339 
 57 
 V 1 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 -MADE AT THE" 
 
 CELEBSiLTIClT 
 
 <£XZ> OF THE -3^vg 
 
 Centennial Anniversary 
 
 GN5> OF THE-^^© 
 
 Settlement of Cazenovia, N. Y., 
 
 "School Day," June 13, 1893, 
 CHARGES STKBBINS, 
 
 Clerk of the Board of Education. 
 
 / 
 
iW~ ^w^^>". 
 
 ADDRESS I 
 
 1ADE AT THE- 
 
 CELEBPiLTIOlT 
 
 ^Z?-OF THE ^S>^ 
 
 Centennial Anniversary 
 
 S^vE^ OF THE -3XJ) 
 
 Settlement of Ca^enoYia, N. 
 
 • JL »< 
 
 "School Dag," June 13. 1893, 
 
 — ^BY* — 
 
 CHARTS STEBBINS, 
 
 Clerk of the Board o¥ Education. 
 

 l>* 
 
 Presses Of 
 
 TheCazenovia Republican, 
 
 1893. 
 
The Development of the Common School 
 System of the State of Ne-vw York. 
 
 At the time of the settlement of Cazenovia. there were 
 no common schools in the state of Xew York, nor was 
 there any provisions for them. 
 
 And this, althongh the first public schools in America 
 were established in the state of Xew York. 
 
 In 1631. when the States General of Holland committed 
 the government of the infant colony of Xew Amsterdam 
 to the Dutch West India Company, it was enjoined that 
 the colony should * "find speedy means to maintain a clergy- 
 man and a schoolmaster. ' ' and it was required that * 'each 
 householder and inhabitant should bear such tax and 
 public charge as should be considered proper for their main- 
 tenance." Foot years later, the expenses of the school- 
 master were three hundred and sixty florins, or about one 
 hundred and fifty dollars, no mean sum for those days. 
 In 1664. when the colony was surrendered to the English, 
 every considerable settlement had a public school, taught 
 by more or less permanent teachers, and supported largely 
 or wholly, at the public expensr. 
 
 With the advent of English rule, all this was changed. 
 The policy of the English governors was to discourage the 
 education of the common people, the rulers being appre- 
 hensive that common schools would nourish and strength- 
 en a spirit of in dependence, which had even then made con - 
 
slderable headway. Not only was the public aid withdrawn 
 from the common schools, but the instructions from the home 
 government to the colonial governors uniformly provided, 
 that no person should be permitted to come from England 
 to teach, even in a private school, without a license from the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and that no person here should 
 do so without the license of the governor. It is true that in 
 1702, an act was passed entitled "An act for the encourage- 
 ment of a grammar free school in the city of New York," 
 but this bill was passed while the Dutch element was 
 still strong if not predominant and the governor and coun- 
 cil refused to approve the measure until it was amended T 
 so as to require that the teacher should be licensed by the 
 bishop of London, or by the governor of the pro- 
 vince. When by the terms of this act, its j)rovisions expired 
 at the end of seven years, it was not renewed Thereafter 
 there were no common schools in the colony of New York. 
 
 Under the colonial government, however, Kings, (after- 
 wards Columbia) College, and several academies were 
 founded. 
 
 Immediately after the Revolutionary war, that greatest 
 of New York's governors, George Clinton, said to the legis- 
 lature of 1784, "There is scarce anything more worthy of 
 your attention than the revival and encouragement of sem- 
 inaries of learning." In that year, the legislature passed an 
 act creating the Board of Regents of the University. The 
 members of this board were the very foremost citizens of 
 the state. The Regents had jurisdiction only over colleges 
 and academies, and had no responsibility concerning ele- 
 mentary schools. Yet in 1787 the board transmitted to the 
 legislature a report containing the following recommenda- 
 tions, probably drafted by Hamilton. 
 
 "But before your committee conclude, they feel them- 
 selves bound in faithfulness to add, that the erecting of pub- 
 lic schools for teaching reading, writing and arithmetic is 
 
an object of very great importance, which ought not to be left 
 to the discretion of private men, but should be promoted by 
 public authority. Of so much knowledge, no citizen ought 
 to be destitute, and yet it is a reflection, as true as it is 
 painful, that too many of our youth are brought up in ut- 
 ter ignorance. This is a reproach under which we have 
 long laboured, unmoved by the examples of our neighbors, 
 who, not leaving the education of their children to chance, 
 have widely diffused throughout their state a public pro- 
 vision for such instruction. Your committee are sensible 
 that the Regents aro invested with no funds of which they 
 have the disposal, but they nevertheless conceive it to be 
 their duty to bring the subject before the honorable the 
 legislature, who alone can provide a remedy." 
 
 The legislature paid no heed to this apjDeal. 
 
 Six years after this, and just one hundred years ago, 
 the Regents recurred to this matter urgently, and in 
 their reports of 1793, 1794 and 1795, strongly pressed 
 the subject. In the latter year the old governor spoke to 
 the legislature in this wise: 
 
 "While it is evident that the general establishment and 
 liberal endowment of academies are highly to be commended 
 and are attended with the most beneficial consequences, yet 
 it cannot be denied that they are principally confined to 
 the children of the opulent, and that a great portion of the 
 community is excluded from their immediate advantages. 
 The establishment of common schools throughout the state 
 is happily calculated to remedy this inconvenience, and 
 will therefore engage your early and decided considera- 
 tion." 
 
 These representations produced from the legislature of 1795 
 an act entitled, "An act for the encouragement of schools." 
 It appropriated $100,000 each year for five years from 
 the state treasury for the purpose of encouraging and main- 
 taining schools in the several cities and towns of this state, 
 
in which the children of the inhabitants residing in the 
 state shall be instructed in the English language, or be 
 taught English grammar, arithmetic, mathematics and such 
 other branches of knowledge as are most useful and neces 
 sary to complete a good education." The sum appropriate^ 
 was munificent, when we consider that the assessed value of 
 the property in the state was but $100,000,000 and that 
 the state was heavily in debt. In addition to the state ap- 
 propriation, each town was required to raise by tax one half 
 as much money as it received from the state. This gener- 
 ous action had great and immediate effect. Three years 
 after the passage of the act, or in 1798, there were within 
 the state 1,352 common schools with 59,660 pupils. 
 
 Still there was provided no general control or supervision 
 of the schools. It was left to the people of the several 
 towns, to organize school districts, erect school houses and 
 maintain schools. 
 
 The annual appropriation of $100,000 expired by the 
 terms of the act in 1800, and, owing to a difference of opinion 
 in the legislature as to the propriety of providing for a 
 system of state superintendence, it was not renewed. 
 
 The several governors in each of the five succeeding years 
 brought the subject of common schools to the attention of 
 the legislature, until in 1805 acts were passed creating a per- 
 manent common school fund, and from that time the com- 
 mon school system has, in spite of some neglect and many 
 set-backs, on the whole grown in strength and useful- 
 ness. 
 
 In the first decade of this century, many acts were 
 passed for the encouragement of common schools in par 
 ticular localities, some providing for the raising of money 
 by local taxation, some by setting apart for the purposes 
 of schools particular local funds, such as the excise fund. 
 Notable among these acts, was one passed in 1805 incorpo- 
 rating DeWitt Clinton and others, as "The society for es- 
 
tablishing a free school in the city of New York for -the 
 education of such poor children as do not belong to, or are 
 not provided for by any religious society," a corporation 
 which had control of the common schools of New York city 
 until 1853. 
 
 Up to 1812, all the acts passed by the legislature were for 
 the encouragement of public schools; the establishment and gov- 
 ernment of the schools was left to the discretion of the 
 towns and the zeal of the inhabitants. 
 
 In 1812, the time had come when the state government 
 was ready to command the founding of comman schools 
 throughout the state and to provide impsritatively for enabl- 
 ing every child in the state to have at least the rudiments of 
 an education. So, on the 19th day of June 1812, was enacted 
 "An act for the establishment of schools". A State Super- 
 intendent of Common Schools was to be appointed, with an 
 annual salary of three hundred dollars, who was to have 
 the general charge of the common schools of the state and 
 to distribute the public school monies among the several 
 counties. In each town, Commissioners of Common Schools 
 were to be elected at town meeting, whose duty it was to divide 
 the towns into schoool districts, and to call upon the inhab- 
 itants of each district to meet for the purpose of organizing 
 the districts, for the election of trustees, and to provide for 
 the erection of a school house and the maintenance of the 
 school. Inspectors of schools were also to be elected in 
 each town, whose duty it was to examine and license 
 teachers and to visit schools. 
 
 Gideon Hawley, then a young lawyer in Albany, was ap- 
 pointed State Superintendent, and owing to his energy and 
 ability, the new system was put into successful operation 
 throughout the state in an almost incredibly short space of 
 time. Since that time, every child in the state has had an 
 opportunity of obtaining the rudiments of an education. 
 
 In 1821, the office of State Supertendent was abolished, 
 
and its duties devolved upon the Secretary of State. This 
 action, which, at the time, it was feared would be disastrous 
 to the interests of the common schools, proved to be, on 
 the whole, beneficial, owing entirely to the zeal and 
 eminent ability af the four great men, who from 1826 to 
 1845 occupied the chair of Secretary of State — Azariah C. 
 Plagg, John A. Dix, John C. Spencer and Samuel Young. 
 To Henry S. Randall, also, Secretary of State in 1852 and 
 1853, the common school system owes a debt of gratitude 
 for his invaluable service in its behalf. In 1854 the Depart- 
 ment of Public Instruction was created. In 1841, the office 
 of County Superintendent of Common Schools was created, 
 and it was abolished in 1847. The offices of Town Commis- 
 sioner and Town Inspector were abolished in 1843 and the 
 office of Town Superintendent was created. In 1856 the 
 latter office was abolished and the office of District Com- 
 missioner was created. Thus we have had supervision of 
 the common schools by state officers since 1812, by county 
 or district officers from 1841 to 1847 and from 1856 to the 
 present time, and by town officers from 1795 to 1856. 
 
 At present the system is highly centralized, owing to the 
 vast powers, original and appellate, which from time to 
 time have been vested in the Department of Public Instruc- 
 tion. The Superintendent of Public Instruction is now the 
 most powerful officer in the state. Practically, he has 
 complete control of every school officer and every teacher 
 in the state. His hand reaches into the remotest school dis- 
 trict, and from his mandate there is no effectual appeal,even 
 to the courts. It is but just to say these great powers have not 
 been abused, but have been exercised with the greatest 
 wisdom and vigor, and have never been prostituted to per- 
 sonal aggrandizement or political advancement. To 
 Abram B. Weaver, State Superintendent from 1833 to 1874; 
 to N"eil Grilmour, Superintendent from 1874 to 1883; and to 
 Andrew S. Draper, who held the same office from 1886 to 
 
1892, from whose address delivered before the State Teachers' 
 Association in 1890. many of the foregoing facts are quoted, 
 we owe, in a great measure, the existing admirable system 
 for the training and examination of teachers and for the 
 vigilant superintendence of the schools and school officers. 
 
 The first Normal School for the training of teachers in 
 this state was founded at Albany in 1844, and the second at 
 Oswego in 1863. There are now within the state eleven of 
 these institutions, and their influence in raising the 
 standard of qualifications for teaching cannot well be 
 over estimated. Not only have those teachers who have 
 attended those schools been greatly benefited, but their in- 
 direct influence has been in the highest degree beneficent. 
 Indeed it may be said, that the effect of these schools has 
 largely tended to elevate the business of common school 
 teaching to the dignity of a profession, instead of being a 
 make-shift for earning a living in the intervals between 
 other avocations. 
 
 In 1849, the policy was adopted providing for the instruc- 
 tion of classes in academies in the science and practice of 
 common school teaching, thus giving at a small expense 
 much needed and useful training to a very large number of 
 common school teachers. 
 
 The first Teachers' Institute was held in Tompkins county 
 in 1843, by the School Commissioner with an attendance of 
 twenty eight members. It was a local enterprise, and re- 
 ceived no aid from the state. In 1847, the legislature ap- 
 propriated the sum of sixty dollars for the use and benefit 
 of Teachers' Institutes. From this small beginning has 
 arisen the existing system with its staff of instructors, its 
 elaborate methods, and its very large application. The 
 Teachers' Institute, besides bringing to the knowledge of 
 teachers the latest methods in pedagogy, and the latest 
 improvement in school books and apparatus, are invaluable 
 occasions for the exchange of ideas and for the inspiring of 
 
the esprit du corps which is so necessary in a lonely profes- 
 sion. The establishment in recent years of the "Regents- 
 examinations" for the scholars, and of uniform examina- 
 tions for the teachers, have done very much for the cause of 
 education. 
 
 In glancing at the development of the common school 
 system in this state, two striking facts force themselves 
 upon our attention. The first is the steady advance towards 
 the centralization of power. One hundred years ago, all 
 elementary schools were private affairs, receiving no aid from 
 the state, and subject to no control or even supervision. In 
 1795 and 1805 common schools were encouraged by state 
 aid, but their establishment was left to local action and 
 there was no supervision. By the act of 1812. the state com- 
 pelled the establishment of common schools throughout the 
 state, and provided for the a state superintendent, but the 
 government of the schools and the licensing of teachers was 
 committed to town officers, the state superintendent's office 
 being little more than a bureau for the distribution of pub- 
 lic monies, with only advisory powers. Gideon Hawley, 
 however, exercised these powers with such ability and zeal, 
 that, at the end of his term, the bureau had become a de- 
 partment. Thirty years later, county officers were pro- 
 vided for, having certain appellate jurisdiction over the town 
 school officers. In 1856, the power of licensing teachers 
 was taken from the towns and given to the District Commis- 
 sioners, and in recent years this power has been practically 
 vested in the State Department. In effect, all power is now 
 vested in the State Superintendent, whenever he chooses to 
 exercise it. By the provisions relating tojcosts, even the 
 courts are practically deprived of the jurisdiction which 
 they habitually exercise over the other, even the highest 
 branches of the state government. 
 
 Two changes remain to be made to complete a logically 
 uniform system: First, the abolition of the school districts 
 
and the creation of town boards of education with a paid 
 practical teacher as executive officer: and Secondly, the abo- 
 lition of the elective office of District School Commissioner, 
 and the devolution of its duties upon officers appointed by, 
 and immediately responsible to, the State Department of 
 Public Instruction. These changes, in my opinion will soon 
 be made 
 
 This tendency to centralization in the administration of 
 school matters is well worthy of attention of statesmen, and, 
 all the more so, because the movement was gradual, and 
 at each step of its progress scarcely observed, or at least 
 was little commented on. The same tendency can be noted 
 in the change made in organization of the militia, and is be- 
 ginning to be dimly perceptible in the new law relating to 
 highways. It may be, that we have outgrown the system of 
 the local administration of public affairs, so highly prized 
 by our forefathers and that the new conditions imposed 
 upon us by the vast improvements in the means of communi- 
 cation, and by the concentration of influences in larger 
 towns, may demand that the administration of all branches 
 of government shall be committed to a central bureau. 
 
 Again, until 1867, | the expenses of maintaining the com- 
 mon schools after applying to that purpose the public monies 
 received from the state, were collected from the parents of 
 the children attending. This evidently tended to the dim- 
 in uation of school attendance, and in the villages, to the en- 
 couragement of private or select schools. In that year the 
 common schools were made absolutely free. In 1874, an act 
 was passed requiring that every child between the ages of 
 eight and fourteen years should attend school at least four- 
 teen weeks in each year. 
 
 Thus, one hundred years ago, a parent, desiring to give an 
 elementary education to his child, was obliged to provide it 
 at his own pains and cost. Later, thestate, recognizing the ad- 
 vantage of general education, encouraged the establishment of 
 
schools by the grant of public monies. Then the whole 
 territory of the state was mapped out into school districts, 
 and supervision and inspection by public officers provided 
 for, the parents however being still responsible for part of 
 the expense. Next the whole expenses of the common 
 schools was imposed upon the tax-papers, and the schools 
 made absolutely free. Finally by law every child in the 
 state is compelled to attend school long enough to gain a 
 knowledge of the rudiments of an education. 
 
 Thus a century ago, an elementary education was a priv- 
 ilege which, if enjoyed, must be paid for by the individual. 
 Now it is a duty, imposed by the state, provided by the 
 state, and enforced by the state under pains and penalties. 
 
 Schools of Cazenovia. 
 
 The first school in Cazenovia was kept in a building which 
 stood south of the west bridge, near the corner of Lake 
 Avenue and Rippleton road. Who the first teacher was, 
 we unhappily do not know. To this school in 1796, Gen. 
 Jonathan Forman, of revolutionary fame, was wont to lead 
 his little daughter Mary across the low nnrailed bridge 
 which then spanned the outlet, as yet un vexed by dams. This 
 little girl grew up to become the wife of Henry Seymour, of 
 Pompey and the mother of several children, one of whom 
 was Horatio Seymour, and another is a lady who for more 
 than half a century has dwelt among us, honored and be- 
 loved. 
 
 About the begining of this century, another school house 
 was erected on the west side of Sullivan street north of the 
 Green. 
 
 These buildings were successively used for religious ser- 
 vices until the erection of the meeting house on the Green. 
 
 In 1805, stimulated probably by the provisions of the 
 
1 3 
 
 statute of that year, nearly all of the principal inhabitants 
 united in an agreement to purchase a lot in a more central 
 locality and to erect a more commodious school house. This 
 agreement, which is in existence and can be seen at the 
 Public Library, provides for the raising of the sum of three 
 hundred and forty-five dollars, in shares of fifteen dollars 
 each, payable one third in cash, one third in wheat and one 
 third in Indian corn. The holders of shares were to be en- 
 titled to one vote in the management of the enterprise for 
 each share. There were twenty-six subscribers to this agree- 
 ment, twenty subscribing one share each and six subscribing 
 half of a share each. It is a singular fact that of only two 
 or three of those subscribers, are there any descendants now 
 residing in this place. A lot sixty feet square was pur- 
 chased of Lemuel Kingsbury, situated on the east side of 
 Sullivan street where the west end of Seminary street now 
 is for, forty-five dollars. The remaining three hundred dol 
 lars were paid to Mr. Lincklaen, who erected the building, 
 doubtless at an expense exceeding the sum subscribed. 
 When in 1814, School District No. 1 (late No. 21) was 
 erected, this lot and building was purchased for its school. 
 At that time, Seminary or, as it was first called, Court street, 
 was being opened, and the court house was in process of 
 erection, and the greater portion of the school lot was ap- 
 propriated to the new street, the village paying as damages 
 the sum of $117.50. The school house was then moved 
 north to the north corner of Sullivan and Seminary streets, 
 where it still stands in a dilapidated condition. In recent 
 years it has been used as an engine house. This is doubtless 
 the oldest school house in this region, though for many 
 years it has been perverted to base uses. 
 
 At the first town meeting after the passage of the act of 
 1812, were elected three commissioners and six school 
 inspectors, and the supervisor was authorized to levy for 
 school purposes double the amount of our j)roportion of the 
 
14 
 
 interest of the school fund, on the taxable inhabitants of 
 the town. 
 
 In 1813, the school commissioners proceeded to divide the 
 town into fifteen school districts, and two more were created 
 in the following year. Two of the districts were in the 
 village, the dividing line between them being Mill and 
 Lincklaen streets. Another district was many years after- 
 ward created in the north-east part of the village. 
 
 It will be seen that the school system was strongly offi- 
 cered, at least so far as regarded numbers, there being three 
 commissioners and six inspectors in the town. As a rule the 
 men chosen to fill these offices were intelligent and patriotic 
 citizens, but it is evident that "the multitude of counselors" 
 in the end proved detrimental to the interests of the schools, 
 and in 1843, the people abolished the offices of town school 
 commissioners and school inspectors and vested their 
 functions in a single Town Superintendent. It may be re- 
 marked in passing that the Inspectors received a salary of 
 fifty cents per day. In 1814 the school houses were erected 
 and the common schools were opened, and from that time 
 to this have been in continuous operation with various de- 
 grees of success. The school house in the west village dis- 
 trict was, as has been heretofore stated, on the north corner 
 of Sullivan and Seminary streets, and that in the east dis 
 trict was erected on Centre street, which then, at its outlet 
 into Albany street, was a mere lane. About forty years 
 ago, the origin 4 school house of the west district was sold 
 to the village, and a new two story building erected on the 
 lot where the Union School now stands. About the same 
 time, the eastern district purchased the house and lot on 
 the corner of Nelson and Fenner streets, and removed its 
 school hither. In the latter part of 1875, the three village 
 districts were united into a Union School District, and in 
 1887, a new school building was erected on the Sullivan 
 street lot, in which, since that time, all the departments of 
 the school have been held. 
 
-15- 
 
 Select Schools. 
 
 There have been in the village, at all times until the for- 
 mation of the Union School District, private or select 
 schools, sometimes as many as seven. It would be impos- 
 sible, if it were desirable, to enumerate these schools, as 
 there is, of course, no record of them. Some were kept for 
 only a single term, and others continued in operation for 
 years. Some were good, some bad, and some indifferent. 
 Those that were elementary need no particular mention as 
 they probably did not differ greatly from the common 
 schools, except that, being confined mainly to the instruction 
 of small children, they were more orderly. 
 
 I may be permitted to say, however, that one of these 
 schools was held in the building which I now occupy as an 
 office, and there I went to school before I was three years 
 old. Thus I am ending life where I began it, sleeping in 
 the room in which I was born, and passing my days in the 
 room in which I began the business of life. 
 
 There were some schools of a higher grade. 
 
 In 1815, Theophilus Wilson, a young physician of great 
 promise, and, in the language of the inscription on his 
 tombstone, "a graduate of Dartmouth college and an orna- 
 ment to his profession, to society and to the church," died 
 by taking poison through mistake, leaving a widow, Grace 
 Wilson, and a son a few months old. The young widow, in 
 order to support herself and her child, opened a girls' school 
 on Sullivan street, directly opposite Seminary street, and 
 continued it for about twenty years. The building was of 
 two stories and there were two departments, one for young 
 
16 
 
 ladies, and one for little girls. The only boy who ever at- 
 tended this school, besides Mrs. Wilson's son, was the late 
 Denise Ledyard. The little girls were taught in the lower 
 room by an assistant, who for many years was Miss Abby 
 Staples a neice of Mrs. Wilson. The young ladies were 
 taught above by the principal. The whole school, however 
 had their lessons in writing from Mrs. Wilson, who excelled 
 in penmanship, and the assistant taught arithmetic in both 
 departments, as Mrs. Wilson was not good at figures. Be- 
 sides the ordinary curriculum, the young ladies were 
 instructed in embroidery, in drawing and in painting in 
 India ink and in water colors. In painting and drawing, 
 monumental urns shaded by weeping willows were the fav- 
 orite designs, and many specimens of this work are still ex- 
 tant. Mrs. Wilson lived in a small house situated near 
 the center of the lot now occupied by the Union School 
 House. The front yard was full of lilac bushes, with a 
 grass plot between the house and the school, and an apple 
 orchard at the sides and in the rear of the house. A lady 
 who attended this school in 1825 says, "to my childish 
 eyes this was the prettiest and greenest of spots." 
 
 In 1834, a Miss Talcott opened a young ladies' school of 
 high order, at first kept in Mrs. Wilson 1 s school house, and 
 afterwards in the old Madison County House on the south 
 side of the public square. Of this school, the same lady re- 
 marks, "she changed our studies from dry Arithmetic and 
 Latin to the more interesting ones of History, English Lit- 
 erature, Physical Geography, etc.. to our great delight. I 
 must say that old Dr. Blanchard was a splendid teacher of 
 mathematics." 
 
 For some years, about 1850, the Misses Savage, nieces of 
 Gideon Hawley, the first State Superintendent, had an ex- 
 cellent girls' school on Mill street. 
 
 About 1830, Daniel E. Burhans opened a boy's school in 
 a building which stood on Seminary street, just west of 
 
the 'Baptist church. Burhans was the son of an Episcopal 
 clergyman of prominence in Connecticut, and was himself 
 a highly educated man. He must have been a good teacher for 
 those times, or his grave faults would not have been so long 
 tolerated. It was a large school, boys of all ages being ad- 
 mitted, and there being at all times an assistant teacher. 
 He was of intemperate habits, and it was not unusual on a 
 Monday morning to find a notice on the school house" door, 
 to the effect that the school would be closed for a time on 
 account of the sickness of the teacher. On recovering from 
 the effects of his Sunday debauch, he would reappear and the 
 school would be resumed. He was crael to the last degree. 
 The boys regarded him with absolute terror, and yet they 
 had a certain respect for his abiltiies. At last, the time 
 came when Barhans' sprees became so frequent and so j>ro- 
 longed, that toleration ceased to be a virtue, and a High 
 School was instituted in a building which was erected for 
 the purpose on the corner of Sullivan street and the public 
 square, under the general auspices of the Rev. E. S. Bar- 
 rows, the pastor of the Presbyterian Church. I think I am 
 not mistaken in believing that this school was started in 
 rivalry with, if not in opposition to, the Seminary. Its 
 head teachers were college graduates, and its course of 
 study was about the same as in the academies of those days. 
 Among its teachers were Lysander H. Brown, afterwards a 
 prominent lawyer of Northern New York, who died within 
 the past year; Henry Callahan, who died in 1888, having 
 for the last quarter of a century of his life been the princ- 
 ipal of a celebrated school in Delaware County, and a Mr. 
 Whiting, a queer absent minded man, who afterwards 
 became a Mormon elder. There was another master of this 
 school, as to whom I deliberately and solemnly resolved 
 that, if I lived to "grow up" and ever met him, 
 I would whip him if I could ; and further, that if I 
 did not live to ' ' grow up ' ' , or should never meet him, I 
 
would, on the Judgment Day, myself arraign him at the 
 bir of Almighty God for his cruelty to me. When I did 
 "grow up" I, of course, thought better of the latter part of 
 this resolution. The first clause of the resolution I have 
 never formally recanted. Whether, if we should meet, I 
 would carry it out, I declare I do not know. I used to long- 
 to meet him ; now I hope we shall never see each other. It 
 seems horrible— it is horrible, that I should thus bear an 
 enmity for a life time. But I vividly recall with what sav- 
 age glee he lacerated my tender flesh with his cruel raw-' 
 hide, upon little or no provocation, and now, after the lapse 
 of more than half a century, my old, sluggish blood runs 
 hot with indignation, when I recall the physical agony, 
 and, more cutting than his blows, the deep humiliation, the 
 abasing degradation which this man inflicted upon me, 
 causelessly and wantonly. But there was another teacher, 
 Frederick Dean, just, kind, capable, accomplished, and I 
 think learned, whom I loved with the passionate devotion 
 which I think only a school-boy can feel for one of his own 
 sex. He administered corporal punishment, but for just 
 cause, not brutally, but as if he suffered more than the cul- 
 prit, and when it was over, often both teacher and pupil 
 were in tears. Soon after leaving Cazenovia, he went 
 as a missionary to far-off and benighted Texas, and died of 
 yellow fever almost immediately upon arriving there. I 
 remember that, on the Saturday afternoon after I heard of 
 his death, instead of joining my fellows in their sports, I 
 went alone to the cemetery to mourn for my friend who 
 then lay buried in a distant land. After Mr. Barrows went 
 away, the High School as such was discontinued, but many 
 private schools were kept in the school-house on the square, 
 some for boys, some for girls, and some for both sexes. 
 Many of these schools were of high character. 
 
The Seminary* 
 
 Of the Seminary, it is not within the scope of this ad- 
 dress to speak. Although it has been of the greatest bene- 
 fit to the educational interests of the place, its influence has 
 been general rather than local. " Its sound has gone out 
 into all lands, and its words unto the ends of the world." 
 Yet it would be inexcusable not to mention the names of 
 Augustus W. Smith, erudite and blameless ; of John W. 
 Tyler, who dying at the age of twenty-six, leaving neither 
 child nor literary production, yet left a memory which, 
 after the lapse of sixty years, is still green; of George Peck, 
 shrewd and far-sighted ; of Alverson and Armstrong, 
 thorough and enlightened ; of the Bannisters, Henry and Ed- 
 ward ; and of Bostwick Hawley, not to speak of those now liv- 
 ing to adorn the highest stations in the church, or the leading 
 chairs in universities ; or of those, of lesser fame, who 
 have played well their part in the conflict between igno- 
 rance and knowledge, between vice and virtue. The glo- 
 rious history of the Seminary was recited at the semi-cen- 
 tennial of 1875 and is recorded in the volume published the 
 next year entitled, " The First Fifty Years of Cazenovia 
 Seminary." Of its present condition, we shall hear some- 
 thing later this afternoon. 
 
 It would be unpardonable not to mention Orlando Blan- 
 chard, in even the briefest review of the educational institu- 
 tions of Cazenovia. He taught in the Seminary, in the 
 select schools, and gave private lessons. He was a profound 
 mathematician, an enthusiastic astronomer, a skilful chem- 
 ist, an expert pharmacist, and a practical mechanic. He 
 
wrote an arithmetic, which, far excelled anything published 
 before his day. He constructed orreries, clocks and organs. 
 He calculated for himself the orbits of the planets and 
 measured the flight of comets. But he loved no man and 
 hated every woman. " Grand, gloomy and peculiar. ' ' with- 
 out kindred and without friends, he pursued alone the ten- 
 or of his way, commanding respect for his splendid and 
 versatile genius, and repelling all sympathies, by his intol- 
 erable eccentricites. 
 
 Schools of Olden Times. 
 
 In speaking of the schools of former times, I can only 
 speak of them as they were in my school days, that is 
 from 1830 to 1840. 
 
 Two things must be first said. The rural district schools 
 at that time were superior to the village district schools. 
 For this, there was good reason. The rural population was 
 then at its height. The rural population of school age was 
 at least double what it is now, and they continued their 
 attendance upon school to a much later age. It was com- 
 mon for young men and young ladies to attend the winter 
 district school until the age of from 17 to 21 . So it was, that in 
 districts where there were in attendance sixty years ago 
 forty or fifty pupils, there are now no more than fifteen or 
 twenty, or even less. 
 
 In the village, however, there were always select schools, 
 which took away the larger number, and, on the whole, the 
 better class of small children, and the young men and young 
 women went to the Seminary, the high school, or to Mrs. 
 Wilson or Miss Talcott. 
 
 Again, the district schools were not as uniform as they are 
 now. There was no standard of qualification for teachers, 
 
and no system for their examination. School officers granted 
 certificates to teachers upon such examination as they 
 chose to make, or upon no examination. Then there was 
 no effective supervision. The district commissioners had 
 not been provided for, and the office of State Superin- 
 tendent was vested in the Secretary of State. 
 
 In fact, every thing depended upon the teacher. If the 
 teacher was capable, it was a good school. If he was in- 
 efficient, it could not be helped . 
 
 The furniture of the school house was of the rudest 
 kind There was a continuous desk around the wall for 
 the older scholars, with backless benches, generally made 
 of slabs, before them, and smaller benches down the middle 
 of the room for the little ones. There was a small black- 
 board about large enough for one or two children to use, 
 and that was all the apparatus, except the instruments of tor- 
 ture. 
 
 The text books, according to modern standards, were 
 wretched. They contained rules which were to be learned 
 by heart, but explained nothing, and illustrated nothing. 
 Even the geographies were as dry as the multiplication 
 table. 
 
 The teachers were of as many kinds as there are trees in 
 a forest. They had absolutely no training in the theory 
 and practice of teaching. Though Pestalozzi had died in 
 1827, his works were unknown in this country, and Horace 
 Mann did not commence his great work until 1837. There 
 were no normal schools, teachers classes, or teachers insti- 
 tutes. There were no teachers associations, and no period- 
 icals treating of methods in teaching. The teacher work- 
 ed in his own way, absolutely uncontrolled and unadvised. 
 There were some college men, who worked their way by 
 teaching school in the long winter vacation. There were 
 other bright young fellows who took up teaching to earn 
 the necessary means to prepare for the professions. There 
 
-22- 
 
 were some hard headed older men, like Enos dishing and 
 the Severances, who taught school in the winter intervals be- 
 tween their other avocations. There were a few capable 
 men and women who made teaching their profession. And 
 there were a host of young men and women, half educated, 
 immature and wholly indifferent to their work, who taught 
 for a term or two, through the favor of the trustees, simply 
 for the pittance they could earn by it. When a teacher had 
 a genius for the work, an enthusiasm was aroused which is 
 never evoked at the present day. 
 
 Of methods, there were none. The lessons were learned 
 from the text book by heart and recited literally. If the 
 pupil could recite the lesson in the very words of the text 
 book, it was all right, whether he understood it or not. If 
 he could not, punishment followed. The teacher sat in his 
 chair all the time, except when replenishing the fire, 
 or administering discipline. In arithmetic, we learned the 
 rules by heart and applied them to the examples, under- 
 standing nothing of the reason of the processes. I did not 
 understand square root until I was nearly a man, although 
 I could work out all the examples. In geography, we were 
 made to recite in concert the names of the rivers, capes, 
 mountains, etc., thus : "Lake Maracaibo, Lake Maracaibo, 
 Lake delosPalos, Lake de los Palos," etc., Cape May, Cape 
 May, Cape Henlopen, Cape Henlopen," etc., but we knew 
 nothing of Physical or Political Geography as it is now 
 taught. 
 
 Much attention was paid to oral spelling. Spelling con- 
 tests were frequent, and often the older inhabitants of 
 the district would gather at the school house in the evening 
 and heartily engage in the fray. I do not think, on the 
 whole, the pupils spelt as well as the school children do 
 now. Writing was done mainly with the slate and pencil. 
 Paper was dear and there were no wooden lead pencils. A 
 very few children had pencil cases of real or base silver, 
 
2 3 
 
 the others had ''[plummets," which were of hammered lead 
 about as large as a slate pencil, sharpened to a point. 
 When a child was promoted to the dignity of writing in a 
 copy book with pen and ink, he brought a goose quill to 
 school with his copy book, made of cheap paper stitched 
 together. The time of the teacher between the hearing of 
 recitations was fully employed in making and mending the 
 pens, of which there was always a pile on his table, and in 
 " setting copies. 1 " In one exercise alone were the schools 
 of fifty years ago superior to those of the present day. In 
 reading and in declaiming, the greatest pains were taken. 
 Saturday forenoons, (for the schools were then kept five 
 and a half days in the week, ) were given up to reading and 
 declamation. The boys declaimed and the girls read before 
 the school at least once a fortnight. Then at the end of 
 the term there was an " exhibition." at which essays were 
 read, orations were declaimed, poems were recited, dia- 
 logues and colloquies were rendered with great effect. I 
 am very much mistaken, if, at those ''exhibitions " and 
 even at some of the Saturday morning performances in the 
 schools, there was not better enunciation, emphasis and 
 general delivery than is often found at the "readings" 
 and the '• recitals, " that we now pay money to hear in the 
 Casa-Nova. I know that Andrews used to "speak " better 
 on the Seminary chapel stage, than he does now from the 
 pulpit, and Tench Fairchild on a Saturday forenoon would 
 deliver Webster's reply to Haynes,or Mark Anthony's ora- 
 tion over the body of Caesar, with more force and effect than 
 is now often exhibited on the stage. Oratory seems to 
 have become a lost art, or least is relegated to the stage and 
 in a few instances to the lecture platform. 
 
 The schools were governed by terrorizing the pupils. 
 Corporal punishment was administered habitually, daily, 
 and often with the greatest severity. The ferule, a hard 
 wood ruler half a yard long and a third of an inch thick, 
 
24 
 
 was the usual instrument Besides, there were [he strap of 
 sole leather, the switch and the terrible raw-hide. These 
 were applied upon the hands, the thighs, the arms, legs, 
 and sometimes even upon the head or the feet. Some teach- 
 ers were very ingenious in devising new tortures. Child- 
 ren were made to stoop over and hold their finger over a 
 particular nail in the floor until their backs ached fearfully 
 from the unusual strain ; they were hung by their hands 
 upon an open door until the edge made creases in their 
 fingers ; they were sent out to cut an apple sprout to be 
 used for their own torture and compelled to harden it in 
 the stove. A peculiarly irritating punishment was to have 
 ones ears snapped by a quill pen, especially when it was ad- 
 ministered by the teacher approaching stealthily from be- 
 hind. Perhaps the worst piinishment that can be inflicted 
 upon a child five years old, is to shut him up in a dark 
 closet with the intimation that, if he made an outcry, some 
 crawling thing would come out of the dark corners and 
 bite him. All these punishments and others I have suffer- 
 ed, and I was a good boy too, as boys go. I do not mean 
 to say that teachers were uniformly unjust or that all 
 were intentionally cruel. The children often acted very bad- 
 ly, and I am sure that the teachers often did not know 
 how much pain they inflicted. It was the general custom 
 to flog and to flog severely. It was a point of honor with the 
 boys to make no outcry, as long as it was possible to re- 
 frain. The boy who could take a severe whipping with a 
 grin on his face was the hero of the hour. We never told 
 our parents of any punishment inflicted on us, and if they 
 discovered the blisters on our hands or the welts on our 
 bodies, we made light of it to them. This was partly be- 
 cause we thought it manly to refain from complaints, and 
 partly because we believed, often mistakenly, that they 
 would side with the teacher and punish us again. The ef- 
 fect of these severe punishments upon the sufferers varied 
 
— ^ 2S — . 
 
 with their dispositions. Some, a very few, became sneaks 
 and tell-tales ; some became sullen, moody and dispirited, 
 and some brave spirits bore their pains manfully, and ex- 
 ercised all their wits and energies in the endeavor to get 
 even with the teacher. The effect upon the discipline 
 of the school was unqualifiedly bad. There was almost 
 constant war between the teacher and the scholars, at least 
 the male portion of them. This war was open and declared 
 when we dared. When we did not dare, it was an guerilla 
 warfare. All sorts of tricks were played, and all kinds of 
 annoyances contrived to make it unpleasant for him. It 
 was not uncommon for the teacher to be thrown out of the 
 school house by the larger boys, and the school to be brok- 
 en up. It was often stipulated in the contract between the 
 trustees and the teacher, that he should have no pay, unless 
 he taught to the end of the term. Some districts acquired 
 a notoriety for its bad boys, and the principal qualification 
 for a teacher in them was to be able to whip the whole school. 
 Fighting was common, both between the boys of the same 
 school, and between them and outsiders, and no attempt 
 was made to suppress it. There was war for many years 
 between the high school boys, with their allies in the vil- 
 lage, and the Seminary students They fought singly and 
 by battalions. The Seminarians were called '" Brimstones," 
 I suppose because of the fervid character of the Methodist 
 sermons of those days, and in return they called the vil- 
 lage boys "Sulphurs." When a party of Seminarians 
 strayed beyond their precincts, especially in the evening, 
 the cry of " Brimstones " would be raised and the villagers 
 would hasten to the fray. All this has happily passed 
 away, long since. 
 
 But our school days were not, on the whole, unhappy. 
 Some of the teachers were kind, and many were just if 
 severe, and even the cruel ones had their gracious moods. 
 Even at the worst, we consoled ourselves with the common 
 
26 
 
 maxim, philosophical if imgrammatical: " Scolding don't 
 hurt none, licking dosen't last ]oug, kill me he dasn't.' 
 Then there were the joyous recesses and noontimes, with 
 their " two- old-cat," their " turn-out- jack " and their 
 "prisoner's base." And there were the blessed Saturday 
 afternoons, looked forward to with eagerness and remem- 
 bered with delight, when the "mountains and hills," the 
 " ice and snow," the "seas and floods," "all the green 
 things upon the earth," the "beasts and cattle," the 
 "worms and feathered fowls," and "all that move in the 
 waters," awaited us. And above all the childish friend- 
 ships. Other loves there are, more fervent and more dear ; 
 filial, fraternal, conjugal and paternal. But all these have 
 something of obligation. The love of a boy for his fellow 
 alone is unconstrained, free, equal and without a taint of 
 selfishness. It was my happiness to contract some of these 
 friendships, which have lasted through life, an d the frag- 
 rant memory of which, when severed by death, is the 
 solace of age. 
 
 The rural school house in the olden time was much mor e 
 the centre of social life of the district than it is now. Be- 
 sides the spelling matches, there were held in the school 
 house religious and political meetings, singing schools, de- 
 bating clubs, and literary societies, at which were often 
 read essays and poems of no little merit. 
 
The Union Schools. 
 
 In the autumn of 1875, as has been heretofore stated, the 
 village school districts were consolidated into a Union 
 School District For the remainder of the school year, 
 however, or until the fall of 1876, the former teachers were 
 retained and the schools carried on separately as before, 
 as it was a difficult task to arrange the course of study for 
 the graded school, and to grade the pupils. A comparison 
 therefore of the reports of 1876 and 1892, will show the dif 
 ference between the existing Union School and the district 
 schools immediately preceding it. In 1876, there were in 
 the village seven select schools ; now none, except a kinder- 
 garten for children under the statutory age. In 1876, there 
 were 516 children in the district between the ages of 5 dil&~ 
 21 ; in 1892, there were 483. The number of resident 
 children attending the district schools some part of the 
 year in 1876 was 217 ; the number in 1892 was 329. The 
 average attendance of resident children in 1 876 was less 
 than 96 ; in 1892 the number was over 246. The whole 
 number of days attendance of resident children in 1876 was 
 16,779 ; the number in 1892 was 47,872. In 1892, every 
 child in the district, except one, between the ages of 8 and 
 14, the compulsory age, attended the Union Shcool. The 
 number of teachers in the district schools in 1876 was 4 ; 
 in 1892 the number was 7. The expense of the district 
 schools in 1876 was $1,218.80; in 1892 it was $4,391.04. 
 The cost of a day's schooling in 1876 was about seven cents; 
 in 1892 it was about eight and a half cents. 
 
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 There is no academic department in the school. The 
 course of study includes only the ' ' common branches. ' 
 There are nine grades occupying a year each. The pupils are 
 instructed in reading, writing, spelling, grammar, arithme- 
 tic, civil government, American history, physiology and 
 vocal music. There is also a cooking class a part of the 
 year. In connection with the school there is a savings in- 
 stitution, the net deposits uf which by the children in the 
 school year 1892 amounted to $548.04. 
 
 There can, I think, be no doubt that this school is, as it 
 ought to be, by far the best school of its grade that ever ex- 
 isted in Cazenovia — -as regards the character and capacity 
 of the teachers, the methods and thoroughness of the in- 
 struction, the discipline of the school, the behavior and 
 studiousness of the scholars, and the happiness of both 
 teachers and pupils. 
 
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LIBR/ 
 
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