Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], January 08, 1914, Page 12, Image 12

About Springfield weekly Republican. [volume] (Springfield, Mass.) 1851-1946

Image provided by: Boston Public Library

                
12
SCHOOL AND COLLEGE NEWS
MODERN LANGUAGE TEACHERS
FROM THE CENTRAL STATES
Things They Discussed at a Recent
Meeting.
Correspondence of The Republican
Cincinnati. 0.. January 1. 1914.
About 150 teachers of modern languages
in colleges throughout the central states
from West Virginia to Texas gathered in
these meetings from December 29 to 31.
inclusive. The delegates were about equal
ly divided among the departments of En
glish. German and Romance languages.
Such a gathering has popular interest only
so far as it reacts on the activities of the
teachers in our colleges and through them
ou the life of the younger generation.
The great mass of people, who have no
professional interest in teaching are. how
ever. concerned in the significance of these
meetings in practical life. To them it will
l>e reassuring to learn what the president
of the central division of the modern lan
guage association of America, Prof T. At
kinson Jenkins of the university of Chi
cago, had to say about the character of
American scholarship in the past and the
present. In his address, speaking on the
theme of "Scholarship and public spirit,
he said that the scholars of the world have
been reproached for self-indulgence and
lack of heroism in great crises. They have
been considered supercilious, undemocrat
ic, and as lacking in public spirit, and as
not inspiring their students with effective
idealism. In reply, he referred to the rec
ord of our scholars, and chiefly to those 50
pioneers who led the procession of Ameri
<an students in quest of the treasures of
European culture. Ticknor, Everett. Ban
croft. Coggswell. Motley, Longfellow.
Whitney and Gildersleeve were among
these distinguished Argonauts, whose lives
are intimately connected with the public
service of their country. Such causes as
the education of women, temperance, aboli
tion of slavery, and prison reform received
their earnest support. The majority of
them served as teachers for some part of
their career and passed on to others their
own high ideals. A public-spirited scholar
ship has been the ideal from Ticknor to
Gilman. Angell, and the present genera
tion of scholars. Any other ideal is un-
American. Specialization is indeed practi
cal and required. But we must keep it
within bounds. According to latest esti
mates, the English language is spoken by
160.000.000 people. German by 130.000,-
000. and the Romance languages by 195,-
000.000. The teachers of modern lan
guages have a great responsibility to this
vast multitude in promoting the humanistic
program of freedom of inquiry, persever
ance in the search after truth, and broad
ening of the social consciousness. They
must add warmth and life to the light they
diffuse, like Bishop Lattimer, they must
“light a candle which shall never be put
out.”
It is pleasant to notice that the institu
tions which were instrumental in establish
ing these high ideals of scholarship in the
past, exert the controlling influence in
the present age of culture. Harvard, the
mother of all American colleges, has set
her stamp on very many of the men
occupying the important chairs in these
colleges of the middle West and through
them is molding that present generation.
It may be asked, what are these influences,
as they appear in meetings of this char
acter?* What fields are these intellectual
workers plowing? Do the questions which
concern them have any human interest?
Is the scholarship productive, which is
represented by these specialists of literary
and philological culture?
To these questions some encouraging
answer can be offered by a review of the
matters discussed at this conference. The
subjects treated in the papers were varied
in character and broad in their significance.
They show that our specialists have not
gone mad in what one professor has char
acterized as “frenzied research." The
meetings ser-e as a kind of clearing-house
of ideas. The thoughts wrought out in
the quiet study are here brought, before
the public attention, their truthfulness is
tested, they are viewed in their larger
relationships. In this way the narrow
specialist is guarded from over specializa
tion. and the busy teacher is brought into
touch with the stirring impulses in bis line
of work.
The breaking down of the old school of
literary criticism in Germany was the rea
son assigned by Prof J. Goebel of the
university of Illinois for the failure to find
suitable successors of Profs Erich Schmidt
and Jacob Minor in the professorships of
German literature in the universities of
Berlin and Vienna. The system of criti
cism built up by Scherer in the last genera
tion was an attempt to apply the methods
of natural science to the elusive properties
of literature. It focused the attention on
the formal features. There is now a
recoiling from that attitude. There is
a desire to press deeper into the main
springs of literature, to reproduce the life
which literature but imperfectly expresses.
Literature should not be put into alcohol
like dead specimens, but should be revivi
fied so as to react on the life of the
present. There is in Germany an intel
lectual unrest, a reaching out for a new
system of philosophy and ethics. A new
period of idealism is epming. and the study
of literature should be the ally of this
great movement.
Several papers dealt with the drama and
the literary currents active in the serious
drama of the day. Discussion of the mod
ern fairy play of the type of Hauptmann's
"Sunken Bell brought out the view
chiefly presented by Prof H. Babson of
Purdue, that such plays are weak in dram
atic power. The underlying thought of
the struggle of the individual to express
himself amidst adverse surroundings is an
impeachment of present-day life. These
plays extol individualism, distrust collectiv
ism. They represent the reaction from
naturalism, a return to the purer and
stronger forms of idealism.
1 he subject of children s singing games,
presented by Miss Jean Heck of Cincin
nati, evoked considerable comment. She
had questioned the children in the lower
grades of the schools about their favor
ite games and the points of interest to
them. She found a rich variety of "antes
but in all of them it was the action which
appealed primarily to the children. f n oth
er words, they dramatized their games
Their treatment of these games show how
folk songs and ballad dances developed
as the children in their artlessness and
unconsciousness present the conditions of
primitive folk.
It was rather remarkable that three of
the papers treated aspects of the art and
lechnie of the 12th-century French poet
Chrestien de Troyes. He is connected
with English literature by his versions of
the Arthurian romances and bis poems
were also the chief sources of the great
epic poets of medieval Germany Prof
.Nitze of the university of Chicago traced
the connection of Chresticn s technic and
ideas with Solomon's Book of Wisdom in
the Vulgate. To his material Chrestien
gave his own particular interpretation, the
snns, imparting a moral significance, and
introduced a new genre of literary work.
Several papers took up the baffling ques
tion of literary influences at work in im
portant periods of English literature. Thu*
j Prof Daniel Ford of thr university of
Minnesota presented the claims of Thomas
Heywood, who had at least “a maine fin
ger" in over 200 plays of his time, to a
parr in several of the semispurious plays
of Shakespeare.
The pedagogical interests of teaching
received attention in the department con
ferences which were held Tuesday aft
ernoon. Relaxing from the more profound
matters of the formal papers, the members
engaged in an open discussion of practical
questions, such as the teaching of com
position in foreign languages, the charac
ter of texts to be used in intermediate
classes. Deep interest was taken in these
conferences, which, to the regret of many,
were only too short.
The committee on simplified spelling re
ported the results of a questionnaire that
has been conducted with 450 members of
the association. It brought out the fact
that a majority were in favor of some sort
of simplification, though not agreeing
with those recommended by the simplified
spelling board. The association adopted
the resolution recommended by the com
mittee. ‘’that the central division favors
the movement for the reform of English
orthography." and authorizing the execu
tivo council to consider the subject further
an<] make recommendations at the union
meeting in 1915.
The joint committee on grammatical
nomenclatureprecAnted a voluminous report
in pamphlet form, which was approved.
The election of officers for the ensuing
year resulted in the choice of Trof Julius
Goebel of the university of Illinois for pres
ident. and of Profs Max Poll. Lucy M.
Gay and Morgan Calloway for the execu
tive committee. The university of Min
nesota was selected as the place of meet
ing one year hence. There was much praise
of the cordial entertainment provided by
the local committee of the university of
Cincinnati. w. a. c.
WILBRAHAM ACADEMY'S FUND
WHOLE SBO.OOO IS RAISED
Persistent Work Yccompiisherf the
Results Within Two Years.
Wilbraham academy celebrates the open
ing of the new year by announcing the
completion of the reorganization fund of
over SBO,OOO. This amount has been used
during the past 18 months in the recon
struction of buildings and in giving a
complete and modern equipment to the
academy for its new work as a school for
boys. The first step in the reorganization
process was noted just two years ago last
week when the announcement was made of
the election of G tylord W. Douglass as
headmaster. The actual work began when
Mr Douglass assumed the duties of his
new position February tj. 1912. The first
month was spent in perfecting plans, and
a preliminary campaign of six week® se
cured the initial funds '.hich warranted
the awarding of contracts for the recon
struction work. This work was carried
out during the summer of 1912 by the
Cummings construction company, and over
$70,000 was expended in reconstruction
work aktac. .V a Rich hall. Ihe
famous old dormitory, stands to-day as
one of the most complete, convenient and
modem school homes for boys in New
England.
The New Wilbraham, as it has come
to be called, differs from the larger in
stitutions in many essential points. The
number of toys admitted is strictly limited
and the standard of ^scholarship and per
sonal character is unusually high. There
is one teacher to every eight l»oys. which
insures particular attention to the needs
of ea»*y individual. There is also through
out the entire school Hie spirit and
atmosphere of a refined nome and none
of the usual features of an institution.
Last. June the first class of 1 I boys was
graduated from the reorganized academy
and is now studying in five different col
leges in New England.
The plans and methods of the New
Wilbraham have appealed deeply to the
loyal friends and former students of the
old academy who have contributed gener
ously toward the reorganization fund in
amounts from $1 to SBOOO each. There
has been no organized campaign to secure
these contributions, but the quiet ami per
sistent efforts of a few of the trustees
co-operating with the headmaster have
brought about this noteworth, result. The
completion of the reorzanization fund was
stimulated at just this time by the offer
two weeks ago by the Metiiedisr board of
education of $2750 to this work on con
dition that S9OOO more was secured before
December 31. These conditions have
been entirely met and last night the fund
was completed. The reorganized Wil
braham academy is therefore on a firm
financial foundation, and its cutkok for
the future is very promising. Perhaps
one of the best expressions of confidence
comes from the townspeople of Wilbraham
who during the last 18 months have vol
untarily contributed over S6OOO toward the
reorganization expense.
BIBLE IN THE SCHOOLS.
Religious Instruction Should Not Be
I.eft Out, Says Bryce.
Simplification of spelling will perhaps
be accomplished before the difficulty in re
gard to religious teaching in sr-bools is
solved, according to Viscount Bryce, for
mer British embassador at Washington,
who on Friday inaugurated at the uni
versity of London the conference on edu
cation at which 21 educational associations
were represented.
A great audience listened to Viscount
Bryce’s speech on "Salient educational is
sues.” He put in the forefront of his ad
dress a plea for the inclusion in the school
curriculum of moral training based on re
ligions principles. Bible and religious in
struction. he declared, must not be left out
of the schools. He said he had learned
how strongly Americans felt the need of
strengthening school work in this direction
among such populations as filled England
and America. Parents and Bunday-school
teachers could not. he declared, be relied
on to do all that was necessary, although
it was the first duty of a parent to give
his child moral and religious instruction.
The teacher, he continued, ought to be per
mitted to place his moral precepts a« the
basis of his duty to the deity and not one
out of a thousand of them would misuse
bis opportunity. Fie said he was sn-uek
with the fact that both in the United
States and England knowledge of the
Bible was declining among all classes with
an incalculable loss to the life of the coun
try.
FIRE AT DUMMER ACADEMY.
Oldest Preparatory School In America
Threatened With Destruction.
Dutfimer academy at North Byfield, the
oldest preparatory school in America, was
threatened with destruction last week,
when a dormitory was burned. The build
ing was the oldest of a historic group, once
a part of the estate of William Hummer,
lieutenant-governor, acting governor and
eommander-in-chief of the colony of Magi
sachusetta in 1723. It had been changed
into a dormitory only recently and was
io have been used for that purpose f t the
first time on the return of the students
from their Christmas recegs. Small fires
on the roof of the academy chapel and
other structures were quenched without
much damage. The property lost will not
exceed $10,600.
Dummer mansion, filled with relics of
Gov Dummer, including big library and
many paintings and pieces of rare furni
ture. was not seriously endangered, but
the townspeople, headed by Master Ing-
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKI^Y REPUBLICAN: THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 1914.
( ham of the academy, who now occupies the
, old manor house, prepared to protect it.
I At his death. Gov Dummer, who was born
। in Boston in 1061, left his estate for the
■ founding of the school now known as Dum
mer academy.
; A WONDERFUL INCA CITY
BINGHAM TELLS OF RUINS
Yale Professor Comments * pon Re
markable Civilisation Shown.
‘ What probably will prove to be the
; largest and most important ruin discov
-1 cred in South America since the days of
; the Spanish conquest—the discovery of the
| ruins of the city’ of Machu Picchu, the
■ cradle of the Inca empire, ou the top of
। the Peruvian Andes —was brought about
by the chance meeting of an expedition
under the auspices of the National Geo
graphic society and Yale university with
a Peruvian Indian. Details of the dis
covery became furth r Known last week
when the society made public at Wash
ington rhe preliminary report of Prof
Hiram Bingham of Yale, director of the
expedition. The expedition came across
the Indian, who was selling food and pas
turage for horses to travelers on the moun
tain trail. six days ont from Cuzco. Prof
Bingham says the Indian, when questioned,
said he believed there were signs of ruins
on the top of the high and almost inacces
sible precipices near by, and offered to act
as guide. The professor became interested
and a few hours later the ruins were dis
covered.
While it not only is larger and contains
more edifices than any other ruin discov
ered in Peru, except Cuzco, Prof Bingham
says. Machu Picchu also has the additional
advantage from an archeological viewpoint
of not having been occupied by descend
ants. which accounts for its not having
been torn to pieces by treasure hunters.
’’Machu Picchu," says Prof Bingham. “is
essentially a city of refuge. It is perched
on a mountain top in the most inaccessible
corner of the most inaccessible section of
the Urubamba river. So far as I know
there is no part of the Andes that has
been better defended by Nature. Here on
a narrow ridge, flanked on all sides by pre
cipitous slopes, a highly civilized people,
artistic, inventive and capable of sustained
endeavor—at some time in the remote past
built themselves a city of refuge. Since
they had no iron or steel tools—only stone
hammers—its construction must have cost
many generations, if not centuries, of ef
fort.
“Crossing the ridge and defending the
builders from attack on the side of the
main mountain range, they constructed
two walls. Within the outer wall they
constructed an extensive series of agricul
tural terraces. Between these and the city
is a steep, dry moat and the inner wall.
When the member of an attacking force
had safely negotiated the precipitous and
easily defended sides of the moat, they
would still find themselves onside the in
ner defenses of the city, which consisted
of a wall from 15 to 20 feet high, com
posed of huge bowlders, many of which
weighed many tons.’’ While not caring to
speculate on the habits of these ancient
people until after a more careful study
has been made. Prof Bingham says it is
known that they were masters in the art
of stone cutting, knew how to make
bronze and had considerable artistical skill
and ingenuity. They understood, he said,
how to plan great architectural and en
gineering works and to carry them to a
satisfactory conclusion. Prof Bingham's
final report will be made to the society in
the near future.
YALE LOSES BIG BEQUEST.
New Haven Woman Had Lett *700,-
000 to Institution.
Yale university was adjudged at New
Haven last week not entitled to a leg
acy of $700,090, by Judge Gilson in the
probate court. The money was devised
by Mrs Henry 0, Hotchkiss, who died last
year in Madison. Most of it had been ac
cumulated by Mrs Hotchkiss in fortunate
investments., for she started in 1883 with
$270,000. The court rules that the will
is void and the entire fortune must revert
to lineal descendants, because Mrs Hotcn
kiss did not get for herself complete and
ultimate control of the money.
'5 hen Mr Hotchkiss died he had pre
pared a will, but left it unsigned. It de
vised the bulk of the estate to the widow
The three ehild'on nade an M-raiigement
with their mother by which she was to
enjoy the estate. Sho supposed they
waived their claims entirely in her favor
Nothing appeared to the contrary until
after her death last year, when Mrs Louise
I horndyke Goodno of Pasadena, Cal., a
granddaughter, protested against the be
quest to I ale on the ground that she was
entitled to the one-third share of her fa
ther. Nathaniel Hotchkiss. Mrs Goodno’s
contention in court was that her father
had waived bis rights of inheritance only
temporarily, and had always supposed that
the estate would he distributed on the
death of Mrs Hotchkiss. Judge Gilson
took her view of the agreement made by
the mother and children. The university
authorities will appeal from the decision.
WESLEYAN ALUMNI DINE.
SpHngrfield Association Holds Reunion
and Elects Officers nt Highland
Hotel.
The Springfield alumni association of
Wesleyan university held its annual New
year's reunion, at which several under
graduates home for the holiday were pres
ent, at the Highland hotel Thursday night.
There were 27 men present and during
the evening a message was read from Pres
ident William Arnold Shanklin. W. F.
Sheldon, 1899. of Middletown. Ct., who
is secretary of the alumni council, presided,
and spoke on "The spirit of Wesleyan.”
He introduced several who responded to
toasts with reminiscences of their col
lege days. Malcolm Sherwood. Williams,
1914. spoke for Williams, conveying to the
assembly the heartiest good wishes of his
college. W. S. Robinson. 1914, spoke for
the Wesleyan undergraduates. Officers
were elected as follows: President. Samuel
D- Sherwood. 1881. of this city; vice
president. Robert C. Parker. 1893. of
Westfield: secretary-treasurer, William E.
H. Mathison. 1903, of this city.
Date Fixed for Vale Alumni Banquet.
The annual banquet of the Yale alumni
of Springfield and the neighboring cities
will be held February 20. Prof 'William
Lyon Phelps of Yale will speak and sev
eral other speakers will be present. The
Y'ale graduates from Westfield. Holyoke
and other neighboring cities, as well as
those of Springfield, will be present.
Sermon by- Dean Hodges at Mount
Holyoke College.
The preacher at the communion service
and also at the vesper service yesterday
was Rev Dr George Hodges, dean of the
Episcopal theological school of Cambridge.
Dean Hodges's sermon was appropriate
to the opening of the new year, based upon
the parable of the sower.
The Connecticut valley alumni associa
tion of Amherst college will, hold its animal
banquet at the Hotel Worthv Friday
evening, the 16th. at 6.30. ‘President
Meiklejobu will be present and "Billy”
Merrill and “Ned" Blake, young alumni
who are already famous entertainers at
gatherings of Amherst men, will be on
hand, as they were last-year. William F.
W lilting. ’B6. of Holyoke is president of
the association and George It Yerrall, Jr.,
1911. is secretary and treasurer. The oth
er members of the executive committee are
Fle t ch «ri ’»G A. B. Franklin,
Jr.. 1900, and G. Winthrop Brainerd,
UHL
SCHOOLS OF 60 YEARS AGO
ENTERTAINMENT GIVEN IN 1851
And Some of the Children Who Took
Part—School Conditions in SprinK
field> LaM Year as a Town.
There has come into the possession of
The Republican a copy of the program of
a public school entertainment held in
Springfield some years ago. This is the
way it reads:—
PUBLIC SCHOOL
CELEBRATION
SPRINGFIELD, OCTOBER 17th. Ibol,
IN DR OSGOOD’S CHURCH.
PROGRAMME
of
EXERCISES IN THE AFTERNOON.
1. PRAYER bv Rev Dr Osgood.
2 REMARKS by Hon Charles W I pbam.
3. MUSIC. Chorus: ’’Before all lands in
East or West.”
4. DECLAMATION by Oliver Edwards,
member of the High School.
5. READING by Mary Blake
Emeline Terry
From Dis. No 3.
Horace Eddy
Edward F. Gray
Albert M. Day
Helen N. Spencer
From Dis. No —
6. SINGING bv pupils of District No 2.
7. READING by Edwin D. Foster
Ellen Crosby
From Dis. No o.
Sarah J. Clark
Laura W. Willard
Mary E. Tyler
From Dis. No 4.
8. DECLAMATION by Geo. S. Strickland
Samuel (?) D. Lewis
From Dis. No
9. SINGING bv Pupils of District No 4.
10. READING by Annette Newell
Fanny B. Bunker
Martha Bush
Emma Trask
Eliza B. Stebbins
From Dis. No 1.
11. DECL. by Gurdon S. Phipps
Albert L^ Sturtevant
From Dis. No 1.
12. SINGING by Pupils of District No 1.
13. READING by Charlotte LeGro
Jane A. Wallace
Ellen M. Strickland
Ellen F. Crane
Mary L. Kinsley
Emily C. Newell
From the H. S.
14. DECLAMATION by Geo. F. Hills
Watson W. Bridge
From the H. S.
15. SINGING by the Pupils of the High
School.
16. DECLAMATION by Edwin S. Pease of
the High School.
17. MUSIC. Chorus. “Shall School Ac
quaintance be Forgot?"
EXERCISES COMMENCE AT
214 O’CLOCK P. M.
AT HAMPDEN HALL,
In the evening at 7% o'clock.
AN ADDRESS WILL BE DELIVERED BY
HON CHARLES W. UPHAM.
Other gentlemen are expected to speak also.
A FULL ATTENDANCE OF THE FRIENDS
OF EDUCATION IS DESIRABLE.
H. S, Taylor, printer.
The report of this “celebration" in next
day's Republican reads as follows:—
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND MB UPHAM.
One of the most interesting and beautiful
gatherings of children that ever transpired
in Springfield, occnred in Dr Osgood’s church
on Friday afternoon. The occasion for the
assembly was the visit of Mr Charles W. Up
ham, the lecturer employed by the board of
education. The entire body of the church
was filled with children from the various
public schools. They would average fully
eight to a pew and this would make their
entire number upward of 1100.
The exercises of the occasion were opened
by an appropriate prayer from Rev Dr Os
good, and Mr Upham then offered brief re
marks. He said that in all the scenes he
had ever witnessed, he had never seen one
that interested him as much as this, and
closed with a word of appropriate exhorta
tion to the young throng before him.
Tlie principal exercises consisted of deck
mations, which from their excellence engaged
the attention of the adult portion of the
audience, occupying thn entire galleries, until
their close, of the reading of the children It
would be impossible to speak in terms of too
high praise. It gave good evidence that this
important and usually neglected portion of
education is properly appreciated by our
teachers and that they are competent to
tea<'h it. The singing was very good and the
declamations a portion of them-of a char
acter that would do high credit to institu
tions of a more pretending name. We could
particularize and designate such perform
ances ns pleased us best, yet. while wo might
do justice to them, we should he liable to
do injustice to others. That confidence and
self possession which enable a pupil to do
admirably in school room, may not be equal
to a church. So our young friends (bless
their hearts’) shall not be harmed or disap
pointed. At about 5 o’clock tbp assembly
broke up. evidently pleased with the exer
sisos and encouraged by the interest mani
fested in them by the audience. The «ff n i r
was very creditable to the teachers, through
whose patience and thorough efficiency it wag
honorable to the town.
RrginningN of Careers.
That was a great day for Springfield, at
least for the school children. What a
flutter of excitement they must have been
in about 2% o’clock! It is much to be re
gretted that a more particular description
of the efforts of the children has not been
preserved. Highly as The Republican
praised them as a whole, there must have
been individual triumphs and catastrophes
that would be very interesting now in view
of the subsequent careers of the children.
How, for instance, did the youthful Oliver
Edwards. later so famous in the great
war, get through with bis declamation?
Did be break down and look helplessly
for aid to the prompter, or did h P gaze
blindly into the distance and put it through
with a rush? Possibly he was moved
to falter by irresistibly humorous signals
from his school mates in the pews before
him. At any rate, it is safe to say that
the latter tried to bring him down from
his flight into the realms of oratory. That
some of the speakers were frightened more
than ordinarily is hinted at in the report
and it is not surprising that this should be
so for it was a larger gathering than prob
ably most of the children had ever faced
before.
It will be noticed that most of the chil
dren taking part were girls. At first this
does not look well for the boys of 1851.
but a closer examination shows that all
the declamations were delivered by hoys.
The girls seemed to shine especially in
“readings.” whatever they were. There is
nothing to indicate how many there were
in the chorus, or what the music was, or
the names of the songs by the different
districts. That the custom of paraphras
ing well-known songs for school use is not
now is shown by the title of the final song.
“Shall school acquaintance be forgot?”
There is a noticeable lack of foreign names
on the program, for that was in 1851.
Most of the pupils who took part are
dead now. Some of them have been Jost
track of, altbongh all could probably he
traced without much trouble. The career
of Oliver Edwards in the I nion army is
well known. He was honorably discharged
in 186(1 as a brevet major-general after
most active and useful service. The far
thest flights of imagination of those watch
ing the youthful orator on the platform of
the old First church that day in October,
1851, did not portray him receiving the sur
render of Petersburg. Many of the hoys
then attending school were destined to take
part in the great struggle that broke out
nine years later. At least one other of
those on the platform that day is known
to have fought for the Union.' This was
Gurdon S. Phipps, who while a member of
Gen Sickles's brigade was killed in a
skirmish in the fall of 1862. Before his
enlistment be bad been employed in the
Chicopee national hank. He was a brother
of Miss Caroline 8. Phipps, who lives at
287 In ion street. Edwin I), Foster also
entered the Chicopee national bank after
leaving high school. From there he went
to New York, where he is still in business
with the J. Spencer Turner company of
Worth street. He celebrated his 60th wed
ding anniversary last month. His wife
Most of the children left Springfield,
was Mary Phipps, a sister of Miss Caroline
■ Phipps.
some of them to go far away. F. Edward
Gray became one of the most prominent
business men of Pasadena. Cal. Albert
। L. Steurtevant was one of the first to
. complete the full high school course in
Springfield. He left here in 1859 and
■ after holding other positions became head
' of the stationery division of the treasury
I department at Washington. He died there
i last summer. Albert M. Day is still liv
■' ing in Chicago, where he has become
I a millionaire. Annette Newell, who is
| the sister of City Clerk E. A. Nowell.
; is now Mrs L. E. Poole of Pittsfield, and
is the author of several boys' books, short
stories and other articles. Ellen M.
Strickland and Ellen F. Crane both be
< ame teachers in the Springfield schools
nnd served long and faithfully. The
Strickland school was named after Miss
Strickland. Both she and Annette Newell
were at one time editors of the high school
paper, the New Portfolio. Martha Bush
married Dr F. D. Willard of Boston and
lived in that city many years. Dr Willard
has been dead for some years and Mrs
Willard when in Springfield makes her
h 'me with Miss Caroline Phipps. Fanny ;
B. Bunker married Capt B. Stothard. a ■
retired naval officer. After living in New ;
York state for some time, they went to |
California, where she died several years j
ago. She was always active in Grand ,
Army matters and was secretary of the '
women's relief corps in Oakland. Her
brother. Charles Bunker, ll.es at 95 ;
Mulberry street. Mary 1.. Kinsley mar
ried A. K. Tingle, who was employed |
in the treasury department at Washing- I
lon. She died about 25 years ago. Emma i
Trask was a daughter of Eleut-Gov :
Eliphalet Trask. She lived in Springfield :
until 1866, when she married Edward
Newcome and went to lira in Albany, N.
Y.. where she has lived ever since. She
has three children, none of them resi
dents of Springfield.
The future was not worrying the boys
and girls who stood on the platform be
fore HDD of their schoolmates and a gal
lery full of grown people, to say nothing
of the distinguished guest whose coming
had been the cause of the celebration.
They had trouble enough of their own to
manage the periods of those declamations
and the inflection of the readings. They
made, no doubt, a very pleasing sight, the
boys in their long trousers and jackets
with brightly-polished brass buttons, and
the girls in white frocks and pantalettes.
It was the nearest approach to fame that
some of them were ever to achieve, and
the memory of the occasion was cherished
by them all. The newspaper report does
not mention the prayer by Rev Samuel
Osgood, who was pastor of the ehureh
from 1809 ’to 1854. but. after looking into
the eyes of the host of children before
him he must have been moved to ) ray elo
quently >f he ever did. It would be inter
esting to know how many there are in
Springfield who were present in that
audience and remember the details of t.he
celebration. It was not by any means
the first public school entertainment in
Springfield, but it must have been one
of the largest and most memorable.
School Troubles of Those Days.
But after the pleasures of the after
noon a somewhat depressing experience
awaited the “friends of education" at 7'j
o'clock in Hampden hall, which stood
where the Five Cents savings bank is
now. Here is what The Republican had
to say about it:—
In the evening a respectable audience as
sembled in Hampden hall to listen to Mr
Upham. Mr Calhoun, the chairman of the
town school committee, introduced that gen
tleman with some important remarks, in re
lation to the eoudltlon of Springfield schools.
Ue said that the exhibition at the 'htirch
did not show the real state of tne schools,
but rather what they were capable of. In
order to make the schools thro’out what
they might be. it was necessary that the
conditions of excellence should be complied
with. An examination of the registers of
the schools shows that there is great irregu
larity of attendance. Children are allowed
to slay at home, and some of the schools
have been nearly broken up. discouraging the
teachers and producing the annual waste
of a large amount of money. This evil is as
great now- as it ever was, and it is only
through the the efforts of our excellent per
manent teachers that the schools have been
improved at all. He urged parents to at
tend to this matter, and to show their love
for their children by making them do their
duty.
Mr Upham opened his subject by the an
nouncement of the proposition that legisla
tion had already done its whole duty in
Massachusetts in regard to schools. This
he proved by a recapitulation of the various
acts in their behalf, commencing as far back
as 1847. The remainder of the work rests
with the people. The influence of schools
upon all the great facts of our history as
well as upon all the great facts of our pres
ent position, and the influence they are to
exert on the future destiny o f the common
wealth. with the natural reflections to be
drawn from it. and the policy suggested by
it, were dwelt upon at length and with
much earnestness and enthusiasm.
"The friends of education” must have
come away from that meeting feeling
somewhat saddened over conditions. With
all the schools in the city going to the
dogs because the children—the little
wretches—would play hookey, the outlook
was dismal enough and must have occa
sioned grave fear for the safety of the
three R's. It is to be hoped that the par
ents who attended that meeting went home
with deep determination to see that every
child was on hand when the bell rang at
the school next Monday morning. The re
cent exhibition of school work at the time
of the municipal dedication exercises was
testimony to the fact that Springfield now
has a school system second to none in this
country. What gratification the sight of
■ this exhibition would have given to Mr
Upham. Mr Calhoun and the other gentle
men who were expected to speak also!
H. S. Taylor, who printed the program,
had his shop on Sanford street next door
to The Republican office. He employed
18 hands, one-third of them girls. His
machinery was driven by a four-horse
power steam engine built by Harris &
Carpenter of Springfield. He rose to the
occasion by printing the program with a
beautiful decorative border and by setting
[ Ilie display lines of the text in its many
i styles of type as be could.
FOR EDUCATIONAL LECTURES.
Board of Trade Plans an Interesting
Series of Talks.
The board of trade is planning to orig
inate soon a series of monthly educational
lectures with the idea of acquainting the
people of Springfield with the industrial
i life of their own city. A lecturer will ’
j be provided by the local office of some i
| large manufacturing company and he will j
> he a local man connected with the bt:si- !
‘ ness office in this city. The industrial com- ।
' mittee is in charge of the lectures and the j
s first one will be given about January 15.
! One lecture will be given each month for
about six months, and the public will be
invited to attend. It is planned to have
| such Concerns as the Hendee mannfaetur
; ing company, Stevens-Duryea company,
' Smith & Wesson and the Strathmore pa
i per company provide men for the lectures.
I This is a new departure for the board
of trade, and the lectures have been ar
ranged because it is recognized that the
residents of the city really know very little
I about what is manufactured in their city
i and .especially what the general processes
of manufacture are. It is believed that'
these lectures will peform a real miblic
| good. The plan is in accordance with the
[ general purposes of the board of trade of
; acquainting jwople with local industries.
A I.OSG-TIMF. nKA<»EH.
■ To (Ac Editor of The Jtenublican:—
1 I think it was December. 1861. that, my
j husband sent our first subseription for
j The Weekly Republican. We continued to
take it as long as he lived, and I feel that
1 I should lose a dear and very useful
| friend if I do not send tny renewal. Al-
though I cannot always agree with the
editorials, I enjoy reading the neper—would
rather have it than any magazine I know
of. I especially commend vour articles on
the segregation of the colored workers in
the government offices. I sometimes won
der thnt the colored people do not demand
segregation. Why. when they were slaves
they were nurses for the sick nnd for the
children, should they become so obnoxious
now? A. T. N
Denair, Cal., December 28, I!D3.
FEMINIST PLAY AND AUDIENCE.
Brleux's “La Femme Seule” Seen by
Sympathizer, NVho Enjoy Allusions
to Women “Staying at Home."
Brieux’s play, “La Femme Seule,”
translated by Mrs Bernard Shaw-, has
been produced as the first of a series of
plays in the women's theater venture at
the Coronet theater. London. A. B-
Walkley’s review in the Times is highly
entertaining:—
"M Brieux’s play reminds one of those
plays written to exhibit a various collec
tion of scenery which the management
have in stock, and called by some such
title as Round the World in Eighty Days.
This one might be called Round the Wom
an Question in Two and One-Half Hours.
The author seems to have looked up all
the disabilities, real or imaginary, under
which women labor in our modern society,
and to have determined that his heroine
shall endure them all. Incidentally, if
there are a lew he cannot get in on bis
heroine's back, he gets them in through
conversations. The great thing is, by hook
or by crook, to get them all in. That is
what, of course, is bound to happen when
your author is a propagandist in the first
place and only in the second place an art
ist. He keeps his eye on the 'cause.’ and
his play has to follow, anyhow’, helter
skelter. whithersoever the 'cause’ leads.
"Therese. suddenly made penniless and
resolved to seek her own living, is con
fronted with all the difficulties and is re
quired to argue all the possible arguments
of the situation. The first elderly pater
nal gentleman she meets serves up to her
the old advice about marrying money, and
she has to return his service with the old
remark about a wife without love being
merely a 'kept woman' plus a ceremony.
The first elderly maternal gentlewoman
she meets lectures her on the impropriety
of a single woman living alone. Neither
elderly gentleman nor gentlewoman, you
feel, has any reality; they are simply
there to give out the commonplaces which
Therese is triumphantly to refute.
“So it is in Therese’s first place, the
office of the feminist organ, La Femme
libre. The several women journalists
there employed are there not as human
beings, but as gramophones to give out
more aspects of the woman question;
tlie ‘sweating’ of women by women's
newspaper proprietors, their only alterna
tive of a husband, (or a lover,) the pathos
of old maids who would have liked to be
mothers, and so forth. Of course the
newspaper editor makes love to Therese
—that is what editors are for in most
French plays—and of course she has to
repulse him with general observations on
the vieiousness of that horrid animal man.
By the way, this precious editor talks of
Therese ‘having a down’ on him; nature
had surely intended him for a sporting
journal. One of the ladies of his staff,
when told that a friend has gooa news
for her, answers gayly: ‘What is it? Are
all the men dead?’ a jest which convulsed
the audience last night with laughter.
After that the most ppoular joke was any
allusion to woman ’staying at home': it
never failed to bring down the house.
"Poor Therese! Having failed with jour
nalism, she took to bookbinding. That was
because M Brieux had got down in his
list the item: 'Hostility of workmen to
female labor,’ So Therese headed a work
women's union, which accepted a lower
wage rate than the men's union, and there
upon the unions fell to fighting. Inciden
tally yon saw how much more selfish and
brutal the workmen wore than the women
—how- they took the chairs and made the
■nomen stand, how they fought with
stools, while the women used only scissors.
Alas! the employer (a man, and therefore
an abject weakling) had to give in to the
men's union and to sack their bete noire,
poor Therese. She was left on her way
back to Paris—where she will doubtless
have many more adventures and argu
ments as the heAyine of the next ‘cause’
which M Brieux may be moved to ex
pound. Wr had forgot to mention that
Therese had a lover (of course in the re
spectable sense of the word); but he was
a poor silly boy. with no will of his own,
and, what, was worse, with a wealthy fa
ther. so that poor Therese. couldn’t, marry
him lest she might be accused of interest
ed motives. So there was an end of the
love affair, which troubled you not at
all. because it was obviously no love af
fair, but only another facet of the woman
question.
"Therese was Miss Lena Ashwell, bux
om. and finite jolly in her innumerable
opportunities for triumphing over men, ov
scorning men. or suffering picturesquely
at the hands of men. Miss Nancy Price,
as a lady -editor, wore ravishing gowns
and looked as distinguished ns a duchess.
Miss Suzanne Sheldon distinguished her
self as the lady who would have rejoiced
to hear that all men were dead, and Miss
Sarah Brooke, as another lady who pre
ferred a well-to-do lover to virtuous starva
tion. resigned herself to that fate with an
air of most cheerful martyrdom. Natural
ly, the men in the cast call for no men
tion. They also were martyrs, martyrs to
the great woman's cause which demanded
that they should be either brutes or nin
compoops; and they evidently felt their
position acutely. The Coronet was over
flowing last night with an audience chiefly
composed of ladies, who applauded every
item of the plav with frantic delight.
Q. E. D.”
Brieux on His Play and the Woman
Question.
Although Mr Walkley says that the au
dience was composed mostly of women,
and although it is easy to imagine the
mental complexion of the type to which
the play appeals, Brieux says that he is
addressing his own sex. Moreover, his at
titude is reserved nnd reasonable. Inter
viewed bv the Paris correspondent of the
Pall Mall Gazette, lie said:—
“To tell you the truth. I had no notion
of addressing my remarks to women: I
was addressing my own sex. The play
is aimed at masculine blackguardism. I
have been labeled all sorts of things: An
advanced feminist, a reactionary, even an
anarchist. But I decline to be put into any
category. Still less do I wish to criticize
English methods. However, you may say,
certainly, that I disapprove of violence,
even when provoked by other violence.
The destruction of works of art and other
acts of the sort seem to me to reawaken
the instinct of savagery, which our civil
ization tries to overcome, just as it tries
to overcome the collective savagery of
war. As a man. I am embarrassed by
seeing men struck by women. For one
thing, they are prevented from replying
with their fists.
“Let me emphasize my desire not to
speak of the movement. Quite other in
terests appeal to me. They concern the
men. Whatever ills woman has. they are
due to man. She suffers by his fault. The
amelioration of the lot. of woman resides
in the improvement of the education of
man. I don't incite women to revolt in
■Li Femme Seule’; I address myself to
men. The solution of the problem is ‘ehez
I'homme,’ and it involves, as I say. an
improvement in his morals and his man
ner of regarding women.
“We do not want, man to be taught to
respect woman in the Sense of greater gal
lantry. It is not that sort of respect I
mean; the kissing of hands and the carry
ing of parcels, etc. No, no. But he must
| be taught, not that woman is his equal,
but his equivalent. Again, the despotism
of the male must disappear. It ik fright
• ful savagery when he says. ‘Give yourself
to me, or you do not eat,’ This is one as
pect of the question as dealt with by my
i play; the other is cconomii competition
Iby woman. Man regards her as Uis ene-
my. because she works for less money,
and introduces a surplus of labor m-o the
market. The result must be a lowering
of wages.
“The education I would impose upon
the man would show him the necessity of
providing for the woman and thus enable
her to remain at home, the guardian of
his heartli, his constant counselor and
companion. The education of the woman
would show her that her role is much
more dignified in attending, at home, to the
education of her child, in whom rests the
future of the country.
"A reactionary? Hopelessly old-fash
toned?” M Brieux laughed. “Yes. they
will say all that. But. believe me, a
woman is not diminished in undertaking
stteb work. It is superior to being an 'avo
cate’ or a doctor. But there is something
maternal also in the doctor, for the wom
an practitioner presumedly serves wom
en and children and gives simply a wider
scope to her natural instincts.”
GLEANINGS AND GOSSIP.
A Baltimore traveler accused Boston
women of being able to talk on but six
topics—the weather, divorce, I'hristian sci
ence, the race problem, the civil war and
scandal. But almost nnv one of these ean
be made to co a long way.
The new directory of Milwaukee gives
the city a population of 401,124. says an
exchange The directory contains 174.402
names, and using the United States census
ratio of 2.3 persons to each name, the to
tal population is estimated.
The new home of the Women’s univer
sity club, built at a cost of $250,000, was
opened at New York Saturday- for the in
spection of members and their friends.
The club will occupy the building, which is
eight stories, high, on February 14. It is
suid to be the first women’s club-house in
America.
Anybody’ who wishes' to make monev by
traveling should emulate the Italian. Rev
Adolfo Vattuone. who spent several
months in the Andes, and is now returning
to Italy with vicuna skins, said to be
worth SBO,OOO. which he acquired for a
trifle. But it is to be feared that if many
speculators should visit the same region,
prices w-ould go up.
The gross receipts of the New York
post-office for the year just ended exceed
ed by more than $4,000,000 the figures for.
the 12 months preceding, according to a
report made by Postmaster Morgan. In
1913 the receipts were $30,002,089.29.
against $25,747,233 for 1912. The increase
equals 16.40 per cent. In December the
Christmas rush rolled up receipts of more
than $3,000,000, an increase of 25 per cent
over 1912.
The number of suicides in the United:,
States in 1913 showed an increase over'
last year, the number being 13.106. as
compared with 12.981 in 1912, according
to figures collected in Chicago. The pro
portion of suicides as between men and
women remains about tjte same as in pre
vious years, being 8602 males and 4504
females. Physicians, as usual, head the
list among professional men, the number
being 34.
Official publication of the tax returns
shows that to date there are 90.959 auto
mobiles in France, as against 76,771 dur
ing the year 1912. Most of them, of
course, are located in the Seine depart
ment, which includes the city of Paris, in
which tile number increased to 15,219, a
surprisingly small gain of only 1830 over
the record of the previous year. These
figures best serve to show I hat were it not
for its gigantic export business the French
automobile industry would be “small pota
toes” indeed.
It is rather surprising to find that the
highest peak in Ohio has but now been
determined. That there should be any
peaks at all in Ohio is rather astonish
ing to the tourist who passes through the
northern part and finds it as flat as Hol
land. but the southern part is hilly on a
small scale. The record hitherto has been
held by a peak in Richland county, near
Mansfield, which rises to the proud emi
nence of 1479 feet, but a recent survey
shows that Campbells hill in Logan county
overtops this by 71 feet.
Sarah Rector, who will pay the largest
income tax in Oklahoma, is a child of 10
years and of mixed blood, says a western
paper. She is the descendant o^ a Creek
freedman and received her allotment o£
160 acres, which has become extremely
valuable, owing to the fact that the
“Jones pusher," the biggest oil well'in the
midcontinent field, is on the property. The
well produces about $2500 worth of oil a
day and she receives one-eighth as her
share. She. it is said, never saw the land
on which the gusher was struck.
California expects an Inrush of European
immigrants when the Panama canal is in
full working order. It. will be interesting
to observe how far the habit of dealing
with too plentiful supplies of orientals will
affect the attitude of the state toward oc
cidentals whose ways and speech are also
different from those of the native’ born.
The South, with its Negro problem, has not
been highly successful as yet, in making
European immigrants feel at home. A
broad field of common humanity is needed;
for the meeting of people who are to work
together for eventual assimilation. The
European immigrant, at least, cannot, be
treated as of an inferior or essentially,
different race.
Ernst Haeckel, the leading Monist.—a
great man in science, if not in higher
things—requests that his “friends, pupils
and disciples” who intend to celebrate his
80th birtliduy, February 16 next, by mak
ing him gifts, shall instead turn the sums
which they would thus spend to an "Ernst
Haeckel fund for Monism,” at the disposal
of the German Monists’ union. The pur
pose of the fund, he says, “shall inces
santly further culture of free thought on
the positive basis of natural science, and
furnish the necessary means to carry on
practically its numerous important tasks.”
Thus, he says, his “friends and comrades’’
will “support the work of my long life.”
It surely is a pity the great old scholar
doesn't admit a ray of the life of the spirit
into his materialistic monism.
Despite skepticism, antiquaries continue
to find landmarks of the Rome of Romulus
and Remus, and Commendatore Boni, who
on January 1. 1899, discovered the-black
stone which he takes to mark the grave
of the legendary founder, has now made
an equally notable discovery in the mun
dus or certtral monument of the primitive
city on the Palatine hill, which Romulus
traced with his plow. Until the scoffing
of Voltaire early Roman history used to
be taken with a queer literalness, much
like the book of Genesis; with the begin
ning of scientific investigation the men
dacity of Roman tradition became a by
word; Greek legends might lead to some
thing substantial in the way of ruins and
relies, but Roman story seemed to rest on
a void. Of late some progress has been
made by science in this difficult field,
though not all archeologists lire prepared
to accept Prof Boni’s discoveries.
While the new dances are being at
tacked from many quarters, a New York
teacher of the art, Miss Flora Voorhees.
s< cs in them “the spirit of the age.” If
the spirit of the age includes lawlessness,
she is undoubtedly right, for she goes on
to say that the crying need now Is for
some standardization, ho that people can
danee together Without embarrassing them
selves and each other—even in the same
community the most chaotic divergences
are found, .and widely different things go
by the same name. These discrepancies
ai’e no doubt largely responsible for the
conflict of opinion as to the morality of
the new dances—a matter which depends
much less on the danee itself than on the
way it is performed. The divergencies are
due in |Hirt to the extravagance of a
rowdy smart set ou the one side and the
efforts on the other of reputable teachers
of dancing to adapt the new figure's to re
spectable use. Rightly danced. Miss Voor
hees insists, the new dances are not in
the least objectionable, nnd reformers will
have a better chance of success if they
support dpceney than if they attack nov
elty. A new dance is as hard to kill ns a
new style of, music ov literature, but it
gar be civilized,