Evening Star Newspaper, September 29, 1935, Page 74

< Present Sys- tem’s Handi- caps Leave It Still Superior, to That Which Educated To- day’s Leaders in Capital’s Civic, Business, Social Spheres. By John Clagett Proctor. T IS but natural that there should be at least a few children who were not tickled pink to return to school at this season. How- ever, it is more than likely that in this respect human nature has changed but little, if any, in the last hundred years or so, and we| find the little people constituted just | about the same as they were, most likely, in George Washington's day, and before. Indeed, some children are born restless, are nervous and lack concentration, and for no par- ticular reason at all, just hate to be boxed up when their minds are on swimming, fishing, playing base ball, foot ball, or doing something of less profit than acquiring an edu- cation. Some—many old enough to know better—even carry their dislike for school to the extreme, and indulge in playing the “ancient” game of hooky, or truancy—deemed a more elegant way of expressing it—not realizing that if a liberal education is to be acquired, the time must be made up later, and, most likely, un- der difficulties such as are not usually encountered in youth. Few old-timers did not do the things, when they were young, that they would not argue against today, but they pald the price for doing it, just as the present indifferent student must also do later on. The school children of today en- Joy privileges and are blessed with conditions which their parents did | not have and could not expect, as the present generation can easily see| by glancing back a few decades and observe the type of buildings which were then called school houses. Some of these structures still are standing, but many have disappeared and only pictures, in some cases, give us a means of illustrating a comparison between those of yesteryear and to- day. There are many things which are near and dear to all, but few indeed will have a more lasting im- pression upon our minds than the humble, little schoolhouse where we learned our A, B, Cs, and how to add 2 times 2. Many a great man has traveled thousands of miles from his palatial home, just for a view of the little, one-room, red, frame build- ing where his education and his career began. Of the early many school houses in Washington which have disappeared, in some instances, not even a picture of the building remains. Some, how- ever, are still standing, though gen- erally dilapidated and uncared for. To many of the younger generation, their history is unknown, though per- chance, their parents or grandparents might have attended there-in their youthful days when they, too, like the school children of today, knew little of the problems of life or what was in store for them. Only recently, the writer visited Georgetown to see a school building erected 67 years ago, and where many an old resident of the west-end re- ceived his rudimentary education. Of course it is not being used for school purposes now, since other buildings much larger, better equipped, and more modern ‘in every way have gen- erally taken the place of the early school house. TH!S particular building, known as I% the Threlkeld School, is located sixth and Prospect streets. sixth street was not always a num- bered street, for “once upon a time” it was known as Gay street, and, still .later, Lingan street. The school was named for John Threlkeld, one of Georgetown's early mayors, whose home, known as the Cedars, occupied the site of the Western High School. The Threlkeld home was also occupied by the'Cox, Murdock and other old families of Georgetown. Capt. James Macubbin Lingan (usually referred to as Gen. Lingan), for whom Lingan street was named, was an officet In the American Revo- | John Musson, Barton Miller, Henry Upper. left: Jefferson Sta- ble School, site of the Hamilton National Bank, Fourteenth and G streets. Top center: Curtis School, O street between Wiscon- sin avenue and Thirty- third street. Upper right: EarlyLancasterian School, 3126 O street northwest. Lower left: Potomac School, Twelfth street be- tween Maryland avenue and E street southwest. Lower right: Jefferson School Building, South. west Washington, as it was when dedicated in 1872, due to strenuous objection to the editorials in the paper, later was forced to have it printed in George- town. However, by July 26, 1812, the publishing office was again opened in Baltimore, the editor being accom- panied from Georgetown to that city by Gen. Lingan, Gen. Henry Lee (“Light Horse Harry”), Capt. Richard Crabb, Dr. Philip Warfleld, Charles J. Kil- gour, Otto Sprigg, Ephraim Gaither and John Howard Payne, author of “Home, Sweet Home.” In a riot that took place in the Monumental City, which began on | July 27, 1812, and was precipitated by an editorial in Hanson's paper, Lingan was brutally murdered by a mob the following day. Of his last moments it is related that: “When the cry of ‘Tory, traitor’ first reached him hethen tore open his shirt, where the gash of the Hessian bayonet still glowed purple, and said: | ‘Does this look as if I was a traitor?'” | In 1908 Capt. Lingan's remains were removed from his private estate, Har- lem, in Georgetown, to Arlington Na- tion Cemetery. In 1880 teachers at the Threlkeld School were M. Josaphine Good, Kate | Reyburn, Lizzie L. Gray and Hadassah Bezll, and the firat-grade honor schol- ars for the year ending June 30, 1879, | were Emory Wilson, Myer Nordlinger, Chamberlain, Frank Wisner, John Shoemaker, Charles O'Connel, Wor- then Johnson, Bertie Chase, George‘ Weiss, George Strauss, Edward Som- | mers, Frederick Kleinschmidt, John | W. Coon, Amy Chamberlain, Charles | Hess, Harry Hillery, Willie Martin, Revere Rodgers, Ida von Dachen- hausen, Daisy Wilfong, Alfred Fisher, Joseph Bernard, Charles Hoffman, Albert Reynoids, Bennie Grimes, Charles Divine and Alfred Newman. Grade 2 also had some bright pupils who received ‘diplomas for some par- ticular study. They included Eugene Rhodes, Mar- garet Brown, Maus Commach, Ada Delzel, Cora Drury, Richard Frizzell, Walter Hospital, Frederick Johnson, Louis Lowe, Mary McNally, Mary Mitchell, Frederick Rick, Randolph Simmons, Lulu Smith, Carl Shoe- maker, Annie Tennant, Maggie Ten- nant, Robert Beckham, Lula Huth, Wesley Paxson, Cornelius Davis, Wil- liam McCormick and Lampkin Rob- ertson. Miss Good’s fourth grade scholars, who received certificates for excel- lence in studies are recorded as Maria Raelker, Kate Parkhurst, Cornelia Fuller, Ernest Shoemaker, Helen Bailey, William Lowe, Jennie Allen, Emma Allen, Mary Britt, Georgia Cameron, Florence Dyer, Jesse Don- aldson, Mary Englsh, Gertrude Kelley, Bertha Kalser, Minnie Knowles, Maud Lightfoot, Margaret Quackenbush, Mildred Roelker, Anna Small, Octavia Woodward, Hilton Carmichael, Fred- erick von Dashenhausen, Clara Grimes, Estelle Strauss, Mary Gurley, Lucy Gowans, Fielding Lewis, Mar- garet Burdette, Lillian Collins, Bertha Kaiser, Cora Nould, Helen Janney, George Probey and Isaac Nordlinger. ANOTH!R old Georgetown Public School, remembered, no doubt, by many an early resident, was the High Street School, located at the junction of what was once High and Market streets, now Wisconsin avenue and Thirty-third street. This build- ing was of frame construction, 58 by 30 feet, with basement and two stories. The contract for its erection was awarded to Mr. Simms in May, 1860, and the school was opened in Sep- temper, 1863. At the time the ground was purchased it was occupied by a residence owned by Mr. Reintzell. The site is now occupied by the A | Wisconsin Avenue Manual Training | School. To the writer this site has | its particular charm, since here was | located, in 1796, a large, two-story log house with frame attached.sdnto which his great-great-grandfather, John | Hines, and family moved about six years after they came to the District of Columbia. This property he sold in December, 17989, to & Mr. Kalden- bach, and temporarily moved to F | street northwest, between Twenty- third and Twenty-fourth streets, in Washington City, and shortly afte erward to the block bounded by D and E and Twenty-first and Twenty-sec- ond streets. Prior to selling his Georgetown residence he had pur- chased of Willlam Thompson, Esq. in 1798, a building lot on the south side of F street between Tenth and Eleventh streets northwest. Here he erected a dwelling in 1800 and occupied it the same year, it being the first house erected in that block. Oppo- site where his home then stood is now the department store of Wood- ward & Lothrop. Today Georgetown can boast of the oldest school house in the District of Columbia, erected in 1811 as a result of the introduction in New York, in 1806, of the Lancasterian system of education, which had its inception with Dr. Andrew Bell, a Scotsman, in 1787, and perfected by Joseph Lancas- ter at a later date. This early school house, now and for many years past a private resi- dence, at 3126 O street, was built as a result of a memorial to the Corpora- tion of Georgetown, dated October 22, 1810. It is of further historic interest since on November 10, 1817, a meeting was held here for the purpose of organizing a new Episcopal Parish, Geargetown. The meeting was Scott Key, author of Spangled Banner”; Thomas Henderson, # distinguished naval surgeon, and Gen. McComb, then the commanding general of the Army. Here George Dashiell became the first teacher and, as shown in a report published October 8, 1811, he proved a very successful and com- petent instructor, and it was he who suggested a similar school in Wash- ington. However, for some obscure reason, Mr. Dashiell was succeeded by Robert Ould, who was sent out by Mr. Lancaster to take charge of this school, and it was not long before he had as many as 350 pupils, all in & single room, although a few years later, in & report dated November 8, 1815, it was stated that “Georgetown has built & commodious and com- fortable house for the Lancasterian 8chool, in which more than 500 chil- dren are taught, and from which in- structors have been sent forth and are now disseminating education from this alma mater throughout the United States. But Georgetown was not without its fine school buildings in days gone by, such as the Curtis School, an ¢ \ church, which became Christ Church | attended, among others, by Francis | “The Star | eight-room brick structure, on O streét: between Wisconsin avenue and Thirty-third street, which was erected in 1875 at a cost of nearly $100,000. And this, too, when a dollar had a purchasing power several times what it has today. From the beginning space in this building was provided for the Peabody Library and the Linthicum Institute, and the prop- erty.is still being used in the same way—as‘a sort of joint tenancy. The school was named for W. W. Curtis, an early president of the Board of Trustees of the Georgetown Public Schools. TEACHING school in the District of Columbia in the distant past sometimes had its unusual require- ments without its just compensation, and many of the school masters had to perform other duties on the side to make ends meet. One of these, by the name Edward Tippett, tried his hand at inventing, and carried on as a farmer, a shoemaker, a huckster, a hirer of hacks and a preacher, while serving as principal teacher at the Easter Academy. Georgetown, however, had a unique and ingenious man who believed in making the punishment fit the crime | and who was not to be bluffed by children feigning teothache in order to be excused from attending school, and so, in September, 1853, according to Jackson's Chronicles of Georgetown, we find this principal, a Mr. Craig, who taught boys, being allowed $5 to purchase instruments for pulling teeth, "Tl!x extraction. of teeth,” we are told, “was not‘a punishment, but the toothache was such a common excuse for neglect of lessons and for non-attendance at school, that Mr. Craig came to the conclusion that the removal of the offending member was the best way of maintaining discipline. ‘And it was astonishing,’ said the trustee who explained this entry, ‘to see the business he did! Odontalgia became so contagious or | fashionable that Mr. Craig soon filled a quart cup, more or less, with trophies of his dentistry.’ " ‘The teachers of the Curtis School, as listed in April, 1876, were Bernard T. Janney, Laura A. Reed, Mrs. Mary E. Turner, Mrs. Mary J. Bates, Eliza- beth Dadmun, Florence P. Sullivan, Laura V. Blundon and Emma L. Go- How Navies Line Up Britain Has Margin in Hitting Power But Duce’s Fleet Is Faster. GREAT BRITAIN 15 — BATTLESHIPS — 18 HEAVY 17 LISHT ITALY (2 BUILDING) - CRUISERS — ] URAYY 36 -SUBMARINES — 48 2 ‘These silhouettes show how typical ships of the British and Italian navies appear when sighted from other vessels as they come up over the horizon. The figures indicate the number each country possesses in the four classes. By the Assoclated Press. HAT portends from the con- centration of British naval power in the Mediterra- nean has become a moot subject for world debate as people of all nations scan reports of develop- ments before the League of Nations at Geneva and the resulting reper- cussions from London and Rome, A veritable armada is flying the Union Jack at Gibraltar, Malta, Cy- prus and off the Suez Canal, for Eng- land has stripped her home waters and moved fighting ships from the West Indies and China stations. Typical of British might is the great battle cruiser Hood, whose silhouette appears at the top of the accom- panying diagram. She is of 42,100 tons displacement and carries 15-inch guns. Opposite hee is Italy’s battle- ship Doria of 21,555 tons with 12-inch guns. g Below is the British 7,000-ton cruiser Amphion, main battery 6-inch guns, with a speed of 32.5 knots. Italy’s Bolzano, & 10,000-ton cruiser with 8- inch guns, is rated at 35.5 knots, but she is reported to have done 39. ___THE SUNDAY ‘STAR WASHINGTON, -D. . SEPTEMBER 2;-1035-PART FOUK; dey. In February, 1880, Laura A. Reed was teaching boys and girls in | the eighth grade; Dexter A. Smith, | thé seventh grade; Mrs. Mary E. Tur- | ner, the sixth grade; Mrs. Mary Jane | Bates was teaching a mixed class of | sixth-grade pupils; Florence P. Sulli- | | van was instructing a fifth-grade class | of ‘boys and.girls; Emma L. Godey | taught a simitey 1 Katle A. Wilson taught the fifth grade also, and Kate M. Blundon taught both the fourth and fifth grades. No doubt many Georgetown men and women whose | hair is now streaked with gray, or| maybe entirely gray, will recall with | pleasure these old teachers. Beside the High Street School, the | Threlkeld School and the Curtis| School, there were four other pubiic | schools in Georgetown in 1880, but | then we must remember the popula- tion of this part of Washington was | nothing like what it is today. }THI old engine house at Nineteenth and H streets northwest did duty for a number of years &s & school house, and at least one of the present | members of the Association of Oldest Inhabitants, Walter B. Patterson, attended there in his youth. This gentleman later became a teacher in | the public schools and after having | served as a supervising principal for | many years, was retired in June, 1931, | ‘after a service of 46 years. He is now | holding an official position at Rock Creek Cemetery. | In 1883 Mr. Patterson was assigned | to the Force building on Massachu- | setts avenue, between Sixteenth and | | Seventeenth streets, and here he re- | mained until 1892, when he was transferred to another district. | Today the Force School is no doubt the most famous school in Washing- | |ton for the noted persons who at- | tended there in their early life. To attempt mention of the names of all would take too much space, but a few will give an idea of the high standing of the pupils attending this | old building. One, for instance, was Maj. Gen. Douglass MacArthur, who will soon take up his new duties of or- | ganizing the military defenses of the new commonwealth government of the Philippines, after having served as chief of staff of the Army since No- vember 21, 1930. Indeed, the military branch of the Government is more than represented in its graduates. A few, however, will suffice: Lieut. Col. Dean Halford, Q. M. C., retired; Lieut. Col. Frank Halford, U. 8. M. C,, retired; John Hudson Poole, former major, U. 8. A.; Philip Sheridan, son of the famous general, who died dur- ing the World War; Gen. John F. Myers, U. 8. M. C, to whom the Spanish flag floating over Guam was surrendered during the Spanish-Amer- ican War, and Gen. William M. Cruickshank. Robert Wallach, son of Maj. Richard Wallach, became an Army officer, and another scholar, Da- vid D. Porter—descendant of & line of eminent naval officers—led & de- | brother, | Estate Title Insurance Companies. | Bertha J. Armstrong, taught at this | the Purman boys, sons of Dr. J. J. Street School, junction of Wisconsin avenue and Thirty-third : - Firet ocoupled in 1863.. - tachment of Marines over the Island | of Sumar without a commissary. Fleming Newbold, business manager of The Evening Star, and his brothers, | John, Thomas and Henry, also at- tended here, as did Craig and James Wadsworth, cousins of former Senator Wadsworth; the sons of W. 8. Patton; Charles G. Sawtelle, Jr..Ammy officer, | and his Brother, " sons*or O™ Charles G. Sawtelle; Ewing Cockrell and | sons of Senator Cockrell; Randall Hagner; John C. Armstrong | of the District Building, and his| brother, W. Spencer Armstrong, vice president of the Columbia and Real The sister of the Armstreng boys, Miss school, and left here when ?e married Michael M: McNamee, now a retired colonel, United States Army, who saw service at San Juan Hill and else- where during the Spanish-American War, and who makes home in| nearby Virginia. One of his last as- | signments was as commandant at Fort Myer. 'HE Force School also had as stu- dents the Langhorne brothers, Marshall and Kerry; the present Lady Nancy Astor; Hayden Johnson, chan- cellor of the National University: Brig. Gen. Joseph P. Tracy, & native son; Purman; John M. and Edgar Hen- derson, whose father always mate- rially assisted the schools in obtain- ing flagpoles before they were provided for by the District. The Jefferson Stable School, which once stood on the southeast corner of G and Fourteenth streets, where Strong John Thomson, who ruled with a rod, had a notable career, but nearly all who attended there are now among the missing. The Franklin building, | where the 8chool Board now holds its meetings, was finished in 1869, and was attended by at least one of the children of the White House, as well as many of Washington's foremost citizens. . South Washington has several of its old schools still standing, among which are the Potomac School on Twelfth street south of Maryland ave- nue and the Jefferson school at Sixth and D streets, where the following teachers were employed in 1880: Isaac Fairbrother, Mrs. Mary E. Martin, M. Alice Carroll, Ellie Dunn, Mrs. Sarah E. Wise, Elizabeth J. Riley, Annie Van Horn, Susie A. Langley, Mary L. Strobel, Annie M. Whitemore, Mary A. Law, Clara L. Wilson, Rachel A. Garrett, Mrs. Mary A. Bowen, Ellen E. Haliday, Harriet L. Davis and Vic- toria V. Trook. This well known school of the sunny Southwest was dedicated December 7, 1872, and has graduated many men and women foremost today in the af- fairs of the National Capital. It was| one of the new school buildings erect- | ed during the preiod of the Territorial Government and at the time was one of the finest and most up-to-date structures of its kind in th= country. At this period nearly all the schools i Majority of Old Buildings Have Dis- appeared, but Some Standing Permit of Tell- ing Compar- isons With Modern Type Architecture. of “the island” were scattered around in rented quarters and the opening of the Jefferson school greatly relieved a bad situation. UT in what used to be called the “county,” or that part of the Dis- trict beyond the boundarg, or what is now Florida avenue, there were several early schools, of which the writer is somewhgt personally familiar. One of these was the Mount Pleasan! School,-Which stood about where is now the" Johnson School. In 1881 Delia M. Tingle taught grades 1 and 2 in this school. Eliza- beth P. Grigg, who succeeded William P. Lipscomb, grades 3 and 4, and Mr Julia E. York grades 5 to 8. For th year ended June 30, 1879, the follow= ing pupils, being instructed by Mrs. York, received diplomas as a reward for some particuar study: Albert S, Davis, , Frank P. Davis, Alice G. Emery, Althea R. Hamilton, Blanche 1. Howlett, Katherina Nichols, Hubert E. Pack, Annie D. Pyles, Mary G. Sax- ton, Louise G. Saxton, William Tan- ner and Gertrude Yeabower. Those who attended Miss Grigg's school and who were especially good in some particular way, were: Herbert C. Emery, Effie B. Spiker, Reeve Lewis, Henry Gilroy, Lorin W. Reid, Marga« ret D. Young, Ursula E. Hopkins, Min- nie L. White, Sadie A. Vyallace, Her- mian S. Wallace, Mary Widmay | Rose Burgess, Josephine C. Peck, | Katherine R. Peck. Vinnie Hodges, Fulton Lewis, Irby W. Reid. Caroline Yost, Philip B. Milton, William M. Purman, Minnie A. Conradis, Clarence Exley, Louis Long and Mabel Stickney. ! DUR!NG the year preceding the one | just mentioned, the following | names appear as having been pupils |of grades 4 and 5: Annie D. Pyles, S. Marie Gilbert, Louise G. Saxton, | Henry Yost, Europia L. Chase, Har- riet K. Lasier, May M. Pierce, Ger trude E. Yeabower, E. Edward Evans and Mary Saxton, Grades 1 to 3 contain some familiar names, as follo /s. Althea R. Hamile ton, Herbert C. Emery, Emmeline Tanner, Maud Lipscomb, Effie B. Spiker, Josephine C. Peck. Ursula E. Hopkins, William L. Sutphin, Winfred V. Sutphin, Robert J. Howlett, Wil« liam M. Purman, Henry Gilroy, Ful- ton Lewis, Marguerite Lasier, Mabel Stickney, Mary Widmayer, Katherine Nichols, Theodore F. Spiker, Albert W. Evans, Blanche I. Howlett, Edward K. Sturtevant and Maud M. Howlett. Hoy pleased it must make one feel, after the lapse of so many years, to see his name mentioned among the honor students of our public schools. Indeed. we scarcely realize as we g0 through life that a record is being kept of many of the things we do, Billion-Dollar Crop Seen. Wrm the new loan policy in con- nection with cotton production, the first billion-dollar crop since 1929 is anticipated this year. In th latter . the crop was valued at $1,445,000,000. From this point the value dropped to $483,000,« 000 in 1932, the low point. In 1933 |the value jumped mo:: than $400,- 1 000,000, but there was a slight lots | last year, the total value being $883,« 000,000. Buy Much Butter. Kn.uuo two birds with one stone, the Agricultural Adjustment Ad- | ministration has purchased about 3,500,000 pourds of butter. The pur- chases are an aid in providing a mar- ket for butter and at the same time | will be turned over for use of the relief administration to provide butter for persons on relief. Bids submitted for cheese purchases, however, were not satisfactory and-as street. & result no purchases were made 8¢ the time of letting the butter con- tracts, ’