Buchanan County, Missouri - Schools, 1881

Schools

Our State Constitution lays down, as the very foundation of society and good government, the following principle : " Schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged in this state. One school, or more, shall be established in each township, as soon as practicable and necessary, where the poor shall be taught gratis."

Thus we find, in the fundamental law of Missouri, the plain and unequivocal announcement of the principle that every state is bound to see that its citizens are educated. It is a voluntary avowal of the fact that the happiness, wealth and prosperity of a nation must depend on the intelligence and virtue of its people.

In the act of Congress (1820) authorizing the people of Missouri Territory to form a constitution and state government, the sixteenth section of each township, or its equivalent, was devoted to 'the purpose of supporting schools in each township.

Twelve salt springs, with six sections or thirty-eight hundred and forty acres of land adjoining each, were also granted to the state, and those were afterwards devoted by the Legislature to the same object.

The first act passed by the Legislature of the state on the subject of education was on the 17th of January, 1825. This law enacted that each Congressional Township should form a school district, to be under the control of the County Court in all matters pertaining to schools. It also declared that all rents (of school lands) fines, penalties and forfeitures accruing under provisions of this act should be set apart and appropriated exclusively to a school fund, and, in no case, should it be otherwise applied.

January 26, 1833, the Legislature authorized the Governor to appoint three suitable persons, whose duty it should be to prepare a system of primary school instruction, as nearly uniform as practicable throughout the state, and to make report to the next meeting of the Legislature.

By act of June 23, 1836, the office of Superintendent of Common Schools was first created. Peter G. Glover was the first to fill this office. He was required in the month of January of each year, to make distribution of the "School Monies" amongst the several counties in which there may be any school, based upon the number of white children between the ages of six and eighteen years.

During the session of 1853, a committee composed of Acock, of Polk County, Hickman, of Boone and Kelley, of Holt County, by authority of the Legislature, matured and presented to that body the law in force on the statute- book up to the passage of the second State Constitution and with some modifications substantially the same as exists today (1881). The first distribution of State School moneys were made January, 1842, when only thirteen counties received any portion of the fund. These were Benton, Boone, Clark, Cole, Cooper, Greene, Lafayette, Livingston, Marion, Monroe, Ralls, Saline and Shelby. The aggregate amount of this apportionment was $1,999.60. The number of children in the report here fails to appear. In 1859, the number of children reported was 367,248, and the amount appropriated, $253,401.12.

To the first school taught in the county we have already referred in our notice of Crawford Township. Others of perhaps equal importance subsequently existed in distant parts of the county, at times not far distant from this period. The most important of these, both from the superior grade of its scholarship and the permanency of its success, was that established in St. Joseph by Mrs. Israel Landis, in the summer of 1845, and advertised in the Gazette of that day as St. Joseph Female Seminary. Either about this period, or a short time previous to the first opening of this school, Mrs. Stone, a Roman Catholic lady, taught, for a few months, a small private school within the city limits.

Mrs. Landis' school prospered with merited success for several succeeding years. Though, to all intents and purposes a female institution, a few small boys, whose sisters were pupils in the seminary, were occasionally received as temporary students in the same.

On February 9th, 1839, a school law was enacted, under which there were two or four inspectors of common schools appointed. One duty of these inspectors was to examine teachers. This was probably the first step toward our present organized system of public school management.

Though a long term of years intervened between the period first, above referred to and the present time, we find in the days of her earliest history a lively sense of the importance of general education engaging the minds of the people of Buchanan County.

The following evidence of the fact will be read with interest by many who may yet, perhaps, recollect, if they did not personally take part in the convention :

Common School Convention

On motion of Mr. Stratton, Dr. Davis was elected President of the Convention, and on motion of Mr. Burbaker, H. F. Hoover was elected' Secretary.

The Convention was then called to order by the President, who took occasion to introduce the claims of education in some happy introductory remarks, together with reading the following preamble and resolutions,

Whereas, In a republic the people are the source of all political power, and from them must emanate those hurtful or beneficent influences which will operate either as an aliment in sustaining, or as poison in destroying vitality of popular institutions ; and

Whereas, The entire mass of society in this country are deeply interested in reference to the capacity of each member thereof to meet the high obligations arising from his social and political relations, it being evident that the judgment in reference to these obligations cannot be correct while knowledge is deficient and defective ; and

Whereas, Also it is painfully evident that in a very large portion of these states there is a destitution of political and literary intelligence disreputable to the government and incompatible with a healthful exercise of the sacred rights of suffrage ; and

Whereas, It is also evident and surprising that neither the general government nor our own state government have put forth efforts at all adequate to remove the incubus of ignorance, which not only endangers the peace and safety, but retards the prosperity of the country. There is, indeed, by the enactments of our state a plentiful array of directions for the organization of school districts, the necessary officers with their duties fully prescribed, etc., but nothing available placed at their disposal for the accomplishment of those duties.

One section out of thirty-six is given for educational purposes - and that, with shame let it be said, suffered by the people to be bartered off at $1.25 per acre ! ! !

We cannot but regard the trifling appropriation of the thirty-sixth section, and that badly secured to the cause for which it was intended, as manifest proof of the indifference of government to the subject.

On the part of some of the United States there are splendid exceptions, where education is receiving the fostering care of vigorous governments, and consequently, that generous devotion of the people which, as the pabulum of individual .happiness and palladium of public liberty, it justly demands ; and

Whereas, If our institutions are the most subservient to human happiness, of which the world knows, it is most clearly the duty, as well as the highest interest of every individual enjoying these blessings to contribute the utmost in his power to perpetuate them unimpaired to posterity ; and

Whereas, Our country is universally regarded as holding not only a conspicuous, but a tremendously responsible station, among the nations of the earth. Situate so remote from all countries where posterity can be dreaded, and in possession of immense physical and civil advantages, it must be evident to the most superficial observer that if the great experiment of self-government can succeed, of all nations under the sun we ought and will most likely be the people to make a practical demonstration of it. Let Buchanan County remember that the eyes of the world are directed to our nation ; that to America is directed the last appeal in behalf of the oppressed, ignorant, suffering humanity; that America is known to be the only Ararat on which freedom's ark can. safely repose. And here let it repose forever, safe in the affections and intelligence of the whole people, while our institution of learning - OUR COMMON SCHOOLS - like the bow of promise, shall spread from East tc West its wide arch, giving us the assurance that the wild waters of anarchy and despotism shall not again destroy the earth ; therefore,

Resolved. That those high, those fond, those longing hopes of Christendom ought not, may not and must not be disappointed ; in support of which, as a part of the American people, and in conjunction with every patriotic American, we are ready and willing, as much as in us lies, to put on betimes the whole armor of freedom and wield it in behalf of those institutions that give life and permanency to our Republic.

Resolved, That any individual is unable to perform the duties of a republican citizen while destitute of that education or discipline of mind necessary to understand for himself the nature of our institutions, the rudiments and principles of our government. Therefore, that the long prevalent and present neglect of common .schools, both by the government and the people, proclaims loudly an undue appreciation of what intimately concerns the vital interests of community, and favors a state of things which eminently endangers, not merely the well being, but the existence of our free institutions.

But that with the intellectual and moral training which our common schools afford, every individual may acquire the ability to be a useful citizen, and by joining his wise and harmonious influence with others in executing plans for the common weal, he will not only earn the reputation of benefactor, but will actually have an agency in embellishing the minds of his fellows whose influence, fragrant with all that is good, will live after him age after age.

Resolved, That education, such as ought to be imparted in common schools, will enable every one to know and obey the just restraints of law, and also must effectually correct the exuberance of democracy, chasten and control its tendencies to insubordination, being held by the attractions of reason, in its just orbit, around a free constitution, preserved alike from the centripetal force of despotism and the centrifugal force of anarchy - giving and arming every man with the ability to detect the sophistry of the demagogue, and to unite in the selection and establishment of such authority as shall secure the public tranquility, by rendering obedience pleasure and submission choice.

Resolved, That it is justly the reproach of the general, and of many of the state governments, that while with an energy and devotion that calls forth the admiration of the world, they have given to a mighty nation the boon of freedom, they yet have neglected, or at best imperfectly supplied, the means of general knowledge, by whose power, calm and energetic, will give perpetual life and energy to our free government, and that, therefore, public authorities are chargeable with the inconsistency of neglecting the materials and order of the foundation, in their zeal for the strength and utility of the superstructure.

Resolved, That the light of learning has long since exposed to merited contempt the assumption of "the divine right of kings," and that experience amply testifies that self-government, under the guidance of general intelligence, is no longer an experiment, but ipso facto, practical ; therefore the friends of common schools may most pertinently address an appeal, as a motive to our very selfishness - even the first law of our being, self preservation.

Resolved, That the tranquility and perpetuity of this republic is rendered secure by the diffusion of knowledge, and that whatever so intimately concerns the best interests of government, cannot be at variance with the freedom or rights of a single citizen ; and therefor, having provided the end, has a right to so control the means and dictate as to their due appropriation for purposes of general education, and to compel, by law, the attendance of every minor upon common schools.

Resolved, That education inspires men with a just respect for themselves, and of consequence, a due respect for others, by bringing to view the worth and greatness of human nature, while the solemn claims of every individual possessing these exalted and dignified faculties to equal respect, are established on the very ruins of those pernicious principles which have so long and so unjustly divided mankind into classes of the abject many and the self-exalted few.

influence upon individual happiness, furnishing materials for rational, profitable, social and public intercourse, as well as subjects for private meditation - thus so expand the faculties of the human mind - we mean of every mind - that the great bond which connects and embraces the several members of society is clearly perceived and duly appreciated.

Resolved, That in a religious, as well as civil view, the world is immensely indebted to the influence of letters, the demonstration of which is afforded in the Gospel itself ; the religion of which, against all opposition, became the religion of the Roman Empire. Caesar himself a christian, would seem to have promised and insured to mankind that repose, benevolence and peace which the Gospel proposes and enjoins, but, alas ! how different the result of this triumph of the cross. The world unfortunately lacked that general knowledge (for the diffusion of which we are now striving) and in consequence of which the whole of that pride and arrogance which so soon usurped and perverted in the name of religion in the place of "peace and good will to men." These fetters, strong enough to have held the world in the most degrading vassalage, and during long centuries, tumbling even the mightiest monarchs into the dust, were at last broken, and the cruel dominion of Egyptian darkness scattered by the light and power of letters, an influence which will be found irresitible against oppression, and within reach of that which will render it as lasting as Gibraltar's rock.

Resolved, That the invention of the art of printing may not be inaptly styled the true alchemist - and is, indeed, the philosopher's stone, by which base materials have been converted into gold ; or, to drop the metaphor, it is that which embellishes the mind with brilliant thought, by scattering the printed page around our windows thick as the leaves of autumn, removes ignorance and supplies the mind with all the shining forms of intellectual beauty and excellence, giving symetry and order to every sense and faculty, while to the mind is imparted true confidence for trepidation, wisdom for ignorance, correct taste in manners, habits and morals, and a corresponding regard for the hitherto undiscovered dignity and elevation of human nature. Thus, therefore, education enhances, not only the interest and pleasure, but the wealth of individuals as well as of the nation.

Resolved, That education is to be regarded not simply as an acquisition of a treasury of facts, but as a potent influence which pervades the whole structure of the mind, governing, strengthening and disciplining all its faculties harmoniously, rendering it the crucible in which materials are prepared, and the mould to form them into countless varieties of novel, beautiful forms.

Resolved, That although the strong arm of government has been extended with liberality in support of schools, yet there are several classes of citizens that are entitled to the gratitude of the nation for their incessant efforts in the noble cause, among whom are the clergy and the editor.

Resolved, That in consequence of our wide and rapidly extending population, the relations and interests of the different sections, of the republic have become extensively various and complicated, and that the importance of education has increased in corresponding ratio.

hour's length, commenting upon and enforcing the truths of the resolutions, showing what education had accomplished in Switzerland, Prussia, and the most of the Western States, inferring a miserable deficiency in our own State with fifty thousand adults who cannot read and write ; closed by moving that the preamble and resolutions be adopted, which, being seconded, was unanimously done by the convention.

Mr. Stratton introduced to the convention the subject of school houses, reading and commenting most pertinently upon the following preamble and resolutions :

Whereas, Many of our school houses are among the very worst specimens of architecture. The construction of these edifices has received such little attention or aid from the more intelligent part of the community, and has been left to the care of those who have known or thought of no other model but the old building, and who have studied their pecuniary interest more attentively than the education of their children, I know of nothing among us that brings so great a reproach upon our affluence or intelligence as the low, dark, filthy appearance of many of our district school houses. There is no part of the means of education that makes a stronger demand upon the learned and benevolent, and none which requires a more thorough reform, than the location, size, structure and fixtures of the buildings in which nineteen citizens out of twenty receive their first impressions, their first character, and the principal part of their education ; therefore

Resolved, That we recommend to districts inasmuch as the average number of children that ought to accompany every qualified teacher in this densely populated county should be about seventy, to build their school houses not less than thirty by forty feet in size, and that the middle of the house be filled with seats instead of the common and bad practice of seating scholars around the outside of a schoolroom, that one scholar may move without moving all on his seat ; that said houses have not less than three windows in each side of the house, and those put so high that when scholars are seated their heads will be below the bottom window ; also, inasmuch as a child is educated by other teachers than books and schoolmasters, that a lovely and delightful piece of ground be selected for a school house ; also, that everything around it be comfortable and cheerful ; also, that it be removed from the noise and sight of business, and from everything that would endanger the body or divert the mind ; also, that your houses be built high, which is of great importance in every house that is- filled.

Whereas, That in our opinion our common school system, imperfect as it is, is the best that has ever been adopted in the Western States for educating the rising generation, and that a large share of the responsibility of -carrying that system into successful operation depends upon the District Trustee ; therefore.

Resolved, That we recommend to all Trustees that in our opinion it is necessary to pay such wages to good teachers as will not only be an adequate compensation, but will afford encouragement to persons of talent and energy to engage in the business.

Resolved, further. That it is the business of the trustees to visit the schools in their respective districts often, and to have such school under their immediate supervision - not that trustees are to have a voice in the daily discipline of the school, but they may know the embarrassments of district schools in the absence of the necessary apparatus in the way of carrying out and executing the views of their teacher for the prosperity of the school.

Mr. Stratton, then at length, in a most clear, forcible and masterly manner, set forth the subject of qualified teachers and moved the following resolution :

Resolved, That in consideration of the great responsibility resting upon the teacher of the common school, it is highly requisite that all persons offering themselves as patterns and guardians of youth, possess a thorough knowledge of all the branches required to be taught in the common school course, and a capability of imparting the same with facility to their pupils ; also that they should be able to adopt and maintain a well regulated system of classification, .instruction and discipline.

Resolved, That in the opinion of the committee, the efficiency of the teacher will be materially enhanced by the co-operation of the parent in upholding his authority and entire supremacy in all matters of school discipline and government, and inculcating into the minds of their children a high respect for his person and qualifications.

Resolved, also, That it is deemed of great advantage to teachers and scholars that parents frequently visit and observe the order and regulation of the school, and, in case of their noticing any ground of complaint in the teacher, that they speak to him in private and make a representation thereof to the trustees, and by no means to indulge in the presence of children in depreciatory remarks, which are calculated to lessen the. respect of the children and efficiency of the teacher.

Resolved, That it is very essential that each scholar be furnished with such books as he may need, instead of the frequent practice of studying in couples.

The teacher's employment, to be profitable and useful to all parties, should be made as honorable and as separate as the physician's, divine's or lawyer's, and labor exclusively in his profession, as the physician does in his. We would not employ a man who may have had a good education, but had given his whole attention to the selling of goods, to be our physician, when disease takes hold of us, or to plead our rights before judge or jury who had not made the law his study for years ; therefore,

How shall teachers become better prepared for their profession > How can they be continually improving their minds and their systems of instruction.' And how shall every teacher receive the light which the more experienced are constantly throwing upon the subject of instruction.' We know of no means so common to all, and so favorable, as county conventions of teachers. Heretofore there has been but little communication between teachers. The improvements which one has made have not been made known to others ; the incompetency of teachers, and the bad efforts of teacher have not been made to elevate and honor their profession. Other classes of men have had their conventions - men of science, ministers and statesmen, to ensure enlightened and united operations, appoint their conventions to redress wrongs, to correct errors, and make known the improvements and able suggestions that may be discovered or proposed by any of one of the party.

The wisdom and experience of these conventions not only enlighten the people and sit in Judgment upon their errors, but produce throughout the whole country similarity of feeling and harmony of efforts for the peace of the church, the advancement of science and the prosperity of the country.

Such conventions are absolutely necessary, but are not conventions - of teachers equally necessary for the prosperity of our schools .' Does not the difficulty and responsible profession of teaching require all the light and knowledge that can be obtained on the subject .' Does not the incompetency of teachers invite all the aid that can be obtained on this subject .' Does not the incompetency of teachers invite all the aid that can be furnished from those who are better qualified by experience and from other literary men .'

"Certainly ! " every one will say, " such assistance is highly important ; it would afford that necessary aid which teachers now have no means of obtaining."

Yet so great is the apathy of the people that we seldom hear of a -teachers' convention. The introduction of a teachers' convention, it seems, has but just found its way into Missouri. Hence but a small number of our teachers have .been profited by them. But how shall teachers improve themselves, if not by such conventions .'

Works on education have a very limited circulation. Not one teacher out of a hundred reads anything on the subject ; nor will they read before the living voice exercises their attention. There are but few seminaries for educating teachers, and rarely a lecture delivered on school-keeping. Teachers are seldom qualified when they enter into the profession, and they have neither the assistance of teachers in the vicinity nor intelligence from abroad, either from books or the speaking lecture. This should not be so. There are many means which teachers may use to prepare themselves for their profession and for improving themselves while engaged in their duties ; and we know of none so advantageous to teachers, and that is attended with so little expense and within reach of all, as frequent county conventions. If these are generally announced and faithfully attended, they will not only be highly interesting to teachers, but of the greatest benefit to our schools. They should be attended not only by teachers, but all the friends of education ; each individual should go prepared to contribute to their interest and usefulness and with a hearty desire to promote the general cause of education. Each county association should have a correspondence with similar associations in adjacent counties, and so throughout the United States. By this communication all the improvements or changes which have been made may be made known. It should be the object of these conventions and communications with other associations to discover the origin of the defects in the present system of instruction, to ascertain the actual condition of schools through the' United States, who are in school, and the number who do not use the means of education. To ascertain the true interest which parents are taking in educating their children, to convince the people of the necessity of general intelligence in a free government, and to make known the duties which every one owes to the frcie institutions of his country. The mutual improvement of teachers is one of the first objects of these conventions. To render this, mutual instructibn each teacher before the convention should describe his system of instruction and his form of government. From this interchange of views on the best methods of teaching and governing many valuable suggestions will be elicited and many evils and defects disclosed. Individuals should be appointed to deliver lectures before these conventions, the object of the lectures being either to illustrate or simplify the branches which are taught in our schools, or to make known the best methods of instructing. These, with many other advantages, too numerous to mention, are the happy results of county teachers' conventions.

Resolved, That it is incumbent upon teachers, for their own protection and advancement in the scale of public opinion, and for the benefit of those under their charge, to associate themselves together, to hold converse with each other as often as practicable, and, in every honorable way within their power, to promote good fellowship and brotherly kindness among themselves, thereby presenting opportunities for interchange of sentiments, which must produce the most beneficial results.

Resolved, That we know of no better way of carrying out the spirit of the above preamble and resolution than by teachers frequently associating themselves together, as we do ; therefore earnestly recommend that associations be formed in every organized township in our county by their teachers.

Resolved by the convention, That the president appoint a suitable person from each township in this county as a committee, whose duty it shall be to ascertain the number of township and district schools organized, the number and reasons for, of those not organized, with such other facts as will show the state of the schools in our county, and repbrt to the next county convention.

The committee, in behalf of the present convention, feel that they will not discharge their duty without earnestly recommending the repeal of Section 13, Article IV, School Laws of Mo.

Through correspondence with the superintendent of common schools it is ascertained the 13th section of the 4th article bears a general interpretation, and of consequence has a restraining, crippling and mischievous force on other provisions of the laws, so as to render them powerless. The committee solicit that every one examine the law, and pray the Legislature for the repeal of said section immediately. Copies of the petition will be found in the hands of the committee.

While the cause of public instruction was thus engaging the attention and arousing vigorous efforts on the part of many representative citizens of the new county, the spirit of individual enterprise in the profession of teaching did not remain confined to the lady to whose successful efforts we have already referred.

Prompted by an abiding faith in the then prospective future of St. Joseph, the Rev. T. S. Reeve, a minister of the New School Presbyterian Church, opened in the town, in the fall of 1850, a female seminary. This school occupied the basement of the New School Presbyterian Church, the first ecclesiastical structure of brick erected in the city, and the second of any kind built within its limits. This building stands on an elevation on the northeast corner of Fourth and Francis Streets.

attached to the rear of the church building. His school was emphatically a female seminary; recognized as such, it was liberally patronized, and from the start enjoyed a career of uninterrupted prosperity. The institution was chartered by the State Legislature with authority to confer the usual degrees recognized in our American female colleges.

At the end of about four years Mr. Reeve determined to withdraw from the profession of teaching. He had no successor in the institution which he had established and for which he had received a charter. The furniture of the school he sold to a recent arrival, E. B. Neely, a teacher who, subsequently, as principal of a private, classical and scientific school in St. Joseph, and afterwards as superintendent of city and county schools of St. Joseph and Buchanan County, achieved an enviable distinction.

The Gazette of August 30th, 1854, contains the announcement that the St. Joseph Female High School would open on the first Monday in September, in a building on the corner of Fifth and Faraon Streets. The teachers of this school, which continued to prosper for a considerble period after its commencement, were Miss M. A. Lesuer, principal; Miss M. A. Lesuer, first assistant, and Miss H. M. Lesuer, second assistant.

The building still (1881) stands, and is occupied as a residence. It was not, however, directly on the corner, another house having since been built above it, rendering the building the second southward from the corner of Faraon.

In January, 185 1, Professor Charles C. Byrne, formerly of Nashville, Tennessee, and now (1881) a resident of Albany, Missouri, arrived in St. Joseph, whither he had come with the expectation of assisting in his school the Rev. Mr. Reeve. In consequence of delay in travel, he failed to reach St. Joseph in time, and, on his arrival, found that Mr. and Mrs. Mills, of Ohio, had been employed in the institution. In the following spring Mr. and Mrs. Mills left for California. Among the other teachers in St. Joseph, about this period, were Mr. Stuppy and Mr. O'Toole, the father-in-law of Hon. I. C. Parker, who once represented a Missouri district in "Congress, and is now (1881) United States District Judge in Arkansas. Both the above mentioned gentlemen were teaching when Mr. Byrne commenced his school. They continued about a year after. About three years after the commencement of the latter's school, a gentleman from New York by the name of Hart arrived in St. Joseph, and fitted up for the purpose of a school the "Old Log Church," the first place of worship built in the town and erected by Parson Reeve in the early settlement of St. Joseph. This church building was rented him by Israel Landis- Mr. Byrne .speaks in the highest terms of approval of this gentleman, both personally and professionally, and at the close of the period of his brief stay, expressed regret at his departure, which was doubless due to his want of success amid the competition that then existed.

Mrs. Burr and niece also conducted a prosperous school in the city about this period. The latter, in January, 1852, was married to Wm. R. Penick.

Among the earliest applications of public funds to the maintenance of schools in the county, from the best information at our command, was that made to one taught in St. Joseph, by Capt. C. C. Byrne, above referred to. The limited amount thus afforded only defrayed a portion of the expense of a three months' school.

Numerous other institutions for the instruction of youth were subsequently started by individual enterprise. A majority of these were mere experiments and proved short-lived.

In the fall of 1854, E. B. Neely, of Virginia, accompanied by R. F. Maxwell, arrived in St. Joseph, and started, in the basement and additions of the Presbyterian church above referred to, as formerly occupied by Parson Reeve's female college, a private school. Mr. Neely, after establishing the school, left Mr. Maxwell in charge of the same and went back to Virginia. In the meantime a portion of the small public fund above referred to was allotted to this institution, and, as a natural consequence, swelled immensely the roll of attendance. The furniture of this school was the former property of Mr. Reeve, and was purchased from him by Mr. Neely, who returned to take charge of the school in the spring of 1855. Mr. Maxwell soon retired from the profession and the business of the school continued to be conducted by Mr. Neely, with distinguished ability and a corresponding success, till his retirement, at the close of thetivil war, from the active duties of his profession for the purpose of assuming the scarcely less onerous task of superintending the public schools of St. Joseph.

To his efforts, more than to the exertions of any other one man, the present (1881) splendid condition of the public schools of St. Joseph is universally conceded to be due. In the long period during which he also filled, together with the superintendence of the above, the position of county superintendent of common schools, his marked ability was as fully recognized by all interested in the efficiency of the standard of public instruction. No fuller recognition of his sterling ability need be mentioned than the fact of his continuous re-election to the office, under all the various and opposing changes and modifications of party in power. In the election of a city school superintendent the people of St. Joseph seem ever to have manifested the good sense to ignore political attributes.

To go back a little in our history : In the fall of 1855, Professors E. C. Davis and Rogers opened a female academy in what is now the Saunders House. In 1858 Davis retired, leaving the institution in charge of Professor Rogers, who conducted the school till the close of the follow-

Rev. A. V. C. Schenk then took charge of the institution, the style of which he changed, naming it the St. Joseph Female College. After conducting the school for a brief period, he sold out to William Cameron, at one time Professor of Languages in the Masonic College, at Lexington, Mo.

About 1858, A. W. Slayback, a former asssistant of Mr. Neely, taught a private school in what was the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, a frame building which stood at the corner of Sixth and Edmond Streets.

This was accidentally destroyed by fire during the civil war. In the following year J. P. Caldwell opened a school in the same building. Miss India Cowden, now Mrs. E. W. Ray, assisted Professor Caldwell in this institution. She afterwards conducted an important school of her own, and was subsequently, for several years, principal of the Everett (public) School, in the city.

Among the prominent teachers of other schools immediately before, and during the civil war, in St. Joseph, was Miss Sarah Bell (afterwards Mrs. Tiernan), a lady of rare literary and. scientific attainments, and of marked success as an instructress of youth. Hers was a female school exclusively.

St. Joseph Classical Institute was an institution which existed in St. Joseph during the two and a-half years next preceding the close of the civil war. It was presided over by C. S. Raffington, teacher of ancient and modern languages, assisted by W. A. F. N. Bowen, teacher of mathematics and natural science. The school was a splendid success, including in the period of its existence, a membership of largely over two hundred students. It was taught in the Franklin school building, and only suspended at the close of the war, in consequence of the reorganization of the public schools of St. Joseph, when the house was required for the purpose of accommodating one of these institutions. For want of suitable buildings in the city, the institute lost its existence. In the following September, the principal accepted the chair of languages in what is now the Daughters' College of Platte City.

St. Joseph Classical Institute will long be remembered by many as the early Alma Mater of William B. Smith, whose wonderful powers of application and of apprehension achieved for him a reputation which, perhaps no other youth in the state ever acquired in a corresponding period of time. By the time that this boy, then a mere child, had com- pleted his third year in this, the first school he attended, he had read eight or nine Latin authors, not superficially, but with critical accuracy. At the age of fourteen he was a better classical scholar than a majority of the graduates of our Western colleges, and had made respectable advancement in mathematics and the natural sciences. In June, 1867, he entered the University of Kentucky, where his career was one of continued success and of unrivaled brilliancy. In three years he was graduated with the highest honors ever awarded any graduate. In June, 1871, he was advanced to the degree of Master of Arts for proficiency in the French, German and Italian languages. He shortly afterwards filled the position of Professor of Natural Sciences in the University in which he was graduated. He subsequently visited continental Europe, and achieved distinction in some of the most noted of the German universities.

William B. Smith is the son of Jerry Smith, Esqr., a lawyer by profession, but, at the period of his death, engaged in farming near Sparta, in Buchanan County. He was assassinated on his way home from St. Joseph, one evening during the late civil war.

Rev. James H. Robinson, a minister of the M. E. Church South, opened in the Patee House in St. Joseph, in September, 1865, a female school. This institution was conducted by him with success up to the period of his death, which occurred September 20, 1869, when the school was continued by Rev. Dr. Dixon till the first of January, 1869.

In the fall of the year 1869, Rev. Dr. Charles Martin, a minister of the Lutheran Church, arrivgd in St. Joseph, and established, on the corner of Fifth and Antoine Streets, the Young Ladies' Institute. The school is still (1881) in a prosperous condition, rarely numbering less than one hundred pupils. This institution is non-sectarian in character.

Bryant'S Businees College

located on the corner of Fourth and Edmond Streets, was established November 15, 1864, by Thomas J. Bryant, its present president, and has |)een in successful operation ever since. Up to August, 1881, two thousand four hundred and forty-three pupils, representing fifteen different states, have been graduated from this school, to say nothing of thousands who have attended simply to learn the art of penmanship. The institution is in a highly prosperous condition.

St. Joseph Female College

an institution of learning established and presided over by Rev. E. S. Dulin, D. D., LL. D., a prominent minister of the Baptist Church, closed its fourth year in June, 1881. The building, one of the most spacious and elegant in the city, was completed some years ago at a cost of $120,000. The. establishment of a school here by Dr. Dulin was hailed as a warrant of success which subsequent results amply verified. Supplied with a numerous and able faculty, as well as the general appliances of a first-class ladies' school, this largely attended institution has proven a matter of just pride to St. Joseph.

The records of the office of State Superintendent of Public Schools show that the following named persons were the Buchanan County Commissioners of Common Schools (or Superintendents) as indicated, for the years given, viz.:

Corydon F. Craig, F. S. Wynn filled by appointment of County Court the office of County School Commissioner from March, 1877, to April 15, 1877. The period of the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of C. F. Craig. 1877. J. P. Boyle, County Superintendent.

* Appofnted Superintendent by County Court in the spring of 1866 for six months, until first general election. He was the first to hold the office of County Superintendent in Buchanan County.

Roman Catholic Institutions Of Learning In St. Joseph

The reputation of this institution is widely and favorably extended- The building, from its lofty and commanding position on Twelfth Street, is a land mark to a wide extent of the surrounding country, and is certainly one of the most spacious, complete and elegant structures in the city.

Its dimensions are 120x60 feet, and consists of three stories and a mansard roof with a tower of elegant design, the metallic summit of which, reflecting the dazzling sunlight, like a beacon marks the position of St. Joseph in a radius of many miles from the city, when no other feature of the town is visible.

The building is, at present, divided into thirty-eight apartments of greater or less extent, all models of neatness and perfection of construction and arrangement.

The value of the convent property, including the parish school building on the premises, in which a large number are taught' by four teachers, is estimated at $80,000.

The College Of The Christian Brothers

on an eminence in the northeast part of the city, is a plain and substantial brick structure, of lofty appearance and considerable extent. The Christian Brothers are devoted exclusively to the profession of teaching, and are forbidden from aspiring to the priesthood. The school generally includes upwards of two hundred students from all parts of the- country, many of whom are boarders in the institution. St. Patrick's Parochial School is also conducted by the Christian Brothers in a large two-story brick building on the corner of Monterey and Eleventh Streets. This also is in a prosperous condition and is largely attended.

The Sisters of Charity, those ministers of mercy, whose deeds of benevolence exist whenever the cry of human suffering is heard, have an organization in St. Joseph, and a convent, to which is attached a school for the education of the poor. This is located on Felix between Seventh and Eighth Streets. The German English School of the Immaculate Conception is taught in a neat two-story brick building on Tenth below Angelique Street. It is conducted by an order of nuns known as the Sisters of St. Joseph. Vocal and instrumental music are taught here in addition to the German and English languages and the ordinary branches of education.