The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1899-02-16

Then returned and saw all the Op-
pressions that were done under the sun
and beheld the tears of such as were
oppressed and they had no comforters,
and on the eide of their oppressore
there was power, but they had no com
forters " Time forbids that any quo
tatiOns should be made from this
sermon. There are many here who
remember the rapidity and Importance
of the events of those days, who know
the thrill that went through our com
munity at the word that Fort Sumter
has been fired upon" And then tha
days of enlistment, the days when
sisters and mothers and wives, and
perhaps later widows, could only work
and pray at home and wait with fear
and trembling for the news which day
might bring forth. One boy there was
left at home, who, at the age of about
eighteen years, went with his school
mates and companions from Kenosha
under that term of enlistment, which.
though soon ended, involved a willing
ness to sacrifice and bear. One of my
earliest recollectioRs is the return of
my uncle, Charles r. Deming, from the
war and his entering the house when
night had fallen, home once more.
Those were days of professions, of
alterations from great JOY to great
fear and deep sorrow. | remember a
procession that passed around the park
at night, the faring torches, the uni
formed soldiers, the CLINT and CLEAN of
barrel and bayonet, the Illuminated
houses, the candles held in place by
nails driven into scantlings placed in
every window and hearing of the few
houses in town whose fronts were dark
as the soldierly procession went by.
At last the day came when the news
flashed over the country that Lee had
surrendered, April 9th, 1865. It seem
ed like day of fulfllment of labor and
hope and prayer, and tears of JOY came
to the eyes of many of that early band.
How quickly we're their hearts plunged
into that depth of awful despair that
came with the word of April 18th that
" Lincoln has been killed" Men met
with blanched cheeks and silent hand
shake. Those were days when, if ever,
the people needed the comfort COZ
tanned in that reminder which James
A. Garfield spoke to the hushed and
awed crowd gathering about the sub
treasury building in New York, " The
nation lives and God reigns." a7
There was another cherished object
of Mr.. Deming's life that he was per-
mitted to see brought to success Com
ing from New England, having enjoyed
the advantages of the school system
there, and keenly realizing the vital
Importance of intelligence in COM
munity of men who should be free and
equal in political affairs, it is not
strange that from the beginning of his
life in this western home he should
have been foremost in his efforts for the
establishment Of free schools. This
idea was far in advance of the views of
many, and it involved considerable
period of persuasion and education
before the desired result could be
brought to pass.
| find some notes written by Mr.
Deming in about 1865, in which he
gives US glimpses of the early struggles
in behalf of free schools. {" had hoped
that our public schools would find an
historian in our good friend, Colonel
Frank. Though we had our struggles
and our conflicts, some of them prior to
the time when he became an inhabitant
of Wisconsin, he could have anticipated
prior events from his knowledge of
subsequent ones. Kenosha and the
State of Wisconsin owe asdebt of graft
tude to him as ore of the founders of
our free school system. In early days
we had but few thorough going free
school men. Of all of them memory
retains a fond recollection; two Mr..
Wilders, L. L. Pierce, Messrs. Jones
and Prosser, Mr.. Hansen, F. W. Ly-
man, Mr.. Barber, Charles Durant, j, b.
Jilson, Judge Newell, Charles c..
Sholes, G. Latham Sholes, Oscar F..
Dana, and, if last, not least he who
is now Governor of Utah. Hon. Charles
Durkee. speak of them because their
tolls and labor were given when free
schools had not much hold upon the
popular mind.
At an early day after our popula-
ton began to increase, we had at one
time eleven independent schools, de-
nominated select schools Well, they
were select, so select that two of them
were taught in Easements damp and
dark; some of them in chambers OF
miserable access and equally miserable
when gained. T he school friends had
formed an educational association to
effect the change. AS member of the
territorial legislature Ihad found it was
far more popularin that body to char
ter some academy or something the
name of which sounded imposing than
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