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Before entering upon the history relating more
directly to the present system of Public Schools, some aspects of that of
earlier times will first be considered, and prominent among these are the
difficulties which had to be encountered.
It was stated in the beginning of the chapters devoted
to the early schools that there were difficulties in the way of securing an
education of which the present generation knows nothing.
In the first place the buildings used for a long time
were inconvenient and unattractive; in winter apt to be too hot at one end and
freezing cold at the other. The seats were uncomfortable, with no support at the
back, and too often of the same height, so that the feet of little children when
seated had no resting place. The one writing desk against the wall was usually
so high from the seat that smaller pupils could with difficulty reach it and
write.
Again, for many years there were no sidewalks and no
manufactured crossings. Indeed, except as private citizens put down a board or
two in front of their own premises, no provision was made for public sidewalks
until about 1854, when walks were put down around the square, consisting of
two-inch oak planks placed lengthwise, until a width of four feet was reached,
and on streets adjacent to the square the walks were only two planks of the same
kind, placed in the same manner. Mud sticks, especially Illinois prairie mud,
and for some months in the year, children able to go, literally waded through
mud to and from school.
Few in the earliest times had rubbers to wear over
shoes, and if any were so fortunate as to have such protection, they were just
as likely as not to lose them in the mud. Children had frequently to be carried
over crossings or streets to avoid being stuck fast, and the writer well
remembers instances of little ones calling for help to cross the streets, or to
be extricated from the mud after attempting to cross by themselves. The only way
to do sometimes when the mud was a little stiff was to start on the run and rush
on before the feet had time to sink far into it.
At times, though rarely, children were taken on horse
back to school as a means of getting them there in safety. Mr. J. G. Piper had
an immensely large iron gray horse on the back of which his three oldest
children occasionally rode to school in bad weather. The youngest came alone one
morning, gleefully making the statement that “old Gray never fell down once with
her and that she never fell off once.”
Then, too, all these schools were pay schools—so much
per tern or quarter—and while little complaint was made on this account, it must
have been quite a drain upon those who had large families to educate. But
evidently parents felt that whatever else was to be relinquished their children
must be sent to school and their tuition paid. The result was that regular
attendance, so far as possible, was secured, both parents and children thinking
that the instruction paid for must not be forfeited by any dereliction on their
part.
Again, it was no unusual thing for boys and girls
coming from other places, or from the country, to work in families for their
board, to gain the privilege of attending school. More girls than boys availed
themselves of such opportunities, and while all these justly deserved
commendation for their course, one case, more notable than the rest, and showing
the noblest ambition to reach a high standard, was that of an orphan girl,
thirteen years old, who began at the age mentioned, and for six years steadily
pursued her studies, working for her board six or eight months of the year, then
for wages as she had opportunity, to earn money for clothes, books and tuition.
In two or three years she began teaching summer schools, earning what she could,
until at the age of nineteen, having surmounted all difficulties, she was well
versed not only in the common, but also in most of the higher English branches,
and was well qualified to teach them. She taught some years, then married and is
now living in a neighboring city.
In many cases, too, girls rented rooms, and as one of
them says in a letter: “Brought from home on Monday morning enough cooked
victuals to last until Friday noon, the process to be repeated week after week
until the term closed.”
But finally, difficulties were not encountered alone by
pupils. Teachers also had some that were peculiar to their position and
circumstances, and that, as compared with those of teachers now, were somewhat
formidable. They had none of the conveniences considered indispensable in modern
schools, and teaching all grades in the same room from the A-B-C little ones to
pupils in Algebra, Geometry, &c., with the additional inconvenience of having as
many different kinds of text books as were the different localities from whence
the families came, the classes were numerous and the recitations necessarily
short.
Teachers, too, were usually their own janitors, making
fires and sweeping, though sometimes detachments of pupils were required to stay
after school and remove the accumulations of the day; and in large schools these
accumulations, as may be inferred from what has been said of the condition of
streets and crossings, were by no means small. But in some cases pupils paid
their tuition by doing this work.
From the recital of early difficulties quite a contrast
to the present state of things is obvious—as state in which fine buildings,
rooms and furnishings are perfectly adapted to the needs of each pupil; in which
each grade is under special teachers; in which paid janitors keep everything in
order, and in which every convenience in the way of sidewalks is ample and
complete.
Truly to the children and youth of Canton “the lines have fallen in pleasant
places and they have goodly heritage.”
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