Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 12, 1905)
THE OMAHA " ILLUSTRXTED DEE. - rrrh ia, lfjoa. ' South -Omaha's Handsome Newly Erected High School Builds Jr.; ;i ; . ' -'.""if" .It,, , 1 . .! fi' 'i ' fc-" 1 ,.V-E :4 ' f ( I t" I:!' S : I I' CHEMICAL LABORATORY OF THE NEW SOUTH OMAHA HIGH SCHOOL. 80UTH OMAHA'S FINE NEW HIGH SCHOOL. BUILDING WHICH WILL BE USED ON MONDAY FOR THE FIRST TIME BT CLASSES. I T I high school building In Bouth I nmihi March 11 mark the be ginning of a new era In the his tory of the public schools of tht Mario city. For years the need for a larger and better equipped building for the high school has been keenly felt, and for years It has-been the hope of the cltlsens to erect one of the best buildings of Its kind In the state. Knowing the marvelous growth of the city In the last few years, and realising that It was destined to In crease Its population much more - In the next few years, the people did not want to build until they could erect a school house which would be amply large for the Increase 'of a reasonable period of the fu ture. Their hopes have been realised now, and they have a school building which may well be their pride, being sur passed perhaps but by one school building In the state. Monday morning the pupils Will leave their places In the old high school building and take their seats in the new quarters. The school is at Twenty-third and J streets. ' It sits on an eminence, which commands a larger portion of the city and towers above all other structures in the vicinity. From all parts of the city 'It can be seen, and from the distance It has much the appearance of a hen with a brood of chickens. The new building Is three stories In height. Including the basement, and Is 180 feet In length by' 160 'feet In width. It is built of light colored pressed brick and trimmed In atone, and It makes Indeed a beautiful . appearance, with Its rustic style of archi tecture. It stands today the pride and boast of every citlaen of the Magic city,' .',. as well as a monument of credit to the authorities managing and directing its con struction. It affords plenty of room for all departments,' a feature which has been sadly ' lacking for several years. In the old' building at Twenty-fifth and L streets th students scarcely had more than room to. 'breathe; and whole departments were ' crowded into small- rooms which on ac count of ' their else limited the equip ment. ' Out side of the regular school building seven rooms were rented in oli I tot buildings and other places. A large number of the pupils In these .rooms can Dow be accommodated ' In the old high school building. There are thirty-two r ortm s. Including 'offices, with capacity to aooommodate from 1,000 to 1,200 students. This will take care of the Increase for a long time. $ In the old building were few facilities for the study of chemistry and biology, but here there is ample room for the work and the laboratories of these departments are comfortabfe and well lighted. Where for merly a number of students did their re search work at one table each one will now have his own private place for work. The teachers In these departments are enthusi astic about their new quarters. An Impor tant feature to not la the fact that rooms are provided for manual training. Thee are iff the basement, which Is well lighted and fully as well furnished and comfortable as those on the other floors. They are to be fitted up especially for training In the various manual arts. In the basement are also gymnasiums, one for the boys and an other for the girls. They were provided on the theory of the Board of Education that the body should be cultivated along with N. M. GRAHAM, PRINCIPAL, SOUTH OMAHA. HIGH SCHOOU the mind. There Is a library room, too, which Is far better than the old. It Is not Intended for study, but only for the keep ing of books, and the students may get the books and take them to the study rooms. The library Is a good one, but prog ress Is the watchword of the school, and steps will soon be taken to Increase the number of books. The equipment and appointments of the entire building are modern and up-to-date. Among these might be mentioned the heat ing and ventilating system of .direct and Indirect radiation, automatically controlled, and a house telephone system, connecting ail parts of the building with the office of the principal. One of the unique features of the structure is the large auditorium, seated with opera chairs to the number of W0, an excellent provision to meet the needs of the modern high school In Its literary and musical programs. It is the Intention of the school board to make the grounds as beautiful as" the building, and this spring the block will be sodded over and trees and shrubs planted. At present the grounds are entirely bare. Black dirt will have to be hauled and spread over a part of it. The progress of thehlgh school has been phenomenal. According to the records It was first opened In September of 1888, with , five students. The first graduation class took glplomas In 1892 and consisted of five members, who finished a three-year course. Mr.- Richmond, the present supervisor of muata, waB a member of this class. Up to date 187 -graduate have been given diplo mas. At the present time 324 pupils are en rolled, doing work In five different tour year courses of study, namely: Classical, , Latin-scientific, German-scientific, English an commercial. Thus pupils have ample, opportunity to prepare themselves for any line of work. The building, with i'ts ampll- . fle.il accommodations and new equipments, in' spacious quarters, will render better work possible as well as more pleasureable. . N. M. Graham Is principal of the . high ' school and has. held this position four year., ..... With regard to tne public schools, South Omaha enjoy the distinction of having made the most rapid growth of any city of Its slse In the country. The city schools opened under their present boundaries in 1887, when the population was about 400. At that time Balthus Jetter, John Ryan and George Morrison were the rural school directors. Of these old-timers only Balthus ' Jetter Is now alive. September 12, 18S7, the first day of school, saw about ISO pupil enrolled. , By the end of the month the number had reached 200. Four teacher were then employed. The remarkable growth of both' city and schools is shown by the fact that for the year 1904 the en rollment was 4,906. That at the present time Is larger than for the corresponding period of last year. The total population of school age in 1304 was 6.C63. V South Omaha has practically built a school building every year. There are now fifteen school houses in the city and 128 teachers are employed. The schools and the number of teachers for each are here given: High school, fifteen; Hawthorne, fourteen; Jungmunn, ten; Brown Park, fourteen; Madison, six; Highland, nine; West Side, twelve; Corrlgan, seven; Lowell, nine; Lincoln, twelve. Six special teacher are also employed.. The total value of the public property used for school purpose I $327,500. This Include the new high school building. All of the buildings are In ex cellent shape and are kept up by the . Board of Education. Improvements are being made all the. time and the board manages to get along nicely with the Income pro vided. All teachers and janitors are paid In cash at the present time and the only Indebtedness the district ha Is on account of the new high schooL Even with the &ew building', all the school in the city are crowded, with the exception of the Lowell and Highland schools, and provision will soon have to be made for the creation of one or two more ward schools. The monthly pay roll of the teachers now amounts to 17,600, and with $1,000 for the janitors each month the total amount to $8,600. Superintendent J. A. McLean ha estimated the average cost . of educating a pupil In the public schools of South Omaha at $27.64. and this com pares very favorably with any of the schools of the state. The Board of Educa tion 1 composed of Dana, Morrill, preal dent; Jay Laverty, secretary; P. J. Brock, C M. Rich and J. C. Knight. . . ' ' V. I r.r.,'',V i si-- t ,j,,rrri hit . . i.- I , , , ., . ,-, ,,. V' s ?:'i ': J 7- J PRINCIPAL ASSEMBLY ROOM OF THE NEW SOUTH OMAHA HIGH SCHOOL. Curious and Romantic Capers of Cupid M Titled Greed Gets Fall. kISS ELIZABETH HOWE of Pitts burg, a rich young woman, nar rowly escaped the clutches' of a greedy foreign count, and ha made amend for toying with a foreign title by becoming the ' bride of Frank P, Sproull, chum of her childhood. The manner of her escape ts worth the telling. Count Charles de Cinl of Italy, after' canvassing the international matri monial market, - made advance to Mis Hew. She was doing a little hymeneal hopping that day. and having found noth ing to her liking among the other eligible nobility, ah stepped up to the bargain counter on which De Clnl's pedigree was displayed. As put In the press dispatches: "The Italian made a proposition to his wealthy fiancee, saying he must have $o0, 000 cash In hand, she must pay all of his debt and also- Insure him $10,000 a year for life.' For all this he would consent to be stow' hta title on her snd would take her to, Rome, but he would not agree to 'be good," as he put It, ' for more than two years. This lost him several million Amer ican dollar." ' - The cold-blooded Insolence of such a pro posal as this marriage contract contained was an Insult against which the spirit of the American girl properly rebelled. ' It was bad enough that this titled snob, with just enough royal blood In his useless body to' keep him out of jail or the poorhouse, should have stipulated thaf his wife pay tttjs debts, give him $30,000 In hand and settle $10,009 a year upon him for life. But the clause In which he would not agree to "be good" more than two years was a crowning Infamy which should be Indig nantly resented by every good women of American heritage. It Is not even vaguely hinted just what Count de Clnl meant by "being good," but to any one at all familiar with the common debaucheries of Europe' nobility there need be no explanation. it is nut hard to picture th abject misery and humiliation of the future countess whose spouse Is held within the bounds of out ward decency, for a limited period only, by legal restraint. At the end of tho two years the wife may not even protect at the grossest Insults to her wifely relationship openly flaunted under the terms of the "contract" which also makes her pay for her osrn degradation. v i Marrlae Facilities. Two persons married at Macon, Mo., were considerably Impressed with local facilities for meeting their condition. The parties were Horace Crawford of Bay CMy, Ark., and Miss Clyde Ruffner of Callao, Mo. They called on the recorder and obtained the license. Joe Hamilton, the clerk, suggested If they had not made other arrangsmenta lie would rail up a preaener from Arkan sas, Rev. J. K. Brown, who was conduct ing a revival meeting here. Th groom fhi ' hlro to go ahead. Mr. Brown was called. Ileva W. U. .Wheeler and C.,P, Curry of the Methodist Episcopal churchy South, responded. "Does it take two?" inquired Crawfqrd. "No," said the clerk, "but it gives you a chance to make a choice." "The groom looked doubtfully from one to the other. Noticing his hesitation, the clerk said: . "The proqate judge is just one flight of stairs and the circuit judge Is just across the hall in the circuit clerk s office. Either could marry you. Then Squire Greer will go by In a few minutes. He gives a spoon with each ceremony. The Presbytenan minister, Rev. Mr. Caldwell, is due in his office about 9. It's just a block south. And Brother Brown, I know, is on the way.' Then there's " "For goodness' sake!" said Crawford, "one of you gent h-men" Indicating the two preachers present "hurry up and fix us; we didn't come here to entertain a general conference. Rev. Wheeler tackled the job. Enriched by Marriage Fees. Laurens Hawn retired from the position of probate judge of Leavenworth county recently after a continuous service of twenty-two years, says the Kansas City Star. He will resume the practice of law, and It is said that he may become a can didate for district judge four years hence. The office of probate judge Is confining, as no one ts authorised ty law to act In his absence. In the long period that Judge Hawn has been probate judge he liuued 8,300 mar riage license. He performed the marriage ceremony tor 3.100 couples. The oldest couple married by Judge Hawn was that of a groom of 80 years and a bride of 7f years. The youngest groom was 16 years old and the bride 14 years. The parents consented to this case. Since the estab lishment of the Kansas Clty-Leavenworth , Electrfc ruilway many couples came from Kansas City and were married by Judge Hawn. When In haste they could alight from an Incoming cur at the court house, have the marriage ceremony performed anil be ready to return home by the time the electric car made the trip downtown and came ' back. More than 200 couples from Kanaus City were married In on year. There were eight from Kansas City Labor day, 1908. One day this week four Kansas City couples came here a rut were married. Judge Hawn had a good Income from the marriage part of his office alone. When, only a license was taken out a fee of $2.50 Was charged, and when the ceremony wa performed the totaT fee was $S. Judge Hawn made It a rule when a ceremony wa performed and the groom asked how much, to reply in a bland, easy tune; "Only $6." When he started us probate Judge he found that, when the feu was left to the generosity of the groom he nearly always handed out II. All ' told, for issuing licenses and per forming marriage ceremonies. Judge Hawn. rtoelved mure than $Ui.0ua. M 'I I r ' 1 Mi A ' v. I -I' : rx p.. -1, -v;f- : lis-: s - v v. vf A' "-," "". ' - 4 ii t I tlf )!() hh)! "i . - -" .1 1 ' . :. '., - . . . . j.' ii ill Si ti Stories that Will Interest the Little Folks LOCKER ROOM AT THE EW SOUTH OMAHA HIGH SCHOOL. How a Porty of Children Flagged a Train and Saved Their Pony v HEY were a happy party of chil drenKenneth, Arthur, Alice and Polly as one bright, cool summer afternoon they drove along a country road in a capacious pony cart. The road which they followed, al though near the sea, ran partly through pine woods and thickets and was bordered here and there with a tangle of wild rose and bay bushes, with no bouses in sight. Suddenly the car rolled Into a clearing and - approached a railroad track. Kenneth, who was driving, an3 bad been cautioned about the danger near railroads, listened for a train. Everything was silent, so he chir ruped to "Rob Hoy," the sturdy pony, en-, couraging him to cross the rails. Just In 'the middle of the track the pony stopped stork still and refused to budge. "He Is balky." said Arthur. "bet's get out and se," cried Alice. They tumbled hastily out and found, to their dismay, that one of Rob Roy a Uoofs wa firmly fastened in a "frog" In the' track, holding him ao that he could, not move from the spot. The children tried with all their might to release him. but la vain did they tug and lift. Then the awful thought struck Polly that It was al mont time fur the afternoon train, and what would become of Rob Roy and the cart? She exclaimed, "We must flag the train." The other streamed In scorn: "Flag the train! With what, a pocket handkerchief?" "No," said Polly, stoutly and she was only T "I'll flag the train wlih my red flannel petticoat; red Is the danger signal, you know." And she whipped off the petti coat and ran down the track, followed by a string of loyal supporters, Kenneth be ing left to guard the pony. Truly, there waa a train puffing along at Its usual speed The engineer leaned from his cab window, gaslng with surprise at this group of hurrying children waving a red flag. Of course be stopped the train, while the chlldieii were quickly surroundel by questioning passengers, who raised a hearty cheer for Polly when sh .b.e.th lessly told of the pony's perilous position, and of her deal re to save binv Strong hands released Rob Roy from liU lion fet ter and the grateful children climbed into - the cart, the passengers went ebuard the -cars and the train xte'imed away, passen gers and brakenien wuyi'i g a parti' g s tlum to the intrepid four.' That evening at a dinner party one gentle- , man remarked to the father of the heroine: , "That was a cluver thing whit h your l'o.ly did this afternoon. , "What do you mean?" her father said. "Why,' didn't you know that she flagged the down trsln to nave the pony?" Then the whole story came out. They had been, each and all, afraid to mention' the Incident that afternoon, fearing they might be forbidden to. drive - Hob Ho , any more, and not dreaming. tha uny one. on. the train would think 1 hat what they did' was worth mentioning. As th pony's accident ,wak not due to, any fault of tho .children, their Cat her. ar iQwed tbera to. continue their drive, but -were urgently warned to asoid - raitroaC crossings In the future. Annabel Lee in St. Nicholas. , ,J fire-Year-Old Heroine. ENNIE DAVIS, a 6-year-old child, whose home is near Galeton, Pa., ti nnm n r, A that of her S-vear-old brother. Tom. by dolnz something that many older heads would. not have thought of. The children were alone In the house and were playing In an upstairs room. Jennie lighted a lamp, and a few minutes later It overturned against the edge of a crib, into which little Tom had crawled. Besides set ting the crib clothes on fire, the lamp rolled to the edge oft the stairway and down the entire flight of steeps, scattering a wave of flame the entire distance and shutting off the children's escape. In a few minutes the room was filled with smoke and flame. There was only one win dow ' which Jennie could reach, and that only "by standing on a chair. This she did, and with one of her picture books she broke two pane of glass and a portion of the frame. The window opened upon a grape arbor. Lifting Tom to the broken window, she pushed him out on the matted vine, and then squirmed through the opening herself. By that time the smoke waa pouring out upon them, but a neighbor had already come to the rescue, and the children were got away In safety, while the house, too, was saved from total destruction. Ileturnlng Dread Crumbs. Marjorie and her Intimate friend, Har riet, had just come home from a visit to Wilton, and they were telling Marjorie s mother all about it. , "People .were so nice to us," said Mar jorie, "because they all remembered It was your old home, and they thought I was quite nice for being your daughter." 'Yea," said Harriet. "We'd meet an old lady In the street and she'd say, 'la this Helen Carter's girl? I heard you were here, dear. I wanted to see you." "It's very dear of them," Mra Laughlln kept saying, her eyes wet with tears. "And. I haven't ben there since I was 26. Tea, it's lovely." "Ttiere was one ol'd lady who said you read to her all that year site couldn't use her eyes," Marjorie went on, her own face glowing. "She said other people offered, but somehow they never had much time. They'd come at odd liouru, when she. didn't . expect them, and they'd Scurry through a story as if they were poseessed. Yes, that's what she said exactly a If they were possessed." ; 'But 'Helen Carter cams when she was. expected," put In Harriet, "and acted as if sl.e had all the time there waa. And when, other people 'kinder dropped off,' there, wss Helen Carter, reading every day as If she intended to spend her life at It.", "(TJieti there was the crlng baby the win. tMrs.'Elbrldgs bad rheumatic fever'" said Marjorie. 7D?U'1. "'" he mother protested, smil ing and flushing like a girl. "I'd forgotten those old 'doings.' Why, it was twenty five years ago!" "Ah, but they haven't forgotten," said Harriet. "And now we've been told about it, wo shan't forget, either." . "Why, mother, I didn't know you were such a character," said Marjorie, putting an arm about her adoringly. "I knew you were now, but I'd no Idea you always be haved so. I can almost see why father took a notion to onarry you!" When Papa Holds My Hand. I ain't afwald o' horses ner stweet cars nor anyting; Nor aut-tomoblles, nor th' cabs; an' onct, away las' spring, A grea' big hook-air-ladder ting went slaptybangln' by An' X waa purt-near In th' way an' didn't even cry! 'Cause when I'm down town I go round wlf papa, understan', An' I'm not fwald o' nultin' when my papa holds m' hand. i ' i 'Cause stweet cars wouldn't hurt him, an' th' horses wouldn't dure; An' If a aut-tomoblle run agin' 'im be won't care! He'll al'ays keep between me an' th' rings wlf danger In I know so, 'cause be always has, 1st sv'ry- where we been; An' nen at night I laff myself clean into Dreamyland An' never care how dark it is when papa holds my hand. 'S th' funniest flng one night when I put tended I was sleep An' pupa's face was on my baud, I felt a , somepln't creep Acrost my flng res; an It felt exactly Ilk a tear, But couldn't been, 'cause wasn't any cry In' t 1 could hear. An' when I ant my papa, he 1st laughed t' beat th' band, But 1 kept wonderln' what it waa that creeped out on my baud. I Sometimes my papa holds on like I may be helped him too. An' makes me feel most awful good, put- tendln' that I do. An' papa says w'y papa says w'y some pin' like that we An' Ood Ut keep a-holdin' hands th' same as him and me! He says some uvver tings 'at I 1st partly understand. But I know this I'm not afraid when papa holds my hand. S.W, Ulllllan in Baltimore American. y i Hogshead Knll of Brains. Teacher What animal haa more brains than a man? Hmart Pupil The hog. , Teacher Why do you think so? ' Hmart Pupil Because he hus a hogs head fuli. See? Kot Competent to Jedge. Little Johnny-Pupa says that honesty It the best policy. Mamma Well, what of It, 'dear? Little Johnny Papa's a politician. Isn't he? Masnma-Ye. ''' ' LRUs Johnny Then bow' doe ha know? A 'T