The story of this school can be best told by Miss Beers herself.  She says:  “I opened my school in the summer of 1866 with one scholar, Nathan Overman’s daughter, in a room of my mother’s house on South Main street, just opposite the High School building, but others were soon added.  Finding my room too small for the increasing numbers that sought admittance, my friends and patrons advised the erection of a more suitable room, which was done at once, and through the kindness and helpfulness of Mr. and Mrs. C. T. Heald, the new room was tastefully furnished, and the school opened in the fall with twenty-five pupils.  For nearly eighteen years, with brief intervals on account of sickness, the school went on prosperously.  In the fall of 1883, I had application for fifty pupils, but my increasing deafness made it imperative that I should cease teaching and relinquish the work I loved so well. 

     “My school was ever conducted with a view to building up character, rather than to pouring knowledge into the mind; to cultivating the heart, rather than head, and to making Christian patriots, rather than merely successful business men and women.  My pupils were not made to run in any particular educational groove, but were encouraged to improve the passing hour with its privileges and opportunities.  The happiest hours of my life have been spent in the school room with the children of Canton, and to know of their highest prosperity is my supreme joy and comfort.” 

     The other private schools is that of 

Mrs. Helen T. Hoblitt. 

     Of like high aims and purposes was the school of Mrs. Helen T. Hoblitt, who first taught for some months during the summer of 1870, in rooms of the house Mrs. Mosely had used in early times, but owned and occupied, when this school was opened, by Mrs. A. L. Davison and family.  Then in 1873 Mrs. Hoblitt fitted up, with all the nicely arranged conveniences of a modern school house, the old Swedenburg Church, which stood on the lot directly east and adjoining that of the present residence property of Mrs. J. B. Allen, sr., on East Chestnut street, and continued the school with an average attendance of thirty pupils for four years. 

     Then Miss Laura S. Bass taught for some months in the building until 1878, when the school closed permanently and the building was removed from the premises. 

     These two were the last private schools of any importance taught in Canton, though Mrs. Eva Stearns-Sheehan taught one of the kind later, in a room of her father’s house, which stood on the site now occupied by the new library building, west of Mrs. Allen’s residence.  It was of short duration, the Public Schools serving to supply every local need of the community. 

Kindergarten Work. 

     It only remains to speak of the efforts to establish in Canton that peculiar kind of school for little ones, called Kindergarten.  In September, 1883, Miss Sylvia W. Ingersoll and Miss S. May Mills, fitted and furnished a room in the Randolph block, with all the appliances necessary to carry on a successful Kindergarten, but as the attendance averaged only ten or a dozen pupils, at the end of the quarter the school was discontinued. 

     Again in the spring of 1884 Miss Ingersoll had a small class which she taught in the Congregational Church, but again for lack of sufficient patronage the attempt had to be abandoned. 

     No other attempt was made until the summer of 1890, when Miss Goodman and Miss Angela C. Reynolds gathered a few little ones, teaching a brief time in the Locust Street Church, then in the old Opera House, and afterward in Temperance Hall over Nagel’s store, then used by the W. C. T. U. for their weekly meetings.  The number of pupils was larger than had been enrolled in previous efforts, but not large enough to justify its continuance during the winter, and at the end of the year the school was closed. 

     Then in July, 1892, the W. C. T. U. reached out a helping hand to found a “Free Kindergarten,” and Mrs. Lucy H. Kline, president of that organization in Canton, gives in a letter, this account of it:  “It was by some members of the W. C. T. U. that this school was organized.  A public meeting was called, and a Miss Strong of Galesburg, gave an address, after which the ‘Kindergarten Association’ was formed by citizens interested in the work, and regular officers appointed.  Mrs. G. K. Barrere was elected president; Miss Clara Parlin vice president; Miss Eva D. Ingersoll secretary, and Mrs. William Parlin treasurer. 

     “The object is to have children attend that can not have these advantages and teachings at home, and entrance is free to all between the ages of three and six years. 

     “The first year, Miss Weeks from Chicago, who had been trained in the Kindergarten schools of that city, and who understood the Froebel methods, was employed.  Her assistant for a time was Miss Ella Johnson, and their united salaries amounted to $50 per month; Miss Weeks receiving $40 and Miss Johnson $10, the W. C. T. U. giving the use of their hall in the Randolph block, where the sessions were held, free of charge.  There were fifty-four pupils enrolled, with an average attendance of thirty-two. 

     “The interest of the community in regard to the work is growing, yet it has been difficult to meet the expenses incurred, and help is always welcome.  Any one may become a member of the ‘Association’ by the payment of $1 into the treasury, thus aiding to sustain and continue a grand work.”