Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-04-04
DR. HIGDEE. GREETING,
Rem,niscences OF . Year In the Lancaster
High school BY Mr.. Mccaskey.


HSgh school BY Mr.. McCasksy.
PENNSYLVANIA School Journal for April.
Among the few old letters which the
Junior editor of the Journal has cared to
preserve from the passing years-sOme
written by friends now "gOne over to the
majority" others by those in whom the
tombstone of time has been but revealer
of genuine Qualities-is one hastily penned
in acknowledgment Of holiday gift more
than twenty seven years ago:
LANCASTER, January 3, 1854.
lNr. John p NcCdskey:
DEAR SIR: Through you would ten.
der my warmsst thanks to the scholars
who have hODOred me with the Christmas
present which have received this day
from the hands of Mr.. ShOber. I shall
ever cherish this mark Of friendship and
esteem with feelings of gratitude. the
more SO because the friendship of the
young l especially prize. Hoping that
our intercourse with each other may be
beneficial and pleasant, and that the men,
Ory of it may be q source Of delight in
after years, l remain,
The sincere friend of you all,
E. E. HIGBEE.
This gentleman. who is the newly-ap-
pointed state superintendent of public
instruction, was then in charge Of the
mathematical department of the Boys
high school of Lancaster city, where We
boys all knew him as ''Mr. Higbee." and
that with abiding respect and effection.
The writer of this article, whom Mr.. II.
may have quite forgotten, was not 4 very
diligent student of textbooks, but he was
then unconsciously learning to listen to
voices, to look into faces. and to gather
definite impressions Of people, less from
what they said than from what they were
So that man of forceful character or Of
generous soul, met for year in The daily
contact of the classroom, could never be
forgotten {; and the impressions VIC carried
through all these years Of Mr.. Higbee are
such as any teacher might be glad to leave
upon the hearts of his pupils.
Ofthe several instructors then employed
in the school he was the man who reached
US with grip of power, and apparently
without thought or effort on his part to DE-
this. To us boys he was sort Of "ad.
mirable Crichton," able to do almost any
thing, from fencing, skating, sparring and
playing the flute, up to Latin, Creek and
Hebrew, and-what we had more respect
for yet-all the mathematics ! He helped
US select books for our society library, Or
ganized at that time, and was always
ready to answer our hard questions. His
affabilily of manner, quick gesture, rapid
movement, ready wit, constant disposition
to Obligc, and his utter lack of that dig
nified reserve which teachers sometimes
affect, even more than his rare scholarship
made him an authority" with US all
and when he left US, there was no teacher
to whom we would not rather have said
good d-bye.
A single classroom incident of this
year, which we often recall with pleas
ant sense of ObligatiOn-fOr it introduced
us to the delightful study of the signifi-
cance, the history, and tho hidden mean
ings of words-will illustrate his method
of teaching language. He had the mathe.
matical room. as has been said, but OH one
occasion, in the absence of the principal OF
the school, he heard the Latin classes recite.
We were reading Casar's commentaries.
The defence of the Helvetians at
their baggage-wagOns was the subject
of the lesson. He heard our dull render
ing of the text, with running fire Of CON-
ments upon it, and then read for us. As
he went into the precise meanings of the
words in their derivation and use. tearing
them to pieces, and-' suiting the action
to the wOrd," for, of course, he was stand.
ing-showed us how graphic was Casar's
description of the fight, we were at fever.
heat of interest. We saw the hurtling
jjavelins fly, and the fierce thrust of darts
and spears between the wagon wheels, and
felt the stubborn defence of the doomed
Helvetians.
One word in the lesson, su6jicie6ant, as
with qnick gesture nc put meaning and
derivation before us, gave us, with the
vividness Of the lightning flash, a realizing
sense of what is meant by etymOlogy-a
branch of study that like the rich ''lead p"
of the gold deposits, rewards the miner in
proportion to the diligence with which he
labofs. We have since worked this
''lead to some purpose and with much
enjOyment-thanks, in great part, to the
impulse given by Mr.. Higbee in those old
days-until able to feel with DR.. Holmes
that the poetry of words is quite as beau.
tiful as that of sentences"
From first to last the session was good
one, and to the now gray-haired man Who
contributed very much to make it sO-his
hair black enough when the note of Jan.
uary, "a" was written-many of the old
boys are ready to say that it is as he had
hoped The memory of it has been a
source of delight in after years."
We regard tho state superintendent who
has just left the Office as the Common
school man of Pennsylvania-in this work
head and shoulders above all other men
as, indeed, the one man most worthy, by
right of eminent fitness, to stand at the
head of the great department of public
instruction. But change like death,
will come and coming. there is no
man in the college work at whose
good fortune We are personally more glad
than that of DR.. Hisbee, our old-tlme
teacher to whom We have long felt so
keen a sense of personal gratitude. May
his administration be characterized by
wisdom, energy, and discretion, and the
ever present purpose of "the greatest
good to the greatest number" He stands
at tho threshold of the grandest work ho
has over been called upon to perform or
most far-reaching in its ill.,
fluence for the general good. We believe
that he will do it as in the Masters eye !;
and may the guidance and the blessing Of
that Master whom he serves be with him
through it all.
A Golden Wedding Of old Lancaster Coun-
Patriot.
At Littlestown, Adams county, this
state, the fiftieth anniversary of the mar