School Boards a Hundred Years Ago

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Tuesday, September 19, 1911: Thought this would be the last day for our substitute, but afterwards learned that he is going to teach tomorrow instead of having it off for the fair.

DSC04307.crop — Recent photo of building that once housed McEwensville School.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

It sounds as if the teacher had the option of deciding whether to give students the day off to attend the fair in nearby Milton.

I don’t know why there was a substitute teacher for the first several weeks of the school year (the teacher from the previous year was slated to return the following week) — but Thomas Kramm, in his History of McEwensville Schools, wrote:

The election of a teacher from the available candidates sometimes became a serious problem. In 1901, a sixth ballot was required to break the previous five tie ballots. In 1904, seven ballots did not results in the an election of a teacher. All candidates were rejected, and a slate of new applicants was considered. Just before school was to start, the eight ballot resulted in an election. This suggestions that there were probably power struggles within the board membership.

. . . At least one teacher and perhaps more would not return to teach the following year because the school board refused to increase the teacher’s salary.

Throughout the United States in 1911 there were more school board members than teachers. This had both advantages and disadvantages.

For example, in McEwensville there were two teachers (an elementary and a high school teacher)–yet there probably were either 4 or 6 members on the board.

The community was very involved in ensuring that the schools were high quality and met the needs of the community–but they also sometimes micromanaged the schools and perhaps didn’t always make decisions in the best interest of the students (as suggested by the quote above).

Milton Fair Coming: Best Ever with Only Clean Shows!

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Monday, September 18, 1911: This is fair week. It was rather doubtful looking this morning. Mother wanted me to take an umbrella, but thought it wouldn’t be called for. Pretty soon the sun burst forth and shone in all its radiance. Hope the rest of this week will be as nice as it was today.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

According to the Milton Evening Standard the 1911 Milton Fair was going to be the best ever:

. . . only clean shows

. . . the amusements will be fit for man, woman, or child.

As to the horse racing, it will be better than ever. The purses are the largest ever offered.

Will She Memorize 700+ Bible Verses?

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Sunday, September 17, 1911: Went to Sunday School this morning. I usually get there every Sunday. In fact I haven’t missed going since in January. One reason for my regular attendance is that if you learn a number of verses from the Bible (over 700 it is) you will in the course of time receive a Bible. I got a test of merit and a book this morning.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Whew, I can’t even imagine memorizing more than 700 Bible verses. It sounds like Grandma’s part way through the task. If it was me, I think that I’d give up before I even started.

Will she do it? . . .or will she give up?

This entry resolves one mystery. It explains why Grandma was so determined to attend Sunday school each week– even though she often was the only student in her class. For example, the previous week Grandma wrote:

Went to Sunday School this afternoon. I was the only one in my class today. It has happened that way for the past three Sundays. It is simply provoking the way the other girls attend Sunday School.

Pros and Cons of Recitation as a Teaching Method

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Friday, September 15, 1911: Had visitors at school today, but fortunately they didn’t stay very long. I’m so nervous on such occasions for fear I’ll make a break in reciting at class. More so if the visitor is an important one.

textbooks — Textbooks published in 1910 and 1911.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Since the high school had had a substitute teacher since the beginning of the school year, I’m guessing that school board members or the county superintendent of schools visited the school to see how things were going.

When I read this entry I wasn’t quite sure what reciting meant in this context—though it had a negative connotation and made me think about students’ memorizing poems.

I was surprised to discover that recitation referred not only to orally presenting memorized text, but also to orally responding to questions by the teacher. And that it was commonly used with small groups of students in multi-grade classes. Some students would be working with the teacher while others were working independently.

The one-teacher country school regularly faces the challenge of a wide range of grade levels and academic growth. One response to the multi-age conditions of this naturally small institution is a teacher’s regular use of “recitation” lessons with individual and small groups of students. This pedagogical device is a common legacy of the one-teacher country school. . .

. . . This instruction involved little more than the teacher lecturing and students reciting memorized passages or orally answering a series of questions as directed by the teacher’s textbook guide. Student learning was determined through the accuracy of the recitation and appropriateness of responses to teacher questions. Students were then introduced to the next topic and their assignment in the textbook. They were expected to work quietly and individually on their preparations for recitations.

It requires a good deal of self-discipline on the part of the student. “Doing school” for the students means continually keeping up with one’s work, knowing that you will face the teacher regularly, and understanding that neither is a choice. It is traditional in the sense that is presents itself as common sense, or just the way things are done.

While very few would advocate this as an acceptable model of instruction in public schools today, the form of the country school recitation, with its predictable student-teacher interaction and emphasis on independent work, nonetheless appears today as a sensible practice for curriculum and student management.

“Notes on a Country School Tradition; Recitation as an Individual Strategy,” by Stephen Swidler (Journal of Research in Rural Education, Spring 2000)

This description brings back memories of my mother. She taught in a one-room school-house for a year or two when she was in her early twenties. She used to say that she thought that multi-grade classrooms were the best place for learning. Students who excelled could listen to the lessons directed at an upper grade class and accelerate their learning.–and the student who was behind could discretely listen to the material being taught to a lower grade. It gave the child the opportunity to relearn the material that he or she hadn’t grasped the previous year without embarrassment.

Mona Lisa Missing: Was It in the US?

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Sunday, September 10, 1911: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. I was the only one in my class today. It has happened that way for the past three Sundays. It is simply provoking the way the other girls attend Sunday School.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

I think Grandma attended the McEwensville Baptist Church and that the church closed sometime before 1920. Based on these diary entries it’s easy to understand why the church was shuttered a few years later.

Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’m going to tell you about a historic event that occurred in 1911–

Mona.Lisa.photo — Mona Lisa (Photo source: Wikepedia)

On August 21, 1911 the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in Paris. I’ve seen several articles recently about the hundredth anniversary of the robbery. For example, the Los Angeles Times had an article about the theft. The picture was eventually recovered in Florence, Italy in 1913.

I tend to think of McEwensville as a very isolated spot in 1911–and that Grandma would have known nothing of events happening half a world away–but actually she may have known about the robbery.

I was amazed to discover that at least one paper in rural central Pennsylvania, the Milton Evening Standard, was covering the story. The September 9 paper discussed the robbery—and that the U.S. secret service was trying to find it.

Mona.Lisa.9.9.11 — Source: Milton Evening Standard (September 9, 1911) An aside: I'm not sure why the article says that the painting was stolen on August 22. Modern sources all say that was taken on August 21.

Who would have thought that a hundred years ago today people thought that Mona Lisa was in the U.S.?

Feeding Calves a Hundred Years Ago

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Saturday, September 9, 1911: Today was rather a blue Saturday. It was so rainy this morning. Henry the nosey one upset almost a whole bucket full of milk. I felt rather sorrowful, but there was no use of crying over spilt milk.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Who was Henry?—a dog?, . . a cat? . . . a calf? I’m guessing that he was a calf that Grandma was trying to feed. He probably was really hungry, and in his enthusiasm managed to tip over the bucket of skim milk.

A hundred years ago cream separators were commonly used. The cream was sold or used to make butter—and calves (and pigs) were fed the skim milk.

According to a book published in 1911 called The Farm Dairy by H.B. Gurler:

The calf should be allowed to take the first milk from its dam as nature requires this and if her rules are violated there will surely be trouble. After the calf has once nursed, it should be removed from its mother but fed its mother’s milk for a few days, depending on the vigor of the calf. Commence to add skim-milk after a week or ten days, adding a small amount at first and increasing it daily until the calf is on an entire skim milk diet.

There are a few simple rules to follow in growing calves on skim-milk. The milk must be sweet; it must be as warm as the mother’s milk and care must be exercised not to feed too much of it. There are many more calves injured by being fed too much skim milk than there are by not having enough of it. Four quarts at a feed twice a day is sufficient for the average-sized calf for the first month.

Add a spoonful of ground flax seed to each feed and teach the calf to eat a little corn-meal as soon as possible. Corn is the most economical food to balance a ration containing so much skim milk. Feed shelled corn as soon as the young calf will digest it well.

The Spice Islands

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Friday, September 8, 1911: Had to laugh at the mistake a certain pupil made in school today. It seemed so comical. Something about sailing to the Spice Islands, wherever they are, and that said person had to remain after school this evening in order to recite her history properly.

Molucca.Islands — 1910 map of Molucca Islands (just west of New Guinea). They were sometimes called the Spice Islands. (Source; Commercial Geography, 1911)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

This was the fourth day of the school year. I bet that the history text used at McEwensville High School began with Columbus discovering American—and that the question that the student missed was something about Columbus searching for the Spice Islands but instead finding America.

Years ago the Molucca Islands were often called the Spice Islands. They are now part of Indonesia. In 1911 they were part of the Dutch East Indies. According to a 1911 textbook:

The Moluccas are still, as they were when Columbus set sail in search of them, and chanced upon America, the spice islands; thought the spice trade has relatively declined in modern times, owing to the use of fresh meat and green vegetables.

Commercial Geography (1911) by Edward Van Dyke Robinson

A footnote indicated that the chief spices from the East Indies were: black pepper, cloves, nutmegs and cinnamon.