The Coolidge examiner., 1932-09-30

the name of McGufey mean anything to Young
America? Probably not And yet there are
those who say that 1t is the name Of a 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 a recent popular American encyclopedia
gives only Is lines to this man and the Encyclo-
pedia Brittanica doesn't mention him at ALL
there are thousands of Americans to whom the
name of William Holmes McGuffey will bring
reminiscent CLEAN to the eye For he was 'the
schoolmaster to a nation" and anyone who at
tended a public school in America from 1886
down to the end of the century can remember
something which they learned in one of the
McGufey Readers.
Herbert Quick in writing of his childhood in
rural Iowa in his book, "One Mans Life says
81 had burning thirst for books. On those farms
a boy or girl with my appetite for literature
was frog in a desert. The thirst was satisfied
and more important, stimulated to aspira-
ton for further satisfaction by an old dog-eared
volume of McGuffeys. the standard school read
ers of my day. My mastery of the first and sec
ond readers-just the opening of the marves of
the printed page-was poignant delight and
constitute the most influential volumes ever pub
lished in America"
Nor is he the only notable to offer such testa-
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 was colored by the readers he
Al,o
late Albert ]. Beveridge 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 this impor-
tant individual, let go back to the days before
the Revolution In August. 1T74. William and
Anne (NcKittrick) 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 a scout and Indian
fighter serving in Ohio and Western Pennsyl-
vana under Gen. Arthur St Clair and Anthony
Wayne At the end of this campaign in 1894 he
married Miss Anna Holmes of Washington coun-
ty 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 Cortsvile village, Cortsvlle township,
in the Connecticut Western Reserve.
One day Rev.. Thomas Hughes, Presbyterian
minister. was riding by the lonely McGufey
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 So year and
board 10 cents a week. Here William received
his academic training and by the time he was
eighteen was ready for a collegiate course.
He went to the nearest college, Washington