Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-05
Early White House Stable Became Educational Center Of Cit
Great Teacher, Strong John Thomson,
Was in Charge There for Many Years.
Although His Life Was Uneventful,
He Was One of City, Noted Leaders.

ment. The Blue Lodge service will be
celebrated at the grave.
LAS a teacher, Mr.. Thomson left his
impress on many scholar. he
was in his prime before modern methods
of education had got such a hold as
they have today, and he believed that
the only way to make a boy learn was
to make him work and work hard. II
the boy would not work 1t was the worse
for him, for Mr.. Thomson was strong
in name and strong in deed as the boys
used to say. He was a consistent be-
lever in the virtues of corporal punish
ment and he was never slow to put his
principles into practice. 1t is remem-
bered of him that In one Of his school
rooms he used to have as motto on
the wall the phrase, Per aSpera Ad
astra,' and he made his pupils work
hard to reach the stars. Yet his boys
went out into the world strong, manly
fellows, and many Of the men who
spoke today with most regret Of him
we're the boys he thrashed the hardest
a generation ago. 1t must be said Of Mr..
Thomson, however that when he began
his work here difhcult condition OF
affairs prevailed. There was less OF the
kid glove element in the public schools
than there Is today. Those were the
days when pitched battles were common
between the different schools and stones
were used with freedom. There were
few 'ologies' and isms.' taught, but
Strong john was strong on reading.
writing and arithmetic Thirty and 40
years ago there were all sorts Of COM
petitions for prizes between the differ
ent schools, and it is said that his school
invariably carried of the lions share.
He also won for his boys more Kendall
scholarships at the Columbian University
| than did any other teacher in the pub
| lie schools. His boys knew their gram
mar and they could figure, too. They
had to. If they were remiss strong
John was sure to be after them with
strap or the birch.
X = y
"a GENERATION ago it was the
thing for each school to have q
banner Mr.. Thomson's was the hand
soonest in the District. On 1t was en-
broidered spreading tree, beneath
which were the words, The roots are
bitter, but the fruit is sweet About a
year ago Mr.. Thomson presented that
banner, which is the only one known
to be in existence, to the Columbia His
torical Society, and it will be preserved
along with the other interesting possess
| sions of that body. At a meeting Of
the society last Spring Mr.. j. Ormond
Wilson, formerly the superintendent of
schools. read a paper on the history of
| the schools of washington, in which
he spoke of Mr.. Thomson as the senior
of the corps, and without rival in the
number of washington boys who have
acquired under his tuition sound and
| thorough education in the elementary
studies
| "Mr. Thomson never quite lost his
! faith in the theory that the more bitter
| the roots of education the sweeter the
fruits, and it was with some regrets that
he saw corporal punishment abolished.
Certain it is that the system worked
we'll with him. for his school always stood
pretty close 70 the top in the matter of
scholarship. His principal rival as a
teacher was Mr.. John E. Thompson,
Strong John and John E., or Thomson
without a p and Thompson with p
Mr.. Thomson was the head of the
old First Ward Grammar School, which
stood on the site of the present Berret
building, Fourteenth and Que streets,
when the Spencerian system of hand
writing was introduced The superin-
| tendent Of schools visited the building
one day accompanied by an expert per-
man. The latter examined the COPY
books and found the writing in them all
so precisely like the engraved copy that
he insisted they had all been written
by the same person. Such, of course,
was not the case, and the superintend-
ent asked Mr.. Thomson how his pupils
had been taught so thoroughly. With
the strap said Mr.. Thomson briefly.
| when the news of Mr.. Thomson's
death spread about the city this morn
/ ing there were many expressions of sor-
row. A movement was at once put on
foot among his old scholars looking to a
proper recognition of the sad event. and
it is probable that some concrete action
will be taken on the part of those who
knew and respected him"
Just a few doors below the jefferson
Stable School. at SOC Fourteenth street,
Jefferson Davis. the Southern chieftain,
| lived for while prior to the Civil War
when he was member of Congress. In
this block also lived other distinguished
| persons.