of the Pres- bytery, they lost their interest in this institu- tion, and the connection became merely a nominal one. In the year 1876 Dr. Donald- son, wishing to secure in a legal way its per- petuation after he must be separated from it, selected a board of nineteen trustees (to be self-perpetuating) from the different relig- ious denominations in the vicinity, with this condition, that in choosing the faculty the principal should always be a Presbyterian. To this board he conveyed all his right, title interest and claim to the academy building, its grounds, appurtenances and franchises. asking in return that whenever any of his descendants, one at a time, should be sent to it as pupil, no charge should be made for tui- tion. The board, having accepted the trust, reroofed the building and made other repairs to the amount of six hundred dollars, and reelected the faculty. Dr. Donaldson was retained as principal and reelected each year. In 1884 he asked to be relieved from all fur- ther connection with the institution, but the board unanimously refused to consent. They acceded to his request, however, in the year 1885. He had filled the office for a period of over thirty-eight years, with such marked success in training mind and stamping char- acter as to justly place him in the front rank of successful educators.

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Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 44

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930