Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-03

sixty-one frame houses. five log houses,
and five sod huts. Many schools are still
held in an unused room Of a dwelling OF
In a claim shack. The teachers vary in
professional training from those just able
to get a third grade certificate to those
having life certificates granted upon uni
versity diplomas. The highest professional
spirit is manifested by the eachers In at
enhance upon the seven association meet
ings held within the year. The teachers
almost without exception do the reading
circle work as outlined by the state read
ing circle board and annually write a thesis
upon some subject assigned at the insti-
tute.
Recognizing the desire Of the teachers for
progress the state has located a Junior
Normal here, which has been doing excel
lent work for six years. Teachers and
students at Valentine form a large, happy,
mutually helpful family and they are
helped in many ways by the genial citi-
Gems of the city on the Minnechaduza.
Valentine, the county seat Of Cherry
county. a town of 1900 people, is the cap
ital Of the largest subdivision Of the state
Of Nebraska. Time was whe, the vast
area Of Cherry county was almost entirely
given over to immense herds of cattle
when the festive cowboy was its chief in
habitant and when the annual roundup
was the chief diversion Of the natives. But
with the passage of years all this has
altered. The vast herds have gradually
melted away before the steady advance
of the small stockmen and the farmer and
the broad prairiesg and rolling hills of the
county are being dotted with the homes of
prosperous and progressive settlers and
with their inevitable accompaniment-the
little white school house.
Valentine, as the center of activity of
the county, used to share the reputation of
the county and was regarded entirely as
a frontier town. Whatever basis there may
have been for this reputation in the past.
It has been buried in the steady onrush of
advancing civilization and today the resi-
dents OF Valentine can truthfully boast
that no quieter, more orderly and more
homelike community exists in northern
Nebraska. No one who has not seen the
town in its early days c"u fully realize the
change that has taken place in every par
ticular nor what energy and resourceful-
ness must nave been the attributes of the
early settlers and their successors of today,
which have enabled them to build the
present busy little city of enterprising
commercial concerns and Of comfortable
homes upon what was twenty-five years
ago a treeless waste of sandy prairie. 1t
has become in a few years a town Of
stately trees, green lawns, flowers and
shrubs and all that goes to indicate the
habitude of refined and cultivated people.
The crudities and inconvenience of early
days have given way to all OF the refine
ments Of home comfort that scientific
progress and architectural art have devised,
so that the interiors of Valentine homes
are not only comfortable but in many
cases luxurious. Nothing in the history
OF the Junior Normal has been more pleas
ant and characteristic of the spirit of
the town than the way in which the good
people Of Valentine have thrown open
their homes to normal students in an eff
fort to make them feel at home.
Being distinguished beyond all it's neigh
bors by the possession of a natural supply
OF building stone Valentine has been able