Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1886-08-06
COMMUNICATED.
THEN AND NOW.

mun1cdtlOn III your iasI issuc oh Nv
is to blame" / was forcibly carried
back to the schools Of fifty years ago
and could not refrain from comparing
the school advantages of that day with
those of the present and the attendance
upon them. with those reported in the
communication.
Then, none went 10 school who could
not pay tuition fees, and parents were
very careful to see tina. their children
were there every day so as TO obtain the
full benefit of the teachers instructions.
There was no complaint then OF "non-
attendance" and of "the hOol.house's
being too far off" or "inconveniently
located" to those who had children to
educate. Schools were then only to be
found in towns and in thickly settled
neighborhoods, i'm which several neigh
bors united and employed teacher.
They were only too glad to have an OPP
portunity of sending their children to
school, and though the school was To-
Gated from two to five miles from its
patrons, they never complained of the
distance, but having will to send their
children, they always found way.
Let me recall some Of the famous
schools Of those early days. 1t will DO
the boys of those days good to recall the
faces Of their teachers and the scenes
and incidents of their school life. The
school houses of that day would be a
curiosity now. There were no "patent
desks" then. A plank nailed against
the wall and sloping inward at an angle
of forty-fve degrees formed the desks,
and bench made of a slab from the
nearest saw-m,ll was the seat. The
only chair was the one that the master
ofthe school occasionally sat on and over
his head rested the symbol of his au-
thority, hickory rod that he did not
spare.
In Shepherdstown, was classical
SC, DOL taught successfully by Dairy,
Foster, Weaver and others, teachers still
kindly remembered, some for their use
of the rod and others for their strict re-
quirement of attention to study. Here,
too, were primary schools conducted by
Snively and George Byers, two famous
old teachers that will long be remem-
bered, both by the lazy and diligent
pupils.
In this vicinity was the we'll remem-
bered school located near Samuel Mel
WINS (now William Cofiinbarger's) and
taught by such men as Warder, Trone
and Line, old Virginians all and gen.
tlemen of the old school. Many an old
man and woman will recall his school
life at this famous school, which was
subsequently removed to Captain Geo
REYNOLDS woods near Levi Moler's, and
was taught for many years by Richard
Newman, n well-known teacher but an
eccentric man. Then comes the we'll
known school at Unionville, 80 long
and 30 well taught by John Hess, our
present County Superintendent, who,
alone, oil all the teachers of that early
day, survives to see the results Of his
labors and the kind of harvest that the
seed then sown has produced. Ask him
whether the attendance upon his school
in the days of his early manhood, when
education was more highly appreciated
than now and when parents complained
not of the cost and a few inconvenicn-
ces, was as small as now, when eduCa-
ton is tree and school opportunities are
brought almost to the door of every man
in the community.
True it is and sad to remember, that
in those days many a worthy youth
could be found, blooming into man
hood and womanhood, that could not
read and write, bu, now all this is
changed and what glorious change it
is Then, the privilege of being taught
to read and write was confined to those
who had the means to employ teacher,
but now the opportunity of an educa-
ton is brought within the reach of all
even the poorest.
That philanthropist and statesman
deserves lasting monument who, read
ing history, noticed that many of the
most learned men Of the country and
those that made the highest mark in sci
entific discoveries and professional at
tainments were born in humble life and
received an education through accident
al circumstances, and who determined
to devise some means by which an ed
ucation might be made possible for all,
and that more of the diamonds that lay
hidden under the roofs of the humble
cottages in our land might be brought
to light and polished SO as to bring out
their brilliancy. So wise and good has
the policy thus proposed proven itself to
be in the trial of many years, that every
State in the Union has now embodied in
its constitution system of public
schools, in which all the youth of the
country between the ages of six and
twenty zone may have the opportunity
of receiving an education, and so firmly
has this policy become planted in the
hearts Of the people, that no man who
advocates different policy dare now
seek an office that depends upon the
votes of the people. He may be at heart
opposed to public schools, but he dare
not make a public avowal of it and ask
any favor of the people.
Let any one look back over the past
twenty years, even, anG note the
changes wrought by educational facili-
ties offered in this community, and he
can not but rejoice at the happy change
that has taken place and feel glad that