Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-05-04
that process Of mental culture,
that constant evolution which may

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and ought to be carried on all
through your lives till yon have
reached that stage where physical
and mental decay begins.
Those of you who have been in
attendance upon school for a term
of years, and have reached consider.
able advancement in your a~cquain-
lance with books, are beginning to
realize something Of the benefits
which you will by and by more
fully enjoy from the training and
mental discipline to which you are
being subjected, and to which you
yourself contribute more and more,
as the good which is sure to re-
suit makes itself more and more
manifest.
| often wish our children could
know the difference between the
school privileges of today, even in
this new state, and such as were
afforded the boys and girls of forty
years ago. 1t is true that in the
older states at that time there were
many good schools, but even then
the common schools we're common
indeed, as compared with ours.
La that part of New England where
| war born, there was in some Of
the larger towns, a school called
an Academy, in which good teach
ers were employed, and to which
the boys and girls We're sent from
far aud near, as the mean of their
parents would permit. In these
schools young men We're fitted to
enter college, and young women
were said to be well educated. To
the poor who lived at all remote
these privileges we're all denied.
There were no graded schools like
this in any of our towns then, and
the school houses of our rural dis.
tricts were n many instances great
ly inferior to what we have in
South Dakota today.
There w commonly had three
months scheel in summer for the
little ones and three months in
winter for those who were older.
Reading, spelling, arithmetic, writ.
ing and grammar, were the branches
taught. The teacher boarded
around the district so many day:
ut each house for each scholar.
In the newer states of those days,
the schools yer much poorer than
those il the older sections of the
country. School houses of any
kind were not numerous, but such
as We're, were vely rude. They
were usually built or logs. The
floor was Of split logs, hewed t
some degree Of smoothness on one
side. The seats for the children
We're made IN the same way, with
holes bored In them at an angle on
the under side, and wooden pins
put in them for legs. There were
no desks, except perhaps a small
and very rude Que for the teacher.
The room was warmed in the win
ter by q fireplace, and those remote
from the fire often suffered from
the cold, especially cold feet.
Usually the teacher had a home
made split bottomed chair. The
window was generally made by tax
ing out n log on n side of the
house and filing the space with
small panes of glass, set with edges
one against the other through thu
opening, ard secured in place.
The first time my wife ever saw
me was wnen | vas riding on horse.
back by such a school house as
have just described in southern
Illinois, where she was attendin.
school. Her father was in gooC
circumstances, and anxious tina
his children should be taught, bu
the schools were not there. Yol
must excuse me for believing tina
good things sometimes come out o
log school houses with a puncheol
floor.
Is it any wonder that thos
whose youth was spent under thes
conditions are especially glad tina