Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1886-04-16
WHAT A NORMAL IS.

VITAL Il NUnMhL ID.
THE STATE NORMAL AT FARMvILLE-
WHO THE TEACAERs ARE AND HOW
THEY WERE sECURED-THE MODE OF
TEACHING-PR ACTICING ON EACH
OTHER AND ON GLASS OF LITTLE
CHILDREN.
Correspondence OF the Staunton VrND1oAToR]
FARMvILLE. VA. April ID, 1886.
AS Staunton had a normal school last
summer, and is to have another big one
this summer, think it will interest your
readers to know the inside workings of the
State Normal here, which is the only
school of the kind in Virginia that is run
by the professional specialists in the teach
ing line. The school is attracting deserved
attention all over the State and is great
pet with the Farmvlllians. The whole
process of equipplng Virginia lady teach
ers is so novel and interesting that I will
give you detailed account of it, that you
may know as much as do about it, and
that your readers may see what DR.. Ruff
ner and his assistants are doing with that
$40 ,000 year the people are giving him.
THE BUILDING AND THE APPRos
PRIATION.
The building is an old academy situated
on pretty elevation with large shady
lawn in front. The property was presen-
ted by the town Of Farmville to the State
to be used for the purpose to which it has
been dedicated. The accomm odations
were sufficient eighteen months ago when
the school was an experiment, but in that
brief time 1t has advanced SO rapidly that
double that room and more is needed and
the legislature last winter very wisely ap-
propriated SIS 600 for improvements, in
addition to the $4,000 allowed annually
for current expenses. The Board of Trus-
tees which is as practical body Of men
as any institution in the State can boast
of, is now IN session here and considering
how this SIS, 900 can be made to stretch
Is far as possibleto do the most good.
THE PRINCIPAL.
Eighteen months ago, the Board OF
Trustees, of which DR.. John l.. Buchan-
an State Superintendent of Schools is now
President, and Judge A. D. Watkins of
Farmville, Secretary and Treasurer, made
the wisest selection for Principal of the
Farmville school that they could have
made. A we'll known Farmville gentle
man of State reputation, remarked the
otbar d,v .sNo I,tororv man in VIRGINIA
has more business in his head than DR..
Ruffner; he understands everything be
undertakes.'' Any one who sees what he
has done in year and half with the
limited means at his disposal must come
to the same conclusion.
GETTING READY FOR WORK,
On Sept. 18th, 1884, the trustees ordered
the Principal to open the school in six
weeks. A bare, old building, much the
worse for use, and the appropriation, was
the only showing; not teacher, not a
student, nor book or single article of
furniture-s'all in the crud," as an old
Dutchman remarked. But the school did
open promptly on the 30th Oct. with a
full corps of most efficient teachers, and
has been running ever since and now has
an attendance of 1877 pupils-students,
they call them at "the Normal" And I
never saw a harder working. more con-
scientious, determined school Of workers
anywhere. They seem to begfudge the
hour they are required to devote to eXer-
else, and were it not that many Of them
spend 1T in walking to ithia spring
across the river in Cumberland and bring
ing bottle of the healthy water home with
them, there would be many more pale
| cheeks than there are.
GETTING THE TEACHERS.
The Principal's most difficult ard deli
ca.ss &c ts. * was the selection of teachers to
make teachers. He had to find those who
knew more of the improved science OF
teaching than do our home female teach
ers, for the instructors in normal school,
must have been specifically trained fol
their work. Enough of such teachers
could not be found in Virginia, and DR.
Ruffner was sent in quest of them anG
authorized to give good salaries that he
might get the best. He travelled NORTH
and south from Tennessee to Connecticut
getting one from New York, two from
Connecticut. one from Nashville, one from
Massachusetts,, one from North Carolina
one from Richmond and one from Farm
vile, and it is curious thing in these
days of place hunting, that no applicant
got situation, and not single one who
secured situation had been an applicant
THE VICE PRINCIPAL.
The visitor at the Norman" school as
comlcal Farmvillian calls it, will, if be
is as lucky as your correspondent was, be
met by the Vice Principal, Miss Celeste
Bush, Connecticut lady, and he will moi
be in her school room 10 minutes before
he comes to the conclusion that she is one
Of the born teachers as well as borr
| lady. She is courteous and polite to all
gentle, but firm, obeyed without question
and universally liked, and it pleases 6
| Virginian to see how entirely absorbed
she is in Virginia institution. in which
she seems almost to have forgotten bel
Yankee identity. She is as proud of its
success, and as proud Of the talents and
the progress of her Virginia girls as shs
could possibly be if they hailed from The
Nutmeg State, and even draws comparisons
favorable to Virginia institutions. Wher
entered her room, she was teaching ths
young teachers geography, as l never saw
it taught before. having on an elevated
and inclined table lot Of damp eartt
out of which, with her white hands, she
was shaping mountains, modelling valleys
plateaux and divisions of the earth, an6
smashing up the continent generally
| The young ladies. and there were some