Nebraska advertiser., 1869-11-04

The District Teachers Association
FULL PROCEEDINGS.
An Interesting Meeting.

Agreeable to previous instructions
issued by S. d. Beals, State Superin-
tendent of Public Instructions, Mr..
A. w. Nickel, County Superinten-
dent of Nemaha County, gave due no
tice through the papers and otherwise
that a District Teachers Institute, for
the benefit of the teachers of Johnson
and Nemaha counties, would be held
at the Brownville High School room,
commencing Oct. 18th, 1869, and that
the exercises of the Institute would be
opened Monday evening, Oct. 18th,
with an address by Superintendent
Beals. ~
And in compliance with the special
request of Mr.. Beals, Mr.. Nickel took
such steps as he deemed necessary to
render the Institute a success" He
freely consulted with the teachers of
BrOwnville as to the best course TO be
pursued under existing circumstances.
A programme for the first two days of
the Institute was made out and pub
lished; a lecturer engaged, as Mr.
Beals requested, for Tuesday evening;
music provided arrangements made
with our citizens to entertain teach
ers from the various districts of Mem
aha and Johnson counties, free ofcOst,
while attending the Institute and
many other matters were seen to, all
with the simple view of smoothing
the way for, and facilitating the labOrs
of, our State Superintendent. 49, .f
Agreeable to the notice just men
toned, quite respectable audience as
sembled at the BrOWnyille High
School room, on Monday evening,
o'clock Mr.. Nickel called the house
to order, and introduced Mr.. Beals,
who proceeded to deliver a carefully
considered, and well written address.
At the close of his lecture Mr.. Beals
invited a free expression of views, on
the part of those present, in reference
to the subject of education in general,
and the Institute just inaugurated in
particular. Quite a lively discussion
then arose, concerning the programme
published by Mr.. Nickel, who, feel
ing that he had been actuated by the
best motive in what he had done, and
that he was unjustly censqred in the
remarks that were made, declined to
take any further active part in the eX-
ercises of the Institute; but was fire.
quently present during its session
and did nothing to hinder its success.
From reports heard before coming to
Brownville, Mr.. Beals was led to eX-
peet that he would, while here in the
discharge of his official duties, be met
with organized opposition by MI.
Nickel and the teachers of the place.
TIs- ..-oI,.o n, onnG M nA
by remarks made during the dis
cussiOn above referred to, and MI.
Beals was also lead to believe that he
would receive the cordial support of
the most intelligent and influential of
our citizens. Accordingly he set aside
all that had been done by Nj. Nickel
and the teachers stated that he was
responsible for the success of the In
stitute, and that he would conduct it
in his own way. He further stated
that he was accompanied by distin-
guished teachers to conduct the class
drills, read the Programme, by which
he proposed to be governed, and as
sured the audience that he came there
to labor earnestly on behalf of the
school interests alone. rs..r.l
On Tuesday morning. Mr.. Beals
having become satisfied that he had
been deceived in reference to the mo-
tives that had actuated Mr.. Nickel
and his advisers, manifested a most
conciliatOry disposition, expressed
his desire to have Mr.. Nickell's pro-
gramme faithfully carried out, and
treated all members of the Institute
with such consideration and polite
ness as to soften down all harsh feel
ings against him, and to remove all
doubts as to the purity of the motives
governing his course of action.
On motion of Mr.. Mckenzie, made
at the suggestion of the S~uperinten-
dent, Mr.. w. Rich was elected Secre-
tary of the Institute. t.t 1Js
THURSDAY MORNING, OCT. 20.
The Institute was called to order at
9 o'clock, by Mr.. Beals.
The proceedings were opened with
appropriate religious exercises by the
State Superintendent.
The special order was then annOun-
ced, exercises in Geography conducted
by Mr., Hiram Hadley, of Chicago.
Mr.. Hadiey then proceeded to de-
velOp what he regarded as the best
and only true method of teaching
Geography. After some questions
had been asked, and remarks made
by members of the Institute in ref
erence to the theories advanced by
the instructor, the next and special
order was announced, to-wit: In
structiOns in Elocution by Prof. Booth
of Chicago.