The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1884-05-29
THEN AND NOW.
IIAs we sat in the great audience Friday

Bbhs Wo 5ab ID the great audience Friday
evening in the opera house, on the occa-
zion OF the graduating exercises Of our
High school class, our minds could but
revert to the scenes of Other days in
Emporia. What q contrast between the
grand scene last night and our first En-
poria school. The panorama that passed
before our mental sight seemed like q
dream. The years that span the period
from 1858 TO 1884 are long IN young
eyes, but they are briei to one who looks
backward. A retrospect shows how
rapidly and how wonderfully We h ave
grown. We remember the day
distinctly when a subscription
paper was passed around among
~the beys"-we were all boys
then-to 1T up q school house in order
that EmporIa should have Q school.
A young lady had arrived IN Emporia
from Ohio who had had some experience
IN teaching, and although only that far
back there was q wide spread prejudice
against women as school teachers, yet Il
was thought worth while to have =
school in Emporia. We had two stores.
a printing Office. q blacksmith shop, and
a weekly hack line. We lacked two
things, a well and q school. The lady
was willing to undertake the school for
what she could get in addition TO the
meager subscription. The boys''
said the school was neces
sitY, though not one Of
them had scholar TO send-some OF
them now haYe bench full-the money
was raised and q little ten by fifteen
building which stood on the corner of
Commercial street and Sixth avenue and
which was only boarded up and down
outside, was transformed into q school
room by being boarded inside and filed
IN between with saw-dust which wa
hauled from the mill just north Of where
the Normal now stands. A stove and
some wood were secured, and Mary
Jane Watson, who has been Q teacher
here ever since, opened the first Emporia
school.
What contrast between that start
and the opera house last night We are
often impatient at the slow progress of
events, and yet when We contemplate
results how fast we have grown. On
the ground where we that day lariated
our ponies-and 1t has not been long
because the subscribers TO that first
school fund are boys yet in all except
years and some white halrs-stood q
magnificent opera house, and IN 1t
ten or twelve hundred people
who were arrayed IN silks,
whose surroundings are substantial and
comfortable, who had come to honor the
graduating class OF the high school, some
OF whom were born here In Emporia, In
the yet young city. The contemplation
almost makes us dizzy 50 rapidly do We
hurl along LIES journey, and 30 thickly
is the way crowded with events and
changes. Many have dropped out along
the way who were workers for the re-
suits we have attained, whom we would
like to have had with US to share the
pride the old settlers felt last night. We
have not worked in vain and the fruits
of our early struggles and prIvatIons are
being plucked earlier than we expected.
What commotion there wSs In the lit
tic cottonwood settlementAwe speak
only OF the buildIngs-when we
had that first meeting in McElfresh
hall to consider the proposition to vote
bonds for the old stone school house on
Constitution street. We wanted $1,000.
A few said we were mad; that We were
fifteen years ahead of the town. But the
young blood OF the town was up and
there was no place for croakers. Some
of the boys on that first subscrip-
ton paper were'getting up In the world.
They had found partners among the
girls of the period and had prospects,
They would have that school house
sink or swim" and they got it. 1t was
when completed, the largest school
building in Kansas, and the first built
IN the state by school bonds
Emporia headed the process
sion, and what q procession Il
has been. Now we haYe oyer $4,000
worth OF school houses, and since Their
the city and county and sch DOL district
have had bonds enough issued to blanket
their area, and not bond but that is,
and has been for years, as good as gold
and today there is not regret owe,
a bond voted in Lyon county.
But enough. Pursue the picture t.
your hearts content We had more Joy
last night over the contrast-over th,
grand accomplishments of this town
than We ever enjoyed in two hours BE-
fore, and we are prouder to-day thar
ever before that we are a citizen OF EN-
poria.