The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1916-10-12
4oL. IS -EstabIishedis3
An nOldTime Darke Coun-
tv School Master.
BY ISAAC KAY, M. D.

sketch WISHES 10 pTeIllSc CIeC III
his ninth year he was brought
from his native home in the Cum
berland Valley, Pennsylvania, to
West Alexandria, Ohio, in the
autumn of the year 1886, where,
on the 4th day of November, 1887,
he was rendered fatherless. His
residences in Darke county, Ohio,
were intermittent and quite var
liable. extending from the year
1910, when the county had pop
ulation of 13, 145, until the year
1916.
When only a boy, the writer of
this article attended a country
school mile east of Ithaca, Ohio,
and near a spot now called Ger
don, Darke county. The teacher
was an exceedingly eccentric,
middle-ased personage, who
proudly styled himself, Paul
Chase OF the State of New York. "
The first time that | ever saw
him was on the day after the Oc-
tober state election of 1912. near
ly IA years ago, when he appeared
upon the streets of our village,
exultlngly reciting the words of
a political campaign sorg then in
vogue, commencing with the line
Wilson Shannon has given a
tanning to Tom the Wagon Boy." "
In this song the then ex-Gover-
nor Thomas Corwin. of great dis
tinction, was meant.
The writer was then living in
ithaca and Mr.. Chase had taught
in several of the nearby villages,
where his services were highly
esteemed. But he would occas-
iOnally take a day off, especially
of Saturdays, at which tines he
would stir up the people in and
about the towns of Lewisburg,
West Baltimore, New. Castine,
and Ithaca with his progressive
notions and original ways of eX-
pressing them. MIR. Chase's me-
thods of teaching might we'll be
considered first class, even in this
day of public schools. Like his
neighb orhood contemporaries,
Findlay Moore and James Grimes,
he sometimes taught in the vii
lagos, but mostly in the rural dis
tricts, often boarding around at
the homes of the scholars. He
was kind in his manner, firm,
strict in enforcing discipline and
Thorough in his course of instruc-
tion.
The complete circle of the
sciences as taught by him was
fitIy represented by the mystic
number seven, to-wit: The alph-
abet, spelling, reading, writing,
arithmetic, grammar and geog
raphy. Hickory and beech would
have increased the curriculum,
but the pioneer school masters
generously threw these branches
IN gratis, so they were not count
ed in the regular list of studies.
1t was the theory of some that a
dull and inattentive boys lessons
should be illustrated now and
then with a few lively woodcuts.
The pupil would thus be made tc
remember the illustrations if not
the text.
Mr.. Chase called the pupils at.
tention to the principles of or.
biography, ortheopy, grammati
cal rules and elegant compost
ton. The principles of analysis
both in grammar and in arithme
tic, were most ably inculcated
which was quite an item in thos'
early days and new departure
in the usual course Of rural 'edu
cation. One Of the singularitie
of this method was that he taugh
the art Of spelling not so much b,
rote as by observing the system
atic rules Of photography as full.
as the structure of the Englis
language would allow. He pai
close attention, not only to tn
mere letter Of the rules in arith
metic and grammar, but to tn
essential nrinciules unon whic