USA > Wisconsin > Washington County > Washington County, Wisconsin : past and present > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
"Do you know that your horse has taken the wrong road?" Madame P. asked me. "You let him have too much of his will."
I alighted from the buggy. Nearby stood an oblong building that resembled neither a dwelling nor a stable. Upon looking into it, I noticed vessels of the kind used in making cheese. Apparently work had been finished in the room but shortly before, and the time for rest had come. But something did stir in some part of the building, and at last I found the cause. It was a woman engaged in the most painstaking and important work of dairying, the cleaning and scour- ing of the cans and utensils. She was so much absorbed in her work that she had not heard the arrival of our vehicle.
"Up Holy Hill you want to go?" she exclaimed upon my ques- tioning. "Then you must go back. Around this way you'll never get up the hill. The road leads past it. Don't turn off from the main road again until you come to a sign-the Carmelites had it put up!"
It was a hot day, and I really could not blame the horse for Vol. I-10
145
146
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
trying to pull around the hill instead of ascending it. But such was the condition set by Madame P.
"We will drive up as high as possible, and a little farther," had she said when the hill that was visible for hours rose broader and higher in front of us.
After a few capers, our animal assented to turn around. The road was, after the light rain of the day previous, in an excellent condition, and our buggy rolled along so smoothly and silently that even the rabbits did not notice its approach and let it come right nigh, and the birds in the trees on the road-side did not interrupt their carols.
The road leading up-hill is narrow and terraced. A steep hill, then a stretch down; a second, third, fourth, fifth hill followed by as many declivities. The latter, however, are not as long as the rises, and one gradually becomes aware of getting into higher regions. The trip would be an ideal one for auto-cranks. They could make it only with the little regulator on their machine wide open, the latter sweeping up and down and puffing like a veritable demon. This has happened already, but fearing that the calamities would become too many even for this country of wonders, automobiles were banished entirely.
Even for a light-weight vehicle like ours, the climbing was difficult. Our horse was warier than we. Upon the arrival on a hill top he braced himself against the buggy with his legs, lest the load get ahead of him. In his nervousness he did not always keep in a straight line; then the wheels of one side or the other would leave the ruts, and the occupants would be shaken up very much against their liking. But the wagon road came to an end, and although the stretch before us was not much steeper than the one behind, Madame P. had to get out, as a second sign warned that vehicles were not allowed to be driven farther.
We passed by a little terraced vegetable garden and came to the new building of the Carmelites, the architecture of which reminds of a hospice. It stands about a hundred and fifty feet below the church on a level piece of ground just large enough to hold it. It originally was but one-third its present size. The addition is of stone, the old part of wood. I could wish a broader porch for the building, and then I could imagine how full of wondrous comfort the evenings spent here would be. Away from the turmoil of man and his works, alone with one's self and the universe-what an ideal place would it be for a meditative mind to once more go through all the good and sweet things of life that memory keeps stored up, and
147
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
how soon everything would be drowned in oblivion, that was dis- agreeable and galling and vile.
Madame P. drew a comparison between this and the buildings of the Padres in California. She described San Gabriele with its care- fully tended flower beds and its humming bees; Santa Barbara with its fountain and colonnade; San Miguel with its long-stretched build- ings; San Diego and San Luis Obispo, San Buenaventura and Del Rey-in their plains full of glaring sunshine. But the monastery on Holy Hill also has something that is fascinating. When the pro- cession of the tourists and the faithful ones comes to an end, and the last pilgrim has descended to the plain, and evening has come, the hill-top with its little church once more flashes up, resplendent in the golden light of the setting sun. The rays fall through the dense forest of oak, birch and maple, down to the quiet pathways, until gradually everything is lost in darkness, and only the cross on the steeple in its lofty height is sparkling like a jewel in the last rays of the day.
In front of the building carpenters were busy dressing beams for. the basement of a big barn to be built to the right.
"Does the way to the church lead around the building?" I asked one of the men.
"Yea," he answered in a dry way, as though tired of many questions. But seeing that Madame P. was a little selective in putting her feet between the stones and sticks that lay profusely on the ground, he waxed a little more talkative.
"There are two ways. Both lead to the top. The one through the woods you follow. The other one is rather steep."
The quietude and coolness of the forest soon surrounded us, and we took deep breaths after the long ride on the sunny country road. The way is pretty level, leading along the hill and later uniting with the path meandering up from the north, on which the stations of the cross are erected. There is nothing here that could disturb the meditation of the visitor. "Dark and silent stands the forest." The outer world is lost to the wanderer. The noise of the day is silenced. Every day during the milder seasons you can meet quiet people here, walking in prayer from one station to the other. To most of them the walk is not very easy. The great pilgrimages, however, are con- fined to two days of the year. Then thousands of people arrive from the adjacent country, the cities, and other states. They make the trip from the railroad station in rigs of all kinds, on foot, in auto- mobiles, on crutches and wooden legs. Arrived at the foot of the
148
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
hill, they all become equal-none rich, none wise, but all humble and pious. For those that cannot make the pilgrimage in one day, taverns have risen at the road-side, which are gold mines to their owners dur- ing these periods, as are the horses and rigs in the entire neighbor- hood.
Slowly we climbed the path, past the last stations of the cross.
"Even a non-Catholic must find the idea pretty," Madame P. admitted, "and considering that many thousands came up here, per- haps to find mitigation for old sufferings, one hardly can escape being touched."
She took the cap from the head of her boy who looked up to her with questioning eyes, and pressed it into his hands.
From above came an old man, stooping little in spite of his high, lank stature, whom I had seen before in the distance talking with one of the monks. He seemed to be at home here, and probably belonged to those old Irish settlers, many of whom are still to be found in the surrounding country.
When he arrived at the station, he bared his head, held himself with one hand on the structure, supporting himself and caressing it at the same time, spoke a few words, and walked on. It was a devotion offered in passing by, as he probably had done innumer- able times before. But the picture was so surprising, so full of reverence, submission, and child-like faith that it was infinitely touch- ing to the strangers.
He greeted us candidly as he passed, reminding of a custom that is wide-spread in European countries.
"Wasn't that nice?" Madame P. asked, referring to his devotion at the picture of the Crucified. "It was worth the ride!"
The church is larger than it appears from the valley. Catholics of the neighborhood raised the funds to build it. But not this alone. They made the brick and helped with their own hands in the erection of the edifice. Formerly the congregation was in charge of a priest from the neighborhood, but after he had gone to Europe and died there, a long vacancy occurred until finally a few monks of the Carme- lite order settled here.
That the church has seen thousands of visitors is proven by the floor which near the entrance is worn out. In one corner is a wall- closet containing crutches and canes which had been left by pilgrims who came up invalidated. The altars are covered with the finest needle work. Madame P. could not refrain from steppping close and admiring the embroideries. They are gifts of thankful Catholics.
149
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
Tokens of gratitude and of the joy of giving are found all over the building. The stained glass windows have been donated by Pilgrims from Chicago and Milwaukee.
The view from the summit of the hill is wonderful. The eye meets no obstruction in any direction. Below thousands of acres of farming country are spread out. Farther away hamlets and villages are visible. In the west Hartford appears, in the southeast, on the fringe of the horizon, the metropolis of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. During the day you can see the smoke, and at night the light of the big city. Here and there, between the farms, a watercourse or lake is glittering. Oconomowoc river, drawing out long and narrow, from up here almost resembling a silver ribbon; Lake Keesus with its picnic ground; North lake with its tranquility, its woods and pretty shores; Moose lake with its parks; Pine lake with its superb private villas; Beaver lake with its Hotel Interlaken and its Künstlerkneipe; Okauchee lake with its countless sailboats and fishermen; Oconomo- woc lake with Fred Pabst's stock farm; Nemahbin lake with the Epis- copal mission house; Lake La Belle with the pretty little city of Oconomowoc and its dazzling hotels, especially prepared for wealthy automobile parties; Nagawicka and Pewaukee and the Cedar lakes. Twenty-seven lakes have been counted from this hill by people versed in the topography of the country. My aim was not to see all of them; but I found the place where an old man disappeared with a pail filled with cherries; it was a tiny spot in the immense panorama, but few saw happier humans.
On the way home something did happen that I secretly had dreaded -a wagon rode up towards us. It was no common wagon, but a strong dray with broad wheels, loaded with thick and long timbers, and drawn by two heavy Percheron horses. We could neither back nor turn, nor could the dray. We tried to halt at a distance, each on the top of a hillock, but the horses could not hold the wagon long on the slope. The monster rig opposite of us began to push and jerk until the animals lost the control of themselves and the wagon, and a real stampede followed. To me it seemed as if a whole herd of Percherons and a coil of drays had been let loose upon us. With maddened efforts they came nearer.
Our horse also apprehended a collision. He pressed towards the road-side, panting and trembling. Every now and then he seemed to be ready to leap over fences, hedges and fields, with buggy and all. Finally he started on a run.
The situation soon cleared. On the spot where the collision would
150
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
have had to come, an approach to a field widened the narrow road. A jerk to that side, and we had passed the dray.
"How lucky they may think themselves that we did not run 'em over!" the youngster of Madame P. broke the silence. With eyes radiant and mien triumphant the wee little hero looked after the co- lossal wagon that could have crushed our vehicle like a pasteboard box.
I cast a look at Madame P.
"Well, and what have you to say?" I asked.
"I have not forgotten where we are," she replied calmly. "Let me once more look back upon the hill."
I followed her eyes and saw the cross of the little church high above sparkle in the sunlight.
Then I again seated myself comfortably and let my brave horse have the reins.
PUBLIC SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL, WEST BEND
MILLI
A BUSY DAY ON MAIN STREET, WEST BEND
CHAPTER XXI
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The hope of the nation lies in her schools. As a river never rises higher than its source, the intellectual standard of a nation is never higher than that of her schools. The early history of the public schools in the county is very meagre and fragmentary. Almost every- thing that could be gathered has already been said in the preceding chapters, especially in that on "The Vanguard of the Pioneers." Almost the first thing the old settlers did after they had gained a little foothold in the wilderness, but still in the shadow of more trials and hardships and privations, was to look for the education of their children. The reader will remember that the first schools were held in the garret of log houses, and in abandoned shacks and log huts. Probably the school very often met in God's great open. As teachers were rare, most any one who had a little superior education was welcome to transplant it into the young minds. One instance is recorded where a teacher wrote out his own certificate, and the school board let it go at that.
As the town of Germantown was the first town settled in the county, the first school district was organized in that town. The earliest school report of the district is that of 1842. At that time Washington and Ozaukee counties were one county, and the town of Germantown comprised school district No. 5. It appears that up to that time schools had been established in only three townships of the undivided county, to-wit : Grafton, Mequon, and Germantown. That oldest report gives the names of 35 heads of families in the town of Germantown, who sent 83 children to school. The school clerk was Levi Ostrander. The children's age was between four and sixteen.
Two years later, in 1844, the same town had three school districts. The school census and apportionment of school money of April I, 1844, throws some light on these districts. Fulton District, No. I, Township 7, Range 20, had 140 scholars and was to get $93.92 for school purposes; the clerk was Levi Ostrander. Franklin District,
151
152
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
No. 2, Township 9, Range 20, had 68 scholars and was apportioned $45.62 for the maintenance of the school, of which J. G. Southwell was the clerk. Darmstadt District, No. 4, Township 9, Range 20, had 66 scholars, for the education of whom $44.27 was to be con- tributed; the clerk was E. Semler. At the time the town of German- town had 274 children who went to school. The apportionment of school money seems at the present day ludicrously small, but the conditions in those days were altogether different from our own. Of one of the first (perhaps the first) school teachers of old Washington county, William Wirth, it is said that he taught three months for $12 a month, boarding himself. He gave one acre of land on which the log schoolhouse was built. He came in 1838 and taught in 1840 in the vicinity of Thiensville. Of the examination of another early teacher, E. H. Janssen, by one of the school commissioners, an old settler gives the following humorous account :
"The first school commissioners were Daniel Strickland, Harry V. Bonniwell and Levi Ostrander. Strickland soon after his appoint- ment, assumed the responsibility of examining Mr. Janssen who had applied for one of the schools. Thinking to be rigid with the peda- gogue, Strickland approached him with an air of self-importance, and put the following arithmetical problem : 'Now, sir, suppose that I were to sell you one hundred bushels of wheat at 75 cents a bushel, how much money would you have to pay me?' '$75,' promptly answered Janssen. 'Good enough, you are a smart fellow to answer a question like that so readily.' Strickland then scratched his head, and as he could think of no more difficult problems in mathematics, concluded to try some other branch, and, accordingly, switched off onto geography. A happy thought struck him; he had, during his younger days, experienced considerable of ocean life, and, while on one of his extended voyages, had been wrecked on the island of Madagascar. Here, then, was where he could corner Janssen. With all the assurance imaginable, he approached the anxious candidate, for something in his looks warned the aspirant that some question was about to be propounded. 'Well, sir,' said Strickland, 'perhaps you can tell me where the Island of Madagascar is located?' This was a puzzle, and might have sealed Janssen's doom, but for the kindly assistance of a friend who stood near, who had heard Strickland relate his adventure on this island. He whispered the location to Janssen, who at once replied: 'Off the coast of Africa.' That was enough; Strickland grasped him by the hand and exclaimed: 'You
153
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
are the smartest man I ever met, you can have the school right off !' "
So much about the pioneer teachers and the conditions which con- fronted them. As to what the old schoolhouses looked like, the reader is referred back to the "Fragments of a Chronique of 1860," in which he will have found a candid description of the average old- time schoolhouse. Because sixty years ago the schoolhouse was the only public building available, it served more purposes than now. Social gatherings, political meetings, "literaries," elections, religious meetings, and spelling schools were held in them. If some of the old schoolhouses, like that in Barton could tell their story, many odd things would be exhumed. Who remembers the old spelling schools ? We hear of the few whose memory reaches back to them, that they were occasions of great social interest. They must have been, or the editor of the "Washington County Democrat" in the issue of January 16, 1860, would not have written this: "How it carries one back to the days of his boyhood to attend a regular old-fashioned 'Spell- ing School.' How it brings up thoughts of boyish flirtations, or sly kisses given and taken when the 'master's' back was turned. These long winter evenings are being improved by all the school teachers in this vicinity, by having numerous 'spells of spelling,' from which some benefits, a few sleigh rides, and any quantity of fun are derived." The social feeling of a community of pioneers with their buoyant vigor was intense, and it centered in the schoolhouse. People who came to take up homesteads and making homes were far more inter- ested in their neighborhood which they helped to create than are the farmers today, who think of deserting their land for the city, or the tenant who not even has any more interest in the land he tills but what he can get out of it.
The old schoolhouses were actually as much intended for meetings of the grown-ups as for children. The old desks with their high seats and their backs made "after the plumb line" were convenient enough for men and women, while the invention of the modern school desk has made the rural schoolhouse rather impracticable for public meetings. Then, too, as villages and cities with their halls had sprung up, and many churches had been built, the schoolhouses fell into disuse as places for other than school purposes. The "lit- erary" only, although modernized, has survived these changes.
The first teachers' institute in the county of which records are left, was held in June, 1860, in Hartford. Immediately after the session the "Washington County Teachers' Association" was organized. In
154
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
October of the same year another institute was held at West Bend, to accommodate a greater number of teachers. Thirty-five were present, and the speakers were S. S. Smith and Rev. H. Beckwith of Hartford, State Superintendent Pickard, Mr. Gaylord of Oshkosh, and Y. N. Frisby of West Bend. In the meeting of the Teachers' Association, which followed, W. K. Barney, of Hartford read the minutes of the first meeting held in Hartford. The teachers' insti- tutes have since become a part of the school system of the county. They are held annually during the summer vacation, and they provide most of the teachers in the rural schools with their special training. A teachers' institute may be defined as a normal school that is held for a short term with a short course of study. It was originated in 1839 by Dr. Henry Barnard, secretary of the Connecticut Board of Education, to improve the qualifications of common-school teachers, by giving them an opportunity to review and extend their knowledge of the studies usually pursued in district schools, and of the best methods of school arrangements, instruction and government, under the recitations and lectures of experienced and well-known teachers and educators. This plan has since been followed in its essential points. The institutes review academical studies and give professional instruc- tion, and, what is not less important, they endeavor to create higher ideals of teaching and to stimulate educational enthusiasm.
In 1861 the county system of school supervision was established, and the town system which so far had existed was done away with. The first county school superintendent elected in that year, was Frederick Regenfuss. He had taught in the county for some years prior to his election, and was considered a very good educator. His last venture was a German and English select school held in the court- house at West Bend. Apropos, in those days when the public schools of the county were yet in their infancy, the select schools flourished, which were private schools and were intended to give a better edu- cation. The old newspaper files mention a number of them. With the advent of the county system of school supervision, things in the educational line improved materially. Mr. Regenfuss held his position for fourteen consecutive years, and brought the schools of the county to a high grade of efficiency.
The public schools of the county form a part of the state public school system. The state sets aside as a permanent fund the Federal grant of section 16 in each township, with 500,000 acres of land and 5 per cent of the proceeds of the sale of public lands in the state, together with less important items. This school-fund income is sup-
155
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
plemented by a state tax of one mill on the dollar. The combined amount is annually apportioned among the counties, towns, villages, and cities in proportion to the number of children in each of from four to twenty years of age. In their turn the counties must levy upon each town, city, and village a tax equal to their proportion of the combined school fund and state mill tax.
There are three four-year high schools in the county, located at Hartford, Kewaskum, and West Bend. They are primarily intended to give pupils who have completed the work of the elementary schools an opportunity to carry on their studies to a higher level, and also to take up new studies. Diplomas are awarded to students who complete the courses. For these reasons the high schools may be called "people's colleges." Another object of these schools is to prepare young men and women for the college and university, and thus they become inter- mediate or preparatory schools, especially in states where a state university is at the head of the educational system. The high schools of West Bend and Hartford are accredited at the University of Wis- consin. That means that the university accepts the diplomas of their graduates instead of entrance examinations.
Besides the elementary schools of eight grades in the cities of Hartford and West Bend, there are in the county one school of four grades, one of three grades, seven schools of two grades, and eighty-five rural schools. Of the latter fifty-seven belong to the first class, that is to say, there has been installed in them a heating and ventilating system and other necessary equipment which entitles them to a special state aid of $50.00 per year for a period of three years. To stimulate the efforts of the pupils in the rural schools, diploma examinations have been introduced with gratifying results within the last few years.
The "little school at the cross-road" is of vast importance to a county that is overwhelmingly dependent on agriculture as the main- stay. Its destiny is shaped within those walls. The improvement of the rural schools is an ever recurrent topic of the superintendent's annual report. It also has aroused the attention of sociologists. The social center movement of our days, is to be extended over the rural districts, and the rural schools are again to become centers of social life as in the pioneer days. They shall prepare the children for country life. Agriculture is already taught as a branch of study. The country school of the future, according to the ideas of its regen- erators, will be one in which teacher, text books, and course of study shall all be correlated to country life. Teachers, children, and parents
156
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.