The Oskaloosa herald., 1915-06-03


, the year following was very agreeabl
because had enjoyed so fully the &C
tivities of that first year. The cleo
ton of teachers had not yet com,
when the year closed with the lite
rary entertainment of 1874 I had hal
a good part In the preparation of tn,
program of the Junior class and haC
become much interested I'm the pros
poets of training such pupils as these
for public speaking and debate. Aftel
the program was over nearly every
member of this coming Senior class
| in saying goodbye to me expressed {
J hope that | might be with them mex
year and be their principal. l fully
appreciated what 1t meant to have
the cooperation Of such superior
pupils should my good fortune bring
to me the privileges of the position
and gratefully thanked them for their
kindly expression of good will. In
those days ]. M. Jones, d. H. lie Suer
John Siebel, Rev. Childs, DR.. Hurst
Geo. 7. Carpenter, VIM. Burnside, F.
H. Loring, C. p. Searle, John r.
Barnes, Mitchell Wilson, Ben Mccoy,
John H. Green, George A. Ross, j. w.
Johnson, l.. o. Scott, and others of
their quality of manhood and ideals
were managing the public schools as
members of the school board. Their
interest in the work to be done was
always of supreme value in develop
ing policy and in sustaining cam
paign. This school board not only
sustained my efforts as principal dur.
ing a long illness OF Superintendent
Lyle, but honored my greatly by ask
ing lue to be his successor on his re-
tiremeDt from Office at the end of the
year. This action occurred April 16,
1875, and the compliment was repeat
ed every year thereafter until 1886,
when resigned to go to Cedar Falls.
No tribute that / can pay could do
Justice to the conscientious admins
tration that these school board men,
bers maintained during my thirteen
years of public service in Oskaloosa.
What was done would have been i'm
possible without this official devotion
and civic patriotism. A superinten-
dent may be prolific in thinking out
excellent plans, he may be capable in
administrative management of teach
ers and pupils, he may be popular
with the people, but, after all, his ulti-
mate success depends almost entirely
upon the sincerity, the fidelity and the
courage of the members of the school
board. There Is no more unselfish
work granted to any worker for the
public good than the province assign
ed TO the school board of a commun-
ity. They build foundations, they
erect superstructures, they adopt
plans, they indorse propositions, they
lend their cooperation, they grant
their confidence, they loan their cred
it, they support endeayors without
flinching, they give help in unlimited
ways, they show their respect for their
advisors opinions and experiences to
remarkable degree when they know
that their recognition is limited to the
few years that they are granted au-
thority and that the community will
soon forget their. valuable services
while the full credit for most OF the
success will be conferred upon the SUI
perintendent and the teachers whom
they selected, supported and honored.
When | came to leave OSkaloosa, the
school board united personally with a
few other friends and made me pres
ent OF a Rogers group of statuary,
representing Lincoln, Grant and Stan
ton reading the emancipation proc
lamation before 1t was given to the
world as a state paper. or all the
tributes of esteem that l have ever
had in my professional life, this trib-
ute of the Oskaloosa school board,
who had for years done everything
they could to help me professionally
and officially, to do creditably work
for a community. surpassed all other
recognitions ! have received.
The teachers of the Oskaloosa
schools were a noble lot of workers
from 1873 to 1886. They had but one
thought, that of cooperation with the
superintendent and of service for the
children of the people. Their success
as a combined force was unusual in
many respects, as they continually i'm
proved, developed power and gained
efficiency as time went by. They were
notable for their personality, for their
characters and for their application,
and they were equally notable 10:
their mastery of the tasks assigned
and of the best and most efficient
ways of conducting the work. \ They
spared neither time, nor strength, nor
energy that seemed essential to the
success of the schools and they never
COIupldlHSu Ol Iuc UuIuSHS luupOoOuI
the tasks assigned or the changes and
proposed. They We're
students of the most approved appli-
cation, they were workers of the most
interested type, they were laborers in
deed whose endeayors were not in
vain. Their most approved results
have been the love and the esteem Of
the pupils they instructed so faith
fully and SO thoroughly.
The pupils of the oskaloosa schools
were an ambitious lot of children
from the first grade to the twelfth
grade. They we're conscious of their
privileges and they were willing to do
what they could to realize them.
made 1t my chief duty as superinten-
dent to personally examine every
class twice year in order to more
fully know the pupils, appreciate their
application and recognize their sue
cess. These examination days were
days of congratulation and happiness,
rather than of reparation and worry,
and the pupils learned thereby to APP
preciate their teachers more and more
because they understood that their in
struction had been worth while and
the teachers Learned to appreciate
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