The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-09-30

the name of McGuffey mean anything to Young
America? Probably mott And yet there are
those who say that it is the name of man who
was the most popular American of the Nineteenth
century, the man who had the largest influence
in determining the thoughts and ideals Of the
American people during that period and the man
to whose work many great Americans of the
present day pay tribute as being the fountain OF
their inspiration to aspire and to achieve. Even
though recent popular American encyclopedia
gives only 10 lines to this man and the Encyclo-
pedia Britannica doesn't mention him at all,
there thousands of Americans to whom the
name of William Holmes McGuffey will bring
reminiscent CLEAN to the eye. For he was 1.-The
schoolmaster to nation" and anyone who at
tended a public school in America from 1885
down to the end of the century can remember
something which they learned in one of the
McGuffey Readers.
Herbert Quick in writing of his childhood in
rural Iowa in his book, Zone Mans Life" says:
81 had burning thirst for books. On those farms
a boy or girl with my appetite for literature
was a frog in desert. The thirst was satisfied
and, more important, stimulated to aspira-
ton for further satisfaction by an old dog-eared
volume of McGuffey's, the standard school read
ers of my day. My mastery of the first and sec
ond readers-just the opening of the marvels OF
the printed page-waS a poignant delight and
gave me a sort of ecstasy. Those textbooks
constitute the most influential volumes ever pub
lshed in America"
Nor is he the only notable to offer such tesla
mony. Newton D. Baker declares that an
especially melancholy poem contained in the
fifth reader made an impression on him that still
remains, and the late Justice John H. Clarke
said that the language he used in handing down
decisions of the United States Supreme court
not infrequently colored by the readers he
had studied so years before. Ida M. Tarbell, the
late Albert J. Beverage, former Senator Charles
S. Thomas of Colorado Senator Simeon d. Fess
and Senator Frank L. Greene are among others
who credit McGuffey with having had a large
share in shaping their minds.
To get the proper perspective on this impor-
tant individual let us go back to the days before
the Revolution. In August, 1874, William and
Anne (AIcKittrick) McGuffey emigrated to this
country from Scotland. Landing at Philadelphia,
they journeyed to the southern border of York
county, Pennsylvania, where they settled. Dur
ing the days of the Revolutionary war George
Washington often stopped at their home. This
Scotch family had one son. Alexander who was
six years old when they arrived in America.
Alexander grew up to be scout and Indian
fighter, serving in Ohio and Western Pennsyl-
vania under Gen. Arthur st. Clair and Anthony
Wayne. AT the end of this campaign in 1874 he
married Miss Anna Holmes of Washington coun-
~, Pennsylvania, and settled as a farmer in that
county. Here, William Holmes McGuffey was
born, September %, 1900.
When the lad was two years old, the McGuf-
feys removed to Trumbull county, Ohio, where
Alexander McGuffey purchased a farm Of 165
acres in Cortsville village, Cortsville township,
IN the Connecticut Western Reserve.
One day Rev. Thomas Hughes, Presbyterian
minister, riding by the lonely McGuffey
cabin. He overheard the mother praying that
her young son, William, might have the oppor-
tunity to secure an education that would fit him
for life and for the ministry. Reverend Hughes
arranged to have the boy attend school at the
"Old Stone academy" which he had opened at
Darlington, Pa. The tuition was So year and
board 75 cents week. Here William received
his academic training and by the time he was
eighteen was ready for collegiate course.
He went to the nearest college, Washington
college, in Pennsylvania, and there came under
the influence of Dr. Andrew Wyle. president Of
the college He studied Latin, Greek and Hebrew
as well as English and graduated with honorS
in 1896, receiving the bachelor of arts degree
While attending Washington college he sup
ported himself in part by teaching He taught
a pioneer school in Kentucky, his work being
observed by the first president of Miami uni
versity that had been founded at Oxford. Ohio,
I'm 1909. This man, Rev Robert Hamilton Bishop
at once recognized the power and devotion of the
young undergraduate student and offered him
position at Miami to begin in the autumn of 1926
The minutes of the board of trustees show
that he was employed as professor Of languages