BY C. D. BON OF OAKDALE

     (178) KNOWING that some changes would be made in the Oakdale school, I became acquainted with the members of the board, Messrs. W. W. Putney, S. C. Fairchild, and I. N. Taylor, and made an application for a position, to which I was finally elected. I do not say "principalship," as there were but two departments, and so there was in the schools a very mixed and chaotic condition, and but little chance for grading. During the year up to the time I began teaching, in April, 1882, there had been four different teachers, I making the fifth. Miss Lettie Cooper taught through the entire year and was efficient in the work and well liked by pupils and patrons.

     I found the educational interests of the community divided between the public school and a seminary which had been planned for Oakdale, and which plan had been carried out to the extent of holding a short term in the unfinished hotel building. It was in the plan that the public school should do the lower grade work, and that the seminary would finish the product in this so-called higher institution. This seminary had but one instructor, the principal, who was also the pastor of a local church. During the first week of April, 1882, the corner-stone of the seminary was laid with impressive ceremonies. I can vouch for the high quality of the addresses, for I heard them all, having dismissed my school to attend. Great were the expectations of the founders and sponsors, and I felt "blue," for I had seen, in another state, in a community much more thickly settled than this, a long, tedious and wasteful struggle between a small denominational school and the public school -- a struggle in which the (179) public school was for years dwarfed and the other one finally crushed out.

     Gates College had just been started at Neligh and by some of the projectors of the Oakdale Seminary it was thought imperative that Oakdale should have a denominational school of a high grade in order to compete with her rival commercially, politically and educationally. The result was even worse than had been foreseen, for the seminary lived a puny, weak, forceless life for a number of years and finally ceased to struggle; the building was torn down and the site sold, and nothing now remains but the memory of a fruitless undertaking that should never have been begun. The Oakdale community, in its attitude towards and interest in the public schools, suffered for years and was not entirely united until the last decade.

     I remained in the Oakdale schools three terms, resigning at the close of the winter term, 1883. Miss Cooper had been unable to complete her winter term with me on account of severe sickness, so her sister, Mrs. Campbell, finished her school -- six weeks -- and we were succeeded by Mrs. Olmstead, of Wisconsin, and Miss Compton, from Holt County. Miss Compton resigned before her term was out and was succeeded by Miss Lettie Cooper. The following teachers had been in the Oakdale schools in two years: Thomas Huntington, Miss Mina York, Professor Wilson, Madge Wilson, Miss Pettigrew, Lettie Cooper, C. D. Bon, Mrs. Campbell, Mrs. Olmstead and Miss Compton, ten in all. Is it any wonder that the grading was in a jumble and slow progress was made?

     Another hindrance to good work was met, -- the un-uniformity of text-books. While there was a sad want of uniformity in the country districts, the mixture in the Oakdale schools was grotesque. Some classes, arithmetic for instance, had as many as three different texts, with subject matter differently arranged and somewhat differently treated. The unifying of this dissimilarity was laborious for teacher and unsatisfactory to pupils. A legacy from the seminary combination plan of the terms before (180) was a college arithmetic and a physiology, and a class recited in each. Of course the work in such texts was too difficult for most pupils, and a change in text and in the grade of work meant some friction, and the chaotic condition of texts and grading necessitated too large a number of recitations. A part of the year I had twenty-four recitations per day. Perhaps some teacher at the present time, sitting in a well graded room, may have the time and talent to estimate the quality of the instruction and the benefit to the pupils. My present judgment is that the country schools of that period, 1880-83, as country schools, were superior to the village schools of Oakdale and Neligh, as village schools. The quality of the teaching generally was good, the classes not so crowded, the text-books were more uniform, and the course not so mixed nor the recitations so numerous.

     I visited the Neligh school during the mid-winter of 1882-83. Mrs. Olmstead, who taught at Oakdale the following spring, occupied the one-room school-house that Neligh then had, with the more advanced classes, and Miss Mary Nichol taught the primary classes in a little room down town. This little woman was a superior teacher and her primary work would be called good even now. Upon the whole I thought that the Oakdale schools were not any behind those of Neligh, unless it was in the matter of uniformity of books; in some particulars I thought them ahead.

     The public schools of Neligh were handicapped by Gates College, which was then, I think, in its initial year. Gates College was doing some work that should have been done by the lower grades of a good public school. Some of its work was far below college preparatory work, and the public schools suffered in consequence. Parents sent their children to Gates, first, to help a struggling school, and next, because it sounded so loud and large to say, "My son is in Gates College," "My daughter has just begun her college course." Schools of the grade of the Oakdale seminary and Gates College, in their primitive years can (181) not successfully compete with good public schools in doing the class of work that the public schools are designed to do. Years ago Gates was reduced from a college to an academy rank, but as long as it pursued a legitimate preparatory and college work it ranked high, measured by the best standard, its product. During this year I became acquainted with President Holt and Professor Gregory of Gates, both young, able, and enthusiastic teachers. These remarks upon Gates College are made with no intention to criticise, but merely to show the educational conditions of the time as I saw them.

     Perhaps some of the "old timers" still remember a debate upon woman suffrage that was held that winter, 1882-83, in Neligh. The question was stated affirmatively and was maintained by I. N. Taylor and C. D. Bon, of Oakdale, and denied by President Holt and Judge O'Day, of Neligh. There were at least three earnest, vigorous, cogent arguments from the speakers' respective view points. Three of these speakers still live and I wonder if time, experience, and knowledge have modified their views upon that question which is not settled yet, but is still alive!

     The county records make no mention of teachers' institutes prior to 1882, but investigation shows that at least two were held before that year. The first held in the county, probably, was one held in the school-room in Oakdale in September, 1874, and lasted three days. Robert Wilson, now our county judge, was the Oakdale teacher and dismissed school to accommodate the teachers' gathering. J. E. Lowes was the county superintendent, and F. A. Cogswell, county superintendent of Madison County, and Ephraim Squires of the same county were the principal instructors. Lectures were given on two evenings, one by some speaker whose name cannot now be recalled, and on the second evening by J. M. McKenzie, state superintendent. He also gave some entertaining readings, some of which Mr. Forest Putney quoted to me the other day, remembering them after a lapse of almost (182) thirty-five years. Mr. Suter tells me that this lecture was one of the grandest he ever heard. He also says that the attendance was good and much interest manifested. At that time Mr. Suter was teaching one and one-half miles north of Oakdale. This record is indebted to Mr. Suter, Mrs. Thomas Warner, and Mr. Forest L. Putney for interesting data. Former County Superintendent Merritt now of Seattle, Washington, in a recent letter to the Neligh "Register," furnishes the data of an institute held during his term of office, but does not say just when. Mr. Merritt was county superintendent from January, 1880, to January, 1882, a term of two years, so that his institute must have been in the summer (presumably) of 1880 or 1881. The place of meeting must have been the school-room that did service for several years and would hold about fifty people. The length of its session is not mentioned, but the conductor was Miss Merritt, of New York, the superintendent's sister. From all that I have heard of her, aside from what Mr. Merritt in his brotherly praise says of her, she must have been a lady of fine culture and high ability as a teacher. I regret that the names of the lecturers, as well as other items of interest, are not obtainable.

     The third teachers' institute, as far as we can learn, was held in Oakdale, August, 1882, in the Methodist church, and lasted two weeks, It was held in the church, as the school-rooms were too small. S. S. Murphy had succeeded Mr. Merritt as superintendent and was desirous of having a large institute. Times were getting better, schools increasing in numbers, wages of teachers advancing, and interest in schools was keeping pace with progress in other ways. He made, in some respects, large plans, to-wit, to have a large attendance and to furnish an ample program of study, but his funds being very "short" he did not have enough help. The writer, who was teaching in Oakdale, was engaged as conductor early in the year, and an elaborate plan of study and recitation, based upon the Wisconsin institute system, was scheduled and published. If Mr. Merritt's institute was the high-water mark one, this one of Mr. Murphy's was the deep (183) water one, for conductor and teachers were flooded with work. In scope the curriculum covered everything from spelling to geometry, including algebra and botany. Both study and reciting were done under high pressure, and I think that the mental digestive apparatus of the teachers must have worked over time the rest of the year to dispose of all the material that their intellectual maws were crammed with during that nine days' meeting. Bear in mind that all the recitations were conducted by one teacher, except a few in spelling conducted by Mr. Murphy. Mrs. C. L. Austin was employed by the superintendent to teach music, which consisted largely of chorus work, and was a pleasant restful relaxation from the strain of the text-book grind.

     The only official record of this institute is the following, which I saw for the first time the other day: "Paid C. D. Bon for nine days, institute work, twenty-seven dollars; paid Mrs. C. L. Austin for nine days' institute work, twenty-five dollars." On reading this I fell into a train of reflection which is not necessary to record here. During that session Mrs. Doctor Roberds gave some demonstrations in vivisection, which were interesting and instructive. From time to time the institute was addressed by visitors, among whom was W. W. Putney. Mr. Putney was capable of making a strong address upon any subject that he had studied, and upon this occasion he was at his best. State Superintendent W. W. W. Jones lectured the evening the institute closed. He was a real able lecturer and his address was inspiring and uplifting.

     In closing I may be pardoned for saying that the forty odd teachers composing that institute, about two-thirds of them young women, could not be overmatched in this or any other county, then or now, for brightness, earnestness, zeal, and hard work. I bestow no fulsome praise when I say they were a fine, a splendid company of young men and women. I appreciated them then, and was honored with their friendship; I still hold them in affection in my heart of hearts.

     To the pupils, parents, and teachers whom I knew in those far off years I send sincere and heartfelt greetings.