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Show Mt. Pleasant's Early Schools (Continued from first page.) watt not tlio only obstacle, for, as Is well known, the people were financially finan-cially impoverished, possessing only the absolute necessities. Many of the heads of families and the'r worthy helpmates had hut recently emigrated from foreign countries, and others from different parts of the United States, to make for themselves them-selves homes In this then undeveloped undevelop-ed valley of the Sanpilch. There was in the beginning, no taxable property pro-perty and no public revenues with whk-.h to erect school houses and eiii-ploy eiii-ploy teachers. NotwiUi.nanding these adverse conditions, there was a determination on the part of the community found ers to give their offspring the very best possible opportunities for an education, ed-ucation, for they had been religiously taught that the ?lory of God is intelligence;" in-telligence;" al io that "no one can be Haved in Ignorance." These stalwarts without delay unitedly proceeded to volunteer their labor for the building of log and adobe, one room 3chool houses, one in each of the four wards of the town. For future historical Information it might as well here be aald that thev were lo aterl as follows 1 The First ward school house was placed on the Northeast cornor of the Interseclion of Slate and Third .South Streets where the South ward L. T). S. Chapel now stands; the Second Ward had Its building on the Northeast North-east cornor of the Intersection of Second South and Third West Slreets the Third ward on the Southeast co-ner co-ner of the Intersection of Second North and Third west Slreets; and the Fourth Ward building stood where the City Hall at present occupies occu-pies t-he Southeast cornor of the intersection in-tersection of First North and First West Streets. These roughly and crudely constructed con-structed "places of learning were furnished fur-nished with seals and (leaks of corresponding cor-responding style and finish, made smooth with an ax or plane But what about teachers in those early days? Mount Pleasant was fortunate for-tunate in having amongst its pioneers a few persons, both men and women who had been privileded above .their nleghbors in getting a rudimentary education In their childhood in the localities where they .were born and grew to maturity. Amongst these vere Andhon H. Lund, Hans P. Miller educated in Denmark, William Morrison, Morr-ison, his wife, Margaret F. C. Morrison, Mor-rison, both of Scotch ancestry educated educat-ed in Aberdeen; Cyrus H. Wheelock. his wife Marian Wheelock, David CandlamI, Nathan Staker, Mr. Shel-t&n, Shel-t&n, A. B. Strickland, Mrs.Oscar Winters, Win-ters, Charlote Stanton Hyde, affection ately called and known as Antie Hyde Samuel Whitten, and William Ball Their services were mostly given (gratuitously and they regarded themselves them-selves as public servants, doing their part for the welfare and upbuilding of the newly found community. i here were hint few text books to L-e had, hence, as a .matter of necessity, neces-sity, all kinds of printed matter, religious re-ligious books and pamphlets, historical histor-ical and biograiphical publications, were used in teaching the children to read. Writing was taught by placing copies on the pupils' slates; and spell in.g (orthography) was presented to the class by first writing the words on the blackboard, or piving them to the class to write upon their slates for study, and afterwards the pup'li were placed in a standing line for recitation, word? announced hv the teacher to the pupils, begining wit!, the one at the liead of the class, and following on down the line, each child speilling orally the word giver, lum. If any puipil failed to spell Correctly the word given, then the pupils following were ..vcn the same word to spell and the one first getting get-ting it right was privileged to go up the line, taking his place above all those who had failed. It was an honorable distinction for a child at roll call in the evening, to be able to pnnounce "head to foot." This in-dilated in-dilated that he had succeeded in the test of ability, in working his way trom the foot of the class to the head of it. Arithmetic was not stressed as be ing very essential, so long as one could add, subtract, multiply and divide correctly. These four fundamental fund-amental rules were piesented in the manner which seemed to the schoolmaster school-master best suited to bring the pupils pu-pils to an understanding of them Highier mathematics, such as algebra, alge-bra, geometry and trigonometry were at that time beyond the understanding understand-ing of those chosen as instructors and were not Included in the school's curriculum. Conditions, of course, graduallv improved as time went on; and as soon as school laws enacted for raising rais-ing funds by taxation for assisting vith the building ana furnishing, of school houses, and for paving, in Part, the salaries of teacher's, a very great change for the better was at vice rt-uzea. That, however did not happen until upwards of twenty years after the pioneers had perrnent-ly perrnent-ly settled this present day, modero up-to-date little city. It will perhaps be proper to here give the names of those who, in addition ad-dition to those heretofore mentioned insisted in instructing the vouth up to about the year 1SS0. .Joseph S Day, Joseph Page, John Carter Jer-' amiah IX Page, Christaina Bertel- '.'LU,7 Wheeloc Hans Jorgen Shultz. Mrs. H. J. Hutchinson. John I . Mnnnv.ip L-i: Teh In were those who now come o the memory of the writer little later and in the order gfve". the following teachers came unon -Hnch. Abraham- Johnson H P Jensen, Tina M. Morrison. uX, en'"c;eo"ar u. Creole Christensen c w CaDd Eneksea- Dehlin, CeceU, Winters, Olof C. Anderson and Soren X. Christensen. In passing it is proper to note that In the development of the school system and in the preparation of school teachers, Ell A. Day was the first of the youDg people reared iu the community to qualify as a school teacher. After completing the courses taught in the local schools he, at an early age entered the normal nor-mal department of the University of L'eseret (now University of Utah) U-nd after graduating, took ud the piofesslon of 'teaching. This was in the middle of the seventie;. A-bout A-bout this time Hilda Dehlin, who had been brought up in Mt. Pleasant, returned re-turned from Salt Lake City, where she had been privileged to attend the better schools, including the U. of U. These two young people, whr had thus prepared themselves for the teaching profession, were the first to introduce modern methods and to under take the teaching of studies of other than reading, writ-in,;, writ-in,;, spelling, and arithmetic. The writer hereof remembers very oistinctly when he, a boy of fourteen jears, as a pupil attending the First Ward school, was initiated into the myvtries of (geography, grammar, physiology and hygiene, as taught by these up-to-date school teachers. This was an innovation in the schools that caused considerable discussion amongst parents, teachers, and pupils. pu-pils. The questions asked we't these: was there any benefit to be derived from enlarging upon the curriculum already taught, reading, read-ing, writing, spelling and arithmetic? Why spend any time or effort in teaching how to speak and write correctly, or to acquaint the child with the mysteries of his own body or the laws of health? Why the necessity of learning anything about the nations of the world, the political polit-ical subdivisions, the cities. the rivers, the mountain, the peoples, the products? However, the objections ob-jections were soon overcome, and all were agreed that these added branches of study were not only beneficial ben-eficial but essential to a common school education. This briefly reviews the school system and gives the names of the village schoolmasters up to about the year 1890. This year may also properly be given as the period or border-line between the generation when split logs served as benches, roaring wood fires in commodious fire-places at either end of the room fr.rnished the heat, when the teacher, teach-er, assisted by the- larger boys and girls, chopped the wood, carried it in, made the fires, swept the floors, dusted the furnishings such as they were, carried the water, and generally gener-ally prepared and kept the school room in a condition fit for occupancy dnnring school hours, as contrasted with the time when school facilities, which, by degrees, including magnif-icient magnif-icient school houses, equipped with steam heat, sanitary drinking fountains, foun-tains, beautiful and convenient f.n.r. r.iture and apparatus, -and plav-ground plav-ground amusements, were provided and cared for about the same as at present, by the school district, r.rt of public revenues. How very thankful, indeed should the present generation be for the manifold opportunities op-portunities now afiorded for training train-ing and education. It is pertinent to inquire, how do the results compare? Aro those privileged lo enjoy these up-to-date opportunities ai much in advaj.M of their ancesicrs. edf nationally and otnerwise, as are their opoortun'-.'es superior? Up to about the year 1875 there was but oiu religious organization lone church) i.. the city, viz; the L. D. S. church, more generally known as the Mormon Church, and its authorities and members v.ere n control of all educational a., well an ecclesiastical and other public fctivitits. The school houses had been 'built by public donations, la-tor, la-tor, and subscribed fund3, b the members of that church, and'n.itur-ally and'n.itur-ally they used r.jch structurea for teligious services as well as for educational and other purposes. Not only that, but the principles of the iomlnant church were freeiv exivlai.- ed to the children by their teaehei? m those early day schools. Under 'lie then prevailing conditions, why net? At a very early day there was a form of school management, headed by the Territorial Superintendent, ot Public .Instruction. There was also ,i County Superintendent, and locally there was a board of Trustees, consisting con-sisting of thne members, chosen u: -in election. This Board had the iiower to choose and hire the teachers within the District. It was also its i'uty to furnish buildings and equipment. equip-ment. From what has already been ;aid. it will be readily understood that the Board had but very limited .lowers in raising revenues. It did however, presume to fix the butition o be paid for each child in attend- -uoe, per term, and thereafter it was up to the teachers to collect it f-om (he parents. There being but little money in circulation In those early times, parents were permitted to pnv the school bills in wheat, oats ha5; Potatoes, wood, posts, poles . aud whatever they had that the teacher "ould use. The older members of this assoeia-"on assoeia-"on will remember that prominent mongst those serving as school trus-4- x-PrS William Reynolds, Edward ' liff.N. P. Madden. Peter Mogenser, . nnrew Madsen, Alma Bennett. Paul OaMin. John Carter, c J. Andersoi -V Lund, and Lauritz Larsen. u - HI admit they had a difficult task' to erform but. without remuneration 'ie'",hen th6y could in! ,1 ;X'S,lnf! "ircumstances. for u e furtherance of education. Sou-o Sou-o them, particularly Hon. c. N Lord c n?0!DUSh t0 -luable tune when P"hlic scho0 at a pruned mA conditions All these self-sacrific- Ing pioneer;, not only in education but in building a new municipality in all that the word implies, are deserv-ru deserv-ru of the gracious thanks and reverence rever-ence of all succeeding generations. thn year 1875, Rev. Duncan J McMillan, a gentleman of pleasin( personality, highly educated and wei. prepared for the work in hand, came to Mt. Pleasant and established a Presbyterian Mission school, nov known as "Wasatch Academy." had a small beginning, but gradua ' grew until now it is known far and wide as one of the very best and most popular sectarian schools in the State of Utah, in which elementary, high-school, high-school, and business courses are caught. The early teachers in this school were, in addition to the founder, found-er, his brother, H. G. McMillan, at h'i Line a re :ident of Salt Lake City, he Misse-i (Delia) Snow. . Sowles, Pierce, Fishback, Tubbs and Crowell, and Mrs. Wilcox, Mrs. Crawford and Mrs. Liddle. In the future, before too late to .,et the ajoarate and dependable data trom those who participated in the vork, a complete history should be prepared, not only of the educational 1 vstem, but of the city as a whole irom its .settlement in 1859, up to , late. Think what that Ti-nnl moon to the future generations yet unborn descendants of those noble, God-fear ing, heroic men and women whos. leeds and memories are to be eternally eternal-ly perpetuated through the activities of this Pioneer Historical Association. Associa-tion. The records kept by the clerk', of the iejpective and successive School Boards, since the close of the period covered toy this article, will 'ully disclose the names of all persons per-sons who have served the schools in any capacity whatsoever. When the School Districts of th First Clas, as now constituted, were organized, all boo-ks and records be- longir'i to the local districts were filed with the County Clerk at the C.'ortJlnty Seat, for safe keeping. There Uiey can be seen and examined for the purpose of getting historical data. It might toe interesting to notti that the following were amongst hose who served a3 teachers durinc the decade between 1890 and 1900 thus making the list fairly complet to the beginning of the present cen-turv; cen-turv; J. Jensen, C. N. Lnd, Jr . Caroline Lofgren, Cecelia Johansen, Jennie Jorgensen, Lydia Hasler Mary Johansen, R. W. Livingston u. C. Jeusun, Margaret Reynolds Fannie Candland, Alberta Larsen Annie D. Stevens, Eugene McArthur ddie Tebbs, Andrew Larsen Folk John O. Lof.gren and Daniel Rasaiu.i-en. Rasaiu.i-en. They wera the teachers who were etivileged to first professionally enjoy en-joy modern school rooms and equip ment. That the schools, such as the .-.ere, compared favorably with those jlsewhere wilhin the commonwealth, luring the period covered by thij sketch, cannot be doubted. In proof of this it can be truthfully said, tha-.ue tha-.ue descendants of the pioneers of :his valley have enviable records for Lhemselves in all the learned callings md professions. As years i-O'ine and go; as jach mc-ceedlng generation takes it, jla o upon the stage for the performan. , u the prt3 assigned, there need be do fear of fa. lure; for as in the past, so in the future, the training of the .'ou.th of this community will bf !:ept fully up to the standard mail, tained throughout the civilized world |