“OUR 
 
 PlbGRIM 
 
 rATHERS.” 
 
 
 1898 
 
 SAMUEL WILLARD 
 

 framing aub J'abor. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of Illinois. 
 
 CLASS. BOOK. VOLUME. 
 
 l>T. o,t)'\l XLt. 
 
 Books are not to be taken from tlie Library. 
 
 Accession No. 
 
 
Return this book on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. A 
 charge is made on all overdue 
 books. 
 
 U. of I. Library 
 
 AUG 4 1938 
 
 JUL 1-V' 1940 
 
 , f-i t -‘ C’ -1 i ‘ 
 
 : m 
 
 805 7-S 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/ourpilgrimfather00illi_0 
 

 Hon. Nrwton Batkman, HL. D. 
 
 
“OUR 
 
 PIL.QRIM 
 
 rATMBRS.” 
 
 A SYMPOSIUM. 
 
 
 Illinois State Teachers’ Association 
 Springfield, Illinois, 
 
 Dec. 28, 1897.^ 
 
 GALES3UKG, ILL. 
 
 G'HE wagoner printing CO. 
 1898. 
 
The education of a people is a problem of transcendent magnitude 
 and moment. Into it there enter, as into no other, the elements of 
 national destiny. In the presence of it, the petty issues that divide and 
 embattle political parties, are dwarfed into insignificance. Compared 
 with it, other questions of national concern are local, ephemeral — it 
 alone is all-embracing and everlasting in its sweep and grasp, because it 
 enfolds the life itself of the state, in the shaping and moulding of the 
 character of its citizens. — Batemati. 
 
Preface. 
 
 The Illinois State Teachers’ Association was 
 org’anized in Blooming* ton, December 26, 1853. 
 Throug-h its influence came the State Superintend- 
 ency, the County Superintendency, the Normal 
 Schools, the State University, and even the school 
 system itself. Thoug*h the first act establishing* 
 free schools in Illinois was passed by the General 
 Assembly in 1825, yet the means of support were so 
 uncertain that it was not till the Free School Act 
 of 1855 had become a law that the school system 
 was placed upon a firm basis. 
 
 The men who laid the foundation of our common 
 school system have mostly passed away, but there 
 remain a few who were leaders in those days, and 
 whom the teachers of the State still revere. That 
 the teachers of to-day mig*ht hear the story of those 
 times from the actors themselves, it was sug*g*ested 
 by Mr. A. V. Greenman, Superintendent of West 
 Aurora Schools and Chairman of the Executive 
 Committee for 1897, to bring* these educational pio- 
 neers before the Association once more. Accord- 
 ing*ly the closing* session of the State Teachers’ 
 Association, held at Spring*field, 111., Dec. 28-30, 
 1897, was g*iven to a symposium — “Our Pilg*rim 
 
4 
 
 “OuK PiivGKiM Fathp:ks.” 
 
 Fathers." Mr. E. A. Gastman, Superintendent of 
 Schools, Decatur, 111., presided and introduced the 
 speakers with a pleasant bit of personal reminis- 
 cence, which will be found preceding- each address. 
 The speakers were g-iven the closest attention, and 
 the audience seemed to realize that they were not 
 merely listeners, but witnesses of an historic event 
 never to be repeated. So impressed were they that, 
 at the close, they unanimously voted to publish the 
 entire proceeding's of the evening- as a further con- 
 tribution of the Association to the educational his- 
 tory of Illinois. 
 
 Executive Committee : 
 
 W. L. Stkkfk, Galesburg-, 111. 
 
 Miss Martha Buck, Carbondale, 111. 
 
 David Fklmuky, Normal, 111. 
 
 Galesburg^ IIL^ March^ i8g8. 
 
K. A. Gastman, 
 
 ( Supt. of Schools, Decatur, 111.,) 
 PRESIDING OFFICER. 
 
When the experience of the race becomes that of every individual, — 
 when every man moves step by step to the ^rand music of human 
 prog’ress, — when ever^* man’s now is his g'olden moment, the brig’htest 
 and be.st in his experience, — the most redolent of g-ood deeds and noble 
 purposes; it will require no additional leg’islation to establish among" 
 men the true, the never ending millenium. — Edxvards. 
 
Hon. Richard Edwards, D. D., EE. I). 
 
THE PRESIDENT’S INTRODUCTION OF 
 DR. EDWARDS. 
 
 There has been much speculation about the name 
 that should be ^iven to the exercises of this evening-. 
 Some have insisted that it was ‘‘a collection of 
 fossils,” others that it was a displa}^ intended to 
 illustrate “the social life of past historic g-enera- 
 tions,” but others more thoug-htful and kindl}" in 
 speech, have called it the “gathering- of the snow 
 birds.” And I now take very great pleasure in 
 introducing to you one of the most illustrious of 
 the flock. Dr. Richard Edwards. 
 
ADDRESS OF DR. EDWARDS. 
 
 I UNDERSTAND the purpose of this sympos- 
 ium to be the bringing- up of some of the 
 characteristics of the olden time education, 
 and the comparing of them with modern conditions. 
 It is fair to presume that those who take part in 
 the discussion are to recall their earliest educa- 
 tional experience. In my own case, this will neces- 
 sitate going beyond the boundary of the United 
 States. At the age of seven or eight years I became 
 a pupil in one of the old country schools for chil- 
 dren. The spoken language of the people was not 
 the English, but it was considered the proper thing, 
 in teaching the children, to use English books, and 
 also as much of the English speech as they could be 
 induced to remember. The English New Testament 
 was very early introduced as a reading book. In the 
 pronunciation of words we were not enslaved by 
 English custom. No one seemed to think that we 
 ought to understand the thought in what we read, 
 except, possibly, in a very vague and general way. 
 The significance of only a very few English words 
 was known to us. Among the matters which we 
 were required to commit to memory, was the cate- 
 chism of the established church. But as already 
 stated, it conveyed no meaning to us. We repeated 
 
 9 
 
10 
 
 “OUK PlI.GKIM tATHKKS.” 
 
 it with our peculiar pronunciation, and all seemed 
 to be satisfied with our performance. In order to 
 relieve ourselves of the monotony of unintellig-ible 
 repetition, we sometimes took the liberty of* con- 
 verting- the prose into metrical feet. Sometimes 
 the number of syllables in the sentence did not 
 meet the metrical demands. But this difficult}" was 
 easily overcome. We inserted an additional syl- 
 lable, or clipped a syllable, as the emerg-ency mig-ht 
 require. The teacher, also, had v"ery frequent use 
 for his implement of punishment. If sparing- the 
 rod is the only way of spoiling- children, we were 
 not spoiled. 
 
 After an interval of some forty years, I revisited 
 the scenes of this early experience, and saw the 
 schools that had taken the place of these early ones. 
 There had been a revolution. Blackboards were in 
 use. It was clear that the children understood the 
 import of the lang-uag-e which they spoke. I took 
 the liberty to question the boys as to the meaning- 
 of certain Eng-lish sentences. Their answers were 
 clear and accurate. They could readily translate 
 the meaning- into their mother tong-ue. I also met 
 my old school-master, then enfeebled by the weight 
 of years. I had a kindly memory of him, for, al- 
 though I had not escaped the flagellations which 
 were considered so important a part of our educa- 
 
AddkKvSS of Dk. Edwards. 
 
 11 
 
 tion, I remembered that in my case they had com- 
 monly been laid on with a lig-ht and kindly hand. 
 The effect of kindness was not lost, even amid the 
 g-rotesque methods of that early time. 
 
 My next experience with schools was in the state 
 of Ohio, on the Western Reserve, among the people 
 who had brought with them to their new abodes, 
 the institutions and customs of the state of Connec- 
 ticut. The usage in respect to the paying of tuition 
 fees among the people did not appear to be the 
 same in all schools. In some of them such fees 
 were collected, and in others they were not. I con- 
 tent myself with a partial description of one school 
 of which I was a pupil. The teacher ^vas a farmer, 
 who cultivated his acres in the summer, and wielded 
 the rod in the winter. The house was built of logs. 
 The chihking and daubing had not been thoroughly 
 done. The cold air in winter had a reasonably free 
 access into the room. Holes had been bored into 
 the logs at an angle of about 60 degrees with the 
 vertical wall, and small branches of trees had been 
 driven into them. Each of these had been so cut 
 that a small stem was left near the outer end of it, 
 which served to keep in place the boards that took 
 the place of desks. The seats were made of slabs 
 through which holes had been bored for supports. 
 The sticks which were used for this latter purpose 
 
12 
 
 “OuH Pii.(;kim Fathers. ” 
 
 often came throug'h the slabs in such a way as to 
 interfere with the comfort of sitting-. When a pupil 
 was writing-, he sat with his face towards the wall. 
 This involved a lifting- of the feet over the puncheon 
 bench. But when the writing- was done, and he 
 was called upon to recite, it was necessary to lift 
 the feet once more over the slab seats and lay them 
 down on the front side. This adjustment was for 
 the older pupils, who were learning- to write. The 
 smaller ones sat in long- seats near the middle of 
 the floor, at a lower level than the others. The 
 effect of the more or less open cracks between the 
 log-s was somewhat neutralized by an immense fire- 
 place at the end of the room, where a vast amount 
 of wood was consumed. Of, course, that part of 
 the room in the immediate vicinity of the fire, ex- 
 perienced an intense deg-ree of heat, while the re- 
 moter part mig-ht be uncomfortably cold. I remem- 
 ber that one day, a lig-ht haired little boy, of 8 or 9 
 years, named Jacob Keg-ley, who sat at the torrid 
 end of the bench, announced to the teacher in re- 
 spectful tones, that he was “g-etting- too hot.” The 
 answer was, “Jacob, when you too hot, let me 
 know.” 
 
 I remember that in this school a very larg-e part 
 of the work was done by each pupil by himself. 
 There were classes in reading-, and also in spelling-. 
 
AddreSvS of Dr. KdwarDvS. 
 
 13 
 
 but I do not recall any other g-rouping- of individuals 
 into a class. I think the Three R’s included all 
 that was taug*ht us. Neither Eng-lish g-rammar nor 
 g’eog’raphy was taug’ht. But I remember that a cer- 
 tain young- man, older than the majority of us, was 
 called up every day for a reading- exercise by him- 
 self. In some way he had secured a book which 
 must have had something- of the character of a work 
 on g-eography. And I can distinctly recall some of 
 the young man’s pronunciations. One day he was 
 reading an account of the city of Philadelphia. 
 Among other things, some of the public institutions 
 of the city were named. In his loud and monoto- 
 nous tones, he proceeded to tell us that that city 
 contained a certain number of “hostabels,” by 
 which he meant hospitals. I think there was no 
 correction of his peculiar rendering of that word. 
 
 But it must not be inferred that nothing was 
 learned in these schools. Practical knowledge of 
 arithmetic was gained. A sufficient familiarity 
 with English words was secured to enable the pu- 
 pils to read newspapers, and to serve as a basis for 
 further and more accurate acquisitions. I would 
 not imply that newspapers, at that time, and in that 
 community, were very common. The fact was 
 quite otherwise. Still it was true that occasionally 
 one might be seen. And when dictionaries came to 
 
14 
 
 “OuK Pii.GKiM Fathers.” 
 
 be used, many of the young- people taug-ht in these 
 schools, beg-an to acquire more accurate forms of 
 pronunciation. 
 
 The schools to which I have been referring- were 
 the country schools. In the larger towns more 
 prog-ress had been made. In the town of Ravenna, 
 the county seat of Portag-e County, the public school 
 was quite in advance of this rural establishment to 
 which I have referred. Eng-lish Grammar was 
 taug-ht. Also Geog-raphy. Eng-lish Composition 
 was one of the reg-ular exercises. A reasonably 
 correct pronunciation of Eng-lish words was insisted 
 upon. The dictionary became a necessity. The 
 teacher of this school engag-ed in his work with 
 great enthusiasm. He was a somewhat erratic 
 man, but I am very sure that his personal influence 
 over the boys and girls under his charge was very 
 helpful to them. I believe that he possessed the 
 spirit of the true teacher. 
 
 In the rural schools the qualifications of the 
 teacher were not very rigorously considered. The 
 examination appears to have been conducted by the 
 authority of the county. I have in my possession 
 a certificate which was granted me on the 10th day 
 of November, 1843. The school which I was to 
 teach was in the country. But the Examining 
 Board had their headquarters at the county seat. 
 
AddrEvSS ok Dr. EdwarDvS. 
 
 15 
 
 In this paper it is declared that I was qualified to 
 teach reading*, writing* and arithmetic, and also 
 Eng*lish g*rammar and g*eog*raphy. The sig*ner of 
 the paper was, at that time, a man of prominence, 
 and afterwards became Chief Justice of the state of 
 Ohio. He sig*ns the certificate as the Clerk of the 
 Board of Examiners. 
 
 Let us pause for a moment and take note of three 
 thing*s in respect to these early schools. First, let 
 us consider their physical surrounding*s. These we 
 should pronounce unfit, ill adapted to the purpose 
 for which schools are established. But we must re- 
 member that these physical surrounding*s were in- 
 cident to the existing* conditions. It mig-ht be said 
 that they were incident to a certain inferior state of 
 civilization. But this statement would impl}^ a 
 falsehood. These dwellers among* the forests of 
 the Western Reserve were not barbarians. They 
 were men and women whose ideals of life were 
 worthy of imitation. Nor were they lacking* in 
 knowledg*e. In certain lines, at least, they were 
 sturdy thinkers. Their undeveloped physical sur- 
 rounding's were merely an incident in their career. 
 And they were not long* in so chang*ing* these sur- 
 rounding's as to make them fit appendag*es to the 
 hig*hest culture. In considering* the important ques- 
 tions involved, therefore, it seems to me that we 
 
16 
 
 “OuK Pilgrim Fathkks.” 
 
 may say that the physical surrounding’s were of lit- 
 tle sig’nificance. Indeed, in some respects they were 
 a help rather than a hindrance to the development 
 of what is noblest in man and woman. The noblest 
 and most cultured men on earth may dwell for a 
 nig-ht amid the roug-hness and wildness of the most 
 undeveloped wilderness. The exposure only makes 
 them strong-er for future achievement. 
 
 The next point relates to the educational methods. 
 These, it must be confessed, were in some respects 
 inferior. They had not been carefully thoug’ht out. 
 There was no well developed system, either of ped- 
 ag’og’y or of school administration. In that partic- 
 ular, therefore, we may justly claim that there has 
 been prog’ress. The work of education has been 
 systematized. The laws of mental and moral g-rowth 
 are more clearly and systematically stated. But I 
 doubt whether they are more clearly apprehended 
 than they were by some of the old fashioned school 
 masters. 
 
 The third point to which I wish to call attention 
 is, the personality of the teacher. And in this re- 
 spect many of the old schools were quite equal to 
 anything- we have to-day. I say many of them, for 
 not every school-master of the old reg-ime was worthy 
 of his vocation. But it seems to me that in the sturdy 
 love of the truth ; in the exercise of a g-entle sympathy 
 
Address of Dk. Edwards. 
 
 17 
 
 for the young* in their labors and trials; in a clear 
 apprehension of the needs of childhood, and of the 
 best way of supplying* these needs; in the ability to 
 discern the rig*ht thing to be done in an enierg*ency; 
 the best teachers of sixty years ag*o could have held 
 their own with those of to-day. I do not forget 
 that distance may lend enchantment to the view, 
 but as I recall some of the men and women who 
 were eng*ag*ed in educational work at that time, I 
 am profoundly impressed with their hig*h moral and 
 intellectual worth. And this fact was the salvation 
 of those early schools. It was this that g*ave inspir” 
 ation to so many of the young* men and young* 
 women who since that day have become eminent in 
 all the higher departments of life. In truth may I 
 not say that this is the mightiest element in educa- 
 tion? May I not say that under all circumstances 
 the right kind of a man is worth more than the sys- 
 tem, however well developed this latter may be. 
 
 It was the custom of the teacher in those ancient 
 schools to devote a certain portion of every session 
 to private interviews with the pupils concerning 
 their difficulties in arithmetic and other studies. In 
 these interviews a free conversation was carried on, 
 the teacher by questions ascertaining wherein the 
 pupil found himself unequal to the work. I think 
 the usual topic discussed was arithmetic. Methods 
 
18 
 
 “(3uk Pii.gkim P^atheks.” 
 
 of solving’ the difficult problems were suggested. 
 The application of the rules laid down in the book 
 was pointed out. Very often encouraging words 
 were spoken to such pupils as needed them. This 
 was certainly a redeeming trait in the old system. 
 And may it not be true that if we could, in our own 
 times, modify our rigorous classification of pupils so 
 as to restore something of this old time method, we 
 should make an improvement in existing conditions? 
 Is there not in our time some danger that the indi- 
 vidual shall be submerged in the system? Does not 
 the highest ideal of education involve something of 
 the old-time contact of mind with mind? 
 
 It was my good fortune to be connected with the 
 early normal school movements in the State of Mas- 
 sachusetts. When that connection began, the first 
 school, that at Lexington, had been in operation 
 four or five years, but it was a time of severe trial 
 for the normal schools. A great majority of the 
 educated classes of that State were opposed to them. 
 The college graduates, as a whole, were thoroughly 
 committed to the principle that if the teacher un- 
 derstood the subject which he was to teach, he was 
 qualified for the work. ‘Tf you know Latin, you 
 can teach Latin,” was a maxim which I have heard 
 repeated many times. This condition of things 
 necessitated great earnestness and great persistency 
 
AddrEvSvS of Dr. EdwarDvS. 
 
 19 
 
 in those who were conducting* these Normal schools. 
 The memory of those days are very inspiring*. It 
 seemed as if the very situation had the effect of up- 
 lifting* and ennobling* the men and women who 
 taug*ht in the teachers’ schools. When we are sail- 
 ing* with the current we do not feel called upon to 
 put forth our mig*htiest efforts at the oars. If we 
 know that we are carried forward by the surround- 
 ing* forces, w^e hold our powers in suspense. Resis- 
 tance, on the contrary, awakens our dormant ener- 
 g*ies. The consequence is that an honorable list 
 mig*ht be made of men and women, who were de- 
 veloped into heroes by the demands made upon them 
 as pioneers in the normal school work in Massachu- 
 setts. Among* them a few stand preeminent. Hor- 
 ace Mann, Cyrus Peirce, Nicholas Tilling*hast, de- 
 serve to have their memories preserved, both on 
 account of their worth as men, and of the valuable 
 service which they rendered to the cause of educa- 
 tion. 
 
 It would be very pleasant as well as instructive to 
 consider some of the facts connected with the prog*- 
 ress of education in Illinois from the establishment 
 of the free school law in 1854 to the founding* of the 
 State University in 1867. But the time forbids. I 
 may however say that there were men connected 
 with that whole movement who deserve to have 
 
20 
 
 “OuK PiLGKiM Fathers.” 
 
 their names held in honorable remembrance. When 
 these men beg-an their labors, the state of Illinois 
 was not in the front rank, educationally, among the 
 states of the Union. To-day she is abreast of the 
 foremost. This great advance was not accom- 
 plished without labor, and the labor was not per- 
 formed without a high degree of faith and hope and 
 courage. 
 
 To elevate the ideals of a whole community 
 in respect to a question so important as this, to 
 induce the people to devote their time and labor and 
 money to the carrying forward of the enterprise, 
 involves the practice of all the heroic virtues. It 
 may be invidious to designate a single man as hav- 
 ing been preeminently a leader in so magnificent a 
 movement, but I think our sense of justice will not 
 be shocked if I take the liberty of naming in this 
 connection Prof. Jonathan B. Turner of Jackson- 
 ville. He was a steadfast advocate of a State Uni- 
 versity and of an institution for the training of 
 teachers for the public schools. He and the noble 
 men and women who wrought with him, were not 
 impelled by selfish motives in what they did. They 
 sought to set in motion the forces that would be 
 most potent in developing the intelligence and vir- 
 tue of the mass of the people. And this is a kind 
 of labor that not only raises the grade of ordinary 
 
Address of Dr. Edwards. 
 
 21 
 
 humanity, but in a special manner ennobles those 
 who carry it forward. 
 
 I have said that these g*reat intellectual and moral 
 chang-es are not easy of attainment. If this propo- 
 sition is doubted, the evidence of its truth can be 
 abundantly furnished in the personal testimony of 
 the men and women who lived among* the scenes to 
 which we refer. Go back to the year 1862, a period 
 which had witnessed already much prog-ress, and 
 what do we find as to the condition of the public 
 sentiment ? All over the state of Illinois there was 
 a powerful feeling of hostility to the normal school 
 already established, and to the proposed State Uni- 
 versity. In the year just named great numbers of 
 the educational men of the state had enlisted as 
 soldiers. Their higher intelligence had taught 
 them the value of the Union whose life was threat- 
 ened. In some cases it seemed as if their absence 
 from their homes had developed the feeling in some 
 minds that che cause of education could be more 
 effectually resisted. A wave of opposition to edu- 
 cational progress seemed in danger of flooding the 
 state. There was prophecy of disaster to the new 
 movements. I remember that while these clouds 
 were floating in the air, a gentleman of some prom- 
 inence assured me in private conversation that the 
 people of McLean County would soon have the nor- 
 
22 
 
 “OuK Pii.GKiM Fathp:ks.” 
 
 mal school building* for a corn crib. But the effect 
 of these trying* experiences was to stimulate the 
 friends of education at home to g*reater activity, and 
 the final result was that for the next twenty years 
 the prog*ress made in education in the State of Illi- 
 nois exceeded the hopes of the majority of educa- 
 tional workers. 
 
 A paper is to be read this evening* by our friend, 
 Dr. Willard, upon the life and services of Newton 
 Bateman. I have no doubt that the subject will be 
 justly and adequately presented. But I have a 
 strong* desire in these closing* sentences of my paper 
 to refer to that disting-uished man. I shall not take 
 time to set forth his character, his attainments, or 
 his influence upon the educational life of the State 
 of Illinois. But I wish simply to express the sense 
 of my profound personal oblig*ation to him. In the 
 trying* da3"s to which I have already referred, when 
 g*rave doubts were entertained as to the success of 
 the normal school enterprise in this state, and when 
 men and women connected with that institution 
 were putting* their whole lives into the work before 
 them, Newton Bateman was always their staunch 
 friend. His reports contain words of encourag*e- 
 ment and inspiration. Month by month and year 
 ])y year g*ave us the help of his public approval and 
 personal sui)i)ort. How much his words may have 
 
AddrEvSS of Dk. Edwards. 
 
 23 
 
 influenced the final result, no one can tell. But 
 they were certainly a potent factor. In the name 
 of the Normal University, and of the thousands who 
 have gone forth from it, strengthened and uplifted 
 by his words and his example, I beg leave to lay 
 this simple leaflet upon his honored tomb. 
 
That soul is blest, in dark or sunny hours, 
 That toils, and trusts and sing's. 
 
 — Ilevjett. 
 
Edwin C. Hkwett, A. M., EE. D, 
 
THE PRESIDENT’S INTRODUCTION OP^ 
 DR. HEWETT. 
 
 It is nearly forty years ag’o when the bo3^s and 
 g-irls in the dear old Normal School at Blooming-ton 
 g-athered one Monda}^ morning- in the Assembly 
 room and beg-an to discuss “the new teacher.” 
 “Where is he?” ran from lip to lip. “Don’t you 
 see up there on the platform?” “What! that little 
 bit of a fellow?” And witty but mischievous Matt 
 Marble said to the g-irls, “if he does not behave 
 himself I will put him in Enoch’s overcoat pocket 
 and have him carried off.” Ladies and g-entlemen, 
 permit me to introduce the “new teacher,” Dr. 
 Edwin C. Hewett. 
 
ADDRESS OF DR. HEWETT. 
 
 ■m T^Y LIFE beg-an among- the hills of one of 
 I y I the roug-hest and poorest parts of Worcester 
 / county, Massachusetts; and in that vicinity 
 all my boyhood was spent. The common, district 
 schools afforded the only opportunities for education 
 that I enjoyed until I was about twenty years old. 
 And the memories of those old schools are among- 
 the most vivid and the most pleasant recollections 
 of my youth. I suppose the schools w^hich I attend- 
 ed were pretty fair representatives of the common, 
 district schools of New Eng-land sixty years ag*o. I 
 presume the common schools in the larg-e towns and 
 cities may have been somewhat better than they 
 were; but I never knew much about them from 
 personal observation. 
 
 The public schools were wholly under the man- 
 ag-ement of the several towns. I am not aware that 
 there was anything- whatever like an educational 
 department in the State Government; I am sure 
 that there was no representation of educational 
 affairs in the g-overnment of the county, nor is 
 there to this day. In New Eng-land, the counties 
 have always played a subordinate part in the ma- 
 chinery of g-overnment. The towns, or townships 
 
 27 
 
28 
 
 •‘(JuK Pii,(;kim Fathkks.” 
 
 as perhaps we should be inclined to say, have been 
 of first importance from the earliest times. 
 
 Each year, at the regular town-meeting in March, 
 the citizens determined by vote how much money 
 the town should raise by tax for the support of 
 schools during the year. At the same time, they 
 also chose a town school-committee, usually three 
 in number, who licensed the teachers, and who had 
 the general supervision of the schools. Almost 
 without exception, one or more of the ministers of 
 the town were chosen on that committee. Each of 
 the several districts chose a man, called a pruden- 
 tial committee, whose business it was to hire the 
 teacher, provide fuel and other supplies, attend to 
 the repairs of the school house, etc. 
 
 Usually, only two terms of the school were held 
 in the year — a summer term taught by a woman, 
 beginning about May, and a winter term, beginning 
 almost invariably on the “Monday after Thanks- 
 giving.” About eleven or twelve weeks was the 
 usual length of a term, although I remember one 
 term that was only four weeks long. The summer 
 term was commonly attended only by the small 
 children and a few of the larger girls. But, usually 
 nearly all the young people of the district, up to the 
 age of eighteen or more, attended the winter term. 
 The teachers in the winter, with very few excep- 
 
AddrEvSS of Dk. Hewktt. 
 
 29 
 
 tions, were men; and thirty dollars a month and 
 board was accounted a g-ood salary. The women 
 who taug-ht in the summer often received no more 
 than a dollar and a half a week, or even less. 
 Sometimes the teachers “boarded around;” but, in 
 my childhood, that custom was nearly g-one out of 
 fashion. 
 
 The country school houses were commonly small 
 structures of wood or brick, at the cross-roads, un- 
 shaded and bleak; they were sometimes painted red. 
 A larg*e box stove in the center of the room roasted 
 the pupils on one side, while drafts of wintry air 
 from windows and chinks chilled them on the other. 
 The fires were built each morning- by the boys, 
 taking- “turns.” Well do I remember my experi- 
 ence as a boy of ten years, in g’oing- from my home, 
 a mile throug-h the snow, to build the fire in time 
 to have the school house warmed at nine o’clock. 
 It was a point of honor to accomplish this, for pub- 
 lic sentiment in the school was very severe on the 
 lazy fellow who failed to perform this duty thor- 
 oug-hly when his “turn” came. Of apparatus, 
 blackboards, wall maps, charts, dictionaries, refer- 
 ence books, etc., there was almost none; some 
 school rooms had a small board about two feet 
 square, painted black, on which work was done with 
 lumps of common chalk. 
 
30 
 
 “OuH Pilgrim Fathers.” 
 
 Text-books were few and rude and, although 
 some particular kind was desig*nated for use, there 
 was a “plentiful lack” of uniformity. The g-enial 
 text-book ag-ent had not jet “put in an appearance.” 
 Among- the text-books that I remember using-, were 
 Webster’s Speller, Cumming-s’s Speller, The Ameri- 
 can First-class Book, The National Reader, Por- 
 ter’s Rhetorical Reader, The Intellig-ent Reader, 
 Smith’s Arithmetic, Emerson’s Arithmetics, “Peter 
 Parley’s” Geog-raphy, Olnej’s (ieog-raphy and Atlas, 
 Smith’s Grammar, etc. 
 
 Nearly all the text-books were constructed on the 
 plan of question and answer; and in g-eog-raphj, g-ram- 
 mar and history, little was done in recitation, but 
 for the teacher to ask the printed question and the 
 pupil to reply in the exact words of the text. As 
 these printed answers were often long-er than we 
 liked to commit to memory, only a part, which 
 would make a frag-mentary but intellig-ible answer 
 to the teacher’s question, was commonly learned. 
 We often set off, by penciled brackets, the words 
 that would serve this purpose; and a text-book that 
 had been much used was sure to be “edited” in this 
 way. 
 
 What I have just said will indicate what was the 
 g-eneral “method of teaching-.” The young-est pu- 
 pils were called up to the teacher twice a day or 
 
AddrKvSvS of Dr. Hkwktt. 
 
 31 
 
 oftener, to “say their letters.” This they did in 
 rotation, as the teacher pointed with his pen knife 
 to the several letters in order, in the speller. After 
 the child could say his letters, he was put into the 
 a, b, ab’s, then into the reading- of short sentences 
 in the spelling- book. The spelling- classes usually 
 came out on to the floor, “toed the mark,” and 
 “spelled for the head.” I never knew a written ex- 
 ercise in spelling-. In g-eog-raphy, history and 
 g-rammar, the pupils commonly recited by classes, 
 in the way I have already indicated. In g-rammar, 
 much of the time was g-iven to parsing-; for this 
 purpose, the “Essay on Man,” or “Paradise Lost,” 
 often furnished the text. In arithmetic, many of 
 the pupils, especially the older ones, worked inde- 
 pendently; the teacher would g-o to the pupil’s seat 
 occasionally, to see how he g-ot on, to ask a question 
 or two, or to assist in doing- a “hard sum.” In 
 writing, also, each pupil worked by himself. His 
 copy-book was made of a few sheets of paper, 
 bought at the “store” and sewed together at home; 
 his copies were set by the teacher; he furnished his 
 own inF:, often home-made; and his pen was a quill 
 sharpened by the teacher. He wrote whenever he 
 chose, and for as long a time as he pleased. 
 
 The style of government in these schools depend- 
 ed entirely upon the intelligence, judicial acumen 
 
32 
 
 “(JuK Fathp:ks.” 
 
 and muscular streng-th of the individual teacher. 
 Usually, however, the rod or ferule played a larg-e 
 part; it was a very common thing- to see the teacher 
 marching- about the room with one or the other of 
 these persuaders under his arm; and it was not 
 there merely for an ornament, but was often used 
 to g-ive promiscuous blows upon supposed offenders. 
 Severe flog-g-ing-s, always in the presence of the 
 school, were common. Sometimes, on such occa- 
 sions, if the pupil was larg-e or plucky, resistance 
 was shown, and a very “pretty fig-ht” was the re- 
 sult. If the pupil did not see fit to fig'ht, he could 
 show his pluck in another way, — that is, by receiv- 
 ing- his punishment with the stoicism of a wild In- 
 dian. Brutal punishments, like pulling- the hair, 
 slapping- the face, holding- out a book at arm’s 
 leng-th, “holding- a nail in the floor,” etc., were not 
 uncommon. 
 
 The winter term of the district school was a g-reat 
 affair in the district. As I have said, most of the 
 larg-e boys and g-irls — young- men and women — at- 
 tended; often such a school, under a sing-le master, 
 would number from sixty to one hundred pupils, — 
 ages ranging from four to twenty-one, and studies 
 from a, b, c, to Latin and geometry. The daily ses- 
 sion, almost always, opened with a reading in 
 course from the New Testament; each pupil from 
 
AddrkSvS of Dr. Hewktt. 
 
 oo 
 
 the hig-her classes stood up at his seat in turn, and 
 read two verses; meanwhile, the teacher often 
 mended pens, or mended the fire. When the read- 
 ing- was done, the teacher followed it with an ex- 
 tempore prayer, if he chose to do so; there were no 
 ‘‘reg-ulations of the Board,” as to relig-ious exer- 
 cises, — nor, g-enerally, as to anything- else. The 
 singing of a song- or hymn, at the opening- exer- 
 cises — or at any other time — was a very rare 
 occurrence. 
 
 During- the winter, skating- and coasting- frolics 
 by day, and spelling- and writing- schools by nig-ht, 
 were very frequent. Around such affairs, the social 
 life of the neighborhood larg-ely centered; and here 
 the preliminaries of many a matrimonial eng-ag-e- 
 ment were adjusted. At the close of the term, the 
 committee, the minister, and the leading- citizens 
 usually gathered at the school house; the pupils 
 “spoke pieces” and, perhaps, read compositions; and 
 the dignitaries spoke pieces, too, praising the pu- 
 pils, extolling their wonderful privileges, and re- 
 minding them that every one stood a' chance of 
 becoming President. 
 
 I have, perhaps, dwelt too long on the old New 
 England, district school; but, with all its crudeness, 
 hardships and meager advantages, I remember it 
 lovingly, — I can now see, in m}^ mind’s eye, how the 
 
34 
 
 “OUK PlI.GKIM FaTHKKS.” 
 
 white road wound its half-mile up the hill when I 
 trudg-ed over it, not five years old, one summer 
 morning, to enter such a school for the first time. 
 I remember how the room looked to me, I remember 
 many of the pupils seated on the low seats; I 
 remember the pink apron of the teacher; and the 
 scenes of the old district school fill a large place in 
 my memory, from that time till at sixteen I ceased 
 to be a pupil in such a school. And the memories 
 of pupil days are supplemented by later memories 
 of two winters when I acted the part of master. 
 
 I must not omit saying a few words about the 
 numerous ‘‘Select Schools” and Academies of those 
 days. These were all in the hands of independent 
 managers; the Select Schools were usually opened 
 and conducted by any who chose, and who could se- 
 cure patronage. In many of these institutions, 
 most excellent work was done, not on account of 
 the system, — for system, there was none,^ — but be- 
 cause of the ability, insight, culture, and devotion 
 of those who taught. But it cost money to at- 
 tend these schools, and money was not plenty with 
 the farmer folk of New England, in those days. 
 Here and there a boy or girl, by the help of an 
 insistent will, strong hands and self-sacrificing 
 ]>arents, went to the Academy for a longer or 
 shorter time. But for the majority, the common 
 
Address of Dr. Hewett. 
 
 35 
 
 school, or People’s ‘‘College,” as I have described it, 
 was all. 
 
 In the light of modern public education, you say. 
 How crude! How meager! How inadequate! True, 
 my dear friend. But, out of just such schools came 
 a large proportion of the men and women who have 
 made this country what it is, at the close of this 
 wonderful “nineteenth century.” Some of those 
 old-time teachers were notoriously unfit for their 
 places, — could not the same be said of some at the 
 present time? None of them had received special 
 training for teaching, none had any theoretical 
 knowledge of pedagogy, correlation or appercep- 
 tion. But they had common sense, they knew hu- 
 man nature, they had interest in their work, and 
 they sympathized with their pupils. Quite frequent- 
 ly the teacher was a bright, ambitious young fel- 
 low from college, like the one so graphically de- 
 scribed by Whittier, in “Snow Bound.” 
 
 Of the pupils, too, many were in grim earnest in 
 their school work; they had learned the lesson of 
 toil, and they did not shrink from it on the farm or 
 in the school; they appreciated their privileges and 
 fully realized that their time for school was short; 
 they had learned the lesson of sturdy self-reliance, 
 and did not expect to be carried over the hard 
 places, nor to take their educational pabulum in 
 
36 
 
 “OUK PiIX'tHIM Fathkks.” 
 
 the form of spoon victuals or “cut feed.’’ Some- 
 thing besides the best appliances, a perfect system, 
 a theoretically philosophic method, was necessary 
 to secure success thcu^ and ncjw. 
 
 Just about sixty years ago, a wonderful change 
 in school matters began. Massachusetts estab- 
 lished a State Board of P^ducation, with Horace 
 Mann at its head; Normal Schools, Teachers’ Insti- 
 tutes and Teachers’ Associations quickly followed. 
 Text-books began to improve wonderfully, both in 
 matter and make-up; improved apparatus, reference 
 books and libraries began to make their way into 
 the schools; steps began to be taken in the produc- 
 tion of modern children’s literature as well as pro- 
 fessional literature for teachers; public high schools 
 began to multiply; it was the dawn of the present 
 public school system. 
 
 I have no time to trace these movements, to com- 
 mend or to criticize them. It must suffice to say 
 that the advancement has been amazing; but the 
 goal is not reached, nor are all problems solved, 
 nor all dangers passed. But it is fair to say that 
 there are certain great fundamental facts of huiiian 
 nature and of child nature, which are unchange- 
 able and cannot be ignored with safety; some of 
 these facts have been discovered, but I think I need 
 not name them in this presence. 
 
AdDRESvS of Dk. Hewett. 
 
 37 
 
 That these truths or facts were distinctly felt — 
 thoug-h not formulated — by the g-ood teachers of the 
 old time, accounts for what was g*ood in their work, 
 and it was much. That these truths cannot be 
 safely ig*nored in the future, however elaborate and 
 costly our machinery, or ing-enious and perfect our 
 methods, we shall do well to remember. 
 
The same beinys do not remain long- on earth. But others coming- 
 after take up their work and g-o beyond them. In this way new fields of 
 vision and beauty are ever openingr before us, and new ideas are born 
 into life. — Eherhart. 
 
THE PRESIDENT’S INTRODUCTION OK 
 JOHN K. EBERHART. 
 
 According- to the legends of the family, it was at 
 four o’clock on Sunday morning, June 15, 1834, in 
 the city of New York, that the gentle zephyrs were 
 first disturbed by 1113 ^ melodious voice. My father 
 brought his faniil}- to Hudson, McLean County, 
 Illinois, in the spring of 1838. It took him three 
 weeks to accomplish the journe 3 " which now can be 
 made in thirty hours. We commenced the life of 
 pioneer farmers immediately. • There were no 
 schools in our neighborhood until about 1845 or 
 1846. 
 
 In December, 1856, I was teaching my second 
 school in Kappa, Woodford County, and John W. 
 Cook was one of m 3 " pupils. I read regularly and 
 with much interest the “Illinois Teacher,” edited 
 by Charles E. Hovey, superintendent of the Peoria 
 schools. The establishment of a State Normal 
 School was the great subject before the educational 
 men of the state. The State Association was to 
 hold its fourth meeting in Chicago during the holi- 
 days and the “Teacher” urged that ever 3 ^ school- 
 master in the state should be present and help to 
 accomj)lish the work in hand. I determined to go 
 40 
 
Introduction of John F. Ebp:rhakt. 
 
 41 
 
 and it is safe to saj to-nig-ht that the enthusiasm 
 received at my first teachers’ meeting- has never 
 been lost. Never having- been fifty miles from 
 home before the sig-hts of “the g-reat city” impressed 
 me much. We arrived at the Chicag-o and Alton 
 depot about midnig-ht and as I looked down one of 
 the streets my first thoug-ht was that for some rea- 
 son, unknown to me, little bonfires had been built, 
 on either side along- its whole leng-th! 
 
 One evening-, before the usual lecture, I wandered 
 into a picture store and was attracted by the ap- 
 pearance of a tall, scholarly looking- g-entleman who 
 was evidently admiring- the treasures spread upon 
 the walls. I hardly know how it came about, but I 
 soon found myself eng-ag-ed in a pleasant conversa- 
 tion with the g-enial man. And ladies and g-entle- 
 men, the friendship thus happily beg-un has con- 
 tinued during- all the past forty-one years, and I 
 take g-reat pleasure to-nig-ht in introducing- to you 
 John F. Eberhart, who was the County School 
 Commissioner of Cook County when I met him in 
 the little picture store. 
 
ADDRESS OK JOHN F. EBEKHART. 
 
 f ORTY-THREE years ag-o I first saw a Western 
 State. Chicago then had 42 teachers; now it 
 has about 5,()()0. Then it took about S2,5()0 to 
 pay them for a month’s services; now it takes nearly 
 8500,000. 
 
 The first educational meeting I attended in this 
 state was at Bloomington, in July, 1855. It was a 
 meeting of the “State Board of Education” ap- 
 pointed b}^ the State Teachers’ Institute held at 
 Peoria the preceding winter. This board consisted 
 of nine members and seemed to have plenary powers 
 in matters educational in the state, and arranged 
 for the annual meeting of the State Teachers’ In- 
 stitute in this city in 1855, which meeting 42 
 years ago I also attended, as well as every annual 
 meeting thereafter for seventeen consecutive years. 
 All of these sessions were full of interest and inci- 
 dents, many of which history does not record. At 
 almost every session there was some great forward 
 movement projected by some of the early leaders. 
 In fact, I think that this Association, with its fore- 
 runners of kindred associations, can rightly claim 
 fatherhood to nearly all the improvements in our 
 present excellent system of education in the state; 
 — such as, amendments to the school law, the estab- 
 
 42 
 
AddrKvSvS of John F. Fberhakt. 
 
 43 
 
 lishment of state, county and local supervision, and 
 the creation of schools for normal instruction. 
 
 There was a g-ood deal of feeling- on the part of 
 some of the leading- teachers in the meeting- of 1855 
 ag-ainst “outsiders” as they were called. They pro- 
 posed to amend the constitution so as to exclude 
 from membership all except practical school room 
 teachers, but finally compromised by admitting- also 
 all school officers in the State. I think this is still 
 the constitution of the Association. The teachers 
 felt that theirs was a specific profession, having- in 
 charg-e a special work, and they did not want to be 
 interfered with by ministers, politicians and g'en- 
 eral reformers who were usually g-ood talkers and 
 manipulators. And they especially feared the in- 
 fiuence of such men as W. F. M. Arney, Bronson 
 Murray, Prof. J. B. Turner and others who had 
 really hitherto been the leaders in educational 
 affairs of the State. These were broad-minded men 
 and powerful in a deliberative body and had held a 
 number of educational conventions in the interest 
 of g-eneral education in the State, and had projected 
 a plan for a g-rand industrial university, with a 
 Normal School as a prominent department. Here 
 was the issue. The teachers wanted an inde- 
 pendent Normal School and not a department in a 
 University. 
 
44 
 
 “OuK Pii,(;kim FathkKvS.” 
 
 If mj memory is correct we had 128 teachers at 
 our first meeting* here in this city in 1855. But the 
 Association g-radually g*rew in numbers as it did in' 
 importance and power, until in (lalesburg* in 1867, 
 it numbered about 600, and now numbers its 
 thousands. 
 
 In some respects in the early days of this Associ- 
 ation we had the advantag*e over you of the present 
 day. There were not as many of us then so that 
 we had a better chance to become acquainted with 
 each other and form many pleasant personal friend- 
 ships and associations. Some of these friendships 
 in a number of cases also matured into something- 
 better and more lasting* and made benedicts out of 
 bachelors and charming* housewives out of school- 
 ma’ams. This may have impoverished the ranks of 
 the teachers, but surely enriched the schools! 
 
 We were nearly all poor in those days and had 
 small salaries; so the railroads g*ave us half rates 
 and the g*ood people where we met entertained us 
 in g*enerous style — ending* usually with a royal ban- 
 quet. We also had book ag*ents then, all jolly g*ood 
 fellows, and they were a strong* feature of every 
 meeting* and g*enerous to the extreme. It will take 
 the men of that day a long* time to forg*et “Ed. Os- 
 band,” “Jim Hawley,” “M. Tabor,” “Georg*e W. 
 Batchelder” and others. And we not only had 
 
Address oe John K. Eberhakt. 
 
 45 
 
 banquets and book ag-ents but we sometimes had 
 fun g'oing- and returning-. Once on our way down 
 here we missed connections at Decatur and had to 
 stay there in the one depot hotel of the place all 
 nig-ht. And as there were not beds enough to go 
 round, some of the teachers — having no beds — de- 
 cided to divide the time with the teachers having 
 beds. Just how or when they changed I have never 
 learned! But it was a very noisy and jolly opera- 
 tion and seemed to last all night. The landlord 
 was much perplexed next morning in making out 
 his bills, but finally decided he ought to have dou- 
 ble rates for the beds occupied by two sets! It is 
 proper to say that our robust friend, E. A. Gastman, 
 who is always equal to every occasion, was not in 
 Decatur at that time, or he would no doubt have 
 been able to solve this noisy problem of space and 
 time in no thne. On another occasion it took us 
 nearly a whole week to get back to Chicago, and we 
 were not drunk either — though perhaps not re7nark- 
 ably sober all the way. When we left Springfield 
 the snow was two feet deep and the thermometer 25 
 degrees below zero. Some of us had had experience 
 in winter travel in the west and had laid in a barrel 
 of crackers, a good stock of oysters and other edi- 
 bles; and thus — with the aid of wooden fences — our 
 valuable lives were preserved until at the end of 
 
46 
 
 “Our Pii.grim Fathp:ks.” 
 
 three days we reached Pontiac, where the g-ood peo- 
 ple took us in and housed, warmed and fed us; and 
 where for their special benefit we held an adjourned 
 session of the Association in the court house. It is 
 
 t 
 
 well that no record was ev^er kept of this meet- 
 ing*. Your present speaker was chairman - and 
 althoug*h somewhat experienced in parliamentary 
 tactics — could not maintain decorum, confine the 
 speakers to their topics, or limit the time devoted 
 to applause! 
 
 I will ask your pardon while I g’ive some personal 
 reminiscences and activities. 
 
 When I first saw the State of Illinois it seemed 
 like a g*reat, g*rand unfenced prairie. There were 
 a few railroads in the state but they were “hard 
 roads to travel.” The stations were eig*ht or ten 
 miles apart, the little clusters of houses, people and 
 teams at each station looked very much alike. But 
 the little school house was always in the back- 
 g*round. The reason I came to Illinois was because 
 m}^ doctors said I could no long*er live and work in 
 Pennsylvania, and they kindly sent me west to die. 
 But after I had breathed the air and spirit oi this 
 country a while, and beheld the work to be done in 
 my chosen field of labor, I did not want to die. It 
 seemed like an inspiration to me, and not being- 
 well enoug'h to do reg*ular duty in the school room. 
 
AddkKvSS of John F. Eberhart. 
 
 47 
 
 I became a sort of missionary, an out-rider as it 
 were (thoug-h I often had to g-o a-foot) in the g’reat 
 army of educators in the west. As soon as I was 
 able I commenced adjunct work by delivering* courses 
 of scientific lectures before some of the hig*her in- 
 stitutions of learning*. The first course of ten lec- 
 tures was g*iven before the Lee Center Academy 
 over which Prof. Simeon W. Wrig*ht, one of the 
 early leaders of this Association, presided. These 
 lectures were an experiment intended to be popular 
 and instructive and I was surprised at the interest 
 they created— especially with the small amount of 
 apparatus I had at command. Whatever may have 
 been the attendance at the first of these lectures, 
 the last was always g*reater than the house could 
 accommodate. But my health was not equal to the 
 task. 
 
 I then did some editorial work on country and 
 city papers, and afterwards edited and published the 
 ‘‘Northwestern Home and School Journal.” You 
 see that the title of my paper was larg*e enoug*h to 
 fully cover the case and take in the whole county. 
 My aim was to make a paper that would be at once 
 a newsbearer, in its line, and an educator and in- 
 structor in the family and school. It was not espe- 
 cially intended for teachers — except incidentally. I 
 had an ideal of a possible paper in the direction of 
 
48 
 
 •‘OUK PlI.GKIM FaTHKKS.” 
 
 my effort; and in this I had the endorsement of such 
 men as Henry Barnard — by whom I was employed 
 to hold teachers’ institutes, and also afterwards 
 offered work on his “Journal of hlducation” — of 
 John G. Saxe, the poet, Elihu Burritt, the learned 
 blacksmith, and Horace Mann, may I say, the g'reat- 
 est of all American educators, whose friendship I 
 valued g'reatly and whose very presence was an in- 
 spiration. These were all contributors to my paper. 
 And my friends, I still believe that such a journal, 
 with a sufficient amount of brains, money and 
 energ-y back of it could be made an eminent success 
 in every way. Suffice it to say, that at the end 
 of three years, when elected superintendent of the 
 schools of Cook County, I was glad to donate all its 
 valuable interests to the “Illinois Teacher.” And 
 it took several years of my salary to square accounts 
 with the world. 
 
 For sixteen years I attended every session of the 
 legislature— and also the Constitutional Convention 
 — in the interest of educational legislation, usually 
 as a member of a committee of the State Teachers’ 
 Association or other educational body, and some- 
 times alone. First it was for the establishment of 
 the Normal University, and then the various amend- 
 ments to the school law in favor respectively of 
 school libraries, graded schools, teachers’ institutes. 
 
AddreSvS of John F. Fbkrhart. 
 
 49 
 
 township liig-h schools, county supervision and 
 county normal schools. 
 
 My first reg-ular work in the State was to aid in 
 the establishment of school libraries. The books 
 were selected by the State Superintendent, Mr. 
 Hovey, and myself. Prof. Wrig-ht, Prof. Wilkins 
 and myself were appointed to select ag’ents to intro- 
 duce them. They had not much time and took the 
 southern end of the State, while I having- all my 
 time, had the central and northern part of the State. 
 They soon g-ot discourag-ed and abandoned the work 
 — while I kept on until I had visited every county 
 in my part of the State, and appointed about thirty 
 ag-ents who introduced 90 per cent, of the libraries. 
 There was no “boodle” in these libraries, but we 
 were each paid $100 a month and expenses for the 
 time employed. The libraries were intended for 
 the rural districts, and as such, were g-ood in their 
 time and did g-ood work. My next work was to aid 
 in the establishment of g-raded schools; and for 
 which purpose I visited most of the northern cities 
 of the State, conferring- with teachers and boards of 
 education. I also worked in institutes and had the 
 honor of holding- the first institute in many of the 
 northern counties of the State. In this woik I had 
 many rich and interesting- experiences, some of 
 which I would like to relate if I had time. I will 
 
50 
 
 “OuK Fathers.” 
 
 mention two. I was invited by Rev. Mr. Cross, 
 the School Commissioner of Putnam County, to hold 
 an institute at Hennepin. It was to be held in the 
 court chamber. When I g’ot there about 11 o’clock 
 on the day it was to open I found only two lady 
 teachers present. They reported that the Rev. Mr. 
 Cross had broug-ht them in his carriage and had 
 gone off about twenty miles to marry a couple and 
 would return next evening, and for me to go ahead 
 with the institute! There were three schools in 
 session in the place as though nothing had occurred. 
 I took the ladies with me and we visited the schools. 
 The teachers said the board had discussed the mat- 
 ter and decided not to close the schools. I then 
 visited the board, who had an idea that an institute 
 was a scheme of the teachers to get more pay. But 
 after some discussion they gave me an order to dis- 
 miss the schools. I spent that afternoon in the 
 schools and did some lively talking. I invited the 
 larger children and their mothers especially to come 
 and hear me talk in the evening. A goodly number 
 were out. I struck out right and left and hit as 
 hard as I could and made something of a sensation. 
 I again invited the larger pupils and the mothers to 
 be with us the next day— and they were there. A 
 few more teachers also arrived and the school com- 
 missioner came in the evening. I then talked and 
 
Address of John F. Fbekhart. 
 
 51 
 
 taug-ht every day and lectured every nig-ht to audi- 
 ences that the larg*est church could hardly contain 
 and closed Friday nig*ht in a triumph of enthusiasm. 
 The g'ood people then passed the hat for a collec- 
 tion to pay me for my elTorts, and g-ot $13, and as 
 that covered my expenses we were all happy! There 
 was much amusing* and pleasant detail about this 
 institute which it would take hours to relate. 
 About twenty teachers reported before we closed, 
 and I felt that a g*ood work had been done. 
 
 I also held an institute later at Belleville. It was 
 the home of Georg*e Bunsen, who was School Com- 
 missioner, and who had been a pupil of the g*reat 
 Pestalozzi. Bunsen was a g*rand man and had as 
 profound a conception of education as any man in 
 the State. There were over 100 teachers present at 
 the opening* and among* them a Methodist minister 
 and a Catholic priest. I feared trouble as it was in 
 a time of hot discussions on the use of the Bible in 
 school. But the question had to be met, and I im- 
 mediately stepped up to the Catholic priest and 
 said, it was our custom to open with a few verses 
 from the Bible and a short prayer, and invited him 
 to officiate. I had noticed both a Catholic and 
 Protestant Bible on the desk. He walked rig*ht up 
 to the desk, picked up the Protestant Bible, read a 
 few verses and offered an appropriate prayer. The 
 
52 
 
 “OuK Pji.gkim Fathp:ks.” 
 
 next morning- the Methodist minister used the 
 Catholic version of the Bible; and we had a happ}^ 
 time all the wa}" throug-h with lectures in the even- 
 ing- by such disting-uished educators as Dr. Edwards, 
 Dr. Bateman, Dr. Ho 3 "t, of the Washing-ton Univer- 
 sity, and last and least, your humble servant. And 
 I want to add that two of the young- teachers who 
 attended that institute afterwards became State 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State — 
 Hon. James P. Slade and Hon. Henr}^ Raub. Since 
 coming- here your present State Superintendent, 
 Hon. S. M. Ing-lis, has also informed me that he 
 was once an official member of an institute that I 
 attended. Three such incidents make a strong- 
 case! 
 
 When elected Superintendent of Schools of Cook 
 County in the fall of 1859, I had to abandon much 
 of my out-work as I had enoug-h home work. I 
 served in that capacity ten years. I could not 
 describe the condition of affairs in Cook County at 
 that time if I had time. The schools had never 
 had any supervision; certificates were issued indis- 
 crimately to anyone who could arrang-e with 
 directors to teach. Directors were of every character 
 and nationality, as the lands in many of the districts 
 were occupied by tenants and squatters. I have 
 known two out of three of the directors in a district 
 
Address of John F. Ebekhakt. 
 
 53 
 
 to sig^ti their names to a schedule by ‘‘making- their 
 mark.” In one district the daughter of one of the 
 directors was paid $50.00 a month to teach — without 
 a certificate, — the son was paid $5.00 a week as 
 janitor, and the director himself was getting $50.00 
 a month for superintending the building of a new 
 frame school house of two rooms. Whether he ever 
 got to be an alderman or member of the legislature 
 I am not advised. But I went to work with a will 
 as best I could, visiting the schools, and teachers, 
 meeting the boards, and holding two institutes a 
 year. But qualified teachers could not be had; and 
 I immediately commenced the agitation in the 
 Board of Supervisors for a County Normal School. 
 After several years of personal effort and per- 
 sonal visitation with each member of the Board of 
 Supervisors — 54 in number — they were finally in- 
 duced to appropriate money to make a trial of a 
 County Normal School in 1864. This was done 
 before any State act had been passed for County 
 Normal Schools. But after the school was estab- 
 lished, Prof. D. S. Wentworth, the first principal, 
 and myself, drew the act for County Normal Schools 
 in the State, and I took it to Springfield and had 
 no trouble in having it passed, as it was heartily 
 endorsed by the State Superintendent, that great 
 and good man — the Horace Mann of the West — 
 
54 
 
 “OuK Pii^(;kim Fathkks.” 
 
 Newton Bateman. Thus as I understand it, Cook 
 County has the honor of establishing- the first 
 County Normal School in the State, as well as in 
 the United States, and also of g-raduating* last year 
 the larg-est class — over 500— ever graduated from 
 any Normal School in the world. This Normal 
 School is now called the Chicago Normal School as 
 the land on which it was erected is now in the city. 
 When it was built it was put eight miles out from 
 the center of Chicago, so that the city would never 
 reach it. But Chicago has already covered it, and 
 is now about eight miles this side of it, and still 
 coming in this direction, and I give Dr. Cook of the 
 State Normal University this early notice that he 
 may have his house in order when it arrives. Cook 
 County also has the honor, I think, of establishing 
 the first high school under the township high 
 school act. 
 
 It is not possible for anyone, who has not lived 
 through the last fifty years, and witnessed the 
 magic changes that have taken place, to have any 
 true and realistic conception of the condition of 
 life and effort before these changes. Then there 
 ^ere practically no railroads, no telegraphs and 
 telephones, no electricity or steam power,^ and I 
 might say practically no school books, or free 
 schools in this western country. And one can 
 
Address of John F. Eberhart. 55 
 
 hardly realize that these chang'es have come slowly 
 and. with much labor and sacrifice. To one 
 looking* backwards they seem rather like the quick 
 and brilliant turn of the kaleidescope. When I was 
 a boy my father living* in Pennsylvania had occa- 
 sion to write a letter to a man in Quincy, Illinois, 
 and it took the letter three months to go and three 
 months for the answer to return — making* six 
 months — and the postag*e on each letter cost a 
 dollar. 
 
 As I have studied the work of this g*rand body of 
 teachers, thinkers and philosophers I am naturally 
 impressed with the chang*es that have taken place 
 in educational affairs, from the crude to the better, 
 from the less to the greater. But in everything* 
 there has been an advance. The little strawberry 
 of fifty years ag*o is now as larg*e and lucious as a 
 peach, and the five or ten pound watermelon weig*hs 
 50 or 100 pounds, while the sing*le little house 
 shrub blossom of by-g*one days is now the grand 
 and g*org*eous crysanthemum as larg*e as a school 
 teacher’s head. Is it not meet, then, that the little 
 school house should evolutionize into the university, 
 and this Association show like advancement, hav- 
 ing* greater parts and functions? And althoug*h 
 something of a believer in Darwinian philosophy, I 
 am sometimes at a loss to know which ought most 
 
S6 
 
 “(JuK Pii/;kim Fathp:ks.” 
 
 to rejoice, the man that rose from a monke 3 % or the 
 monkey that croliiiiojiizcd into a man! 
 
 And, my friends, we are not 3 ^et at the end of our 
 discoveries. Some of us may think we know all 
 that is comprehended in the word education. But 
 who is bold enoug*h to say that some better methods 
 ma}" not come to develope the boy into the man, the 
 still g’reater, g-rander, phj^sical, moral and intellect- 
 ual man. Your work is not completed. Our 
 lang-uag*e is not perfect — especiall}- in the expression 
 and delineation of tine feeling* and high idealities. 
 Our written language, too, is still cumbersome, 
 although stenograph}^ has brought us some relief, 
 while our modes of transmitting thought orally, 
 are slow and heavy. You can all think much 
 faster than I can talk. And while it is true that 
 thought with gilded feet has learned to trip the 
 live wire around the world at the rate of 10,000 
 miles a minute, and the ear can catch the tick of a 
 watch 1,000 miles away, and the eye by means of 
 the X-rays looks into the inner recesses of the 
 human bod}", — is it not reasonable to believe that 
 man has not yet reached the full limit of his power? 
 Our sense perceptions may some day be projected 
 yet farther out into the mysteries of nature and 
 bring to our quickened understanding still more 
 wonderful knowledge than we have yet acquired. 
 
Address of John F. Fbkrhakt. 
 
 57 
 
 And who can say that all these improvements and 
 discoveries may not yet be superceded by something- 
 better, and even the telescope which has done so 
 much for science, be laid aside as a thing of the 
 past, while our brighter visions in some new way 
 may reach the stars, and the “man in the moon’^ 
 become a reality! 
 
 My friends, the world is moving and the teacher 
 to do honor to himself and his profession must not 
 rest on his oars, but move on, have his colors flying, 
 and keep tread to the giant march of the world. And 
 while I honor the names and lives of our great local 
 leaders, such as Bateman, Hovey, Edwards, and 
 many others, who had the courage in early days, 
 like Nansen’s “Fram,” to break their way through 
 the ice-crust of prejudice in search of greener fields; 
 there is also a long list of names in this Stale of 
 the quiet, obscure and now almost forgotten work- 
 ers of the past — every one of which should be 
 written in letters of gold. They often labored 
 when their work was not appreciated and under 
 many discouragements, and with poor salaries. But 
 they toiled on with a spirit of hope and enthusiasm 
 that partook of inspiration. And when the great 
 leaders — the generals of the army — get their mede 
 of praise, I always feel like taking off my hat and 
 making my profoundest bow to the common, soldiers, 
 
58 
 
 “OijK Pir.GKiM Fathers.” 
 
 the workers who have made it possible for g-enerals 
 to be, and who really have done the fig-h ting*, rec(n'- 
 ered the land, and planted the standard of free 
 schools in every valley and on every hill-top of our 
 g-lorious State. 
 
 (xod bless the teachers, who, with inspiration 
 akin to divinity, spend the best days of their lives 
 in making- men and women in the obscure schools 
 of the land. 
 
 It is said of Dr. Franklin that when near the end 
 of his g*reat life he exclaimed, “I was born a hun- 
 dred years too soon!” I feel, too, under the inspir- 
 ation of this occasion, not that I was born too soon, 
 but that I would like to take in 3^et another hundred 
 years to see the works and wonders of the world; 
 and to behold the teacher, in his full stature, g-lor- 
 ious in his rig-htful domain, wearing- a crown — 
 not the emblem of bloody battle fields and conquered 
 peoples — but beg-emmed with such jewels as virtue, 
 justice, reason, humanity; and triumphant over the 
 inner and outer enemies of man, having- made money 
 his friend and not his oppressor; and having- dis- 
 solved with his scepter of reason all the trusts- and 
 sinful combinations that are born of avarice and 
 g-reed; and smitten down, if need be, all the old 
 j)olitical j)arties in the interest of a g-rand, new 
 party of humanity and brotherly love. 
 
William Godwin said of one of his novels that in writinjr it he meant 
 that no man when he laid it down should be the same man that he was 
 when he begran to read it. This is the spirit of the true teacher. Like 
 the sower of the parable, he knows not which ^r3,\n shall prosper, this or 
 that; but his seeds are from the g-ranaries of God; and he scatters w’ith 
 g'enerous hand. Upon every pupil he will make his mark. Reworks 
 with the confidence of a Michael Ang-elo that every stroke of the chisel 
 tends to the creation of some fair ideal; and that, rough-hewing' as his 
 work ma^’ seem, in him and through him the Divinity shapes its ends. 
 
 — Willard. 
 
Samuel Willard, A. M., M. D., hh . D. 
 
THE PRESIDENT'S INTRODUCTION OF 
 DR. WILLARD. 
 
 Charles E. Hov^ej was the president and Profes- 
 sors Ira More and Newton Bateman were prominent 
 in all the discussions of that Chicag'o meeting*. It 
 is a remarkable fact that these three men have 
 ‘‘passed to the beyond” since the prog*ram for the 
 exercises of this evening* was arrang*ed. One of the 
 last letters that Dr. Bateman ever received was an 
 invitation to address you to-nig*ht. I have asked 
 his life long* friend and classmate at Illinois Colleg*e, 
 Dr. Samuel Willard, to fill the vacant place. 
 
ADDRESS OF DR. WILLARD. 
 
 “]M 
 
 ATURE,” says Emerson, “wears the colors 
 of the spirit.” Grief adds depth to the 
 darkness of the nig*ht, while sunshine 
 seems to exag-g-erate our joys. And yet sorrow sad- 
 dens even the warmth and brig-htness of the sum- 
 mer. That seems impertinent while we mourn a 
 loss. One brilliant Aug-ust noon, to me the day 
 suddenly seemed less brig*ht. No eclipse had dark- 
 ened the sun; no cloud had dimmed the deep blue 
 sky. But I had read the brief news that told of the 
 death of one I loved and honored. Such eclipse all 
 of you must have suffered in our brig*ht October, — 
 all of you who personally knew Newton Bateman; 
 and all who were not too young- to know of his work 
 in education surely g-ave him the passing- tribute of 
 a sig-h. He was, for a full g-eneration, one of the 
 g-reat influences of our State, both as a teacher and 
 as an officer; and as I knew him fifty-seven years 
 ag-o, and now no other survives who knew him as 
 closely as I knew him during- our long- friendship, I 
 am bidden to present this brief memorial. 
 
 Newton Bateman, of Eng-lish ancestry, was born 
 in Bridg-eton, county seat of a southern county of 
 New Jersey, July 27, 1822, and was a little over 
 seventy-five years old at his death Oct. 21, 1897. 
 
 63 
 
64 
 
 “OuK Pii.GKiM Fathers.” 
 
 ‘‘Saturday’s child must work for his livdn^” says 
 an old rhyme; and so this Saturday’s boy entered a 
 life of toil; toil at hrst from stern necessity; toil 
 imposed later by the spirit within that made him a 
 helper of men, and foupd scant room for idleness. 
 
 Of the boyhood in New Jersey I never heard Mr. 
 Bateman speak. His father, Berg-in Bateman, was 
 a weaver by trade: a trade which gTew less and less 
 profitable as modern manufactories sprang- up. 
 When the boy was in his eleventh year, Mr. Berg-in 
 Bateman fell into the g-reat current of mig-ration 
 that was flowing- westward, and that promised new 
 opening’s for business and enterprise. He came to 
 Illinois in 1833, and landed at Meredosia on the 
 Illinois river with five children and the corpse of 
 his wife, dead of the new pestilence, Asiatic cholera. 
 Our Newton Bateman was the young-est of the five. 
 
 The family suffered the hard g-rind of poverty for 
 many years. 
 
 An elder son struck out for himself as soon as he 
 had an opportunity, but never, as long- as I knew of 
 him, was in condition to help the family much, up 
 to his death in California. Little Newton,- small 
 for his ag-e— he nev^er g-rew tall, dwarfed, probably, 
 by the privations that hedg-ed in his youth— little 
 Newton became an errand-boy in the family of an 
 eminent jurist and judg-e then living- in Jacksonville. 
 
AdDREvSvS of Dk. WiEEAKI). 
 
 65 
 
 It was there that a great ambition was roused in 
 the bo}". The judg-e had a pretty daug'hter, sweet 
 and lovely in temper. A passion of boyish love de- 
 termined him to make such place that he mig*ht ask 
 her hand on equal terms. He would g’o to the col- 
 leg-e then rising* on the hill west of the town; he 
 would enter a profession, and then 
 
 To that ambition, to that passion, I may say, we 
 are indebted for the Newton Bateman we have 
 known. That hope carried him throug*h a strug*g*le 
 of twelve years. He did not marry her at last. It 
 is with no derog*ation from the young* lady that I 
 saj^he did better, and so did she: each found a more 
 suitable partner: there are adaptions aside from 
 individual worth. In speaking* of these four, I 
 speak of the dead. 
 
 Of the youthful days that followed I can say lit- 
 tle. They were heavy years to him. He once told 
 me of spending* cold days of winter at cutting* wood 
 with but a pone of corn-bread for his noonday meal. 
 But the beautiful maiden and the determination to 
 be more than a wood-chopper were never out of his 
 thoug*hts: these sustained him. 
 
 To the preparatory school connected with the col- 
 leg*e he went, and entered Illinois .Colleg*e as a 
 freshman in 1839. 
 
 Illinois Colleg*e was the first colleg*e in the State 
 
66 
 
 “OuK Piix;him P^athkks.” 
 
 to form reg-ular classes and have a graduation. 
 Our great war-governor, Richard Yates, was of the 
 first class, graduating in 1835. Bateman entered 
 its ninth class, and graduated in 1843. His class 
 numbered ten, most of whom have shown a remark- 
 able vitality: hfty-four years after their graduation 
 day, six of the ten were living; five of us still sur- 
 vive at ages ranging from seventy-four to seventy- 
 nine. And the class proved above average for 
 ability and influence. 
 
 How did we live in college in those days? Classes 
 were small; as there were no high schools or acad- 
 emies in those days, the colleges had preparatory 
 departments; but all told the pupils then at Illinois 
 hardly numbered seventy. Few were from wealthy 
 families; many found it hard to get along. Many 
 boarded themselves; that is, they purchased food 
 which they cooked and prepared in their own rooms. 
 Bread we bought; other things we learned to make 
 ourselves. We had only the ordinary heating stoves 
 of sixty years ago; on or in these we fried or broiled 
 meat; boiled or fried eggs, or scrambled eggs, if 
 skillful enough; we made mush; baked potatoes or 
 apples; and in our simple fare we had healthful 
 food at little cost. During his preparatory years, 
 on one occasion, when funds were scanty, for two 
 successive weeks, Bateman and his room-mate, (who 
 
AdDKESvS of Dk. Wiffard. 
 
 67 
 
 was afterward Dr. Aug-ustus F. Fland, of Morris, 
 111.), lived at the cost of twelve and a half cents a 
 week for each of them. Their sole food was corn- 
 meal mush of their own making*, eaten without 
 milk, butter, syrup, molasses, or any other trim- 
 ming* or relish. I think this experience was not re- 
 peated. Such was the sturdy perseverance and in- 
 dependence with which many a youth gained his 
 diploma in those days. When Bateman and I were 
 room-mates, as we were in our junior and senior 
 years, I lived week after week at a food cost of 
 sixty-two and a half cents; and he spent no more 
 than I. We were glad to pick up any odd job to 
 earn a little. I remember a student who was after- 
 ward a major in our patriot army and a member of 
 congress who was mortar-mixer and hod-carrier for 
 the plasterers one summer. 
 
 P^or light we could not afford candles (this was 
 before the days of coal-oil ) ; we made strong light 
 with a lamp of Greek style, lacking beauty of form: 
 to-wit, a saucer of lard, with a wick made of a 
 twisted rag projecting over its edge. Such were 
 our Diogenes-like economies. But when Bateman’s 
 son and mine went to college, there was quite a dif- 
 ferent story. 
 
 Bateman while in college was subject occasion- 
 ally to fits of discouragement and almost of des- 
 
68 
 
 “OUK Pi6(;kim Fathkws.” 
 
 pondencj; but these were short, for he was, consti- 
 tutionall}" and on conviction and principle, cour- 
 ag-eous, cheerful and optimistic. Of all the class, 
 he had the g’reatest sense of humor, and the keenest 
 appreciation and enjoyment of pure fun. He en- 
 joyed g-ood solid nonsense, like the verses of Edwin 
 Lear or the Adventures of A/iee in Wonderland, 
 Perhaps no other man apprehends rationality so 
 thoroug-hly as the man who also sees its contrast, 
 the sham rationality of nonsense, and appreciates 
 mirthfully the difference. The lack of such appre- 
 ciation of the ridiculous leaves man a prey to prac- 
 tical absurdities. 
 
 Bateman never wrote serious poems, but often 
 produced comic verses. He did not /rv to be the 
 wag* of his class; his fun was spontaneous, bubbling* 
 out of a joyous heart; his laug*hs were the heartiest; 
 he rejoiced in existence. His class-mate, Thomas 
 K. Beecher, responding* to my announcement of his 
 death, writes: “He always has been and will be 
 ‘Newt. Bateman,’ dear old boy that he was and is.” 
 Looking* at his subsequent life, I see that this ex- 
 uberance of the comic was a relief to his supersen- 
 sitive nature, and lig*htened many a load which 
 those of sterner mould would have carried with 
 clenched teeth and knitted brows. 
 
 In the last ^x^ar of our course a class in Latin of 
 
AddkkSvS of Dk. WiIvIvAki). 
 
 69 
 
 the Preparatory Department was assig'ned to Bate- 
 man for instruction, and thus he began his true 
 career. Graduating in June, 1843, he planned- to 
 enter the ministry of the Presbyterian church, of 
 which he was a member. He went to Lane Semin- 
 ary. But lack of money caused him to leave the 
 school, and take a book agency, an occupation less 
 common then than now. He sold Lyman’s Histor- 
 ical Charts in map form, then a new work. He 
 traveled in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and 
 other states to the east, meeting the usual rebuffs 
 and occasional successes of such agents. He could 
 afterward make fun of encounters that at the time 
 were bitter enough. He came once to the verge of 
 absolute beggary, when some one sent him relief 
 anonymously. In the fall of 1845 he had gathered 
 a private school in what was then the northern part 
 of St. Louis; and there I found him, jolly after the 
 fashion of Mark Tapley, making the best of a life 
 of care and narrow means. But he was making 
 reputation; and in 1847 he was elected Professor of 
 Mathematics in the University of Missouri at Col- 
 umbia. 
 
 At this time Mr. Bateman was walking along 
 that dangerous ledge where many fall. The flow- 
 ery path of dissipation temptingly invited him. 
 His vivacity, wit, social spirit, and other attractive 
 
70 
 
 “OrK Pii.(;kim Fathp:ks.” 
 
 qualities made him welcome everywhere, and espe- 
 cially among- those of his own ag-e, some of whom 
 were associates vvhom a better acquaintance did not 
 iind worthy. Ag-ain love and honor saved him 
 from these baleful companions. Soon after he was 
 appointed professor, he married Sarah Dayton, of 
 Jacksonville; not his boyish first fancy, but one 
 whose sweetness, dig-nity and intelligence com- 
 mended her to his manly judgment and love. She 
 drew him gently away from dangerous associates 
 before they had tainted him. 
 
 In 1861 the west district of Jacksonville estab- 
 lished a free school, and called him to its head. 
 Thenceforth he was felt as a power there and in 
 meetings of teachers. He became School Commis- 
 sioner of Morgan county. He threw himself 
 zealously into the movements which founded the 
 State Normal at Bloomington, the Agricultural 
 and Industrial College which is now the University 
 of Illinois at Champaign, and into the work of the 
 State Teachers’ Association. This body made him 
 vice-president for 1855 and editor of one number of 
 the Illinois Teacher^ a paper which they then founded 
 by appointing monthly editors. He was made sole 
 editor for 1858. 
 
 In the summer of that year he was, contrary to 
 his own wish, made the Republican candidate for 
 
Address Dr. Wieeard. 
 
 71 
 
 State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and 
 elected in November. He did not wish the nomin- 
 ation because of his friendship for his predecessor, 
 Mr. W. H. Powell, and because he had just ac- 
 cepted the principalship of the Jacksonville Female 
 Academy, so that he felt that it would be unfair to 
 its trustees and teachers if he should seek the office. 
 Emphatically, the office sought the man. I was 
 his confidant in this matter, and speak with full 
 knowledge. Another reason was that on May 16, 
 1857, Death had suddenly taken from his arms his 
 dearly beloved wife, mother of his only son and of 
 a daughter. All his ambition fled away; and 
 despite the native elasticity of his spirit, this stroke 
 wounded him so deeply that I saw no ripple of a 
 smile upon his face for a year. 
 
 In January, 1859, he took his place as State 
 Superintendent. The Free-School Law was not 
 quite four years old, and was needing from time to 
 time interpretations and amendments in detail to 
 facilitate its operation. He was made its judicial 
 interpreter, his decisions having the force of law 
 until over-ruled in court. Mr. Bateman paid much 
 attention to these; but he seized upon the opportun- 
 ity offered by his position to discuss in his reports 
 principles and methods of education. These 
 documents were lively appeals to the people. All 
 
“OiJK Pii,(;kim Fathkks.” 
 
 72 
 
 his reports are worthy of study. In the first, 1801, 
 he discussed the cardinal principles upon which 
 education by the State is based; the rig-ht of the 
 State to lay taxes, to found schools and to require 
 attendance, and its duty so to act. He obtained 
 a law for the g-ranting* of State certificates. 
 
 His report at the close of his next term told the 
 working- of the law for State certificates; the condi- 
 tion of the Normal; the institutes held, etc.; he 
 then discussed what schools should do in their 
 teaching-; they should inculcate (1) submission to 
 discipline and lawful authority; (2) moral rectitude; 
 ( 3) should teach the theory- and org-anic structure 
 of our government; (4) should inspire love of 
 country; and (5) “Education should be true in its 
 conception, wise in its adaptation, and sound in its 
 methods.” 
 
 (3f course as this was written in the second year 
 of the civil war, it is permeated with thoughts and 
 feelings produced by that great crisis; and I cannot 
 represent Mr. Bateman better than by showing at 
 once his style and his temper in a quotation of the 
 last page of the report, given in the winter of our 
 adversity: 
 
 “The results accomplished within the past four 
 years are not commensurate with cherished hopes 
 and earnest endeavors. Perhaps life has no sadder 
 
AudkEvSvS of Dk. Wiffakd. 
 
 73 
 
 lesson than the conviction that the distance between 
 the hoped-for and the attained must ever be so 
 g-reat. But the record is made up beyond revision 
 or change; and its elements must mingle for good 
 or ill with the ever-moving ever-swelling stream 
 that bears to the waiting future the thoughts and 
 acts and efforts of to-day. 
 
 ‘‘The past four years have been most eventful. 
 When I entered this office in January, 1859, we 
 were a united, powerful and prosperous people; as I 
 leave it in January, 1863, we are in the fiery cruci- 
 ble of war and commotion, if not in the throes of 
 national dissolution. It sometimes seems like a 
 horrid dream, from which we shall surely awake to 
 find all as it was — one country, one flag, one des- 
 tiny. I yet have faith in God, in the patriotism of 
 our people, and in the justice of our cause; but 
 whatever the future may be, the sacred duties we 
 owe to ourselves and our children cannot be neg- 
 lected or deferred. Our solemn obligations in these 
 respects are not diminished, but enhanced by the 
 perils and darkness which environ the nation. If 
 the safeguards of a virtuous education are essential 
 in peace, they are still more so amid the downward 
 tendencies incident to a state of war. 
 
 “I love the commonwealth of Illinois. Arriving 
 upon her soil in early childhood, all the years of 
 
74 
 
 “OUK PlI/'.KIM KaTHP:kS.” 
 
 my youth, manhood and maturity are associated 
 with her history and prog*ress. Her amazing- re- 
 sources were then undev^eloped, her great career as 
 a state just commencing. For thirty years I have 
 observed her growth, sympathized in her struggles, 
 and rejoiced in her prosperit}". To-day she is the 
 fourth state in the Union in population; and, with 
 pardonable pride be it said, lirst in the Union in 
 the relative number, if not in the heroic achieve- 
 ments of her citizen soldiery. May the day never 
 dawn when we shall blush to say, “I am an Illi- 
 noisan!” I long to see the great State as distin- 
 guished for the intelligence, integrity and honor of 
 her people as she is for the elements of material 
 wealth and greatness, that she may be prepared for 
 the exalted destin}^ which God and Nature have 
 placed within her grasp.” 
 
 Dropping for the present his further reports, I re- 
 turn to the year 1860 . When Abraham Lincoln 
 was nominated for president, a suitable reception- 
 room for him in the State house was desirable. The 
 State Superintendent had two rooms; he shrank 
 into one and gave the other to Mr. Lincoln. Thus 
 it happened that the two came into close acquaint- 
 ance; and Mr. Lincoln found in Bateman an an- 
 swering spirit; he talked rather freely of his feelings 
 about slavery and the issues of the day, so that 
 
Address of Dk. Wiedakd. 
 
 75 
 
 Bateman knew what impulses moved him, thoug'h 
 controlled by the practical wisdom of the politician 
 and statesman. Had Mr. Bateman recorded these 
 conversations, we should have had an interesting- 
 and confidential addition to the story of that g-reat 
 life. I remember but little of what Bateman told 
 me of them. 
 
 In 1862, the other party carried the State, and 
 Mr. Bateman was but of the office for two years. 
 He became chief clerk for Gen. Oakes in one de- 
 partment of the recruiting- service of the United 
 States, and I held a like position in another. In 
 1864, the tide turned; he resumed his place, pecu- 
 liarly his place, which he held for ten years, 1865 
 to 1875. His report for 1867 illustrated the value 
 of education to men as soldiers; he named important 
 places filled by the colleg-e-trained men in the war. 
 The American idea of popular education and the 
 relation of colleg-es to public schools were pre- 
 sented. 
 
 In 1869 he discussed various auxiliary ag-encies; 
 school journals, county institutes, county superin- 
 tendency, county normals, the State Teachers’ As- 
 sociation, the system of school-officers. State certifi- 
 cates; and he g-ave one hundred and fourteen pag-es 
 to an account of the rise, prog-ress and condition of 
 the colleg-es, private seminaries and academies in 
 
76 
 
 “()UK Pii,(;kim Fathers.” 
 
 the whole State; he added the medical and commer- 
 cial schools, and the public libraries. 
 
 In 1871 he discussed natural science in schools, 
 the benefits of hig-h schools, the educational rights 
 of children, and compulsor}" education. 
 
 In 1873 he took up the new constitution in its 
 relation to schools, absenteeism, public-school 
 buildings, with a warning against extravagance; 
 and he discussed state uniforfnity of text-books, 
 opposing it. 
 
 In 1875 he gave us his last word. He furnished 
 in eighty-three pages a critical and classified list of 
 books for the selection of school libraries; a lively 
 sketch of a practical study of natural history; and 
 then, under the title, ‘‘The Coming Teacher,” in 
 glowing words, with vivid imagination and a warm 
 heart, he set forth his ideal of what a teacher 
 should be. I quote the first paragraphs: 
 
 “Through costly experiments, splendid failures, 
 and baffled hopes, we make our way toward the 
 Augustan Age. As the Israelite awaits the re-advent 
 of the lost glory of his race; the Christian, the 
 dawn of the millennial day; and the millions,, the 
 coming of the ‘good time’ when the earth shall be 
 greener and the skies brighter, — so we believe in 
 the Coming Age of Schools and Teachers. But for 
 this inspiring hope, this vague but inextinguishable 
 
AddrKvSvS of Dk. Wiffard. 77 
 
 faith and long-ing- for something* worthier and bet- 
 ter, who of us would not at times be ready to drop 
 the oar, and in hopelessness suffer the boat to drift 
 anywhither — anywhither? Who of us is satisfied? 
 Nay, who of us, comparing* the actual with the 
 possible — the present with the hoped-for diWA should- 
 he and may-he in the field of education, is not ready 
 to exclaim, ‘How long*, O Lord?’ 
 
 “In the rapt visions which come to me, as they 
 come to all, I sometimes seem to see the apocalyptic 
 g-ates swing open, and far down the aisles of the 
 future, brightly revealed in the soft, clear light, 
 there stands the Incarnate Idea of the Coming 
 Teacher.” 
 
 Following the magnificent introduction, he de- 
 picts his high ideal.” 
 
 In the later years of his superintendency he had 
 several offers of college places; he advised with me 
 on each, but said “no,” till the Presidency of Knox 
 College was offered him; that he accepted. What 
 his work there was for eighteen laborious years, I 
 have not time to tell. The college had needed for 
 a long time just such a man. At once it began to 
 rise. Money came in for its upbuilding. Students 
 flocked in, summoned by the magic of his name 
 and fame; the standard of education rose; young 
 men who came under the charm of his influence 
 
78 
 
 “OuK Pii,(;wiM Fatukks.” 
 
 told of the new ])ower they had felt. While doin^- 
 this work for his college, he was for several years 
 an active member of State Board of Health. He 
 was in demand for addresses here and there. He 
 answered all calls to the full extent of his streng-th. 
 Meanwhile his home ^rew solitary. His second 
 wife, Annie Tyler, married in 1859, died in 1877; 
 his four daug'hters married and left him; only an 
 orphan niece remained with him to the end. 
 
 But all the while there was creeping- upon him 
 that fatal disease of the heart that ended his sweet 
 life. In 1893, on the anniversary of his g-raduation 
 fifty years before, he g-ave his office into the hands 
 of his successor, g-ladly laying- down a burden 
 which was becoming- too heavy. Holding- the po- 
 sition of a professor emeritus, he taug-ht only a 
 sing-le class. He also edited a work on the history 
 of Illinois which was just completed at his demise. 
 Finally the occasional spasms of distress became a 
 constant and increasing- misery that culminated 
 Oct. 21, 1897, in the final relief. 
 
 Politically, in 1840, when he was not yet a voter, 
 Bateman inclined to the Democratic party, which 
 did not for many years thereafter become the serv- 
 ant of slavery; but in 1856 he voted for P^remont; 
 and while he was a Republican thenceforth, he was 
 not, exce])t during- the war, an ardent partisan. 
 
AddkKvSS of Dk. WiUvAkd. 
 
 79 
 
 He was too well aware of the evils of party g'ov- 
 ernment to be a hearty partisan. 
 
 In religion, in like manner, he was of a most lib- 
 eral spirit, unwilling to struggle for forms and 
 creed; and after the period of fermentation that fol- 
 lowed his leaving Lane Seminary, he returned to 
 the reverent attitude of his youth. He had a grow- 
 ing sense of the importance of practical goodness 
 that rests upon an inspired inner spiritual life. 
 
 Dr. Bateman was exceedingly tender, sympathetic 
 and loving. The strokes of bereavement seemed to 
 fall crUshingly upon him. The loss of his son 
 Clifford, a bright young professor in Columbia Col- 
 lege, nearly overpowered him. During the war he 
 felt for days and weeks the agonies of every slaugh- 
 terous battle. I am of the opinion that such sensi- 
 tiveness may have disturbed the function of the 
 heart, and laid the foundation for the final ailment. 
 His attachments to his friends were singularly loyal 
 and strong. 
 
 While his pupils of the district school and of the 
 college will long remember the clear-minded and 
 gentle teacher, stern only in necessity. Dr. Bate- 
 man’s greatest influence, like that of Horace Mann, 
 to whom he was often compared, was in those elo- 
 quent reports which set up ideals and stirred the 
 hearts of those that read them to a new purpose 
 
80 
 
 “OUK PlI.GKIM FaTHKKS.” 
 
 and a new hope. His decisions on the school law, 
 g-athered in a volume, made a text-book for school 
 officers; l>ut his appeals to teachers and to the peo- 
 ple were not law, but g*ospel, the rev^elation of new 
 and better ways, with encourag*ement to walk 
 therein; the invitation to a perpetual ascent. Like 
 the ang*el in the Apocalypse, he was saying-, ‘‘Come 
 up hither, and I will show thee.” This influence 
 passed the bounds of Illinois, and is still spreading-. 
 We may say of it as Tennyson says in the Bug-le 
 song-, speaking- of the long- echoes of the bug-le tones: 
 
 “O, love, they die, in yon rich sky; 
 
 They faint on hill, or field, or river; 
 
 Our echoes roll, from soul to soul. 
 
 And grow, forever and forever.” 
 
K:-'" 
 
 jc 
 
 %■ ' ■■ 
 
 

 
 -i 
 
r - ' 
 
 i 
 
 k'' 
 
 . 
 
 f;