-X I B RAHY OF THE UN IVLRSITY Of ILLINOIS ^7*?. 2. In 2. oo|p. <4- ILL. K!ST. SURVtV INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS VOLUME 13 NUMBER 2 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://archive.org/details/contributionofso132mcda THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION IN INDIANA By ETHEL HITTLE McDANIEL INDIANAPOLIS INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1939 Copyright, 1939 BY Ethel Hittle McDaniel PREFACE The early educational history of Indiana still largely remains unwritten. Although many people feel that our educational history began with the establishment of the common school system of 1852, a number of religious denominations, however, had already broken the ground and had made real progress before the state embarked upon its elaborate program. The inspiring example and happy results of these private ventures unquestionably did much to encourage farsighted men in the 184CVS to plan for a state system. Among the more comprehensive and more valuable studies made of educational activities under religious denominations in the early history of Indiana is that of Mrs. Ethel McDaniel, of Wilkinson, Indiana, on the contribution of the Society of Friends. This intensive study of education among the Friends in Indiana is the story of pioneer hardships and endurance, of heroic efforts and sacrifices. Some of their history has never been written and it is now impossible to compile because of the destruction of records and the passing of interested persons. Nevertheless, from scattered records and from survivors who had a firsthand knowledge of early Quaker schools in Indiana, it has been possible to piece together a more complete and accurate account of the activities and accomplishments of this important element of our population than heretofore. Much of the information recorded in this account was gathered by Mrs. McDaniel from former teachers and pupils, from meetinghouse records, personal papers, and from official documents. Mrs. McDaniel has done a commendable piece of research which deserves the respect of all historical scholars, and it should be cherished, particularly, by all Friends as an im- perishable record of great deeds and good work performed by their pioneer predecessors. It is to be hoped that other denomi- nations will also find workers to do a similar task for their groups. A. D. Beeler Department of History and Political Science Butler University (117) CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. The Friends as Pioneers in Indiana. . . . 123 II. Teaching the Three R's 133 III. Friends' Elementary Schools Schools in Indiana Yearly Meeting Whitewater Quarter 159 Hopewell ; Bethel ; Springfield Monthly Meeting School; Nettle Creek; Whitewater Monthly Meeting Schools Spiceland Quarter 161 Clear Spring ; West Branch ; Greensboro Friends' Seminary ; Raysville ; Elm Grove ; Flat Rock Wabash Quarter 163 Westfield Quarter 164 Salem Walnut Ridge Quarter 164 Walnut Ridge ; Pleasant View ; Westland ; Western Grove; Hardy's Fork; Riverside White's Manual Labor Institute . , 165 Other Elementary Schools 166 Arba ; Jericho ; Lynn ; Mississinewa ; Chester Schools in Western Yearly Meeting Blue River Quarter 167 Lick Creek; Sand Creek White Lick Quarter 167 Sulphur Springs; Bethel Fairfield Quarter 168 Easton; Beech Grove School; Brushwood; Center; Lickbranch; Union Schoolhouse; No. 1 ; No. 6 Plainfield Quarter 169 Plainfield; Bridgeport; Indianapolis; Spring; Mill Creek; Sugar Grove New London Quarter 171 Lynn ; New Salem ; Reserve ; Pleasant Hill (119) 120 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Thorntown Quarter 171 Sugar River: Center; Gravelly Run; Wal- nut Grove ; Thorntown Other Elementary Schools 172 Union Grove ; Hopewell ; Hinkle's Creek ; West Grove IV. The Higher Branches 174 V. Friends' Secondary Schools and Colleges Schools in Indiana Yearly Meeting Spiceland Academy / . . . . 191 Fairmount Academy 192 Richsquare Academy 193 Newport and New Garden Schools ..... 194 South W'abash Academy 194 Dover School 195 Beech Grove Seminary 195 Carthage Academy 196 Amboy Academy 196 Schools in Western Yearly Meeting Bloomingdale Academy 197 Union High School 198 Richland Academy 200 Blue River Academy 200 Central Academy 201 Farmers' Institute 202 Poplar Ridge Seminary , 203 New London Quarterly Meeting School 203 Rush Creek School 204 Sand Creek Friends' Seminary. . . 204 West Union School 205 Mooresville High School 205 Spicewood High School 205 Sugar Plain Academy 206 Fairfield School 206 Other Secondary Schools 206 Hopewell ; Indianapolis The Yearly Meeting School 207 VI. Transition to State Schools 210 VII. POSTLUDE 22 1 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Title Page of English Reader Compiled by Lindley Murray 146 The Evolution of the Friends' School. From a series of drawings by Ruth Gardner McGinnis show- ing the development of Spiceland Academy. Courtesy of the Henry County Historical Society 178 (121) I. THE FRIENDS AS PIONEERS IN INDIANA "The record of a hundred years of sowing; . . . but not pen Of mortal can indite that chronicle ; — And, yet, its hundred volumes all are writ, — An everlasting history. Now and then A paragraph or section meets the eye, Perhaps a chapter, — and we see how seed, Sown painfully, with effort and with tears, Hath yielded a rich harvest to the praise Of him who gave the increase ; thirty-fold Sometimes, and sometimes sixty-fold the gain; A hundred even, where some special good Of soil and circumstance, of sun and shower, Wrought to a special blessing." — E. D. Prideaux, "Seedtime and Harvest" Just as gigantic structures of steel rest upon foundations far below the surface of the ground, so does Quaker edu- cation rest upon a base which extends far into the past. The Society of Friends, founded in England in the middle of the seventeenth century and spreading soon to America, had from the first the education and right training of youth as one of its most important objects. George Fox, John Woolman, Henry Tuke, William Penn, Anthony Benezet, and other early leaders urged "the proper education of youth" 1 and the gaining of "useful knowledge." 2 This emphasis on education was a natural sequence of the belief of the Friends. Their creed was simple but intense. They believed in close, personal communion with God — a belief which gave rise to the famed silent meetings. They opposed a trained ministry, believing their ministers were called by God and the "Inner Light" and should speak "from the heart out." a George Fox, "A Warning to Children which are Called Schoolmasters . . .," in Writings of George Fox (London, 1657) ; Works of John Wool- man (Crukshank, Philadelphia, 1774) ; Henry Tuke, Works (4 vols., York, England, 1815), III, 95; letter of Anthony Benezet to Samuel Fothergill, 1758, in Friends' Library, IX (1845), 220-22. 2 Letter of William Penn to his wife and children, in M. L. Weems, The Life of William Penn . . . (Philadelphia, 1854), p. 130; "Reflections and Maxims of William Penn," in ibid., pp. 27-28. (123) 124 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY This led straight to the conclusion that "if they were to have no trained clergy, but were to try seriously the great experi- ment of a priesthood of believers, they must educate the entire membership of the Society." 3 This purpose the Friends brought with them to America and carried southward and westward in their migrations. From it developed what came to be known as "the guarded education of Friends' children." Wishing their children to avoid the things against which George Fox had warned and which they themselves believed sinful — "corrupt words, corrupt speaking, idle communications, filthy jesting, lying, cursed speaking, oaths, hating, railing, envey, pride" 4 — they attempted to keep them as much as possible from disturbing influences. Anna Ruth Fry says that until recent times one object of Quaker education was "to form a shelter from the bad influ- ence of the world. The young were looked upon as tender plants unable to stand exposure to outside ideas and temptation and the hope was, that by a series of rules and prohibitions they would grow up immune from the desire to transgress." 5 The phrase "guarded education" came to be a common one in Quaker language, and expressed the purpose of Friends wher- ever they might labor. The school was definitely an auxiliary in furthering the religious aims of the Society. By the early iSoo's, Quakers from the South were moving into Ohio, forced by their unyielding attitude toward slavery to seek new homes northward beyond the mountains and the Ohio River. They "were not disobedient to the vision opened before them, but came with great rapidity as a vanguard to a mighty host that soon followed." 6 They settled in the vicinity of what is now Waynesville, Warren County, Ohio, and in 1803 set up Miami Monthly Meeting. This was the first 3 Rufus Jones, The Later Periods of Quakerism (2 vols., London, 1921), IT, 669. 4 Fox, ''Warning to Children which are Called Schoolmasters," in Writ- ings of George Fox. ^Quaker Ways . . . (Cassell and Co., London, 1933), p. 192. 6 Harlow Lindley, "Quakers in the Old Northwest," in Mississippi Valley Historical Association, Proceedings, 1911-12, p. 64. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 125 settlement of Friends within limits that in 182 1 were included in the Indiana Yearly Meeting. 7 Until 1800 no boundaries divided Indiana from Ohio. Both were part of the Northwest Territory, a vast wilderness, but rich in promise. The band of Friends on the Little Miami River (composing the Miami Monthly Meeting) looked west- ward into the unconquered forest. But not long were they content with looking. Pioneer Friends with the spirit of adventure and with a desire for advantageous home sites went into this forest in 1806 and in the vicinity of Whitewater River, where Richmond now stands, found a spot they thought ideal for their homes. 8 "The country was new and very desirable, but thickly timbered, involving much labor and exposure to make it habitable; the immigration of Friends was constant and rapid, principally from North and South Carolina and Virginia, and meetings grew rapidly from this source.'' 9 The first Friends' organization within the present limits of Indiana was set up in this community in 1809. 10 This organi- zation, the Whitewater Monthly Meeting, was opened at White- water Meetinghouse, near the present city of Richmond, on the Ninth Month, 30th, 1809. The log meetinghouse stood in the northeast corner of the Whitewater burying ground, in what is now a busy part of Richmond. 11 At the time of the opening of the Monthly Meeting there were at least two hundred members, and by 18 12 they numbered more than eight hundred. Although the Indian unrest during the War of 18 12 retarded immigration into lands to the west of the Whitewater settle- ment (the Twelve Mile Purchase secured from the Indians in 7 Clarkson Butterworth, "History of Miami Monthly Meeting from 1S03 to 1828," in Miami Monthly Meeting, Waynesville, Ohio, Proceedings, Cen- tennial Anniversary . . . 1903, pp. 15-17. 8 William G. Hubbard (ed.), Book of Meetings . . . (New Vienna, Ohio, 1878), pp. 91-92; Andrew W. Young, History of Wayne County, Indiana . . . (Cincinnati, 1872), p. 28. "Hubbard (ed.), Book of Meetings, p. 91. 10 Butterworth, in Miami Monthly Meeting, Proceedings, Centennial An- niversary, 1903, p. 25. "Eli Jay, "Whitewater Monthly Meeting From 1809 to 1828," in White- water Monthly Meeting, Proceedings of the Celebration of the Establish- ment . . . 1909 (Richmond [1909]), PP- 3^-3 2 - 126 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1809), the westward movement began with new rapidity when peace was restored. 12 Other settlements developed near Whitewater and other meetings were set up. New Garden, eight miles north of Rich- mond in Wayne County; Silver Creek, two miles west of Liberty in Union County; West Grove, near Centerville in Wayne County; Springfield, near Economy in Wayne County, were all settlements of Friends which set up Monthly Meetings by 1820. 13 The Whitewater region was not the only locality where the Quakers settled and prospered. Many of the Friends from the Carolinas and other southern states moved northwestward through Tennessee and Kentucky, to find in southern Indiana and far to the west in Vigo County their Promised Land. These newcomers from the South settled about 18 10 within the present limits of Orange and Washington counties. Here in 18 1 3 was set up Lick Creek Monthly Meeting and in 181 5 Blue River Monthly Meeting. 14 On the Wabash, a few miles south of the present site of Terre Haute, another Friends' settlement was growing at the same time and the Monthly Meeting known as Honey Creek was set up in 1820. 15 Through the great central part of Indiana, Indians still roamed and hunted. In 18 18 the government purchased this land and gradually opened it for settlement. Many Friends had been awaiting this opportunity, and their communities quickly sprang up in the New Purchase. White Lick in Morgan County was settled in 1820 and became a Monthly Meeting in 1823, the first Monthly Meeting in central Indiana. 16 There followed in the next decade, meetings in Randolph, Parke, Hendricks, Henry, Marion, and Boone counties. Farther 12 Jay, op. cit., pp. 36-37- 13 Butterworth, in Miami Monthly Meeting, Proceedings, Centennial An- niversary, 1903, p. 25. u Ibid., pp. 25 ff. ; Evan Hadley, Historical Sketch of the Settlement of Friends . . . in Central Indiana . . . (Mooresville [1890]), pp. 1-2. "Minutes of Honey Creek Monthly Meeting, 1820-25, p. t (photostatic copy in Indiana State Library) ; Harlow Lindley, "Origin and Growth of Education among Friends in Western Indiana," in American Friend, VI (1899), 1090. 10 Hadley, op. cit., pp. 3-4. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 127 south, Driftwood in Bartholomew County became a Monthly Meeting in 1820. 17 Two more or less independent chains of meetings formed northward, from Whitewater in the east and from White Lick in the west, the two chains finally reaching an apex at New London in Howard County. 18 Each Monthly Meeting set up signified a new wilderness conquered by those sturdy and courageous Quaker fathers who carried their religion with them into the forest. It meant more than a mere settlement, for a Monthly Meeting was not set up until the Friends in a community or group of communities had attained considerable strength. It is easy to relate the story of the first settlements and first meetings, for the Friends have ever been diligent and faithful in the recording of their religious history. But the story of the first schools is more difficult, for their establishment was taken as a matter 'of course. The setting up of a new meeting was a cause of rejoicing; the establishment of a school followed in the line of duty. Another difficulty in recording the history of Quaker schools comes from the fact that in early days the use of the word "school" did not imply any given length of term or any prescribed list of subjects taught. 19 The school of this period was held in a home, a church, or even a barn, if nothing better offered. Sometimes a new log structure intended for a sheep shelter, or for sugar or cheese making, was first used for school purposes. We can only surmise with what diligence the Quaker mothers and fathers in the Whitewater settlement of Friends supervised the education of the children of their own house- hold; as faithful members of the Society of Friends, they no doubt did what they could. The first year after Whitewater Monthly Meeting was set up in 1809, the Minutes contain a notation of schoolbooks received and the appointment of a committee for their distribution. 20 In 181 1 the Monthly Meeting appointed a standing committee to care for schools, and in the winter of 181 1 -12 the first Friends' school, of record, 17 Butterworth, op. cit., p. 26; Lindley, op. cit., pp. 1090, 1112-13. 18 Jones, Later Periods of Quakerism, I, 423. 19 Salem Monthly Meeting, Minutes, Book III, November 25, 1854. ^Eva M. Thurston, thesis (1898) on "Educational Movements in Wayne County, Indiana, 1807-1851," in Earlham College Library. 128 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY was taught by Robert Brattain. 21 As was the custom in Friends' communities, school was kept in the meetinghouse until a separate house could be provided." 2 Indiana Yearly Meeting was organized in 1821, and a few years later a new meetinghouse was built at Richmond for use of both the local meeting and the Yearly Meeting. Eli Jay continues the story of education in this first Friends' settlement : 23 "After the log Meeting House was vacated by the removal of the meeting to the new brick Yearly Meeting House, it appears to have been used for school purposes till about 1836, when a commodious brick school house was put up between the two buildings. ... In this the Monthly Meeting kept up a school of high grade for the times, employing able, well educated and experienced teachers. This school was attended by advanced students, many of them coming from other parts of the country for that purpose. It is said that Isaac Hiatt, a noted teacher of that day, was the first principal in the new house. It appears that this school was kept in that house about forty years. . . . Barnabas C. Hobbs and William Haughton were at its head, each for some time. . . . Hiram Hadley was its principal for some years beginning before 1859. . . . Erastus Test and Cyrus W. Hodgin were teachers in it later on." The story of this first school in Whitewater settlement is in general the story of every Friends' school — first, a school in the meetinghouse ; then, school in the old meetinghouse when a new one was erected ; and later, if the school prospered, larger, better quarters designed especially for school purposes. Some- times the story was reversed, and meeting was held in a school- house until a meetinghouse could be built. In all cases, religion and education were companions in the thoughts of the people. In the Minutes of Indiana Yearly Meeting, beginning with 1821, the answer to the query on education reads: "Schools 21 Thurston, "Educational Movements in Wayne County." 22 This first meetinghouse and its successors are described in [John Macamy Wasson], Annals of Pioneer Settlers on the Whitezvater and its Tributaries, in the Vicinity of Richmond, Ind., from 1804 to 1830 . . . (Richmond, 1875), pp. 21-25. 23 Eli Jay, "Whitewater Monthly Meeting, Now Held on East Main Street, From 1828 to 1909," in Whitewater Monthly Meeting, Proceedings of the Celebration of the Establishment . . . 1909, p. 75. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 129 are encouraged under the tuition of Teachers in membership."- 4 In 1829 we find, apart from the queries, a report on education which emphasized the need for establishment of schools, attend- ance of pupils at midweek meeting, and "conformity in all other respects to the wholesome regulation of our Society." 25 In 1830, the subject of education was brought to the view of the meeting. From the reports received from the Quarterly Meetings, it appeared that the subject had been under considera- tion in most or all of the subordinate branches, some of which reported "some progress therein, and others but little, as yet." The meeting, "being deeply interested with the importance of the subject," appointed a committee to act in conjunction with a committee of the women's meeting, in taking the subject under "serious and weighty consideration." 20 The committee's report so well expresses the desires and concern of the Society as a whole that it seems proper to quote it in entirety. It is a statement of the educational policy fol- lowed by the Friends for many years afterward. 27 "Report on Education. "The joint committee to whom was referred the considera- tion of the subject of the guarded Education of our children, having attended to the object of their appointment, unite in Reporting: — That we have very sensibly felt the difficulty in which our members are involved, in giving to their children a guarded Education ; and believe the time has arrived when the Society in its collective capacity, should not only feel the im- portance of this concern, but should extend both advice and assistance in order to promote the desired object. "The difficulties to which we allude, we apprehend have originated from different causes. "Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1821, p. 6. 25 Ibid., 1829, pp. 21-22. 2 '''Ibid., 1830, p. 8. On the same day, the "subject of establishing a Library, or Libraries, of Friend's Books within the limits of each Monthly Meeting, was brought to view." The subject was already under considera- tion in most of the subordinate meetings, and a committee was appointed "to devise such measures for the advancement of the concern" as might seem necessary and proper. Ibid. 27 Ibid., pp. 18-20. 130 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY "In the emigration of our members to this country, they be- came in many cases widely scattered from one another, while the hardships and labours inseparably connected with making new settlements in the very wilderness, opposed no inconsider- able obstacles to the establishment of Schools. In addition to this, it is believed, the advantages of Education have not, in some instances, been duly appreciated ; and thus a degree of apathy and indifference has been produced, which may have been increased by the existence of real difficulties. "The public Seminaries in the State of Indiana, and the District Schools in the State of Ohio, have also been brought into consideration by the committee, as creating more or less difficulty, in the different sections of our Yearly Meeting. And we unite in proposing that the judgment of the Yearly Meeting should be pronounced against our members' partici- pating in those Seminaries, supported as they are in part by Fines imposed on the Society of Friends, on account of one of its Christian Testimonies ; 28 and that our members be advised, as much as practicable, to avoid any connexion with the District Schools as being founded on a system, which, should the society be brought completely within its operation, would powerfully militate against that testimony of our Society, which has for its object the guarded Education of the rising generation. "In order that our members may be aroused to the impor- tance of this concern, and that a system of Education may be adopted calculated to remove the difficulties in which the sub- ject is involved, we propose to the Yearly Meeting, that Quarterly and Monthly Meetings may appoint committees to examine the state of Schools, and of the Education of our 28 This refers to the conscientious scruples of the Quakers against bear- ing arms. Article IX, section 3, of the Constitution of 1816 provided that "the money which shall be paid, as an equivalent, by persons exempt from militia duty except, in times of war, shall be exclusively, and in equal proportion, applied to the support of County seminaries." Charles Kettle- borough, Constitution Making in Indiana . . . (Indiana Historical Collec- tions, Indianapolis, 1916), I, 114. See also ibid., pp. 127-28. Under the 1824 Act Regulating the Militia (Corydon, 1824), fines assessed against conscientious objectors were to be "as near as may be to the lowest fine imposed upon persons for refusing or neglecting to attend the battalion, company and regimental musters." CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 131 Youth, within their respective limits ; and to take such measures as they may apprehend to be necessary to promote the establish- ment of Schools, to be both under the tuition of Teachers in membership with us, and under the direction and superintend- ance of committees of the respective Monthly Meetings; — taking care that such Schools, where practicable, may be located, so as to afford the opportunity for the Scholars in company with their Teachers, regularly to attend some meeting of Friends. "In the establishment of these Schools, it will devolve on Monthly Meetings to extend the necessary care to secure the legal title to such real estate as may be procured for the purpose ; and where it may appear to be necessary, from the scattered situation of Friends, or from other causes, to render pecuniary aid to individuals, in order to afford their children an oppor- tunity of acquiring a suitable portion of education, that such be laid before the respective Monthly, or if necessary the Quarterly Meetings. And it is desired that a spirit of liberality may be manifested, to promote an object so deeply interesting to the present and succeeding generations. "And believing it important that the minds of our children should, at an early age, be stored with the truths relating to life and salvation, we propose that reading the Holy Scriptures should form a part of the daily exercises of our Schools ; and that this part of the order proposed, should be particularly under the care and direction of the superintending committees ap- pointed by the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings. "And that Quarterly and Monthly Meetings be directed to send up, to next Yearly Meeting, an account of their proceed- ings; and whether there shall be, at the time of preparing their Reports, any neighbourhoods destitute of schools; and if there should be any children not in the way of receiving the necessary education, the number and circumstances of such children, should be reported." From this time onward until about 1875, the Yearly Meet- ings asked for itemized reports on education from the Quarterly Meetings. In 1832 the "Epistle on Education" announced that reports received from the quarters gave evidence of an increased interest in "the guarded, religious, and literary education of the 132 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY rising generation." It recommended that Quarterly Meetings appoint committees to visit the Monthly Meetings and schools, and that Monthly Meetings appoint committees to use their influence to have schools set up, to recommend competent teachers, to promote subscriptions, to "extend care*' to those who were "backward in lending their aid'' or whose children might be "growing up without the necessary instruction/' or who might not "be able, on account of embarrassed circum- stances, to send their children to school." 29 Such, then, early in the history of Indiana Yearly Meeting, were the principles and program of the Society of Friends in regard to education, and such have been their principles and program down through the years ; for the leaders were f arseeing and the membership as a whole clung tenaciously to those principles given them by their leaders. As the Friends in Indiana increased in number and spread across the state, the Indiana Yearly Meeting on Whitewater ceased to be a geographical center for its membership. Friends of western Indiana and eastern Illinois presented a petition for a new Yearly Meeting, and in 1858 Western Yearly Meeting was established. 30 29 Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1832, p. 21. S0 Ibid. } 1857, pp. 20-21. II. TEACHING THE THREE R's 'And precious, too, has been the harvest reaped In lowly fields, unnumbered, all unknown To fame, the while they yield the daily bread Of our great country's common, general life — That life on which depends, and out of which Must grow the higher, wider life of those, Who, called to special service for their kind, Stand forth conspicuous to the general eye.'' — E. D. Prideaux, "Seedtime and Harvest' The history of Quaker education in Indiana is the history of a swiftly moving development. Scarcely do we accus- tom our minds to one type of school, or one generation, before we find that the passage of a few short years has brought an- other type of school, other studies, other students. No single picture of Quaker schools is sufficient to tell their story. We must follow a series of pictures, beginning in the years before Indiana became a state and passing through the next hundred years into the twentieth century. Says Rufus Jones i 1 "Conditions of life [in the West, Indiana and Ohio] were of course rough and hard in the early period. The forests had to be cleared, almost all the food for the family had to be got off the farm, and all the cloth had to be made from the raw home-grown wool and flax, so that everybody worked, from the oldest to the youngest, and there was little leisure for relaxation or for culture. But from their first arrival in the new world beyond the Ohio, these Friends began for the right education of their children, and all the meeting records reveal a deep concern for good schools." Schools which were held within the limits of the meetings were not intended to prepare the pupils for college, but to give them the elementary principles of learning. It was important that every young person be able to read the Bible. Education was thus a part of the Quaker's religion, and religion was a very definite part of his education. An old German, at one 1 Later Periods of Quakerism. I, 4T3. (133) 134 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY time a member of the Government Educational Bureau, said of the Friends : 2 "The Quakers have the true idea of education. They educated the body, intellect and heart together, which is the true system of education, for if you educate the intellect alone, you have a cold and formal Christian, or if you cultivate the heart and emotions alone, you have a fanatic, with his hobbies. Quakers solved this problem by training their children to manual labor on the farm, while their minds were trained in the school-room, and their spiritual training was promoted in their meetings where they . . . were taught to listen to the voice of the Spirit." As he said, the education of the body they received at home ; the education of the heart they received in "meeting" ; and the education of the intellect they received in the little unpretentious schoolhouse close beside the meetinghouse. It is with the de- velopment and decline of these schools that this chapter is concerned. Their beginning was in the forest where not many years before the Indian had built his hut. But hut and war dance and songs gave way to log cabins, broad brims, and the soft- spoken "thee" and "thou" of the Quakers. The meetinghouse, which usually did double duty as a school, was built near the center of the community — built of logs at no cost but with the combined labor of all the men of the meeting. 3 The first schoolhouses were also built of logs, and most of them stood on the meetinghouse grounds or near by, so that the children might attend midweek services. The most primitive of the log schoolhouses had no floor and no openings except the door, but usually the rough cabins had a few windows covered with greased paper. Heat was some- times furnished by an open fire built round a pole which the smoke followed to a hole in the roof. 4 Later log buildings had 2 Quoted in Autobiography of Allen Jay . . . (Philadelphia, 1910), pp. 68-69, and in Esther Littler, "Celebration of the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of Beech Grove Meeting," a typed manuscript (1931) in Indiana State Library, p. 10. 3 Luther O. Draper, "Spiceland Community and Schools," an unpublished manuscript. Correspondence of J. W. Chenoweth. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 135 fireplaces, but the masonry was not always of the best, and there were occasional schoolhouse fires because a backlog had burned through in the night. Log buildings gave way to frame as the country developed. The first frame buildings had two doors — one for the boys and one for the girls. 5 Equipment at first was crude. The children sat on backless benches made from hewed logs and the only semblance of a desk was a shelf somewhere in the room at which a few of the older students could stand while writing. In other places, the parents fur- nished the desks, which were of necessity heavy homemade affairs. When desks came to be generally used, they were double or sometimes large enough for three. 6 Where a com- munity prospered, and the schools "held" for many years, ade- quate buildings were eventually supplied. The schools held in these buildings were of different types. There was the Monthly Meeting school, under the direct super- vision of the Monthly Meeting Committee on Education. This committee hired the teacher and supervised the school. The subscription school, a second type, was taught by a Friend who contracted with the parents to teach their children at a specified amount for each child. 7 The third type, a combination of these two, operated under the supervision of the Monthly Meeting, and was supported partly by the meeting and partly by subscrip- tion. Sometimes a Quarterly Meeting organized and supported a school. The funds of both the Monthly and Quarterly Meet- ings were raised by subscription, and one often finds in the Minutes of the meetings an exhortation to the members to give liberally in the support of education. It is amusing to note in the old subscription lists payment for "a quarter of a scholar" — which meant that one scholar was to be sent for one fourth of the term. A parent subscribing for a "whole scholar" might send different children at different times, because the duties on the farm or in the home often neces- sitated keeping some of the older children out of school. Ofttimes, the winter term was managed as a Monthly Meet- correspondence of Lou E. Wood and Mrs. Susie Woody. "Correspondence of Mrs. Susie Woody and Mrs. Elva Wood. 7 James Baldwin, In the Days of My Youth . . . (Bobbs-Merrill Com- pany, Indianapolis, 1923), pp. 320-22; interview with Ann Harvey. 136 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY ing school and the summer term, as a subscription school. 8 The length of the school year varied from two months to six or nine months, a single term seldom exceeding twelve weeks. 9 Some schools, in the more populous and prosperous com- munities, were reported as having had school in session for the greater part of the year. The Monthly Meeting schools were visited regularly by a committee of the meeting. 10 Scholars who remember those visits speak with awe of occasions when a group of timid, embarrassed youngsters confronted several austere elders in somber dress who listened to their lessons, asked difficult questions, and expounded at length the duties of the pupils. It was urged in the Minutes of the Yearly Meeting that the committees of the Monthly Meetings be diligent in their visits to encourage the teachers and pupils, but it is feared that their visits were more often a test of courage than an inspiration. However, as pioneer life gave way to more comfortable living, the Friends, too, lost some of their severity, and more cordial relations developed between the scholars and committee. "Sometimes," a former student said, "some of our parents came to visit the schools ; and as they listened, propounded some practical question applying [to] the subject discussed. . . . our interested questioning visitors were the chairman and members of the Educational Committee." 11 Here it would be well to pause and examine more closely the motivating power of the Monthly or Quarterly Meeting schools, the Committee on Education. It was one of the most important committees of the meeting and carried the most responsibility. Visiting the schools was one of its minor duties. Upon the Quarterly Meeting committee rested the responsibility of direct- ing the educational policy of the Quarter, of supervising the 8 Dover Monthly Meeting, Minutes. July 27, 1869. tt See, for example, the summaries of reports from the Quarterly Meet- ings, in Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minnies, 1832, pp. 11-12; 1833, pp. 8-9; 1834, PP- 8-9: ^^35^ PP- io-ii ; 1836, pp. 20-21. The want of competent teachers is mentioned in more than one report. "Walnut Ridge Quarterly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, 1867-69. "Manuscript account of New Garden and Newport Schools by Emma Hough Rhodes, in possession of Dr. Oliver Huff, Fountain City. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 137 Monthly Meeting committees, and of controlling any Quarterly Meeting schools which might be within the Quarter. The Monthly Meeting committee directed affairs within the limits of its own meeting and supervised its own schools with the advice of the Quarterly Meeting committee. It was no small task, as evidenced by records of various committees which have been preserved. Typical of the work of the Monthly Meeting committees in the state is that of the Fairfield Monthly Meeting, southwest of Indianapolis, recorded in its Minutes of 1833 to 1846. 12 Brief as the Minutes are, they give evidence of earnest endeavor. The committee met every month, and, if schools were in session, gave a report of each school and its progress. When there was no school, preparation had to be made for coming sessions. During the thirties, four schools, Lickbranch, Fairfield, Union, and Easton (now West Newton), were established within the limits of Fairfield Monthly Meeting. Under the date of Eleventh Month, 17th. 1836, the Minutes contain this item : 13 "A Committee was appointed to use its endeavors to open a school at or in the verge of Lickbranch and they are directed to report monthly." On the First Month, 19th, 1837, it was recorded that "the committee appointed to use its endeavors to open a school at or in the verge of Lick- branch reported that they have seen no opportunity for opening a school as yet." 14 Months went by before the Committee could announce that they had accomplished their purpose. We do not know what difficulties they met, what obstacles of in- difference or poverty, but we cannot doubt that much labor lay behind the brief statements in the Minutes. One of the most difficult and important tasks of the Quarterly and Monthly Meeting committees on education was the financing of the schools. In no pioneer or early settlement is money plentiful, and the communities of Friends were no "Fairfield Monthly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, 1833-46. See also William Furnas. "A Short Account of the Early Work of Friends of Fairfield Monthly Meeting on Education," a typed manuscript in the Indiana State Library. 13 Fairfield Monthly Meeting, Committee on Education. Minutes, 1833-46. "Ibid. 138 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY exception. Although their farms often prospered and provided a bounteous living, in matters where ready money was needed they were hard pressed. It is true that the teacher was usually paid by subscriptions from families sending pupils, but the up- keep of the building, the furnishing of fuel and equipment, was financed by the meeting in control. This need was met by subscriptions, too, most of the members of the meeting con- tributing whether they had children in attendance at the school or not, for the school was the child of the church. More than this, if within the limits of the meeting there were found children whose parents were not able to pay their tuition, this expense was cared for by the meeting, as had been urged by the Yearly Meeting Report on Education in 1830. 15 The fol- lowing item is of interest in this connection : 16 "Fairfield's Committee on Education informs that there is due Cyrus Horton, teacher, for tuition fees from members of our society, who are in indigent circumstances to the amount of $12.71 which this meeting directs paid from the school fund for that purpose." Supervision of school quarters and supplies was a duty naturally assumed by the Committee on Education, and to judge from the record quoted below, one which they discharged capably, thriftily, and probably with their own hands : 17 "Those appointed in Tenth month last to meak [sic] some repairs on the schoolhouse and wood house and see that our school is furnished with wood report that it has been attended to at the cost of $28.90 which is satisfactory." The Quarterly Meeting Committee on Education met before each Quarterly Meeting and on call when special business was to be transacted. 18 It received the reports of the various Monthly Meeting committees on education and the answers to the annual queries which made up the Quarterly Meeting report to the Yearly Meeting. More than that, it discussed problems 15 The Report is quoted, ante, pp. 129-31. See also Indiana Yearly Meet- ing, Minutes, 1830, p. 6. ^Fairfield Quarterly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, No- vember 19, 1869. "Bridgeport Monthly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, March 19, 1868. 18 New Garden Quarterly Meeting, Minutes, 1823-45. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 139 of education and the attending financial problems which arose. Often members of the committee were asked in advance to prepare a paper on some educational subject. One such paper, written by Amos Doan, a familiar figure in the annals of the Western Yearly Meeting, has been preserved in the Minutes of Fairfield Quarterly Meeting Committee on Education under the date of Eighth Month, 14th, 1869. Most characteristic is the writer's conception of Religion and Education hand in hand. To the Quaker mind, one was the complement of the other, and many an educational lecture might have been used as a sermon. It is interesting to note that Doan was quoting, in 1869, educa- tional addresses which had been delivered by Professor Thomas Chase, of Haverford College, at the Pennsylvania and Iowa Yearly Meetings, and published in 1868. 19 So typical is the paper of the Friends' attitude at the time, that it is quoted in full : 20 "Next in rank to the highest concerns of man and in many respects intimately connected therewith are the claims of the proper education of our youth. We should all feel that we have some duty to perform in this great cause. It devolves upon us as individuals — It devolves upon us as a Society. This work is peculiarly high in our standard, pure in our principles, noble and beneficial in our practice, it is especially incumbent upon us to Secure its perpetuation in coming generations, And extend its blessings as widely as possible in our time. And how can these ends be attained so well as by moulding the Minds of the Youth? Friends Schools are regarded with favor generally by Serious persons. And they are readily patronized when they offer sufficiently high educational advantages. May it be ours to aim to have Schools as good, in all that is Sound and of real worth as the very best in the land. For purely religious action, we must wait for the direction of the Great Head of the Church — Always ready however to follow every pointing, of the Divine finger. W r ith a view to the moral eleva- tion of the community around us, and to the true prosperity and happiness of a State. What can be more fruitful in good re- lu Thomas Chase, Educational Addresses (Philadelphia, Pa., 1868). 20 This paper is transcribed from the Minutes of the Committee on Education of Fairfield Quarterly Meeting. 140 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY suits to extend as widely as possible the benefits of a good literary and Scientific education, provided we interweave there- with those Sterling principles of integrity, truthfulness, sim- plicity, temperance, 'Cheerful godliness' and Christian love and Charity which are the crowning emblem of the true Friend. "The di fusion of knowledge among all its members is peculiarly in accordance with the principles of our religious Society, we have no trained order of Preisthood, but we recog- nize each true believer as boath preist and King. There is danger from unsanctifyed mental activity and undevout science, but these cannot be met and conquered by ignorance. To over- come the learned and subtile champions of error, we must be armed with the weapons of knowledge ; — and the weapons properly belong to us, for sound learning and true science are the inseperable allies of religion. 'The undevout astronomer is mad' — and equelly mad are the undevout geologist — the un- devout Chemist — the undevout Student of languages and litera- ture, the undevout historian, the undevout investigator of any branch of knowledge, — Every study rightly per sued affords new profits of the power and goodness of our Creator and new confermation of our faith. It becomes us to provide Schools, whose teachers are not mere pretenders, conceited quacks, but devout and earnest persons who trace all truth to its Divine Source, who recognize in all history the guiding hand of Providence and to whom the heavens and the earth the land and the sea, the whole animal, vegetable and mineral creation, 'declare the Glory of God' and show 'His handiwork.' "There are a few elementary studies that will ever remain essential to the acquisition of a good education. Among these are correct Spelling legible writing and good reading — that is expression of the meaning and spirit of the passage selected. Nothing is a surer preventive against indulgence in idle per- nicious reading, than a taste for sound and healthy literature. Nothing more fruitful in lawful enjoyment, Nothing more refining and liber izing as a meanes of mental culture. Draw- ing should be taught in all our schools and to all our pupils, from the youngest to the Most advanced, it educates the eye and hand, and helps to cultivate a habit of accurate observation. Things should be taught not names merelv. Students should CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION be able to do more than merely recite the lesson, they should show that they understand it. Good manners should receive a proper degree of attention, both at home and in the school room — not that Chesterfield etiquette that is pompous with cold forms of civility, bowing and bending, hat-honor and a ceremony of words without a feeling heart. In our schools especially it should appear that simplicity and Christian sincerity are not inconsistent with true civility and Christian courtesy. True courtesy of manners is the natural fruits of the love of God Shed abroad in our hearts. It is Christain benevolence operating upon all the circumstances of life, we would aim to make our Children what William Penn said George Fox was himself 'Civil beyond all forms of breeding.' "We should hold our principles high as a beacon light in the world — morral and religious training should be strenous and decided, bold and unmistakable, not wavering and carried about with every wind of doctrine. As a religious body there have been committed to us clearer views of religious truth than to others, how important then that as a people we exert our full share of influence in moulding the minds of those who are aptly called 'the children of today, the men of tomorrow, and the immortals of eternity.' "Let teachers 'magnify their calling' not magnify them- selves. Let the teacher have a true and a high estimate of the position he occupies and he will then feel painfully conscious of his own deficiencies and short comings. "All does not devolve upon the teacher — we all have our part in the matter. Let us entertain the desire for learning, let us cherish a will for education and the way and the means for obtaining it will not be wanting." This article specifies correct spelling, legible writing, and good reading as essential to a good education. Add to these arithmetic, and we have the curriculum of the earlier days. As the schools progressed, the curriculum was limited only by the knowledge of the teacher. The pupils usually studied as much and as varied a course as he could teach. It was not un- usual to find a class in Latin, natural philosophy, or geometry in the little school beside the meetinghouse. At the Bethel School near Dublin (under Whitewater Quarterly Meeting), 142 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY a Quaker school famous in its day, the subjects taught in the period just preceding the Civil War were reading, geography, arithmetic, spelling, and Scripture lessons. 21 At earlier periods, geography was not taught. Barnabas C. Hobbs tells of the consternation of some of the "dear old saints" when geography was introduced into the schools, for many still believed that the earth was flat, and held that the teachings of geography were contrary to the Bible. 22 In 1847, Indiana Yearly Meeting reported that spelling, reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, and English grammar were taught in all the schools. 23 In 1858, Western Yearly Meeting, in its first report, listed orthography, reading, writ- ing, geography, arithmetic, and English grammar as the sub- jects generally taught. 2i By 1867, the Western Yearly Meet- ing could say : "The Common Branches of an English Educa- tion have been taught in all our Schools, and in some of them the Higher Branches, and in a few the Classics, and one the German Language." 25 Some schools approached the scope of an academy. In the minutes of Dover (now Webster) Monthly Meeting, Wayne County, for Seventh Month, 21st, 1869, appears a report show- ing a fairly elaborate curriculum, a large enrollment, and two sessions of respectable length : 26 "We have had two sessions of school since our last report, one for eighteen weeks, the other for twelve. The former was a Fall and Winter term, with an enrollment of 93 and an aver- age attendance of 70. The latter was the Summer term with an enrollment of 65 and an average attendance of 61. Branches taught — instruction in cards [probably the chart class] , spelling, writing, arithmetic, geography, grammar, physical geography, history of the United States, Algebra, geometry and the Ger- 21 Correspondence of Eva B. Hiatt. ^Daniel Newby, "Early Schools of Henry County" (1910), an unpub- lished manuscript in Henry County Historical Building. 23 Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1847, P- 22 - "Western Yearly Meeting, Minnies, 1858, p. 30. "Ibid., 1867, p. 21. 2a Clarence Votau, letter of September 10, 1930, to Dr. Oliver Huff, on Dover Friends' Schools, written for Webster (formerly Dover) school re- union, 1930. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 143 man language. The Holy Scriptures were read as a class book at the Fall and Winter term, and a portion, read daily at all sessions. Our school has been taught to general satisfaction. William White has submitted a proposition to teach another year and it has been accepted." In this school, as in others, one teacher could not always manage the large student body, and a second teacher had to be engaged, sometimes after the beginning of the term. It was often necessary for both teachers to carry on recitations in the same room, with an inevitable confusion that must have recalled the "loud schools 1 ' which were prevalent in Quaker education as elsewhere until after 1820. Much later than that, students learned their geography lesson by singing it. "We usually chanted our Geography lesson two or three times during the week and as we went over the states and their capitals it was the most music we had in school and I always enjoyed it very much.'' 27 This, of course, was at a time when textbooks and classes were uniform. In earlier days, school texts were any books which the family possessed, but as time went on some semblance of order was reached and much the same books were used in all the schools. The Friends were ever zealous of preserving the guarded education of their children and, to this end, closely supervised the texts used. In the Eighth Month, 14th, 1835, the Fairfield Monthly Meeting Committee on Education records this minute from the White Lick Quarterly Meeting Committee on Education : "The following list of books which had been reccommended by the Tutors Association for the use of schools was approved. . . . The Practical Teacher by Thomson Ran- dolph, Conversation on Common Things, Gummeres surveying, Institutes of English Grammar by Goold Brown." Some of these were for use in the higher branches. Some of the texts — by no means a complete catalogue, but including many which were in general use at the height of Quaker education (probably 1850 to 1865) — are listed below. All of these books were well known and widely used in Friends' schools in Indiana. The care in the selection of material and in the presentation of it is noteworthy. "Correspondence of Laura E. Mattern, Plainfield, Indiana. 144 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Introduction to the English Reader — Lindley Murray The English Reader — Lindley Murray Sequel to the English Reader — Lindley Murray Silent Reader, I, II, III, by Friends' Tract Association Elements of Arithmetic for Schools and Academies — Pliny E. Chase English Grammar — Comly The United States Speaker — Smiley The Institutes of English Grammar — Goold Brown Improved Speller — Martin Ruter Speller — Noah Webster Arithmetic — Pike (English) Arithmetic — Talbott (more American) Geography — Mitchell Geography — Monteith Geography — Olney Readers — McGu f fey Reader — The School Friend, I, II, III, IV, by Barnabas C. Hobbs Most interesting is the fourth of the series of readers written by Barnabas C. Hobbs, an Indiana Quaker, at the request of the Indiana Yearly Meeting General Committee on Education. Its Preface is worth quoting as a guide to the educational aims of the Friends : "The Society of Friends have felt, for many years, the want of a series of School Reading Books, free from popular sentiments which conflict with their views concerning civil government, Christian philosophy, and Christian courtesy, and which will, at the same time, be adapted in other respects to the educational wants of their schools. Some years since, measures were taken, by the General Committee on Education of the Yearly Meeting of Friends, to reach this end. "The compiler is not unmindful that he has attempted an important work, and fears that, with all his care, the intelligent critic may find it not wholly free from imperfections. He con- fides in the candid judgment of those who are to test it practi- cally, and who will control its reception with the public. Should such test prove favorable, he will feel that the valuable sources from which he was able, by special permission, to draw, in the CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 145 collection of his material, will allow him to attach but little merit to himself. "B. C. Hobbs. "Friends' School, Annapolis, hid., 1854." It is obvious that the following verses were not inserted in The Select Reader No. 1, published at Philadelphia by the Tract Association of Friends, solely as an exercise in reading. "The Lazy Boy. " ' 'Tis royal fun,' cried lazy Ned, To coast upon my fine new sled, And beat the other boys; But then, I cannot bear to climb The slippery hill, for every time It more and more annoys.' "So, while his schoolmates glided by, And gladly tugged up hill, to try Another merry race, Too indolent to share their plays, He was compelled to stand and gaze, While shivering in his place. "Thus he would never take the pains To seek the prize that labor gains, Until the time had passed ; For all his life, he dreaded still The silly bugbear of up hill, And died a dunce at last." In the Introduction to his Sequel to The English Reader, Lindley Murray wrote : "In selecting materials for the poetical part of his work, the Compiler met with few authors, the whole of whose writings were unexceptionable. Some of them have had unguarded moments, in which they have written what is not proper to come under the notice of youth. He must not therefore be understood as recommending every production of all the poets who have contributed to his selection. Judicious parents and authors, who feel the importance of a guarded edu- cation, will find it incumbent upon them to select for their 146 IXDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY children and pupils, such writings, both in prose and poetry, as are proper for their perusal; and young persons will evince their virtue and good sense, by cordially acquiescing in the judgment of those who are deeply interested in their welfare." The following are examples of sentences from Comly's English Grammar : "Neither riches, or honour, nor knowledge can be compared with virtue." "If he prefer a virtuous life, and is sincere in his profes- sions, he will probably succeed." "The indulgence of harsh dispositions are the introduction of future misery." "Whatever others do, let thou and I act wisely." "Vice is not of such a nature that we can say to it Hitherto shalt thou come and no further." "One of the noblest of the Christian virtues is to love our enemies." "We are strictlv enjoined not to follow a multitude to do evil." Texts such as these were very clearly meant to further the guarded education of the Quaker youth. The very content of the sentences used in the grammar to illustrate syntax reflects the morals which it was desired to instill in the minds of children. Every selection in the readers cited some truth or some trait worthy of emulation. In the selection of teachers equal care was shown. In the Minutes of the Indiana Yearly Meeting, from its earliest years until late in the nineteenth century, appears this query : "Are schools encouraged for the education of our youth under the tuition of teachers in membership with us?" The answer was always in the affirmative. In 1867 the Western Yearly Meeting General Committee on Education directed that the following query be added to the Educational Report : "Are the Committees careful to employ religiously concerned Teachers?" The answer in the years following was : "Committees are care- ful to employ religiously inclined Teachers." 28 The answer of Fairfield Quarter in 1870 was, "They endeavor to promote the employment of religiously concerned teachers." One 28 Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1867, p. 22; 1868, p. 21. p rim j / ENGLISH READER. OR, m .* . PROM- Till BEST WRITERS; DESIGNED TO ASSIST YOUNG PERSONS TO READ WITH PROPRIETY AND EFFECT j IMPROVE THEIR LANGUAGE AND SENTIMENTS \ AND TO INCULCATE The! MOST IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES OF PIETY AMD "VIRTUE. WITH A FEW PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRINCIPLES OF GOOD 'READING. BY LINDLEY MURRAY, % „ . AUTHOR OP AN ENGLISH GRAMMAR, &C, &• :tfeto*¥orfc: PUBLISHED BY COLLINS AND CO. W. E, DEAN, PRINTER. 1S33. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 147 Friend said, "I can remember that we had fine, moral Christian teachers with only one exception." 29 The schoolmaster of pioneer days was absolute monarch in his kingdom. On a raised platform at the end of the one-room building he sat enthroned, and from there he directed the activities of the school, except for occasional excursions to surprise some mischief-maker. To this platform came each pupil in turn when he was ready to recite his lesson. If he did not recite well, back he went to his seat to study the same lesson until he was ready for a second venture. Sometimes, with the sterner masters, the reprimand took the form of an application of the "gad," a bountiful supply of which lay across wooden pins thrust into the wall behind the master. 30 This raises the question of discipline in the Friends' schools. Some onetime scholars in the Quaker schools say they remem- ber distinctly the rods behind the master's desk — these belong to the pioneer period. 31 Some say the Quaker schoolmaster did not rule with a rod — these are remembering the days of the middle of the century and after. 32 It is true that the Quakers were the first to put aside the rod, but it is certain that it was used in early Quaker schools. Barnabas C. Hobbs remarked of his early school days that " Beech and hazel rods had a wonderfully stirring effect on both mind and body." 33 Dr. R. E. Haughton spoke of his father, William Haughton, as having governed first by the rod but later by the rule of love. 34 Addison C. Harris gives a good view of the discipline in the later Quaker schools in the following extract : 35 'The Quaker schoolmaster did not rule with a rod. Rarely, if ever, was one kept in the school house, and for my part, I have no recollection of ever having seen the rod applied to any ^'Correspondence of Lou E. Wood. ^Baldwin, In the Days of My Youth, pp. 335-36. "Ibid. 32 Addison C. Harris, "Quakerism in Indiana," in American Friend, III (1896), 1047-48. 33 State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Twenty-second Biennial Report, 1903-4 (Indianapolis, 1905), p. 28. 3V R. E. Haughton, "In Memoriam of William Haughton, My Father," an unpublished manuscript in Wayne County Historical Building. ^Harris, "Quakerism in Indiana," in American Friend, III, 1047-48. 148 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY pupil in a Quaker school. They maintained perfect order and strict discipline. This was done by moral power and not by physical force. If a boy or girl violated the rules he was at once expelled from the school and sent home, bearing a letter stating the cause, and he was not permitted to return until brought back by the parent, and being there, was required to state in the presence of the school an apology for his ill conduct, and a promise, if permitted to return, to thereafter conduct him- self or herself, as the case might be, in a proper manner as a pupil of the school." There was a wide gap between the theory of "no lickin', no larnin' " and the policy of moral suasion, but this distance was eventually bridged, as was many another breach between the ideas of 1820 and 1900. However he ruled, the teacher was master and a very busy personage. He had to arrive early in the morning, lay the fire, and get the building ready for the day. He was his own janitor and superintendent of grounds. The goose quills had to be sharpened and repaired. The writing books had to be examined and a new line of copy written in each. As pupils began arriving they helped in mak- ing preparation for the day. Some carried in wood for the fireplace or the huge box stove which sat in the center of the room. Some took the water bucket and went to carry water from the nearest well or spring. The filled pail was placed on a crude bench below the gourd which hung on a nail in the wall. The children were called from their play by the call of "Books, books, books." 36 Bells were not used in those earlier days. Even hand bells did not come in use until much later. In the earliest days, schoolmistresses were few. By many they were looked upon with disfavor. As late as 1840, a man in Dudley Township, Henry County, refused to send his chil- dren to a woman schoolteacher, because, he said, "wimmin ain't fittin' to be school masters." 37 But women were looked upon more favorably by Friends than in the majority of com- munities. It was the hardship of "keeping" the one-room schools, the trails to be walked every night and morning, the wood to be carried, fires to be kindled, paths to be made in ^Baldwin, In the Days of My Youth, p. 330. ^Newby, "Early Schools of Henry County." CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 149 snowy weather, rather than discrimination against women, that kept men teachers in the majority in Quaker communities. Young women often taught subscription schools in the summer when such tasks were not required. As conditions changed, the proportion of men and women teachers was about equal. In 1884 the Indiana Yearly Meeting, in a compilation of reports from Quarterly Meetings, reported 91 men and 106 women teachers among their members. The pay of these teachers ranged from a meager $2.00 to $15 a month in early days, and from $45 to $60 a month in later times, small return for labor of real devotion. Fine and far-seeing pioneer teachers made the schools and brought up in them students who, in their turn, took up the burden laid down by their aging teachers, and carried the schools forward to greater usefulness and worth. The influence of this host will never entirely die. It is impossible to name all these teachers, and among the unnamed hundreds who labored faithfully in the schools there are doubtless those whose work deserves equal recognition with the ones mentioned here. Every former student in a Friends' school will add to this list some name beloved and revered. Among those whose names appear prominently in both Quaker educational circles and others in Indiana, we instinc- tively think of Barnabas C. Hobbs, who served education in so many capacities. 38 He taught in the Friends' schools in Richmond. Bloomingdale Academy flourished through fifteen years of his superintendency. He was the first president of Earlham College. Serving in the field of public education, he held the position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction from 1868 to 1 87 1. Fasset Cotton in Education in Indiana says of him : 39 "He was in many ways a remarkable man and one of the best loved of the men who have filled the office of state super- M Mary Cammack, "Influence of Barnabas C. Hobbs on Education in Indiana," a thesis in Butler University Library: James H. Smart (ed.), The Indiana Schools and the Men ivho have zvorked in them (Cincinnati [1876]), pp. 94-95; Autobiography of Allen Jay, pp. 68, 332; Minnie B. Clark, "Barnabas Coffin Hobbs," in Indiana Magazine of History, XIX (1923), 282-90. 91 Education in Indiana {1793 to 1934) (Bluff ton, Ind., 1934), p. 212. 150 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY intendent. His sterling qualities were felt in whatever he undertook. He was always found on the side of those in need ; he seemed to make it his business to help humanity." Another whose influence was greatly felt in Friends' edu- cation was Allen Jay. 40 His was the hand behind the helm in steering Earlham College from the uncertain course of a struggling school into the steady progress of a creditable church college. William Haughton 41 stands in the front ranks of "those who made the schools." For more than fifty years he gave his efforts to education in Indiana, at the same time hold- ing an esteemed place as a minister among the Friends. His longest periods of service were in Beech Grove Seminary, Whitewater Friends' School at Richmond, and Friends' Board- ing School (later Earlham College). Moses C. Stevens, 42 Benjamin F. Trueblood, 43 Clarkson and Hannah Davis, 44 Hiram Hadley, 45 Joseph Moore, 46 Timothy Nicholson, 47 and Joseph John Mills 48 rendered services which cannot here be given due credit. The references cited tell in some little part of their loyal years of devotion to Quaker ideals in education. Other familiar and even famous names are Timothy Wil- son, Irwin Stanley, Enos Doan, Richard G. Boone, Charles F. Coffin, Erastus Test, Allen D. Hole, Oliver Brown, Zaccheus Test, David W. Dennis, Eli Jay, William N. Trueblood, Wil- liam B. Morgan, Thomas Newlin, Robert L. Sackett, and Edward Jones — names belonging to different generations but 4C 'Autobiography of Allen Jay. "Haughton, "In Memoriam of William Haughton"; Smart (ed.), In- diana Schools, pp. 55-56. 42 Autobiography of Allen Jay, pp. 71-72. 43 Jacob P. Dunn, Indiana and Indianans ... (5 vols., Chicago and New York, 1919), IV, 1743-44. "Poems, Papers and Addresses of Clarkson and Hannah E. Dazns. Published In Memoriam . . . (Richmond, Ind., 1898). "Indiana Biography Series, I, 128 (newspaper clippings in Indiana State Library). 46 'Indianapolis News, July 10, 1905, p. 2, c. 1; Smart (ed.), Indiana Schools, pp. 87-88. "Walter C. Woodward, Timothy Nicholson, Master Quaker (Richmond, Ind., 1927). "Indiana Biography Series, III, 229 ; Absalom Rosenberger, A Souvenir of Friends Schools (reprinted from Western Work, Oskaloosa, Iowa). CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 151 each standing for an important contribution to Friends' edu- cation. There recur in the records of the Friends names which show that certain families had a tendency to "run to school teachers." In the school records of Quakerdom in southern Indiana will be found the names of the Truebloods, the Armstrongs, the Unthanks, and the Moores. In central Indiana, the Doans, the Hadleys, and the Harveys were "school teacher" families. In eastern Indiana, the Macys, the Staffords, the Hodsons, and the Jays are well known. Of all these and other unnamed hundreds, we may fittingly say with Wordsworth : "Great men have been among us ; hands that penned And tongues that uttered wisdom better none." The enrollment in the schools varied with the communities. Some schools were as small as twelve, some as large as fifty students for a single teacher. Barnabas C. Hobbs's first school was in Bartholomew County — not strictly a Friends' school but in a Friends' community. He stated that twenty-five of his pupils came from five families. 49 Families were large in those days, and in a flourishing settlement of Friends, where educa- tion was favorably looked upon, schools were usually large also. As has been said, school buildings and customs changed. Recitation benches found their places in the front of the room, sometimes on a raised platform. Uniform textbooks made possible recitation by classes. Fireplaces gave way to stoves. The supply of birch or beech or hazel switches disappeared from their place on the wall behind the teacher. Loud schools became silent ones. The rough log benches gave way to better desks and seats. Clapboard and charcoal were replaced by slate and pencil and still later by paper and pencil. Goose quills became a tradition. Log buildings were abandoned for frame ones, and some of these in turn for substantial brick structures. The forest was succeeded by green fields and the blazed trails by good roads. As Barnabas C. Hobbs put it, "all things have become new" — with one exception. The school still sat beside the meetinghouse, and on Fourth or Fifth Day (as the case 49 Barnabas C. Hobbs, "Early School Days," in Smart (ed.), Indiana Schools, p. 26. 152 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY might be) books were laid aside and the scholars marched in a body to attend midweek meeting. There with their parents and the elders they sat, often in absolute silence, for an hour or until the heads of the meeting on the facing bench shook hands, thereby denoting that "meeting was out." Back they marched to school to take up their studies again, and probably to ponder a little on the religious service of which they had been a part. That the service did impress them is shown by the fact that in the interviews and correspondence which preceded the writ- ing of this work, more mention was made of midweek meeting than of any other thing. Onetime pupils in a Friends' school might forget what they studied, they might forget who their teachers were, they might forget through the long years whether or not the school they had attended was a strictly Monthly Meeting school, but they never forgot that midweek hour which they spent in the silence of the meetinghouse with their elders. Rufus Jones comments : 50 "The mid-week-meeting custom prevailed in all the educa- tional institutions of Friends, so that children, whether at home or at school, grew up with the meeting-habit formed. The custom was a part of life, and probably for most a very formative part. It certainly added to the consciousness of being 'peculiar'. . . . Friends were naturally the only people in the community who thus broke in on the business of the day and interrupted it for purposes of worship. The young at least could hardly help thinking during the long stretches of silence what an unusual performance it was in which they were engaged. It either aroused a revolt in the young mind or it produced a deepened loyalty, and for the most part the effect was deepened loyalty. The sacrifice involved in the act culti- vated an unconscious devotion." A more informal note is struck in some of the following comments by former students : "It was pretty trying on our restless nerves to sit that long on a hot summer morning with the tinkle of the cow bells . . . 50 "Later Periods of Quakerism, I, 180. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 153 ever lulling us to sleep, for we had been taught to stay awake in meeting.'' 51 "Every Fifth-day at 10-30 every student of all ages was conducted by our Teachers into the Meeting House, where we sat for an hour on hard benches, sometimes without a word being said, and without any one daring to make a noise, until after the heads of the Mtg. shook hands, which dismissed the Mtg., and then, O'Boy, wasn't that a grand and glorious feeling for a boy full of Pep?" 52 "'On each Fourth day, the teacher dismissed school from 1 1 until 12 and took every one of us across the road to midweek meeting. My mother sat on the facing bench and therefore could see me very plainly. And a larger girl and myself were laughing at another girl's bonnet when my mother came and led me to a seat beside her, where I spent the rest of that meet- ing weeping." 53 "On Fourth day it was a familiar sight to see the pupils marching out of the school house, down the hill, past the 'Quaker Spring' across the foot-log up into the meeting house. Here they would sit quiet during the services and at the close were marched back to the school house." 54 There is something vaguely touching about that journey across to the meetinghouse in a body. Those plainly dressed Quaker children, going across the road or over the foot log or the raised boardwalk sometimes provided, realized why the school sat so close to the meetinghouse — it was that they might share that silent hour with their elders. It is small wonder that the school was called "the handmaid of religion." The solemnity of midweek meeting was sometimes broken by incidents such as the following that tried the children's skill in keeping a solemn face : 55 "It was toward the end of Mid-week meeting in the little 51 Alwilda Pearson, "Reminiscences of the Early Friends' Church," in "History of the Wabash Friends' Meeting." Typed copy in Indiana State Library. ^"Correspondence of Robert Randle. "Correspondence of Lou E. Wood. ^Correspondence of Lucy Kenworthy. 3 'Reminiscences of Anna R. Hittle on Pleasant View meeting. 154 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY frame church. One of the men at the head of the meeting, a solemn but fine old Friend, sat with his arm on the end of the facing bench and his fore finger to his nose. He was the timer of the meeting and all waited patiently for his first move toward dismissal. On this particular day he fell asleep and nodded with his forefinger coming nearer and nearer his mouth. The mirth of the children was almost unendurable but the stern shakes of the teacher's head and the thought of punishment for misdemeanor kept the smiles and laughter in control. An especially vigorous nod of his head put his finger in his mouth in such a way as to gag him. Confusedly, he sat up, looked around and reaching to shake the hand of the one next him, broke meeting. After a wild rush to the door, the children went back to school whooping and laughing — and it isn't recorded that the teacher or parents remonstrated their boistrousness." As long as the school remained a Monthly or Quarterly Meeting school, midweek meeting was attended. In the sub- scription schools among Friends, the custom was almost in- variably observed. When the schools were gradually taken over by the township, with Friends still exercising some con- trol, this Friends' custom was usually carried on until Friends became a minority in the school and community. It was finally discontinued first in one locality and then another when chil- dren not of "the faith" objected to going, and the unity of purpose in attending was lost. One query in the Yearly Meet- ing report was, "How many schools attend mid-week meeting?" The answer was always similar to this : "All except one which is too far removed from the meeting-house to observe the custom." 56 But this was not the full extent of moral and religious in- struction. At the beginning of each day, after the call of "Books, books, books," after the boys had trooped in noisily and taken their places on the boys' side and the girls settled down less noisily on their own side, the master took up the Bible and read a chapter or portion thereof. In the older days, there was no comment beyond the mere reading and a brief period of silence following, but as time went on, there was 5: Northern Quarterly Meeting of Women Friends, Minutes, 1841-83. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 155 sometimes a discussion of the reading, and occasionally the teacher would ask an older pupil to read the chapter. The Western Yearly Meeting of 1872 reports : 57 "The Scriptures are read daily in most of the schools. In some they are used as a class-book. In some the younger stu- dents are exercised in committing and reciting texts. In some the teachers illustrate the exercise on the black-board, and in one school they are regularly pursuing Bible study by topics." But school was not all study and religion. When playtime came, the schoolyard was the scene of as much activity as is the playground of modern times. Ball games among the boys were much in evidence. Town ball seems to have been the most popular for many speak of it in their reminiscences. It was very similar to our present-day baseball. Three old cats was played with three catchers and batters. The game of bull pen was usually accompanied by great hilarity. It was a rough contest to see who could hit the "bull" in the center of the ring the hardest. The game of shinny was also a favorite. 58 The girls had their more quiet games of ring around a rosy, I spy, pizen, blindman's buff, and others. Then, when Quakers progressed to the stage where they allowed both sexes to mingle on the playground, perhaps the most popular games were black man and prisoner's base, both of which can be seen on any school ground today. 59 In the winter there were sleds and sliding, snow men, and snow forts. Many a teacher has come in contact with snow- balls thrown in fun or in spite and the casualties in snowball battles were as numerous then as now. Sliding was great fun and in schools situated near a large hill, a big sled was often made which would hold several children. One such oversize sled was involved in this amusing incident : 60 "John Macy kept a large Friends School in the frame school "Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1872, p. 54. 68 Baldwin, In the Days of My Youth, p. 342; reminiscences of Elias Reece on Pleasant View school ; letter of L. J. Symons on Poplar Ridge Seminary. 59 Baldwin, op. cit., p. 343 ; reminiscences of Anna R. Hittle on Westland and Pleasant View schools. ""Quoted in Mary Coffin Johnson and Percival Brooks Coffin, Charles F. Coffin . . . (Richmond, Ind., 1923), p. 71. 156 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY building near the old meeting-house grounds [at Milton]. One winter a deep snow was on the ground, the large scholars had brought a two-horse sugar sled and had a fine slide down the long steep slope that runs for two or three hundred yards over the grounds, and when books were taken up left the sled at the top 'scotched' ready for business. One of the smaller Stubbs boys went out of school, and, wanting a ride, got on, knocking out the 'scotches' and away she went like John Gilpin, fairly flying. A cow chewing her cud stood in the way ; there was a collision, and the cow fell on the sled holding the boy and went bawling to the end of the track." So, school, then as today, was dotted with fun and laughter. This reminiscence comes from the eastern part of the state : 61 "A young lady taught our school one winter. There were two rooms in the building and she thought she would try some- thing new. She placed some of the younger children in the small room under the supervision of older pupils. A cow browsed in the pasture just outside the schoolroom window. Two energetic boys took the drinking cup, climbed from the window, milked the cup full and coming back, fed all the scholars milk from a spoon." So with the work of the school day, the play of the rest periods, the religious and moral training, and amusing incidents coming to the fore here and there, the schools beside the meet- inghouses went through the years. They took with them the stern supervision of the Quarterly or Monthly Meeting com- mittees. The following set of rules for the government of the schools, distributed in 1832 by the White Lick Quarterly Meeting to the Monthly Meetings within its limits, summarizes the management and conduct of the schools better than other words could do : 62 "The Quarterly Meeting's Committee on Education pro- posed the following rules for the government of all schools 6l Letter of Lydia Billheimer, Mooreland, on Nettle Creek school. See also correspondence of Mrs. Elva Wood. 62 White Lick Quarterly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, 1832. See also a body of rules compiled in 1850 for Monthly Meeting schools, printed in Sugar Gro've School From 1826-1849 . . . Reunion . . . 1903 (Friends' Press, Plainfield, Ind. [1903?]), pp. 8-10. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 157 which are, or may be, established within the verge of White Lick Quarterly Meeting of Friends : "Rule ist. It shall be the duty of all Teachers and pupils of such schools, to subject themselves to the directions and advice of their respective superintending committees. "Rule 2nd. It shall be the duty of all pupils belonging to any of said schools to observe cleanliness, decency and modesty, both in dress and address, to avoid all manner of profane, corrupt and immoral conduct, and conversation, whistling, singing, making unnecessary noise of any kind, delaying time in going to and from school, and upon meeting passengers, they are to speak to them (if required) in a becoming manner. "Rule 3rd. It shall be the duty of both teachers and pupils (particularly those who are members of the religious Society of Friends) to observe plainness of apparel and endeavor to habituate themselves to using the plain Grammatical Scripture language. Those who are admitted as pupils and not members of said Society are not required to observe this rule any further than their principles or the wish of their parents or guardians will admit. "Rule 4th. In order that the minds of the pupils may be early stored with the truths relating to life and salvation it shall be the duty of the Teacher of each of said schools to require the pupils thereof to cease from all literary pursuits, once every day and gather into stillness whilst he or some qualified pupil of the school, reads audibly a suitable portion of the Holy Scriptures, observing a pause afterwards; and as much as be practicable both teachers and pupils are to attend the religious Meetings of said Society of Friends in an orderly and becoming manner. "Rule 5th. At meal time all the pupils with their teachers are to place their victuals on a table or bench and sit quietly down in order to partake thereof, observing a pause before and after eating. "Rule 6th. At all times during the suspension of literary engagements, the boys and girls are to keep separate, observe moderation and temperance in all their recreations, which are to be of an innocent kind. No pupil is allowed to leave the school without permission of the teacher. 158 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY "Rule 7th. The pupils shall know and designate their teacher by the name of Tutor or Tutoress (as the case may require) to whose reasonable requirings they are at all times to subject themselves, and should any pupil neglect or refuse to comply with the foregoing rules, the teacher is to admonish him or her and if that proves ineffectual, the case is then to be referred to the Superintending Committee. "Rule 8th. It shall be the duty of each and every Super- intending Committee to visit the school at least once a month for encouragement and assistance of the teacher and pupils, to see that the rules of school are not violated, and if cases of refractory pupils, should be reported to them, they are to examine impartially such cases, that they may judge whether such cases merit suspension or expulsion from the school ; and should there be any (after due care has been taken) who can- not be reclaimed, they are to be suspended or expelled ac- cordingly." The influence and decline of these schools will be treated in a later chapter. III. FRIENDS' ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS The following pages contain a brief history of some of the elementary schools of the Friends. The list is not com- plete, but it is comprehensive enough to give a fair picture of the schools which sat beside the meetinghouses. Of these individual schools, Rufus Jones says i 1 "It is not possible ... to tell in any detail the thrilling story of devotion and sacrifice involved in the creation and development of each particular school which the Friends have built. Each new community of Friends in America, as the Society has moved westward, has met the problem of furnishing a pioneer society with adequate opportunities for the education of the children, and each such occasion has its share of loyalty, of heroism and of personal sacrifice." Schools in Indiana Yearly Meeting whitewater quarter Hopewell, 2 four and one-half miles northwest of Dublin, has the distinction of being the oldest Friends' meeting in Henry County. A hewed log church was erected in 1823, and near this meetinghouse a log schoolhouse was soon built, probably by 1825 or earlier. In 1835 this l°g building was replaced by a frame structure. As roads were laid out and the country de- veloped, it was decided in 1839 to change the location of the meeting. So the frame schoolhouse took a journey of about a mile through the forest to the lot now occupied by the Hope- well church. It was used for both school and meeting purposes until the new meetinghouse could be completed. One can im- l Later Periods of Quakerism, II, 705. 2 John W. Macy, "Early Schools of Henry County," in National Road Traveler, May 12, 1916; Winchester Adams, "Early History of Dudley Township," an unpublished manuscript (1892) in possession of the Henry County Historical Society; History of Henry County, Indiana . . . (Inter- State Publishing Co., Chicago, 1884), P- 563; The People's Guide. A Busi- ness, Political and Religious Directory of Henry Co., Ind. . . ., by Cline and McHaffie (Indianapolis, 1874), p. 150; Milford Monthly Meeting, Minutes, 1835-46; correspondence of Lucy A. Gilbert and Henrietta White. (159) 160 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY agine that journey. Mounted on a rude truck and pulled by eight yoke of oxen, the house progressed amid the noise of ax and maul and shouts of men as trees were felled and cleared away to make a road. Several years later this building was replaced by another frame structure which stood until 1869. In that year, a two-story frame building was erected. The school was under the care of the Friends until 1878, when it became a part of the common-school system of the township. Bethel school, 3 about one mile south of Dublin, was started some time before 1833, for at that time a school stood near the meetinghouse and had the appearance of having been in use for several years. A preparative meeting at Bethel had been set up in 1826, and the school was probably about as old as the meeting. In 1857 a new school building was built on the site of the old church, a new meetinghouse having been erected just to the north. The school was under the care of the Milford Monthly Meeting Committee. At first, classes were all ele- mentary, but after the erection of the new building, several higher subjects were taught at different times, determined by the ability of the teacher. "This school flourished until the free schools were introduced. The building was sold to the township in 1878. ... A clump of trees and a pile of bricks of the Old Meeting House are all that mark the site of this institution of learning," said a Friend who was once a student there. Springfield Monthly Meeting School 4 ' was held near the meetinghouse, one-half mile northwest of Economy, sometime between 1835 and 1840. No record has been kept except the bare mention in the Monthly Meeting records. For several years after 183 1 the Committee on Education reported that it had the matter of opening a school under consideration. A few years later a school was reported in session. It is remembered that two four-month sessions were held each year, one beginning in May and the other in November. 3 Henby, "Richsquare and Bethel" ; Whitewater Quarterly Meeting, Minutes, 1817-1900; Milford Monthly Meeting, Minutes, 1835-46; Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1826, p. 7. 4 Springfield Monthly Meeting, Minutes, 1820-1909; correspondence of John G. Whittier Beard. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIEXDS TO EDUCATION 161 Nettle Creek, 5 also in Springfield Monthly Meeting, had an early school. It was open both before and after the Civil War. The schoolhouse had two rooms and in the earlier years the parents furnished the pupils' desks. During part of the time, there were two sessions a year, a three-month term be- ginning in May, and a six-month term beginning in September. Whitewater Monthly Meeting Schools. 6 Whitewater Monthly Meeting as it was originally organized in 1809 was "split" when the Hicksite group separated from it in 1828. The following Hicksite schools are said to have been main- tained at different times within the limits of the Whitewater community : Green Mount Boarding School, school of Sarah A. E. Hutton, Friends 1 Academy (later Hadley's Academy), and many terms in the Monthly and Yearly meetinghouses. The Whitewater Friends with whom this work is concerned began their school in the meetinghouse at Richmond. Eli Jay's excellent description of the school has been quoted in an earlier chapter. 7 After the demand for a school of this type had ceased, the building was occupied for a time by one of the city schools, and finally purchased by the city school board. It was ulti- mately destroyed by fire. The school had attained the rank of an academy, but, though doing excellent work, attained no great distinction in that field because Friends' Boarding School, later Earlham College, answered that need. SPICELAND QUARTER Clear Spring, 8 three miles north of Greensboro, had as its first schoolhouse a log building built in 1832. In 1836 a frame Correspondence of Mrs. Elva Wood, Lydia Billheimer, and John G. Whittier Beard. 6 Jay, "Whitewater Monthly Meeting From 1828 to 1909," in White- water Monthly Meeting, Proceedings, jgog, pp. 71-78; Frances M. Robin- son, "The History of Whitewater Monthly Meeting Held at North A Street, in Whitewater Monthly Meeting, Proceedings, igog, pp. 60-71 ; Henry Clay Fox (ed.), Memoirs of Wayne County and the City of Rich- mond, Indiana ... (2 vols., Madison, Wis., 1912), I, 424-26; letters of Robert W. Randle and J. W. Chenoweth. ''Ante, p. 128. "Henry Painter, "Spiceland Schools and Schools in Spiceland Quarter," written for the centennial of Indiana Yearly Meeting, 1921, Orabell S. 162 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY schoolhouse was built. The last school session in this building was held in 1859, but short terms were held in the church at a later period. The first school was taught by Moses Rich. West Branch (later Cadiz) 9 was organized as a meeting in 1838 and a meetinghouse was built in 1850. A school was attempted on Cadiz hill. Day school was held for a while in the meetinghouse while the school building was being built on the same lot. This double undertaking proved to be too am- bitious for the meeting, and the school building was sold to the school corporation of Cadiz. The school remained by the church for many years. Greensboro Friends' Seminary 10 was established in 1830 and a log schoolhouse was built in the Ninth Month. A part of that original schoolhouse still stands and is used as a dwelling, its logs hidden by weatherboarding, but the two doors for boys and girls still in evidence. In marked contrast a modern graded school stands across the road. The old seminary continued as a school until sometime before 1864. It was under the care of the Duck Creek Monthly Meeting, at one time the largest Monthly Meeting in America. For several years following 1844, Thomas Reagan had charge, teaching several of the higher branches. Raysville Friends' meeting 11 was established in 1841. A private or denominational school was established about the same time or a little before. The meeting was first held in the school- house. Later, the school was definitely a Monthly Meeting school. It is not known with certainty how long the school continued. Edmund White, an old-time Friend, said of it : "It is situated just east of Raysville in Henry County on a hill and cannot be hid — and we ask for it that its rays of Christian Bell. "Clear Spring Meeting and School," and Seth Stafford, "Clear Spring Meeting," written in 1892, unpublished manuscripts in possession of the Henry County Historical Society; History of Henry County (1884), P- 650. 9 Ibid., p. 653; Painter, ''Spiceland Schools and Schools in Spiceland Quarter." 10 Ibid.; Minnie Stafford, "Duck Creek Meeting and School," an un- published manuscript in Henry County Historical Building; reminiscences of old residents of Greensboro. u Painter, "Spiceland Schools and Schools in Spiceland Quarter"; His- tory of Henry County (1884), p. 874. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 163 light may shine forth as the noon-day sun and may never be hidden from the gazing public." Henry Painter also mentions its "wonderful influence on the neighborhood." Elm Grove, 12 about halfway between Greensboro and Knightstown on the rolling uplands east of Blue River, had a Monthly Meeting school for some years. It is known that school was being held there in 1859. Flat Rock, 13 five miles northeast of New Castle, had a school early in the Yearly Meeting educational campaign which was begun soon after 1830. It is not known how long it con- tinued. John Hutchins and Lizzie Underhill were two of the early teachers. WABASH QUARTER "The old brick school house" 14 was built near the meeting- house in the Friends' community three miles southeast of Wabash in 1852. For its day, it was large and commodious — the results of far-reaching plans of its founders. The expense of the building (about nine hundred dollars) was provided in voluntary subscriptions and in donations of labor. Stone and lime for the mortar of the foundation were procured from a Friends' farm — the lime for nine cents a barrel, the stones hauled with a yoke of oxen. The school was sustained and teachers paid by a tuition fund. The control of the school lay with the Monthly Meeting School Committee. The original purpose of the founders had been to develop the school to the rank of an academy, but the Civil War and its problems, the situation of the school in the country, and the rapid advancement of the township schools caused that plan to be abandoned in the early sixties. The old building and grounds were rented to the trustee until a township school was built several years ago. The building has since been sold and torn down. The grounds have been incorporated in the Wabash Friends' Cemetery. The old school bell which topped the building had been formerly used on a canalboat at Dayton, Ohio. It is preserved by the Wabash County Historical Society as a relic of the past. "Ibid. 12 Ibid., pp. 717-18; Painter, op. cit. "Joseph Addison Hockett, "The Old Brick School House," in "History of Wabash Friends' Meeting," typed copy in Indiana State Library; letter of Leola Hockett, Wabash; interview with William Moffit. 164 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY WESTFIELD QUARTER 15 Salem, 16 three miles southeast of Liberty, in Union County, had private schools taught by Friends from 1818 to 183 1. In 1826 a Friend erected a frame schoolhouse on the lot adjoining the meetinghouse and private subscription schools were suc- cessfully taught until the meeting bought the house and lot in 1 83 1, and maintained the school as a strictly church school. Seventy-five was the usual attendance. The schoolhouse was rebuilt in 1835 and made larger. In the slavery controversy, a large group of members seceded from the original body and took the schoolhouse as their place of worship, thus closing it for school purposes. Elihu Gilbert repaired a brick blacksmith shop, converted it into a schoolhouse, and successful schools were taught here for three or four years in what was known as "the little brick." In 1845 a private school called Cedar Grove Seminary was erected where the higher branches were taught. This was owned by Friends but not by the church. In 185 1 the Friends, deciding to have a school completely under church control, erected a building on their own property where school was held successfully until 1866. The school then be- came a part of the township system. WALNUT RIDGE QUARTER Walnut Ridge 11 log meetinghouse and school were estab- lished in 1826 about five miles south of Charlottesville, in Rush County. The school had both winter and summer terms. In 1839 they reported one hundred children attending. Elisha Hobbs was a teacher for many years in the early days. Pleasant View, 18 about four miles southwest of Charlottes- ville, built a school building on the corner of the church ground sometime between 1830 and 1840. Here a subscription school attended by Friends and others was held for many years. The 15 This Quarterly Meeting was not confined to Indiana. Only the In- diana schools are treated in this section. 16 Salem Monthly Meeting, Minutes, 1817-88; letter of Bertha E. Rob- erts ; school records. "Walnut Ridge Quarterly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, 1867-69; correspondence of Lucy Hill Binford. "Walnut Ridge Quarterly Meeting, Committee on Education. Minutes, 1867-69; interviews with David Hastings, Elias Reece, and Oscar Reece. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 165 Friends gave up the school in 1866, and the schoolhouse was sold. A new building was erected in the neighborhood by "civil authorities" and for several years co-operated with the Friends in midweek meeting and other matters. Priscilla Friese and William Hill were teachers well remembered. Westland 19 meeting, six miles southeast of Greenfield, had a school in its early days which developed into a thriving graded school. School was held in the log church for years after its erection in 1841 and later a frame building was erected. Western Grove, 20 also in Westland Monthly Meeting, had a school, but its records and those of Westland meeting were both destroyed by fire and no accurate dates are remembered. Hardy's Fork 21 and Riverside 22 both in Walnut Ridge Quarter, had schools which were at least partially under Friends' control. No details of their history can be found. white's manual labor institute 23 In 1850, Josiah White, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, be- queathed to the Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends $20,000, to be used for the purpose of educating poor children, irre- spective of race or color. It was stipulated that not more than half of the amount be used to purchase land and improve it; the remainder was to be expended to erect the necessary build- ings. Since that time, Mr. White's two daughters have left endowments of about $37,000, and Mary Emily Smith, of Richmond, a bequest of over $20,000 for the use of the school. A site was chosen on the Great Miami Reserve in Wabash County two and one-half miles south and one mile east of Wabash (in sections 22 and 23, town 27 north, range 7 east), "Correspondence of Amanda Cook and Lucy Hill Binford ; George J. Richman, History of Hancock County, Indiana . . . (Indianapolis, 1916), P- 503. ^Correspondence of Amanda Cook and Lucy Hill Binford. 2l Ibid. 22 Ibid. 83 Annual Reports of the Institute, printed in Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1853 ff- >' Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1887 ; Alice Patterson Green, History of White's Indiana Manual Labor Institute (Scott Printing Company, Muncie, 1929) ; notes furnished by Mrs. Leola Hockett, of Wa- bash, Indiana. 166 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY where 640 acres of land were bought. A tract of 120 acres was bought later. The Institute was chartered in 1852 and buildings were erected in 1859. In 1883 tne education of Indian children was begun, with government aid. The enroll- ment for the year included twenty-seven Indian children and twenty- four whites. The following year there were seventy children in the Institute, fifty-eight of them being Indians. In 1889, the staff of workers consisted of a superintendent, ma- tron, assistant matron, governess of Boys' Home, farmer, as- sistant farmer, mechanic, gardener, bookkeeper, cook, laun- dress, seamstress, music instructor, and two teachers. The Indian project was abandoned in 1895 when the Federal Govern- ment established Indian schools ; the work now consists of car- ing for wards of various counties, children from the juvenile courts, and orphan children. In 1935 there were over two hundred children in the Institute. Six teachers are employed in the school. The institution is self-supporting. OTHER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS Arba 24 school and meeting were early established in the southeast corner of Randolph County. A description of the school comes to us from Jesse Parker, son of Thomas Parker who, in 1814, was the first settler in the community. "The Friends built a cabin for school and meetings at Arba in 181 5 and a school was kept in that house during the winter of 181 5-16 by Eli Overman and I was at that school the first day with my 'primer' and attended during the whole term." How long the school was continued is not known. Jericho 25 community, ten miles north of Arba, had a school in the log meetinghouse for several years in its early history — probably sometime between 18 16 and 1830. In speaking of it, J. W. Chenoweth said : 4k As a small lad plowing these fields in which this original cabin stood, used for both church and school, I remember plowing through the different colored ground, due to the decaying remains of this early place of worship and educational center, its rude corner stones, and the burnt clay that was used in its chimney." ^Correspondence of J. W. Chenoweth. "Ibid. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 167 Lynn 26 and Mississinewa, 27 in Winchester Quarter, both had schools, but little is known of them. Allen Jay taught in the Mississinewa school in 1854. Chester 8 Monthly Meeting had a school but the records are lost. It was closed about 1863. Schools in Western Yearly Meeting blue river quarter Lick Creek, 2 * near Paoli, was the earliest Quaker settlement in southern Indiana and the school established there was one of the oldest in the region. It was under the care of the Monthly Meeting. According to Albert L. Copeland, "it was laid down years ago when public schools crowded it out — for thus most of the old meeting schools and academies have been forced to close." Sand Creek, 30 in the southern part of Bartholomew County, was under Blue River Quarterly Meeting until 1866. It is known that several terms of school were taught in the thirties in the Friends' meetinghouse by William Knott, Horatio Treakle, and others. Other schools were held near the Friends' meetinghouse but it is thought that they were not strictly Friends' schools. WHITE LICK QUARTER 31 The first Friends' school in the Bethel neighborhood was about two and one-half miles southwest of Mooresville and was called Sulphur Springs. In 1842 a frame meetinghouse was built on Bethel hill about three miles southwest of Moores- ville, and soon a school was built by the church. The old school at Sulphur Springs was then abandoned. In i860 a new school- house was built. This was a district school but the Friends were asked to exercise the same control as formerly. For many years this continued as a well-known elementary Friends' school 2iJ Correspondence of Ira Johnson. ^Autobiography of Allen Jay, p. 76. ^Correspondence of Clarence Votau. ^'Correspondence of Albert L. Copeland and William Lindley. ^Correspondence of Albert L. Copeland. ^Almira Harvey Hadley, A Brief History of Mooresville and Vicin- ity [1918], pp. 18-21 ; reminiscences of James and Ann Harvey; correspond- ence of Emma C. Henderson. 168 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY with two teachers in the winter term. The summer term was usually a subscription school. Its fame was greatest in the sixties and seventies. Many from a distance boarded in the community to have advantage of the school. William Thomp- son and Joseph Poole were well-remembered teachers. FAIRFIELD QUARTER Easton,* 2 now West Newton, had a school established under the control of Fairfield Monthly Meeting about 1827. The first teacher was Benjamin Puckett, who was also a minister. The Fairfield Monthly Meeting Committee on Education in 1836 reported the school in session with 26 scholars. The Fairfield Quarterly Meeting Committee on Education in 1871 reported the school in session with a graded school and an at- tendance of 135. There were three teachers for the primary, intermediate, and grammar departments. Cyrus Horton and John D. Hayworth taught the school through the late sixties and early seventies. The Minutes of the Fairfield Quarterly Meet- ing Committee on Education since 1874 are not available and no record of the closing of the school can be found, nor is the date of its merging with the public-school system known. Beech Grove School, 33 under the care of Beech Grove (now Valley Mills) Monthly Meeting, was a noted school in its day and verged on high-school standing. The building of which we have record was built in 1854 and was closed in the seven- ties. The enrollment in 1870 was seventy-seven. Its career was not long, but two schoolmasters from New England, Pleasant Bond and Gilbert Pinkham, made it a well-known school. It became a township school still under the direction of Friends and continued so for some time. Brushwood** about three miles southeast of Bridgeport, was under the care of the Beech Grove Monthly Meeting. In 32 Fairfield Quarterly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, 1868- 73 : interview, Dr. Paul L. Haworth ; correspondence of William Furnas. 33 Fairfield Quarterly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, 1868 ; Beech Grove Monthly Meeting, Minutes, 1885-87; Beech Grove Monthly Meeting of Women Friends, Minutes, 1863-81 (2 vols., in Indiana State Library) ; Beech Grove Monthly Meeting, Committee on Education, Min- utes, 1870-74 (in Indiana State Library) ; correspondence of Dora Littler. 34 Beech Grove Monthly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, 1870-74; correspondence of Laura Mattern. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 169 the Minutes of the Monthly Meeting Committee on Education from 1870 to 1874, it was mentioned as a flourishing school with from forty-four to fifty pupils. It may have been under Friends' control with township teachers at that time, but no such statement is made in the records. Other schools of Fairfield Quarter were Center, 35 Lick- branch, 36 Union Schoolhouse, 37 No. i, 3S and No. 6. 39 Not much is known of them beyond the occasional mentions in the Minutes of their respective meetings. Center and No. 1 were under Beech Grove Monthly Meeting. Lickbranch and Union Schoolhouse were under Fairfield Monthly Meeting. The school at Lickbranch was not held continuously. The last three, or at least No. 1 and No. 6, were probably controlled jointly with the township. PLAINFIELD QUARTER Plainfield school 40 in the Yearly Meeting grounds was in use sometime before 1875, for in that year the "little abandoned schoolhouse" was used for a subscription school by Elva Taylor (later Mrs. Amos Carter) and her sister, Anna. The enroll- ment that summer was sixty-five. Other subscription schools may have been held but no Monthly Meeting schools were held at a later date. A few of the earlier teachers were Amos Ratliff, Elma Fletcher, and a master by the name of Cook. In 1865 Bridgeport 41 meeting built a new meetinghouse, and the old one was converted into a schoolhouse for a Monthly 35 Beech Grove Monthly Meeting of Women Friends, Minutes, 1863-81. ^Fairfield Monthly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, 1833- 46. "Ibid. *Ibid. ; Beech Grove Monthly Meeting, Committee on Education, Min- utes, 1870-74. 33 Fairfield Monthly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, 1833- 46. "Plainfield Preparative Meeting, Minutes, 1866-81 ; Plainfield Month- ly Meeting of Women Friends, Minutes, 1868-81 ; correspondence of Mrs. Elva Taylor Carter, Indianapolis. Mrs. Carter was seventeen, and her sis- ter fifteen, when they managed this sizable school. "Bridgeport Monthly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, 1866- 77; Mira T. Cope, thesis on "A History of Plainfield Quarterly Meeting" (1908), in Indiana State Library; correspondence of Dinah M. Welborn, who attended the school about 1866. 170 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Meeting school. The average enrollment was fifty. It was discontinued about 1874 because of lack of attendance and funds. In the sixties, schools were held in the meetinghouse of the pioneer Friends in Indianapolis 42 and also in a small frame schoolhouse near the Spring** meetinghouse (near Amo). Be- yond bare mention, little history has been found of either. Mill Creek 4 * had an elementary school three miles south- west of Danville which was taken over by the Conservative Friends at the time of the separation within the Plainfield Quarterly Meeting in 1877. They made of it a boarding school which continued until both church and school were laid down. Sugar Grove.* 5 According to Charles Lowder, two schools, probably subscription schools, were held near Sugar Grove meetinghouse about two miles south of Plainfield before a committee of the White Lick Monthly Meeting opened a school in the meetinghouse in 1832. After several years a frame school- house was built on the east bluff of White Lick. It served until about 1850, when another building was erected. In the winter of 1849-50 there were forty-five students, all the building could hold, and some fifteen applications for seats had to be rejected. After the separation in the meeting, the school was continued by the conservative group until 1929 or 1930. Ac- cording to Lowder, "two other schools were taught by Jesse Hockett west of 'Flat Woods' in which schools many Friends of Sugar Grove were patrons. The first in the winter of 1835 and 1836, in a log cabin on the east bluff of the west fork of White Lick. . . . The last one was taught in the fall of 1836, in a log cabin south of the Hockett farm." "Jacob P. Dunn, Greater Indianapolis. The History, the Industries, the Institutions, and the People of a City of Homes (2 vols., Chicago, 19T0), I, 130; correspondence of Mrs. Elva Taylor Carter. "Correspondence of Lou E. Wood. "Correspondence of Allen J. Wilson, Danville, and Minnie M. Ander- son, Plainfield. ^Sugar Grove School Reunion, pp. 5-7. Charles O. Newlin's account in ibid., pp. 14-15, differs in some respects from that of Mr. Lowder on the location of the various schoolhouses. See also correspondence of Minnie M. Anderson. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 171 NEW LONDON QUARTER (FORMERLY HONEY CREEK ) Lynn school, 46 two miles east of Russiaville, was started at about the same time Lynn meeting was established. The date of beginning has been lost but the school was in progress some eighty years ago. At first a schoolhouse was built and used also for meetings. Later the buildings were separate. The school was later transferred to township control. In New Salem 47 Monthly Meeting, a school was held in one end of the meetinghouse under care of the Monthly Meeting though supported by public funds. The school was transferred to the care of the public system in 1874 when a new meeting- house was built. Reserve 48 and Pleasant Hill 49 Monthly Meet- ings both had schools at one time. THORNTOWN QUARTER (FORMERLY CONCORD) Sugar River school 50 was established under Sugar River Monthly Meeting in 1836. The meeting was discontinued in 1875 and the school was laid down several years before that time. Center school, 51 two and one-half miles east of the present site of Darlington, was established in 1838 and continued until 1872. Harvey Thomas, the founder of Bloomingdale Acad- emy, taught here about 1845 while plans for the establishment of a manual labor school which later became Bloomingdale Academy, were being formulated. Gravelly Run school, 52 six miles east of Craw fords vi lie, was established in 1840. It is not known how long it con- tinued. All three of these schools were under the care of 4,i Lilith Farlovv, thesis on "History of New London Quarterly Meet- ing" (1910), in Earlham College Library, Richmond; correspondence of Leota R. Lindley, Russiaville. 47 Farlow, op. cit. "Ibid. i9 Ibid. See also Edna Jones Payne, Memories of New London Com- munity, Howard County, Indiana (Russiaville, 1936), p. 34- 50 Lindley, "Origin and Growth of Education among Friends in Western Indiana," in American Friend, VI, 11 12; correspondence of C. W. Pritch- ard, Darlington, and Rachel Rich, Thorntown. 51 Lindley, op. cit. 52 Lindley, op. cit. 172 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Sugar River Monthly Meeting and each school stood beside the meetinghouse of its name. All were laid down before 1880. Walnut Grove school 53 stood beside Walnut Grove meet- inghouse and was under the direct control of Sugar Plain Monthly Meeting. In 1869 school was held in a frame school building which stood just south of the meetinghouse. The meetinghouse and school were connected by a raised boardwalk, for the convenience of school attendance at midweek meeting. Thorntown 5 * meeting had an elementary school for only a short time. The dates seem to have been lost. It was under the care of Sugar Plain Monthly Meeting. OTHER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS Union Grove 55 Meeting in Hamilton County, Union Quarter (now Westfield), was established in 1868. A school under the direction of Friends but financed by public funds was taught in the meetinghouse for two winters in the early seventies. A township school, still under Friends' supervision, was soon after built on the adjoining lot. In 1894 a new meetinghouse was built farther north and the name changed to Lamong. A two-room brick schoolhouse was built on an adjoining lot but it is not known how much the school came under the direc- tion of the church. It has long since been discontinued. Hopewell, 56 a Monthly Meeting school in Vigo County, Vermillion Quarter, was established about 1822 or 1823 in what was known as the "lower settlement." The school con- tinued until 1842 and was re-established in 1853 or 1854 but was laid down again in 1856. Other schools in Vermillion Quarter, including Vermillion Academy, were situated in Illinois and are therefore not included in this study. Hinkle's Creek 51 and West Grove 58 both in Hamilton ^Correspondence of Rachel Rich and Mrs. Susie Woody. 5t Lindley, "Origin and Growth of Education among Friends in Western Indiana," in American Friend, VI, 1113. ^Correspondence of L. E. Millikan. ^Thomas W. Hester, thesis on "History of Vermillion Quarterly Meet- ing" (1899), m Earlham College Library; Lindley, op. cit., VI, 11 12. "Correspondence of Milton C. Beals. "Ibid. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 173 County, West Grove Quarter, had schools during their early days. The histories of elementary schools connected with acad- emies and seminaries are given in the next chapter, which is devoted to the secondary schools. Their history is "one and the same'' and will therefore be given in one place. IV. THE HIGHER BRANCHES "Not vainly the gift of its founder was made ; Not prayerless the stones of its corner were laid : The blessing of Him whom in secret they sought Has owned the good work which the fathers have wrought." — Whittier, "The Quaker Alumni" 1 The Friends' academies and seminaries, as well as the Friends' elementary schools, have all been "laid down" but, as John Greenleaf Whittier said, the gifts of their founders have not been in vain. They were founded with the same pur- pose, primarily, as the elementary schools — to give Friends' children the advantages of an education under the supervision of the church. The first schools of higher learning did not have preparation for college as a primary object — preparation for life was more important and desirable. 2 As years brought developments and as the elementary system of schools was gradually taken from the hands of the Friends by the free schools, the whole attention of the Society was centered on secondary schools, an important field still left open to them. The seminaries and schools of higher learning were, for the most part, outgrowths of the schools beside the meetinghouses. Into a particularly flourishing school would come a teacher with knowledge of some higher studies. Older students be- came interested in what the teacher knew, and in the little schoolhouse might be seen a class in natural philosophy, algebra, geometry, German, or some other advanced subject, reciting "alongside" the chart class. Year by year, each teacher taught the advanced work which he knew until finally a demand grew for a department of advanced work. This was usually easily arranged, for by that time, if the school still prospered, there were too many students for one teacher. Two rooms were provided, a teacher capable of teaching higher branches was procured, and a seminary or academy was founded — in reality if not in name. Many of these schools never took on a name ^Vritten for the Friends' School at Providence, Rhode Island. 2 Jones, Later Periods of Quakerism, II, 684. (174) CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 175 designating their higher standing, for example, West Union School, Dover Monthly Meeting School, New London Quarterly Meeting School, Rush Creek School, and others. Others, founded later, merely took the state name of high school, as did Spicewood High School and Union High School. But all served the same purpose, regardless of name. It is obvious that no definite date can be given for the establishment of the greater number of academies. So many were not established ; they grew. Smith asserted that the acad- emy began nowhere in particular and ended nowhere in particu- lar ; that it frequently overlapped to a considerable extent both the elementary school and the college, and that it prepared the student for life as well as for school. 3 It is equally true to say that the Friends' academies began in the schools beside the meetinghouses and in the aspirations of the Friends that their children have the best of educational advantages, and that they ended in the great high-school system of the state. They began in the sacrifices and efforts of their founders and ended — not because the zeal of their founders wavered or faltered but because changing conditions superseded them — with the high school. The span of a century from the early years of the nineteenth century to 1923 marks the period of their existence. 4 They flourished as did other academies in the palmy days after the Civil War, when the thoughts of the nation in general were turned to higher learning and when the church, freed by the state from the burden of common schools, turned her whole attention to secondary education. The attitude of the Society toward secondary education is shown in the following extracts from the reports of the Com- mittees on Education of both the Western and Indiana Yearly Meetings. In 1881, the Indiana Yearly Meeting Committee reported : 5 "Another startling fact in these reports is the very small number in studies above the common school grade — less than 3 Frank Webster Smith. The High School . . . (New York, 1916), pp. 328-30. 4 Fairmount, the last of the Friends' academies in Indiana, closed in 1923. Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1881, p. 73. 176 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY six per cent, of our membership of school age. The number of those pursuing such studies reported — 285 — is the same as ten years ago, while our membership has increased 20 per cent., and the facilities for pursuing advanced studies in a still greater ratio. If this is true — and it seems difficult to doubt it in the face of the statistics — the mere mention of the fact ought to suggest the duty and responsibility of the Society in the case. Are we doing our duty in preparing ourselves for the place we ought to occupy in the world as a religious body, when only one in six of those be! ween 15 and 21 are either advanced or advancing beyond the common school studies? "But where shall our children pursue such studies, and how shall they be incited to do so? At many schools in our Yearly Meeting, really controlled by Friends, such as at Carthage, Spiceland, Rich Square, Amboy and Mississinewa, the chance is offered and inducements held out for our young people to take up more advanced studies. Doubtless the facilities in these places need to be increased and made more substantial and ex- tended to many other places, but by far a greater need is that our entire membership should be made to feel the very great im- portance of better education and more thorough culture, and that, in some way, our young people should be set on fire with a zeal to obtain them at whatever cost or labor. This is the great work needing to be done in our Society now. . . . "It seems to us that these two things should be specially pressed upon our attention : the necessity of more thorough education of our young people, and that this education should be in schools under the control of Friends as far as possible." The report of the Western Yearly Meeting Committee in 1884 is in like trend: 6 "... The imperative duty of the church, which is now so widely conceded, to provide a higher grade of education for its members, carries us beyond the limitation of these conditions and places directly upon us the responsibility of denominational education as a fundamental principle in the Society. "As the primary schools have been absorbed by the public system, our obligations with respect to higher education have been increased, and in the effort to meet these obligations the "Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1884, p. 13. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 177 present gratifying stage of advancement has been reached. From one high school in the Yearly Meeting — Bloomingdale Academy — at the beginning of this organization (1858) there are now three excellent academies under the exclusive manage- ment of Quarterly Meetings, and three others of equal strength and efficiency, which, to all intents and purposes, are Friends' Schools. Not only is it expected that these institutions shall be under the management of teachers thoroughly educated for their profession, and of the most pronounced Christian charac- ter, but that a positive religious influence shall characterize all the training and associations of the pupils. The study of the Bible is a regular and prominent part of the curriculum and devotional exercises, in ways adapted to the circumstances, are made a part of the daily programme." In scrutinizing these schools, we find that much that has been said of the elementary schools is applicable to the higher branches also. Their beginnings were identical. Their super- vision by the Monthly or Quarterly Meeting Committee was the same — although the academies were, of course, much more of a responsibility than the smaller schools and were usually the care of the Quarterly Meeting instead of the Monthly Meet- ing, or even of more than one Quarterly Meeting, as was Central Academy at Plainfield. 7 The custom of attending midweek meeting was prevalent in the higher schools as it was in the lower, except in those founded in the later period and situated apart from the meetinghouse. Bloomingdale Academy observed the custom until the opening years of the twentieth century. 8 All these things — the beginnings, the control, the customs — spoken of in the preceding chapter must be kept in mind as a background against which the academies stand out as a greater accomplishment along the scholastic level — not as a greater ac- complishment in basic results. There dawned a day in Friends' history when they were the proud possessors of some twenty academies, seminaries, and high schools throughout the state of Indiana. That they were proud is indicated by the report already quoted, 9 which spoke 7 Central Academy, Catalogue, 1883-84. "Bloomingdale Academy, Catalogue, 1895-96. 9 The report of 1884, beginning page 176. 178 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY of "the present gratifying stage of advancement," and by the tone of all who speak of the academies of those days. They were rightfully proud. The leaders of the Friends' Church (for as such it came to be known as years advanced) knew the sacrifice and effort behind the building and endowment of each individual school. They knew the periods of uncertainty, the problems of management and other difficulties, and measured against these obstacles, the results were gratifying. The most prominent of the Friends' secondary schools are listed below. In justice to the founders it should be said that ofttimes as much credit belongs to the promoters of the short- lived school as to the one which had a prosperous life. Where efforts were equally faithful, external conditions prolonged the existence of one school and worked against another. The loca- tion of an academy often decided its future. For instance, Spiceland and Fairmount academies both grew because of tui- tion and attendance supplied by thriving communities. 10 Spice- wood High School, on the other hand, declined because the Sheridan High School drew the children of the community. 11 The school buildings likewise went through various stages of transition. No pictures of the first buildings are available. However, Henry Painter, of Spiceland, with the aid of old residents, had a series of plates drawn of the consecutive school buildings of Friends' schools in Spiceland. 12 Much care was taken to have the plates as nearly correct as memory and records could make them. As reproduced here they are interesting pri- marily not as pertaining to an individual school but because they are typical of the buildings of the different periods throughout the years. The log cabin was the first home of many a school (I). The old log church converted into a school (II) might have been in any of several Friends' communities, for its counterpart was found in many neighborhoods. The next building was a one-story frame structure, not shown. Sketch III belongs to the period of transition from a common "Draper, "Spiceland Community and Schools"; Fasset A. Cotton, Edu- cation in Indiana . . . (Indianapolis, 1904), pp. 479-80. "Correspondence of Jehu Reagan, Hortonville, Indiana. 12 The drawings from which the illustrations were made are in the pos- session of the Henry County Historical Society, and have been reproduced with the permission of that institution. The Evolution of the Friends' School «,.: if! < J JBk '"* " > jJBi'/' ^\ Wfm , Q '• Hi ^%*'V'~ *:■»:- " "" J — — - 77/ r Evolution of the Friends' School CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 179 school to an academy. This building grew into that shown in Sketch IV, which in time was discarded by the academy and used for the common branches. The brick building shown as Sketch V was for that time a pretentious one, but soon the larger quarters shown in Sketch VI were needed. This gave way to the modern building which was the home of the academy at its demise, and which now houses the township high school. In character these schools approached the small college of today. They were not exclusive, but the student in them felt himself a member of a privileged group, and was proud to be a part of that group. The life resembled that of the present-day college campus, for many of the students were from a distance and lodged either in boardinghouses provided by the school or in the community. One student who was not a Friend said of the Friends' home in which he boarded : "It was ruled over by one of the most beautiful characters I have ever known — a dear old Quaker lady too advanced in years to do the house- keeping tasks but about whom the spiritual life of the family centered. It was a beautiful home and its influence on my life is probably far more than I realize." 13 The boardinghouses strove for that same atmosphere — and though successful in a lesser degree, perhaps, did succeed in be- ing Christian homes of a high type. Sometimes the boarding facilities were in the same building as the study rooms, as in South Wabash Academy. 14 The superintendent and matron of the house were usually husband and wife, the husband acting also as an instructor in the school. As can be imagined, in these boardinghouses began many much-prized associations, and they were the scene, too, of many amusing incidents. Mem- ories are recalled of pranks after the order for "lights out," for boys were boys and girls were girls, even though of a sedate Quaker ancestry. William Moffit, at one time teacher in South Wabash Academy and superintendent of the boys' boarding school, remembered many pranks played by "his boys." The school building, a large building once used for a sanitarium, housed both the school and boardinghouse. It was topped by a bell, "Interview with Grover Van Duyn. ^Interview with William Moffit. 180 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY source of great pride among the students. One night after the students' bedtime the bell began to ring, though the bell rope hung in the vestibule undisturbed. Peering into the night, Mr. Moffit realized it would be useless to go into the schoolyard to hunt the culprits. He ascended the stairs, climbed the ladder into the attic, gained the roof, skinned along the cone of the roof, and broke the string which the boys had attached to the bell — all of this in utter darkness. We have an amusing picture of the "professor' of the academy astride the cone of the high building, a breathless, unnatural stillness in the rooms below. The boys were silent as to the participants in the scheme an< did not attempt the prank again. 15 That Mr. Moffit simply ignored the incident shows that some of the earlier teachers had a sound working knowledge of child psychology. As for spiritual instruction, no opportunity was lost to lend a moral cast to a lesson. The Committee on Education of th< Western Yearly Meeting in 1884 expressed its expectation that "a positive religious influence shall characterize all th< training and associations of the pupils." 16 A few years latei the schools were asked to "give in brief the status of moral an< religious instruction." 17 In 1894 Bloomingdale Academy an- swered thus : "Morning exercises, recitations and all kinds oi work are saturated with moral and religious instruction.' "Saturated" is a very appropriate word. Every phase of th< life of the Friends' academy was built around moral instruc- tion. For that purpose the academies lived. For that purpose the church strove to keep them alive. As late as 1900, Bloom- ingdale Academy students were required to attend midweel meeting, although the wisdom of the requirement was begin- ning to be questioned. 19 In all the academies and seminaries '"Interview with William Moffit. 1G Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1884. 17 1 bid., 1890, p. 19. 18 Ibid., 1894, p. 24. "In 1899 the Academy reported : "Students attend mid-week meeting, but we feel that the moral benefit is slight." Ibid., 1899, p. 26. The next report was even more gloomy : "From the formal standpoint as reviewec by the church the moral status is low. This is due to the requirements con- cerning Mid-week meeting." Ibid., 1900, p. 21. In 1901 the status of moral and religious instruction was described tersely as "very good." Ibid., igoi, p. 28. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 181 the moral side of development was clearly and constantly stressed. A page from the catalogue of Friends' Bloomingdale Acad- emy for the year ending Sixth Month, 1863, gives an insight into academy school life of that time. The following items seem especially interesting: 20 "Board "Cost from $1.50 to $2.00 per week. Many young men and women have greatly curtailed their expenses by labor. The supply of work, at a fair price, is generally quite equal to the demand for it. An axman can generally find work at all seasons at a fair price. "General Duties. "Each Student is required to be furnished with a Bible. "The School is required to attend Bloomfield Meeting of Friends in the middle of the week. "The Course of Study is determined by the Teachers, and no change is permitted but by their consent. "Boys are required to use hats as their entire head-dress. The Trustees are authorized to exclude such things as are clearly objectionable. "All Students are expected to be regular in their attendance of Religious meetings. "Members of the Society of Friends are expected to conform to such style of dress as is commonly approved by Friends. The Trustees having charge of the School feel de- sirous that care should be taken to have those applying for entry suitably attired before coming to school. "Admission Rules. "1. Any Student applying for admission, who is not known by the Trustees or Teachers, will be required to produce a recommendation from responsible persons, of his good moral character. Should any one enter school without such recom- mendation, with assurance that it can be had, and failing, at the ^'Bloomingdale Academy, Catalogue, 1863, p. 15. 182 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY end of one month to produce it, may be dismissed, but his admission fee will not be refunded. "2. Any one known to keep or play at cards, to participate in or attend a dancing or musical play, to take intoxicating drink as a beverage, or to swear profanely, shall be dismissed from the school by the Principal as soon as such information is known, and Students so dismissed shall not re-enter only by permission of the Trustees." This note on government, in the catalogue of 1895-96, shows the academies had traveled far from the earlier thought of the birch rod as a "stimulant" : 21 "Government. : 'We believe that manhood is more than scholarship, and by every means in our power, we strive to render attractive whatever tends to self reliance, to industry, to honesty, to self control, to patriotic citizenship, to any cardinal virtue, Christi- anity the sum of them all. We believe that he only is governed in any true sense of the word who governs himself. The right is the popular in our school. "If you want men to be worthy of trust, trust them," are the words of a great preacher. This is true, as well, of boys and girls. An appeal to the student's honor to his higher and better nature, discovers his self respect, his respect for the rights of others, and serves all purposes of the school' D. W. Dennis. "The harmony existing between the students and the faculty is everything that could be desired. Cases of discipline or serious disorder are almost unknown." The catalogue of Fairmount Academy for 1886-87 contains the following note on discipline : "The object of the institution is to give thorough training of the mental powers, to establish students in habits of self- reliance and industry, to inculcate moral and religious instruc- tions, to assist those who may come under its influence in be- coming their own master. "In view of the above the institution has adopted for its government the following requisitions : Regularity. No immorality. Punctuality. Observance of all required study hours. ^Bloomingdale Academy, Catalogue, 1895-96. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 183 "These regulations are not intended to restrict the student from any proper liberties, but to assist him in forming desirable habits.'' The following are taken from the General Items in the catalogue of Spiceland Academy for 1 880-81 : "The government of the school is based upon the idea that manhood is more than scholarship, and that self-respect and self-control, on the part of the student, are important factors in the formation of character. Greater stress is laid upon thoroughness of instruction and accuracy of knowledge, than upon rapidity of advancement. ... "The managers of the school are very careful to make this an institution in which students who are away from home and its restraints, will be surrounded by good, moral influences, and in this they have the co-operation of the citizens of the village. . . . "There are no beer, liquor, or billiard saloons in the village. "No student w r hose influence is known to have a corrupting tendency, will be retained in the school." Governed with principles such as these, the academies strove to carry out their purpose. "Anything that approached im- morality was frowned upon. There was a safe, sane, religious flavor to everything although nothing was sectarian. The open- ing exercises were filled with religion and sacredness. There was constant reference to those Friends who made the school possible," said a Spiceland Academy graduate of 1906. 22 The teachers of the academies as well as the supervising committees were responsible for this atmosphere. As in all Quaker schools the teachers were chosen with consideration of their Christian character as well as their intellectual qualifica- tions. It was indeed a rare exception when an instructor's influence w T as not of the best and such a one was speedily dis- missed by the committee. The students could truly look to their teachers for examples of the morals taught them. Study hours were strictly observed in all the schools, and rules concerning bedtime were strictly enforced. In Thomas Newlin's first years as principal of Spiceland Academy, he was a young man, unmarried, and lived at the boardinghouse as "Interview with Grover Van Duyn. 184 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY superintendent of the boys. The father of the writer was a student there, and one night disobeyed the rules against staying out because of his interest in a comely Quaker maid in a home near by. It was approaching midnight when the boy slipped across the campus to the boardinghouse — an inconceivable hour for a student in a Friends' school to be abroad. Imagine his consternation when, as he approached the boardinghouse, an- other figure loomed from the darkness. A meeting and recognition was inevitable, for they were just before the board- inghouse. The boy said "Good evening. 1 ' "Good evening," answered the voice of the young superintendent. "Tommy'' Newlin had also found an interesting Quaker maiden. The boy expected a severe reprimand but none was forthcoming, for the superintendent felt rules he did not obey should not be enforced on others. 23 So the spirit of fairness permeated the institutions. The salary of the teachers was of course very low, accord- ing to the present scale of wages. In the Union High School at Westfield, in 1861, John R. Hubbard was engaged "to serve as principal and teach the subjects usually pursued in an academic course of instruction including the Latin and Greek languages and higher mathematics, also, give occasional lectures on subjects connected with the course of instruction." 24 He was engaged for one and two-thirds scholastic years — three sessions to a year, fourteen weeks to a session — for the sum of $noc, which made a monthly salary of about $60. At the same time an assistant (a woman) was engaged for $I5, 25 an illustration of how much the wage scale varied and of the respective value placed upon the services of men and women teachers. In the Poplar Ridge Seminary, in the same period, Isaac Jones was paid $75 per month. 26 The qualifications of the teachers were very good indeed. Many were college graduates and some had their Master's degrees. 27 Many who were not graduates were well prepared for teaching. 23 Reminiscences of Marshall N. Hittle, Wilkinson. 24 Mary Baldwin, "Union High School,'' an unpublished manuscript in possession of the author. 2j Ibid. ^Correspondence of L. J. Symons. "Catalogues, Spiceland, Fairmount, Bloomingdale, Central academies. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 185 The curriculum became broader as time went on. The following schedule of studies from various catalogues shows the growth of the curriculum. It is also to be remembered that each academy had a grammar department and some had a primary department which broadened the field. At Bloomingdale Academy in 1863, when the school was under the principalship of Barnabas C. Hobbs, elementary, in- termediate, and academic courses of study were offered as follows : 28 "Elementary Department. Spelling Gummere. Reading School Friend. Writing Defining Webster. Arithmetic Rav. Drawing Geography Colton & Fitch, Int. Grammar Brown. Primary Philosophy Parker. Composition Price $5.00 "Middle Course. Arithmetic Ray. Geography Colton & Fitch. Grammar Brown. History of U. S Goodrich & Wilson. Natural philosophy Parker. Drawing Physiology Cutter. Algebra Ray's 1st Lesson. Des. Astronomy Smith & Burritt. Composition Price $6.50 'Bloomingdale Academy, Catalogue, 1863, p. 15. 186 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY "Academic Course. first year. General History. English Composition. Political Economy Wayland. Algebra Ray's 2d Part. Geometry Davies. Trigonometry, Plain Davies. Surveying Davies. Chemistry Youman. Physical Geography Fitch. Botany Gray. Latin and Greek Grammar. Latin and Greek 1st Lessons. SECOND YEAR. Int. Philosophy Abercrombie. Moral Philosophy Dymond. History — Continued. English Composition. Geology Hitchcock. Trigonometry Lewis or Loomis. Analytical Geometry Loomis. Latin — Viri Romae or Reader. Testament. Greek — Greek Reader Anthon. Testament. THIRD YEAR. Rhetoric. Evidences of Christianity. Herschel's Astronomy. Scripture History. Caesar. Virgil. Greek Testament, continued. Ancient History. Price $800" CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 187 In addition to the above, a commercial course was offered. This course included business transactions, bookkeeping, and penmanship. In later years, a teachers' normal course was added at Bloomingdale as in the majority of Friends' academies. Ten years later, Spiceland Academy was offering the fol- lowing course, which is interesting in comparison. The texts may vary as much because of change in locality as because of changing times. For instance, the McGuffey Reader would not be found in the Bloomingdale schools, for their own prin- cipal, Barnabas C. Hobbs, had edited especially for Friends' schools a series of Readers called The School Friend. The following schedule is taken from the Spiceland Acad- emy Catalogue for 1873-74: "Primary Department Grade C Spelling First Reader Chart Lessons Grade B First and Second Readers, (McGuffey) Writing with Pencil Oral Lessons in Arithmetic and Geography Grade A Third and Fourth Readers, (McGuffey) Writing Primary Arithmetic (Felter) Primary Geography (Guyot) "Intermediate Department Writing Fifth Reader (McGuffey) Arithmetic, No. 1, (Felter) Intermediate Geography (Guyot) "Grammar School Writing Spelling Reading Geography (Guyot) Grammar School Arithmetic (Felter) 188 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY English Grammar (Harvey and Swinton) Physiology (Jarvis) United States History (Barnes) Latin Lessons (Harkness) Exercises in Composition "High School — Classical Course first year First Term — Second Term — Algebra (Ray) Latin Grammar and Reader (Harkness) Philosophy (Steele) ■ Algebra Caesar Third Term — Outlines of History (Weber) • Algebra Caesar (continued) Rhetoric SECOND YEAR First Term — • Geometry (Robinson) Latin (Virgil) Mental Philosophy (Hickock) Second Term — Geometry Virgil, continued English Literature (Hart) Third Term — Trigonometry Cicero's Orations Chemistry (Steele) THIRD YEAR First Term — Moral Philosophy (Hickock) Cicero's Orations, continued Geology (Steele) Second Term — Astronomy (Ray) Logic (True) Political Economy (Perry) Third Term — Surveying ( Gumnure) History of Civilization (Guyot) Botany (Wood)" CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 189 Later catalogues of these two schools and of Fair mount and Central academies show still further expansion of courses offered, but they are so nearly contemporary with our own period that it has seemed unnecessary to list them. The normal course was usually given in the spring term in order that teachers might attend. 29 However, some schools when first instituting the normal department offered the course in the month preceding the opening of the elementary schools. 30 The demand, however, became so great that some of the larger academies extended the normal course to run throughout the academic year. In Spiceland Academy, the normal course offered in the catalogues for 1906-7 and 1907-8 list grammar, arithmetic, United States history, physiology, and geography as the subjects for the fall and winter terms. In the spring term, when many teachers came into the normal department for additional training, method, reading, and psychology were added to the other studies. Extracurricular activities flourished in the academies and seminaries. Debating societies and literary societies took the place of the old-time spelling matches. A graduate of Central Academy in 1890 told of interacademic contests in oratory, declamations, and athletics with Fairmount, Westfield, and Spiceland academies. In athletic contests, Field Day has long been a red-letter day in Spiceland Academy. The present tense is used, for the tradition has been carried over into the high school and the day is still observed with contests, home coming, class reunions, and much good fellowship. Of extracurricular activities and school life in general, Professor Allen D. Hole of Earlham College writes : "As a student in Central Academy at Plain field, Indiana, in the years from 1882 to 1885, I found the school inspiring be- cause of the associations it provided ( 1 ) with the splendid teachers in charge, and (2) with a group of fellow students who appreciated the opportunities then offered. The atmos- phere of the school was one marked by sympathetic co-opera- tion, intellectual beauty, and expectation that offered oppor- tunity would be matched by accepted responsibility, and an as- 29 Spiceland Academy and Normal School, Catalogue, 1906-7. 30 Spiceland Academy, Catalogue, 1873-74. 190 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY sumption that spiritual values outweighed all others in importance. "The activities were directed chiefly to the study and as complete a mastery as possible of the subjects set down in the curriculum. There were, however, distinctly subsidiary and minor regular activities in the field of student organizations (but not many of them). In these student organizations the teachers assisted, but the chief purpose was to afford occasional opportunity to students to appear in a variety of forms of public performance. These matters of machinery of organization, were, however, secondary to the chief moving power of the institution, namely, the strength of character and quality of fiber of soul of the teachers who made the school what it was." Much more could be said of academic life and influences in the long years through the middle and close of the past century and into the twentieth century — a life which still exists in the memories of hundreds of former students. The academies were the peak of success in Friends' education. The Friends' common schools were the beginning of their program of educa- tion and came in what might be called the experimental stage. By the time a definite system was worked out, some of the common schools had already passed into public hands, but the academies remained as a special field of Friends' endeavor. This was true, of course, not only of the higher schools con- trolled by Friends, but of those of other denominations and private institutions. The brief histories of the individual schools give further vision into the story of academy days, and illustrate many of the points which sometimes make it difficult to determine whether a school should be classed as an academy. V. FRIENDS' SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES Schools in Indiana Yearly Meeting spiceland academy 1 Spiceland, unlike many other communities, has preserved a record of her schools, and interesting accounts may be had from several sources. Its story begins with the tradition that "in 1826 the first school was held in the Spiceland com- munity in a barn belonging to Isaac Hodson . . . (some say a pole cabin instead of a barn). Information gleaned from records causes us to believe that only one term of school was held in the barn. The next year, 1827, a school building was erected, a little larger than the regular cabin home of the pioneer, and this school building was built of round logs of the surrounding forests." 2 In 1832 a frame meetinghouse was built for the Monthly Meeting and the log meetinghouse which had been in use was given over to school purposes. Toward the latter part of 1835, a one-story frame house was built at the cost of $400. Early in 1859 a committee was appointed by the Monthly Meeting to secure funds to erect a brick building. The committee failing to secure the necessary amount, a two-story frame structure was erected — the north wing of what was later known as the "Old Frame Academy Building." In a few years an addition was made, and the school was launched on its career as an academy — and such a career! Through long years, Clarkson and Hannah Davis and other worthy teachers created a spiritual and educational atmosphere which was not excelled anywhere in the state. In 1864 there were students from North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Kentucky, and Kansas. Everything possible was x Sadie Bacon Hatcher, A History of Spiceland Academy, 1826 to 1921 (Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. n, no. 2, Indianapolis, 1934) ; Draper, "Spiceland Community and Schools" ; Cotton, Education in Indiana (1904), pp. 477-/8: History of Henry County (1884), pp. 352-53; Painter, ''Spiceland School," in New Castle Daily Tribune, August 8, 1901, reprinted from Spiceland Reporter, August 9, 1873; Spiceland Academian, 1920; cata- logues of Spiceland Academy, 1864-1916. 2 Draper, "Spiceland Community and Schools." (191) 192 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY done for the betterment of the Academy — it was incorporated, an endowment was raised, the curriculum was enriched, equip- ment was added. Spiceland Academy became known and re- spected far and wide. The first brick building was erected in 1872 and enlarged in 1878. The primary and intermediate departments were continued until about 1882 when they were combined into the regular eight-year course. In 1891 the Old Academy Building was lent to the township as a grade-school building and in return the township high-school pupils were transferred to the Acad- emy for instruction. So famed was the Academy that there never seems to have been a thought of establishing a high school as a separate institution. From 1864 an excellent nor- mal course was offered. The Academy was given new life in 1909 by the Kimmel Law which made it possible for the township, when it transferred pupils to the Academy, to pay the regular tuition from public funds. A fine modern building was erected in 19 14, and it seemed that with the aid of public funds Spiceland Academy had a long and useful career ahead. The withdrawal of township aid in 1921 was a deathblow to the Academy, and in 1922 it became a township school. r3 FAIRMOUNT ACADEMY Fairmount Academy, "Queen of the Hilltop,'' was estab- lished by the Northern Quarterly Meeting (now Fairmount) and opened in 1885. The building was erected at the cost of about $10,000. It came as a result of a desire for the establish- ment in Grant County of an institution of higher learning on the order of Spiceland Academy to serve Fairmount and sur- rounding communities. Both academic and grammar depart- ments were opened. In 1888 it was incorporated, and a con- tract was made with the town of Fairmount for schooling one hundred children from the corporation. In 1893 the need was felt for more room and better equipment. The old building was sold and a new modern structure erected north- Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1 887-1 923 ; Cotton, Education in Indiana (1904), pp. 479-82; Fairmount Academy, Catalogues, 1886-87, 1913- 14; Fairmount Academy Endowment Fund Campaign (pamphlet) ; corre- spondence of Raymond Elliott. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 193 west of town on land donated by Nixon and Louisa Rush. In 1887 the number of graduates was two — in 19 13 the number was forty-four. So the school grew — having many depart- ments and drawing from a large part of the surrounding country. In 1904, with the aid of Allen Jay, $20,000 was raised for endowment. The school continued with increasing popularity and success until township funds were withdrawn from its support in 1919. A valiant effort to raise $100,000 en- dowment was made but failed, and Fairmount Academy passed into history in 1923. RICH SQUARE ACADEMY 4 The first Friends' school at Richsquare, three miles north- east of Lewisville, in Henry County, was held in the log meet- inghouse built in the early thirties. It was a building of the most primitive type, without any floor, and heated by a fire in the center, with a long slim pole in the fire to induce the smoke to go up to the hole in the roof. In 1841 a schoolhouse was built. This and most of the books in the district were destroyed by fire one night in 1848 or 1849. It was rebuilt and in 1850 both church and school were destroyed by fire. Both fires were set by a boy who disliked school. The church and school were rebuilt within a year and this third school building remained in use until about 1870. In 1871-72 a two-story brick building was built, the Friends contributing $2,500 and the township the remainder. The Friends continued in complete control of the hiring of teachers and management of the school until 1893. This brick school was called the "Richsquare Academy," and was described as "the head of educational in- terest in Henry County." In 1894 a public high school was begun and continued until 19 13, when the Richsquare and Lewisville high schools were combined at Lewisville. Later the grades also were taken to Lewisville, and "the head of educational interest" became an empty building. 4 Daniel Newby, "Memoranda of Old Richsquare," in New Castle Times, June 17, 1922; Cotton, Education in Indiana (1934), pp. 84-85; correspond- ence of Eva B. Hiatt, Mrs. Henrietta White, Laura Parker, and Robert P. White; History of Henry County (1884), pp. 613, 615-16. 194 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWPORT AND NEW GARDEN SCHOOLS 5 Newport, now Fountain City, had splendid schools from the period 1825 to 1865, all taught by Friends and undoubtedly under the care of the Monthly Meeting, although the church records have very little to say about them. The Antislavery Friends gave up their separate organization in 1856 or 1857 and sold their Yearly Meetinghouse at Newport to orthodox Friends who converted it into a two-room school supported by subscription. The school was a great success and soon came under the direction of the New Garden Quarterly Meeting. Both elementary and higher branches were taught and the school won a wide reputation. Many from a distance boarded in the community and attended school. A new building to care for the increased attendance seemed imperative. It was de- cided after deliberation that it should be placed near the Quarterly Meetinghouse at New Garden. The change was completed in 1866. New Garden, one mile south of Newport, had Monthly Meeting schools in its earlier history, but in 1866 the two- room brick school mentioned above was built near the meeting- house. John H. Binford and his sister Mattie conducted some very successful terms of school there. "Friends' children 'boarded in' from various places as well as many young men and maidens not of our Society. The interest was high, and the instruction of first academic quality as well as of good moral tone.'' 6 By 1874 public money was being used to help support the school, but attendance at midweek meeting was continued until 1876. Isaac Hollingsworth and Benjamin F. Trueblood were noted teachers who taught for a time in the New Garden School. South Wabash Academy was operated by the Friends in Wabash from 1873 t0 1 &77- A large building had been 5 01iver Huff, "Friends Schools at Old Newport/' an unpublished manu- script written in 1930 for New Garden Quarterly Meeting ; Rhodes, "New Garden and Newport Schools." Correspondence of Oliver Huff. Correspondence of Mrs. Leola Hockett, Wabash ; South Wabash Acad- emy, Catalogue, 1874-75 ; "Diary of Daniel Hutchens, 1875-1876," in pos- CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 195 erected in 1861 and used as a "Water Cure Sanitarium" until 1866, when it was purchased by a company of stockholders and a Female Seminary established there. The property, a three- story building with two cottages and a gymnasium, was pur- chased and used by the Friends for South Wabash Academy. The main building was used for living quarters and dormitories as well as for school purposes, with one of the teachers and his wife in charge. According to the catalogue of the Academy for 1874-75, the enrollment in the academic and grammar de- partments was sixty-six. Primary work was also offered. The school was discontinued in 1877 because of lack of funds. DOVER SCHOOL 8 Dover Monthly Meeting (now Webster) in New Garden Quarter had schools much earlier than i860, but no mention is made of them in the Minutes until that year. Two terms of school had been conducted that year. As early as 1867 the work was of such a character as to warrant classing the institu- tion as a high school. Two teachers were employed. In 1870 a nine-month term was given "to good satisfaction." The Monthly Meeting apparently discontinued control of the school in 1874, but for some years thereafter a public school was con- ducted in the Monthly Meeting schoolhouse. BEECH GROVE SEMINARY 9 Beech Grove Seminary was not a church school, but since it was owned and controlled through its long years of service by Friends and under the direction of noted Friends as teachers, it deserves mention in the list of Friends' schools. It was opened near Liberty in 1827 under the care of the noted educa- tor, William Haughton, who was its guiding light for twenty- one years. He made it a worthy school of an English type session of his daughter; interviews with William Moffit, and Essie Hutchens Harden. 8 Votau, "Dover Friends School" ; correspondence of Oliver Huff. See also ante, 142-43. 9 Haughton, "In Memoriam of William Haughton"; Smart (ed.), Indiana Schools, pp. 55-56; Cotton, Education in Indiana (1934), p. 85; Richard G. Boone, A History of Education in Indiana (New York, 1892), p. 66. 196 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY (he was an Irishman educated in the Friends' Academy at Ack- worth, England), and it became a noted school — one of the first and most successful private seminaries of the time. Ac- cording to Boone, "the course was liberal in scope, English in origin . . ., and strongly religious." 10 The beginning of the Friends' Academy at Carthage was a little school on Abraham Small's farm, southeast of the town. In 1840 the building was moved to the lot opposite the Friends' meetinghouse and later was moved farther up Main Street. In 1849 a more pretentious frame building was built. Later this was replaced by a brick building, an imposing structure for its day. This latter housed the Academy which supplied the educational needs of the town for many years. Hiram Hadley taught here for a few years. There was no other school system in Carthage, but in 1878 both elementary school and Academy were taken over by the public-school system. It was quite prosperous during its existence, but present residents of the town can furnish little information concerning it. The Miami Reserve was not opened for settlement until about 1845, and the Friends' settlement which grew near the present town of Amboy, Miami County, did not complete a meetinghouse until 185 1 or 1852. This meetinghouse was double, one room being used for school purposes. From the first enrollment of twenty, the school grew rapidly in numbers. At the close of the Civil War, the town of Amboy was laid 10 Boone, op. cit. For another statement concerning the Seminary, see Ben: Perley Poore, The Life and Public Services of Ambrose E. Burnside . . . (Providence, R. I., 1882), p. 27. General Burnside attended the Seminary. u Thomas T. Newby, [Reminiscences of Carthage, Carthage, 1916] ; Carthage Centennial August i8th-igth 1934; Caroline A. Clark, History of the First Fifty Years of Carthage and Vicinity [1916?], p. 10; correspond- ence of Mrs. Lucy Hill Binford. 12 John H. Thomas, " Academies of Indiana," in Indiana Magazine of History, XI (1915), 14-15; Jonathan Pearson, "Some Reminiscences of Am- boy Academy," an unpublished manuscript in possession of the author ; Cotton, Education in Indiana (1904), p. 482. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 197 off, the Logansport-Marion Railroad was built, and the popu- lation of the town grew accordingly. In the meantime, a com- modious two-room frame church had been built to accommodate the Wabash Quarterly Meeting which met there twice a year, and to serve as a schoolhouse. The township maintained con- trol of the common branches which were taught in one room of the church, and the meeting directed a school in the higher branches in the other room. This school was paid for by tui- tion and subscription. This arrangement continued from 1868 to 1872, when the Academy building was built. In this, the higher branches occupied the upper floor and the common branches the lower. The advanced classes were strictly under Friends' supervision until the early eighties when the institu- tion became a township school. One who was both teacher and pupil said : 13 "Amboy Academy was never a large or flourishing institution, but ... it has paid, and paid well, for what it cost." Schools in Western Yearly Meeting In 1845 the Friends of Western Quarterly Meeting, and Harvey Thomas, an educator from the East, took under con- sideration plans for an agricultural manual labor school. The next year a 27-acre farm was purchased near Bloom field (now Bloomingdale) and in November, 1846, the school was begun, apparently as the Western Agricultural School. Pupils were engaged in making rails, building fences, and clearing the ground, at wages of three to six cents an hour. More adequate quarters for the school were provided after the main building burned in 1849. Barnabas C. Hobbs was called to succeed "Correspondence of Jonathan Pearson. "Lindley, "Origin and Growth of Education among Friends in Western Indiana," in American Friend, VI, 1163-65, T2_j8-5o; VII, 36-38, 59-61; Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1848-57 ; Western Yearly Meeting, Min- utes, 1858-68 ; Thomas, "Academies of Indiana," in Indiana Magazine of History, XI, 10-12; article by William Herschell on Bloomingdale Academy, in Indianapolis News, July 30, 1932; Semi-Centennial Anniversary, Western Yearly Meeting . . . 1908 (Plainfield [1908]), pp. 187-88; Bloomingdale Academy, Catalogues, 1863-1914; Boone, History of Education in Indiana, p. 76; Cotton, Education in Indiana (1904), p. 478. 198 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Thomas as principal in 185 1. Within the next few years, how- ever, all the farm was sold with the exception of fifteen acres and the school became strictly academic. Meanwhile, Western Manual Labor School became the official title of the institu- tion. Enrollment increased steadily, and a new building was erected to supplement the old. It was completed in 186 1. In that year an enrollment of 126 was reported. At that time, elementary, intermediate, and academic courses were offered, and a commercial course was scheduled to begin with the open- ing of the winter term. Later, a normal course was given. In 1862 the school made its report as Friends' Bloomingdale Academy, and under this name became famous. Barnabas C. Hobbs continued with the Academy for fifteen years, later returning to act as principal again from 1871 to 1876. To him in great measure was due its rise to popularity and excellent standards. Other efficient principals after him were : Seth Hastings, Thomas Armstrong, Josiah P. Edwards, David W. Dennis, and Andrew F. Mitchell. At the semicentennial anniversary of Western Yearly Meeting this tribute was given Bloomingdale Academy : 15 "No school in the entire Yearly Meeting has extended a greater influence for usefulness. From its doors have gone forth hundreds of young men and women with broader views of life, and through them this Academy has sent its uplifting power on in ever-widening circles." It encountered the difficulties and conditions which faced all the other Friends' academies and in 191 6 was sold to the township. In 19 18 the old Academy building, erected in the eighties, was burned and replaced by a modern high-school building. The building which was from the sixties to the eighties the main Academy building and later became the famous Dennis Hall of Academy days, still stands on the old campus, near the Bloomingdale Friends' Church. UNION HIGH SCHOOL 16 Union Quarterly Meeting High School, sometimes known as Westfield Friends' Academy, was established in 1861, by 1! 'Semi-Centennial Anniversary, Western Yearly Meeting, p. 187. "Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1861-67, 1881 ; Baldwin, "Union High School" ; John F. Haines, History of Hamilton County, Indiana . . . CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 199 Union (now Westfield) Quarterly Meeting. Its first enroll- ment was sixty-six. There was no high school in Hamilton or adjoining counties. The name was soon shortened to Union High School. It continued for about eighteen years as a church school under direct control of the Quarterly Meeting through trustees appointed by the meeting. A two-story brick building (a part of the present building) was erected on a plot of ground just south of the meetinghouse at the cost of $2,055, raised by private subscription. The time set to open the school was the first Second Day in the First Month, 1861. The highly exigent contract made with John R. Hubbard as principal, has already been mentioned. 17 Through the following years, the school grew in attendance and interest, ''developing a high standard of scholarship which won recognition from colleges ... as well as neighboring communities." 18 By 1888 graduates were admitted without examination to Indiana University, Purdue, De Pauw, and Earlham. In 1879 serious damage was done the school property by a severe storm. The Quarterly Meeting did not feel itself able to make the necessary repairs, and to meet this situation, the school was transferred to an association formed by those interested in maintaining the school. This association was composed of Friends who annually appointed a board of directors for the school. Between 1880 and 1885 a new building was erected. About 1 89 1 an agreement was made with the township trustee whereby the building was leased to him for a seven-month school term. A private subscription school completed the spring term. Several years later a fourth year was added to the course. The school continued under this arrangement until 1897 when the contract with the trustee expired and it returned to its former plan of tuition school. Its last school year was 1910-11. The Union High School Corporation still exists and holds the original property. The discontinuance of the school was due to small attendance which made it impossible (B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1915) , pp. 341-42; Rosen- berger, Souvenir of Friends Schools, p. 79; Semi-Centennial Anniversary, Western Yearly Meeting, p. 188. "Ante, 184. 18 Baldwin, "Union High School." 200 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY to maintain proper standards and equipment. The property since 191 1 has been leased to William M. Smith, who conducts a Bible Seminary there. Richland Academy, in the present town of Carmel, had its beginning in a log meetinghouse which was erected in 1833. In 1835 another room was added to the house and used for school purposes. The school was elevated to the rank of an academy in the sixties and a two-story brick building was erected near the old Richland meetinghouse. James Sanders was the first principal. Very little seems to be remembered of its history. It was laid down about 1890 when the new Carmel High School was completed by the township. The first school in the Quaker neighborhood in Washing- ton County was at "Old Church," about two miles northeast of Salem, in 18 15, and was conducted in the meetinghouse. In 18 17 the first schoolhouse was built five miles northeast of Salem. In 1822 a hewed log house was built a mile nearer town and used for five years. In 1828 a brick building of two rooms was built near the Blue River Friends' meetinghouse, three miles northeast of Salem. This Monthly Meeting school con- tinued until a frame house (which is still standing) was built about i860 and Blue River Academy was founded. In 1888 it was made a township district school. In 1896 the township high school was added, and from 1899 to 1909, Friends super- vised the control of the school. A part of the time the school was kept open by private subscription. In 1909 it was turned over entirely to the township, which now maintains a district VJ S emi-C entennial Anniversary, Western Yearly Meeting, p. 65 ; Haines, History of Hamilton County, p. 342 ; Jones, Later Periods of Quakerism, II, 708; interview with Walter T. Carey, Indianapolis. ^Thomas, "Academies of Indiana," in Indiana Magazine of History, XI, 8-9; Warder W. Stevens, Centennial History of Washington County, Indiana . . . (B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1916), pp. 347- 48; History of Laurence, Orange and Washington Counties, Indiana . . . (Goodspeed Bros. & Co., Chicago, 1884), pp. 837-38, 838-39; correspondence of William B. Lindley, C. W. Pritchard, and Christian Stiefel. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 201 school there. An old resident says : 21 "It was a large school, sixty to sixty-five years ago, taught by some most devoted Christian men and women. ... It was attended by young men and women who were preparing to teach from several counties in the south part of the state." Central Academy at Plainfield was established in 1881 under the joint management of Plainfield, White Lick, and Fairfield Quarterly Meetings. In 1895 Danville Quarterly Meeting joined in its control. Central Academy was "designed to furnish a thoroughly efficient preparatory course for entry to Earlham, and other colleges; and also to afford a first-class education for those who will not attend college." 23 Five thou- sand dollars was raised by subscription, and a building was erected on five acres just east of the Yearly Meeting grounds. The first terms of school were held in the town hall in 1881-82, until the lower floor of the new building was occupied in 1883. The next year the enrollment was seventy, fifty of the students being in the high-school or academic course. In 1887, $2,000 was raised towards payment of the school debt for building and equipment. The Academy grew in favor among the other academies and colleges, the students being admitted without examination to Earlham, De Pauw, Butler, and Purdue. In 1896, $3,000 was raised for a needed annex and furnace. The banner year of the institution came in 1897, when 138 students were enrolled. But low tide followed high tide; from 1901 to 1905, only about fifty pupils enrolled each year. In 1905 the Quarterly Meetings raised $14,000 endowment, but just as the financial future of the school began to look brighter, the build- ing burned in 1906. It seemed that Central Academy was at ^Correspondence of C. W. Pritchard. ^Thomas, "Academies in Indiana," in Indiana Magazine of History, XI, 15-16; Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1881 ff. ; Fairfield Quarterly Meeting, Minutes, 1868-1908 ; correspondence of Minnie M. Anderson ; Cope, "History of Plainfield Quarterly Meeting," pp. 23-30; Central Academy, Catalogue, 1883-84; Cotton, Education in Indiana (1904), p. 479; Rosen- berger, Souvenir of Friends Schools, p. 99; Semi-Centennial Anniversary, Western Yearly Meeting, p. 190; letter of J. P. Girard. 23 Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1881, p. 68. 202 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY an end, but its many friends raised a subscription fund and erected a new building. In 1908 sixty students attended. Later, however, the interests of the separate Quarters were cen- tered nearer home and it was turned over to Plainfield Quarterly Meeting and later still to Plainfield Monthly Meeting. It was laid down at the end of the 19 18-19 school year, and in 1920 the grounds and building were sold to the township for a senior high school. The endowment money and money from the sale of grounds, building, and equipment, $35,000 in all, was turned over to Earlham College endowment. Farmers' Institute, nine miles southwest of Lafayette, was organized and opened in 185 1 by Greenfield Monthly Meeting. Allen Jay says of it in his Autobiography : 25 "Farmers' Institute was an academy that was built by the Friends of Greenfield Monthly Meeting, in order that they might have their children educated at home. It was located in a grove between two prairies, one Wea Plain, and the other, Shawnee Prairie, not far from the meeting-house. They erected a boarding house that would accommodate about thirty boarders. . . . The spirit of education was felt throughout the surrounding community, and it became the center of a wide- spread influence for good, a number of Friends moving into that neighborhood to educate their children." Moses C. Stevens was principal for several years. The en- rollment was near a hundred from the beginning. There was a primary, an intermediate, and an advanced department. It was supported entirely by tuition and subscription. A high standard of work was maintained, written examinations being held at the close of each month and the grades read before the committee in charge of the school. Oral examinations for the classification of students were held at the opening and closing of each term. 2 'Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, i860 ff. ; Autobiography of Allen Jay, pp. 69-73 J Lindley, "Origin and Growth of Education among Friends in Western Indiana," in American Friend, VI, n 13; Semi-Centennial An- niversary, Western Yearly Meeting, p. 188; correspondence of Elizabeth Chappell. 25 Page 72. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 203 Because of the improvement in the public schools, the need for the Academy passed and the school as a Friends' institution was given up in 1876. It was closed in 1888, and its work taken over by the public schools. The building is now used as Farmers Institute church. POPLAR RIDGE SEMINARY 26 Poplar Ridge Seminary, west of Carmel, was under the control of Poplar Ridge Monthly Meeting. When the Friends' meeting was established in 1850, ground was given the meeting for a school by Jonathan and Drusilla Wilson. Here beside the meetinghouse, a log school was raised which early in the sixties gave way to a two-room frame house. This two-room school became the "Seminary," maintained by subscription and successfully conducted as a seat of higher learning for several years. About 1871 the Seminary burned and the township trustee built a two-room frame building to replace it. The Monthly Meeting gave up the control of the school but Friends were still consulted in its management and in the hiring of teachers. At times when funds were exhausted, school was continued through subscriptions made by Friends. The school building was moved from Poplar Ridge to its present location at Clay Center, about one and one-half miles south, in 1892, where a new building has since taken its place. NEW LONDON QUARTERLY MEETING SCHOOL 27 New London Quarterly Meeting School had its beginning as a Monthly Meeting school under the care of Honey Creek Monthly Meeting. School was conducted in the log church erected in 1842 and in the frame church erected later. Still later a school was built east across the ravine from the church. The Alonthly Meeting records show an enrollment in the school of from thirty to seventy, which must have taxed the accom- modations sorely, and made the teacher's role a difficult one. In 1863 a Quarterly Meeting school was organized at the 20 Haines, History of Hamilton County, pp. 342-43 ; correspondence of Harry Symons and L. J. Symons. "Semi-Centennial Anniversary, Western Yearly Meeting, pp. 188-89; correspondence of Leota R. Lindley and Lucy Kenworthy. 204 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY suggestion of Honey Creek Monthly Meeting, and was opened in the fall of 1864 with three teachers, William Pinkham, principal, and two assistants. Both common and higher branches were taught. The three-roomed frame building was replaced about 1875 by another frame building. The Academy was conducted in strict conformity to the church doctrines and continued for several years. RUSH CREEK SCHOOL 28 A Monthly Meeting school was organized beside Rush Creek meetinghouse near Sylvania, in Parke County, in 1836 under the control of a committee appointed by the meeting. A log schoolhouse gave way to better accommodations as Friends of the community became more prosperous. Eventually a commodious two-room frame building was built and equipped by the township, the Friends retaining the management and providing teachers' salaries until 1883. At that time the school was taken over by the township and moved to Sylvania. After the first few years, the higher as well as the common branches were taught in the Rush Creek School. The winter term was four or five months and the spring term two or three. The enrollment in the winter was more than a hundred and in the spring ranged from sixty to seventy. SAND CREEK FRIENDS' SEMINARY 29 Sand Creek Seminary was established in 1866 near Azalia, in Bartholomew County. It was definitely under the control and direction of Friends, but seems to have been financed by the patrons supplemented by funds received from the town- ship trustee. Subjects were taught which would prepare the students to enter the freshman year at Earlham. It continued until 1 89 1 when it was suspended. It was reopened in 1898 and continued for a time. Some well-known principals were Joseph John Mills, William Wickersham, and Richard G. Boone. 2S Lindley, "Origin and Growth of Education among Friends in Western Indiana," in American Friend, VI, 1112; correspondence of Martha A. L. Jackson. "Boone, History of Education in Indiana, p. 223 ; Semi-Centennial An- niversary, Western Yearly Meeting, p. 189; correspondence of Pennington Newsom, Elizabethtown, Indiana. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 205 West Union School, near the present Monrovia, was estab- lished by Friends under the care of the White Lick Meeting in 1832. Both elementary and advanced classes were held. It was the second school of its sort among Protestants — Hanover Academy being the first. For thirty years before the Civil War it prospered. Sometime after i860 the higher course was extended and enriched and did eminent service for not only Morgan County and the Society of Friends, but for the surrounding country and people of all denominations. The school closed in 1875. In early days, White Lick Monthly Meeting school was considered one of the best in the western part of the state. It was beside the Friends' church on the west side of Mooresville, first a log building and a few years later a two-room frame building. Students came from the surrounding counties and even farther. In i860 a new schoolhouse was built in Moores- ville and called the Mooresville High School. An association was formed for its control under the care of Friends, but others contributed. In 1868 the new building was sold to the town and passed from the control of Friends. Spicewood High School, two and one-half miles east of Sheridan, was established by Spicewood Monthly Meeting about 1874. Neighboring meetings were accessible to Union High School at Westfield, but Spicewood, being apart, estab- lished a high school of its own. After ten years or more, the Friends realized they could not compete with public schools and the growing town of Sheridan. The school was taken over by the township, continued in that locality for a few years, and was then discontinued. In the words of the Reverend Jehu Reagan, of Hortonville, Indiana: "Spicewood High School ^Boone, op. cit., p. 69. 31 Hadley, Brief History of Mooresville and Vicinity, p. 21 ; corre- spondence of Emma Henderson. 32 Jehu Reagan, notes on Spicewood High School, in possession of Mrs. Ethel H. McDaniel ; correspondence of Milton C. Beals and L. E. Millikan. 206 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY came, lingered awhile, and now has gone, but its influence still lives." Sugar Plain Academy, west of Thorntown, began in the early thirties as a small subscription school in the meetinghouse. Afterward it came under the care of Sugar Plain Monthly Meeting which was set up in 1840. After 1845, when Harvey Thomas became head of the school, the higher branches were taught, and one or two assistant teachers were engaged. As early as i860 public money was used, but the school continued under the direction of Friends. A high-school course was inaugurated about 1881 and continued until 1893, when the school was taken over completely by the public-school system. Fairfield School was established by Fairfield Monthly Meeting thirteen miles south of Indianapolis at a country crossroads. For many years a school had been conducted in the common branches by the Friends, but about 1865 a school- house of four rooms was built to accommodate about seventy pupils ranging from the chart class to the higher branches. It continued as a more or less successful school for about eight years. "To hire a teacher and furnish the house was more than a small meeting could stand," and the school was turned over to the township. OTHER SECONDARY SCHOOLS Secondary schools were held at other places for short times. One such school was held at Hopewell in Jennings County, Sand Creek Quarter. Mention should also be made of a pri- vate seminary in Indianapolis in the sixties under the care of Thomas Charles and William Mendenhall, both Friends. They 33 Lindley, "Origin and Growth of Education among Friends in Western Indiana," in American Friend, VI, 11 13; Semi-Centennial Anniversary, Western Yearly Meeting, pp. 189-90; correspondence of C. W. Pritchard and Rachel Rich. 31 Fairfield Monthly Meeting, Minutes, 1826-47, 1860-80; Fairfield Monthly Meeting, Committee on Education, Minutes, 1833-46; correspond- ence of William Furnas. COXTRTBUTIOX OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION' 207 were highly respected and competent teachers and the school flourished for a time. As has been stated, other schools listed as elementary offered advanced subjects at different periods in their history but cannot be classed as secondary schools. The Yearly Meeting School 35 "Her highest heritage her Quaker name, Her greatest glory her unstained renown ; Her one ambition an exalted aim, Her only ornament a spotless crown : Her surest strength her sons' eternal love — A wide foundation that no shocks may move." Francis B. Gum mere 36 At the height of the scale of educational institutions stand the colleges — and at the peak of Friends' education in Indiana stands Earlham College, the only remaining institution in In- diana strictly under the control of the Society of Friends and strictly educational. White's Manual Labor Institute remains but it no longer receives contributions from church funds. Earlham College is today a beloved "only" child, nourished through days of difficulty and doubt, carefully tended by watch- ful minds and willing purses. Like all other Quaker schools, it represents sacrifice on the part of thousands who were dedi- cated to the cause of Friends' higher education. It represents planning and decision. It represents discouragement and new hope. It was in 1832 that Whitewater Quarterly Meeting began plans for a boarding school and proposed that it be a Yearly Meeting project. A committee was appointed to receive contri- butions and through the succeeding years the object was kept in mind and the subscriptions were added to from time to time. A tract of three hundred acres was purchased, overlooking the Whitewater River Valley, west of the city of Richmond, and ^Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1832 ff. ; Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1879 ff. ; Opal Thornburg, "A History of Earlham College," a typed manuscript in Indiana State Library; William B. Morgan, "Earlham College — Its Past, Present, and Future," in The Earlhamite, III, 31-33, 51-53, 72-75, gj-99, 122-23, 144-47, 169-71, 193-95 (November 1875-June 1876); Autobiography of Allen Jay, pp. 321 ff. ; Earlham College, Cata- logues, 1847 ff. ; Earlham College, Bulletin, 1903 ff. ""Written of Haverford College. 208 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY a building was begun in 1838. By this time, $5,640.65 had been subscribed by the Quarterly Meetings, but this sum, with other contributions, was not sufficient for the completion of the building. It was not until June, 1847, tnat school could be opened in the still unfinished building. Barnabas C. Hobbs came to the Boarding School as its superintendent in the year following and remained two years. In 1854 the unfinished portions of the building were completed. The original plan of the founders and those interested had been to develop a manual labor institution, but the industrial phase was soon lost sight of, and in the fifties part of the farm was sold. Later, more was sold and now only forty acres re- main in the college campus. Under the rules which first governed the Boarding School, the school year was to be divided into two terms of twenty-three weeks each, with board and tuition at thirty-five dollars per term. Teachers and scholars were to be Friends and conform to the plainness of dress and language. Both sexes w r ere to be admitted to the school. Concerning the coeducational feature, William Tallack wrote at some length after a visit to Earlham in 186 1. It was looked upon with disfavor by many of the Friends in the East and Tallack pointed out that "this plan of partial mixing of the two sexes is not adopted in any other of the Friends' similar educational institutions in America." 37 The financial history of Earlham College (as it was gen- erally called after 1859) has been the story of earnest effort on the part of the Board of Trustees and others to keep the endowment fund sufficient to pay the expenses of the college. Tuition funds could not be expected to cover more than cur- rent expenses. Almost the entire building program and im- provements had been financed by subscription. The first building was designated as Earlham Hall. In 1887 Lindley Hall and Parry Hall were built. In 1907 Bundy Dormitory for boys and an Andrew Carnegie Library building were built. In 1924 the college suffered great loss by fire which destroyed Lindley Hall. This has been replaced by Carpenter Hall which houses the administrative offices and the classrooms. Mention should be made of the Joseph Moore Museum, of 37 William Tallack, Friendly Sketches in America (London, i860, p. 58. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 209 which Earlham is justly proud. The collection was greatly damaged by the fire, but the wing of the building in which the Museum was housed was not completely destroyed at the time of the fire so much was salvaged. It is at present housed on the upper floor of Carpenter Hall. Under the direction of Dr. Allen D. Hole, who has been curator since 1905, pains- taking and endless work is being done to restore and catalogue the specimens and have them in readiness for the time when adequate display space can be had for the Museum. From the beginning, Earlham College has grown. There were two members in the first graduating class and seventy-five in the class of 1933. It is yet "a small college which has no ambition to become a large college, but which does have a con- suming desire constantly to become a better college." Allen Jay's comment is fitting : 38 "As we look back from our present standpoint we are im- pressed with the thought that our fathers built better than they knew. The hand of their God had been good upon them, and their labors had brought forth a rich harvest of blessing to the Church and to the world. "He who takes a list of those who have been at the boarding- school and at Earlham College and traces their lives and marks their influence in the Church must be at once impressed with the wisdom of those who builded for the future of the Church. Indeed, the student of history must see that no Church will live long or impress itself upon the world that does not have its educational institutions, and in proportion as these institutions are strong educationally and religiously will that influence be felt. As I have said before, it is when the head and the heart are trained together that the greatest and truest results will be seen. This I believe, is what Earlham has stood for in the past and is striving for at the present time even to a greater degree." ^Autobiography of Allen Jay, pp. 33/-3&- VI. TRANSITION TO STATE SCHOOLS "Old things have passed away, and all things have become new. The State is rising in strength and power, and will make no backward move. . . . May her sons and daughters be worthy of their sires." — Barnabas C. Hobbs, "Early School Days" In the first year of Indiana Yearly Meeting history, the records of the Indiana Yearly Meeting of Women Friends show this minute, written in a firm hand but with fading ink r 1 "Mothers are entreated to consider the importance of giving their children a sufficiency of school learning which would fit and qualify them for useful members of society." The report of the Executive Committee on Education of Western Yearly Meeting for the year 1884 says in part : 2 "The transition from a system of primary schools, under the man- agement of Monthly Meetings, to education in the free district schools of the State, seems to have been natural, and in several particulars unavoidable ; nor is it probably within our power at present, even if it were desirable, to reinstate the old system of Monthly Meeting schools for primary instruction. ..." For several years before the first minute was recorded and during the sixty-three years between its writing and 1884, Indiana Friends as a church were engaged in building up a system of primary education far in advance of the state. Given a program by the Yearly Meeting, successive committees methodically and cautiously worked out that program, striving to provide for a school in every Friends' settlement. By 1850 the Friends' system was rather thoroughly worked out and functioning well. In that year, ninety-six Friends' schools were reported within the limits of Indiana Yearly Meeting (then comprising all of Indiana and part of Ohio), with an enrollment of 3,482 children. 3 The Society of Friends could rightly be proud of their educational efforts. But there was growing a force with which they had not Indiana Yearly Meeting of Women Friends, Minutes, 1821. 2 Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1884. 3 Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1850, p. 40. (210) COXTRIBUTTOX OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 211 reckoned. As they themselves were growing more prosperous, the state of which they were a part was also prospering and advancing. Of the early school conditions in the state system, Cotton says : 4 "School systems are not made by the passage of laws — except on paper. The Indiana system was on paper. The ideals were good, but they could not be realized for more reasons than one. . . . The day of free schools for all was afar off, and illiteracy grew apace. The people were busy felling forests and draining swamps, and making for themselves homes. . . . So they had no leisure for the contemplation of educational problems, and the spiritual life had to wait." The people of that period had not yet come into the realiza- tion that every child has a right to an education, and that it is to the public's interest to promote it by taxation. So while Quaker fathers provided schools for their children, the state of public schools was deplorable. But the public was awakened, and when it realized the im- portance of free schools, it had at its command funds which could, in time, provide adequate education for all its children. The school laws of 1824, 1833, 1849, an d 1852 steadily ad- vanced the cause of public schools. It is true the decisions of the Supreme Court in the case of the last law retarded progress for several years, but through it all, people became educated to the idea of free schools. They gave up the idea that taxation for schools was unfair and public interest in free schools grew. As general interest deepened, the Friends, who were at first much opposed to the thought of state schools, saw the advantage of the aid of public funds in their institutions. As early as 1834, state aid was made possible to certain Friends' schools which were then classed as district schools, given the aid of public funds, and the privileges of the civil machinery. 5 The histories of the individual schools show this in many instances. 4 Cotton, Education in Indiana (1904), p. 10. 5 Section 13 of an act approved February 1, 1834, provided that "in any congressional township where the society of Friends may have established a common school, under the superintendence of their monthly meeting, the school thus established shall be considered a district school in such township, and shall be jointly, with others, entitled to all the privileges as such . . ." Lazes of Indiana, 1833-34, P- 329. 212 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY But through this period of transition, the Quakers did not recognize it as such and kept insisting on the importance of the retention of the schools in the hands of their Society. In 1884, Joseph John Mills said : 6 "Let the Society of Friends put the education of its children entirely out of its own hands . . . for twenty years, and at the end of that time there will be found very few 'boys and girls' playing in the streets of Quakerdom." In many places in the Minutes of the different meetings are to be found admonitions to members to be diligent in patroniz- ing Friends' schools and in subscribing to their support. But the Friend who paid taxes and saw a good district school near by grew to believe his children could fare as well there as in the smaller Friends' school supported by private subscription. The transition in the common schools was gradual, a natural result of changes and conditions. The Quakers did not throw off the burden of responsibility with the change. Indeed, as actual control of the schools passed from their hands they felt even more deeply the necessity of exerting their influence to perpetuate and extend their standards under the new system. This aim is illustrated by the following and many similar minutes : 7 "A striking fact in these reports is that our children are almost entirely getting their education in the Public Schools. It is gratifying to know that these schools have greatly im- proved in the past few years, both in the character of the instruc- tion, and in the time of their continuance. . . . It is also an important consideration that many of these schools are virtually under the control of Friends, they being in many instances the teachers as well as the trustees or directors. This opportunity for elevating the character of the schools, and making their moral tone such as we should wish our children to attend, ought to be carefully improved. We certainly owe it to the com- munities in which we live, as well as to our children, to do what we can to surround the public schools . . . with a high moral and social influence. And much can be done in this direction without exciting any fear of undue sectarian influences." *An Address on Denominational Education (Wood and Co., New York, 1884), p. 10. 7 Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1881, pp. 72-73. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION' 213 The Friends were faithful unto the end. When the elemen- tary schools passed from their control, they still urged an in- terest and influence in them. More than that they turned their efforts resolutely toward secondary education as the Society's field of endeavor in education. In 1884, the Western Yearly Meeting Committee on Education pointed out that the impera- tive duty of the church was to provide a higher grade of educa- tion for its members, and that the responsibility of denomina- tional education was a fundamental principle in the Society. 8 For a time the state left higher education to private or re- ligious enterprise. In 1850, when the Friends had in the state twelve schools doing advanced work, the state was attempting its first high school at Evansville. 9 Again the Friends led the state in accomplishment. During the academy period, from the close of the Civil War into the last years of the nineteenth century, it seemed that Friends in Indiana had realized their highest educational aims and were compensated for all they had relinquished in giving up the common schools. More than a score of academies, seminaries, and high schools answered to the name of Friend and each was an institution of high standards and character. In the following extracts from the report of the Indiana Yearly Meeting Committee on Education this changed attitude is reflected : 10 "It is our judgment that Friends, as individuals, should exercise the influence which belongs to them in common with all good citizens, to promote the prosperity and efficiency of the public schools in their respective neighborhoods. ... At a time when in some sections of the United States, sectarian interests are threatening the welfare of the public school system, the Society of Friends should stand unwaveringly in support of our present system of free education by the State for all the children of the State. " . . . Aside from the Bible schools, academies and colleges within our limits, not a single school was maintained last year under the control of Friends within this Yearly Meeting. As "Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1884. 9 Lindley, "Quakers in the Old Northwest," in Mississippi Valley His- torical Association, Proceedings, 191 1- 12, p. 70. 10 Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1890, pp. 56-58. 214 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY vestiges of our system of denominational schools, which were of untold usefulness in the days before the public school system was so well developed, there are yet scattered through the differ- ent Quarterly meetings six school houses belonging to Friends. They are all empty or occupied by public schools. . . . "The vital importance to the church of secondary schools and colleges under denominational control has been too clearly demonstrated in the history of Indiana Yearly Meeting to re- quire argument. . . . " The secondary church schools seemed important and secure, but again the steady march of time overtook the Friends in their educational program. One by one, the academies and semi- naries of the Friends' church were laid down, some from lack of funds, some from lack of attendance, and some because the state high schools superseded them. The transition of the Friends' elementary schools into state schools had been gradual and accomplished apparently with little bitterness and less genuine opposition. This was not true with the laying down of the secondary schools. The Society had felt itself a successful sponsor of higher education and thought that its rightful sphere. As one by one the academies were laid down, it was with sincere regret and only after a valiant effort to keep them in existence. In 1916, Bloomingdale Friends' Academy 11 and in 1919, Central Academy of Plainfield 12 (the last two academies of Western Yearly Meeting), ceased to be Friends' schools. There yet remained in Indiana Yearly Meeting two flourishing insti- tutions, Fairmount Academy and Spiceland Academy. These prospered with the support of their respective communities which did not have high schools. Through arrangements with the school officials, the academies admitted the local children and received tuition paid from state funds. Thus an added revenue was given the schools which placed them on a sure foundation and gave them greater scope and usefulness. This transfer-tuition from the local school units was made "Article on Bloomingdale Academy, in Indianapolis Nezvs, July 30, 1932. 12 Letter of J. P. Girard. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 215 possible by the Kimmel Law passed in 1909 13 which provided that trustees in townships which did not maintain a high school might transfer their high-school pupils to the school which was most convenient for the child and pay the regular tuition to this school. The bill did not specify that the school should be a public school, and the academies then in existence took on new life for it gave them increased enrollment. Even then the financial life of the schools presented difficult problems, for the tuition took care of current expenses only, and the endow- ment fund and gifts still had to be looked to as a source of capital outlay. Nevertheless, conditions looked more hopeful after the passage of the Kimmel Law and the academies antici- pated long years of usefulness. A sudden blow to their plans came in the decision of the attorney general in 19 17 that private and parochial schools were not intended to be included in the interpretation of the law of 1909 as being schools to which high-school students might be transferred. 14 It seemed to be the death knell of the academies, but a valiant attempt was made to stave off the disaster. Friends of the schools thus discriminated against contested the attorney general's opinion. In the meantime, the Society was not idle. At Fairmount, the trustees of the Academy were inclined to sell the school to local authorities, but the alumni and students upon hearing of the plan rallied to the cause of their Alma Mater and started an endowment campaign. On one Home Coming Day, $15,000 was subscribed. 15 On an- other day, twelve teams canvassed the country soliciting funds towards the sum of $100,000. A similar effort was put forth at Spiceland. The Friends hoped to secure sufficient endow- ment to make each school an independent private institution. The Board of Trustees of Spiceland Academy said in 1918: 16 "The Board recognized the value of educating our young people not only in the knowledge of the ordinary academic lines but giving the academic work with a conscious and distinctly 13 Laws of Indiana, 1909, pp. 331-3^. u O pinions of the Attorney General, Indiana, 1916-20, pp. 247-49. 15 Ancil Ratliff, "Appeal ... for Endowment," in Fairmount Academy Special, May, 19 19. ^'Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1918, p. 143. 216 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY religious background and interpretation as being the surest foundation for Christian character. With this in mind and in view of the very uncertain prospect of private institutions being able to obtain transfer-tuition from any of the local public school units as in the past, the Board called two public meetings of local Friends and others interested in education. President Edwards of Earlham College as Chairman of the Board of Education of the Five Years Meeting, was called into consulta- tion. It was unanimously decided to continue Spiceland Academy as a strictly private school if need be and obtain a high grade faculty which could offer such work as would attract boarding pupils from Indiana and Western Yearly Meetings." In the meantime, while the proper authorities were doing what they could to reverse the decision of the attorney general or to make provision whereby the accepting of township funds by Friends' schools could be legalized, the two academies were carrying on. In 1920 Spiceland Academy reported the largest attendance in its history. 17 In the same year, Fairmount Academy reported a successful year and ended its report with the statement : 18 "But however much we value our educational standing and our athletic victories we wish, in conclusion, to emphasize the fact that the paramount issue of the Fairmount Academy is a guarded education for Christian citizenship." Before the convening of the Yearly Meeting in 1921, un- friendly legislation had withdrawn the support of public funds from the academies, 19 but Friends still clung to the hope of keeping their denominational schools in existence. The report of the Committee on Secondary Education to the Yearly Meeting said in part : 20 "Dear Friends : — Your Committee on Secondary Schools submits the following report: The situation as to Secondary Education in Indiana Yearly Meeting is worth the most careful and prayerful consideration of the entire membership. Our "Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1920, p. 129. is lbid., p. 132. 19 Laws of Indiana, 1921, pp. 743-45. ^Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minnies, 1921, p. 113. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 217 two academies, namely, Fairmount, and Spiceland, are well located geographically to serve the entire Yearly Meeting, and are doing splendid work. The present conditions in the educa- tional world make the work of a private religious secondary school exceedingly difficult. As public High School facilities increase, as larger and larger amounts of money are expended for public education [and] increase the equipment and attrac- tiveness of our public High Schools, the competition which the privately conducted church schools must meet is strenuous, indeed. "It is a fact so well known by all that it does not need more than a statement that our public high schools today are not furnishing the religious training that demands for leadership in the church and state require. The great need of today is Christian leadership. Young men and women need to be trained to look upon the world as a place to serve, not as a place from which to get gain. Only Christian Education can give this instruction. "It is high time that Indiana Yearly Meeting view this situation with care and begin a course of action that will result in the provision of a sufficient amount of secondary school facilities. If we allow all our facilities for furnishing Chris- tian Secondary Education to disappear, we will suffer an irreparable loss." In the same year, the Spiceland Academy report showed that the preceding year had been the most successful in its history, and ended with this entreaty : 21 "Through an agreement with the Township Trustee, the same teachers and same standard will be retained at the Acad- emy another year. After that, — and that is the greatest prob- lem that faces our Monthly Meeting today. For more than fifty years the Academy has been a blessing to the Monthly Meeting, the county, and to Quakerdom at large. The field is still open even for greater service. The difficulties to be over- come are greater than ever. The possibilities of funds from the township ended with the repeal of the 1909 law regarding transfers. This means that some way the school must be financed. But it means too, that the Academy will be able to ^Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1921, pp. 1 14-15. 218 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY be more distinctly a religious school. More than 80% of our young people decide upon a life work during the Academy period. Can we afford to close our eyes upon this opportunity ? The worth of the opportunity cannot be measured in dollars and cents. It is greater than that, it can only be measured by Life itself. "As a Board, we feel that there will be a way, but we must work and pray as never before." But a way was not found, despite the valiant efforts of the Friends of the Academy. In 1922, minute 114 of the Minutes of the Indiana Yearly Meeting read : 22 "The report of Spiceland Academy not being at hand, the trustees were directed to make their report to the Permanent Board." Spiceland Academy had ceased to exist. Looking back to the time of the closing of the Academy, Luther O. Draper, one of those who tried so faithfully to perpetuate its existence, said : 23 "Education is a subject that has always been near to the heart of those embracing the Quaker belief. It was developed and functioned finely in this community until an unfriendly State Board of Public Instruction . . . prevailed upon the Indiana Legislature, striking a death blow at Spiceland Acad- emy, through the bill introduced by Howard Cann to prevent the payment of public money into private or denominational schools. For years Spiceland Academy had done her work well. Young men and women had come from far and near to be under the direction and guidance of those who directed the affairs of Spiceland Academy. "A committee was named to try to influence the State Legis- lature against the enactment of the Cann bill. Governor McCray, thoroughly sympathetic with the Academy interest, delayed day by day the signing of the bill, which when signed by him would become a law. Ralph Test, later a hero of the World War, Chester L. Reagan, then superintendent of the Academy, Theodore Foxworthy, a resident minister at that time, and the writer labored in vain to prevent the passage 22 Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1922, p. 109. ^"Spiceland Community and Schools." CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 219 of the bill; and today the writer has within his possession the pen and penholder used by Governor McCray when he signed the death warrant of Spiceland Academy, which likewise destroyed the Friends' academies that were then in existence and many other denominational schools." At the same time, Fairmount Academy was experiencing the same struggle with the same outcome. It undertook to go forward as a private school. In 1922 its report to the Yearly Meeting showed many encouraging features : 24 "The work of the various departments of the Academy for the past year has been very encouraging. The records reveal an increased attendance and higher standards of scholarship and school work. . . . The increased endowment has made possible the addition of much needed equipment for efficient teaching. . . . "We are quite sure there is great need of a school of our character where our young people during the years from the graded school to college can receive a guarded education under Christian teachers. The friends of Fairmount Academy are carrying a heavy load and making great sacrifices to maintain the school. They would earnestly ask the Yearly Meeting to take a few minutes to consider ways of sharing our responsibility." Again, in 1923, the work of the academy was reported as satisfactory, the attendance and scholarship were on the same high level as previously, but the financial burden was too great. The closing paragraph of the report said : 25 "Should our school not open again we are sure the sacrifice in its behalf for almost forty years has not been in vain. The almost six hundred graduates and more than four thousand students coming in touch with the school are doing their work better and in their turn will influence others on down through the years." Fairmount Academy did not open again and so ended the history of Friends' secondary education. Through the course of half a century, Friends' academies and seminaries had risen 24 Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1922, pp. 108-9. 25 1 bid., 1923, p. 129. 220 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY to fame throughout the state of Indiana and as quickly, their star had set on history's horizon. The transition to state schools was complete. There re- mains as the joint responsibility of the Friends' churches of Indiana and Western Yearly Meetings, Earlham College. When one looks back at the changes and advancement in school policy within the past hundred years, one wonders whether within the next hundred such changes will come that private and denominational colleges, like the denominational secondary schools, will cease to exist, and education from the lowest branch to the highest will become the sole responsibility of the state. To many outside the ranks of the Friends, the zealous care with which the Quakers guarded and tried to perpetuate their denominational schools may have appeared narrow or selfish. Such was not the case. Education was imperative to them ; a religious education was equally imperative. This type of education they found could best be obtained in schools under their own control. When compelled to give up these schools, influence in the public schools was urged and Bible or First- Day schools (as they were called) were established throughout the Friends' communities. 26 Increased domestic religious training was urged. 27 Every means was taken to further the aims which the Society of Friends had long held as funda- mental. Schools, both elementary and secondary, were not laid down because of a waning interest. Rather they were over- taken by the march of progress and absorbed into a system which they themselves had helped to build up and improve. 23 Western Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1902, pp. 27-28. 2: Indiana Yearly Meeting, Minutes, 1875, pp. 90-91, 94-96. VII. POSTLUDE The era of the "guarded education" of the Friends has passed. Its history will never be fully recorded. Just as truly its influence will never be truly measured. That influence can be seen in the public schools of the present; it shone forth in the lives and character of the men and women those Friends' schools produced, but it probably was most far-reaching in its constant insistence on the necessity of universal education. Benjamin S. Parker said of the pioneer Friends: 1 "But the best thing of all was the great desire that their children and youths should be given the advantages of education, which the Quaker settlers brought into the wilderness with them." This desire carried the Friends from the log-cabin school to the frame building to the brick structure, all the way blazing the trail of educational development ahead of the state. It would be easy to eulogize their efforts in such a way as to place them in a false light. They were common people of the rural type and had no high ideas of educating their children beyond the status of their parents. Rufus Jones said : 2 "Early Quaker teachers were not preparing their pupils for college; they were preparing them for life, and they were re- solved to have the work honestly done. " . . .It was an education which tended to produce not, in- deed, geniuses and leaders, but modest, trustworthy, dependable men and women who would endeavour to preserve and transmit 'the heritage of the Society/ " Nevertheless this standard gave to the Friends' communi- ties a higher educational level than that of the communities around them. 3 In an age when illiteracy was predominant, its dark shadow scarcely dimmed the "birth-right" circle. lu Early Services of the Quakers to Education in Eastern Indiana," in State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tzventy-third Biennial Report, 1905-6, p. 40. 2 Later Periods of Quakerism, II, 684. 3 Allen C. Thomas and Richard Henry Thomas, A History of the Friends in America (4th edition, Philadelphia, 1905), p. 186. (221) 222 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Opposition to public schools was not opposition to educa- tion. It was a protest against using in the public schools money which had been collected from military fines and exemptions paid by Friends. They did not share the wide-spread objection to public-school education because it taxed all for the children of the poor, 4 for they had long been accustomed to furnishing money that the children of their own poor might be educated. A strong factor in their preference for their own schools was their emphasis upon religious education. When public schools became a reality and elementary education became the responsi- bility of the state, Friends continued to stress the need of religious training as a part of school life, and gave the new system the same serious consideration and support which they had given their own schools. In the meantime, the thought of a "guarded education" had been superseded by a larger vision. The world had changed and the old Quaker ideal was not practical in the new order of things. Says Rufus Jones : 5 "The old protective schemes have failed and the ancient hedges are down." In 1894, Benjamin F. Trueblood said: 6 "Education may be abused and so become a curse, but it cannot be done without." The Friends strove that the education offered the youths of their Society should never become a curse. To their success the lives of thousands of children educated under the influence of the Friends testify. According to Rufus Jones, 7 "one of the most valuable contributions which these Quaker institutions have builded into the lives of the thousands of pupils and students who have at- tended them has been a deep, quiet, pervasive religious quality of life, fed and nourished by the tone and atmosphere of the institutions as well as by the positive teaching, and, in many cases, by the Friends' meeting attended week after week by the scholars in this mobile period of their lives." The Friends were modern in their belief in teaching 4 Boone, History of Education in Indiana, p. 153. 5 Later Periods of Quakerism, II, 711. s "The Present Demand for Education," in American Friend, I (1894), IO-II. 'Later Periods of Quakerism. II, 711-12. CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO EDUCATION 223 children, not subjects. They emphasized the building of charac- ter as well as intelligence. In that as in their school system, they were far ahead of the thought of the times. Indeed, they were 'Voices crying in the wilderness," prophesying from the log schoolhouse in the forest beside the meetinghouse the great school system which was to follow. If we listen, there can still be heard echoes of those voices in the lives of those who had the advantage of Friends' education. The Friends' schools came, rendered a great and lasting service, and, in the evolution of the social order, yielded to the broader conception of education for all, dependent upon the common wealth of society. Just as the base of Quaker education lies deep in the past so its superstructure will influ- ence the trend of education far into the future. Truly, the Friends' contribution to education in Indiana is immeasurable.