The Frontier, a™
VOLUME XXV1I1. O'NEILL. NEBRASKA, THURSDAY, APRIL 23.1908 NUMBER 44
Vitalizing the _ BZs~Pf
i eaCner of McCook
The decade just closing, immediate
ly following a period of unusual na
tional depression, has, with all its
prosperity, industrial expansion, and
commercial activity, developed and
strengthened ideals that betoken
things for the future. As the histor
ian will conceive of the years, much
happened that will enrich the pages
of history. A war engaged in for hu
manity’s sake; colonial policies thrust
upon us most unexpectedly; the inter
oceanic canal; the hunting out and
punishment of public blunders; the
control of predatory wealth,—the
treatment of these problems in all
their various bearings, have, with the
larger and more prominent part taken
by the individual in shaping them, re
vealed an undeniably quicker con
science and a more vigorous vitality,
in the national life It has been a
per od of marked advance along every
line.
So it has been here at home. Pro
bably no Held of accomplishment re
flects this spirit of the times, repre
senting progress, more truly than does
the work of education. The essence
of every movement lias been sober
thought for single units—of special
help to pupil, teacher, or school. The
result has been an educational awak
ening; pupils and teacher; alike have
put forth greater endeavors; school
conditions have been bettered in pro
portion as increased skill has been ac
quired. The cause of education has
profited from the new standards of
ethical belief which has enthused the
country at large.
The junior normal schools, normal
training in high schools, free high
. ' ■ .. " ' T
territorially, than the casual traveler
within its confines is accustomed to
think. Broken Bow is “out west,”
but it is farther from Broken Bow on to
Alliance than from Lincoln to Brok
en Bow. The counties of Cherry,
Holt, Custer and Lincoln, at whose
county seats junior normals are locat
ed, disregard any adjoining, and,
therefore, contributing districts, are,
in square miles, ten times the size Of
the sovereign state of Rhode Island.
In northern and western parts of the
state there are perhaps 20 counties
with no high schools; there are com
mon schools widely separated. The
distance to established schools In west
ern Nebraska count up into hundreds
of miles, while the expense of reach
ing them seems all but prohibitive.
Yet there are young people here, am
bitious, eager, alert, needing only the
spur of opportunity to send them on to
a larger living. The junior normals
are placed in the center of these vast
readies of country where the problem
is that of overcoming isolation and of
insufficient local school facilities.
We are carrying normal training, en
thusiasm and pedagogic vitality home
to ttiose who have been obliged to
teach without them.
Again, instruction and normal
training being required, under exist
ing state certification laws, the means
of acquiring them must be provided,
and it seems a pity that public prop
erties, consisting of buildings, books
and equipment in general, such as are
owned by the school corporations
named in the heart of these extreme
districts,should remain idle one-fourth
of the entire year, when their use
could supply an actual need. These
properties are used free of cost to the
state. In this manner emphasis is
laid upon the disproportionate amount
of time public buildings, such a§
Sopt. H. K. Wolfe, Principal O’Neill Junior Normal.
school education, aid to weak districts,
more rational certification laws, in
creased normal school and enlarged
university opportunities,—these have
been the agencies which have promot
ed this educational revival.
The work of the junior normal
schools is not to be regarded in any
disproportion. As Gilbert Parker
makes David say in the Weavers:
"Think (not) that what you do is of
vast value. Work because it is yours
to be adjusting the machinery in your
own little work shop of life to the
wide machanism of the universe and
time. One wheel set right, one Hying
belt adjusted and there is a step for
ward to the final harmony.” Yet the
junior normals, in their own peculiar
and restricted fields, have a most im
portant and exceedingly useful work
to perform; and whatever stands as a
positive help to the end we seek—the
perfection of the Nebraska education
al system—is a good report before
men.
In the summer of 1902, State Super
intendent W, K. Fowler organized
union normal institutes of five weeks’
length, at Holdrege, Culbertson and
Sidney. They were the precursors of
tne junior normals. In the following
year the legislature appropriated $12,
000 for the biennium for the support
of five summer schools of ten weeks
each, location being made at Alliance,
Valentine, McCook, Holdredge and
North Platte. Such an arrangement
continued for four years, save that
during the last two the state increased
the appropriation to $15,000. During
the present biennium eight schools
are maintained, Alma, Broken Bow,
. O’Neill and Geneva being added, and
Iloldredge being dropped, while the
length of the term is reduced to seven
weeks. The cost to tlie state is the
same.
Why have such summer schools at
all, and why locate them where they
are'?
Nebraska is a much larger state,
schools and churches, are Idle in a
years length, and the economic need
there is to utilize such a waste.
The spirit of the times is toward
centralization, not in one mass for
that would be confusion, but in multi
plied centers;and so long as their exist
extensive areas of sparsely settled
country, so long as large numbers of
young people, by reason of prohibitive
distance or expense, need schools near
er home, that long will the demand
live for local normal training centers.
The five years tliese junior normals
have been in existance stoutly testify
to their worth. About 5,000 teachers
and prospective teachers from remote
districts have been enrolled, only a
small per cent, of whom would or
could have attended any other insti
tution of summer training. The cost
to the state has not exceeded $150 per
week at each school. There has been
in that time, disregarding the origi
nal union normal institutes, 37 weeks
of schooling, a trifle more than a full
school year, made up out of scraps and
wastes of time, precious weeks saved
and blessed to hard working teachers,
striving winter and summer against
odds to advance in their profession.
Only consecrated school teachers
would bear such a burden, and win
success. Moreover, with this magni
ficent showing in the junior schools,
the senior normals at Peru and Kear
ney, have II erally turned applicants
away from their halls, for lack of room,
while every private normal has enjoy
a full enrollment. The junior normals
have had the effect of impelling stud
ent-teachers on to the higher schools
for longer and more systematiccourses;
they have acted as feeders, and hence,
indirectly, have served beneficially in
a manner not at first perceived.
But it is not enough that these
schools be brought near to those who
will attend them, or that the attend
ance has been large, or that the ex
pense of maintenance is law; what
(Continued on Page Bight.)
.
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MAYOR GALLAGHER EXTENDS GREETINGS.
| O’Neill, Nebr, April 21,1908.—To the Instructors and Attendants ^
|j of the O’Neill Junior Normal: We extend to each on behalf of the |
8 city and its oflicers greeting.
K We are glad to welcome you again into our city and sincerely trust ^
M that your stay with us will be both pleasant and profitable and that 6
j§ the Normal of 1908 will measure up to and if possible exceed the Nor- |
|j mal of 1!K)7.
The city is ready to serve you and will be honored in receiving your |
gj commands.
ED F. GALLAGHER, Mayor.
k.■;__—-—a
Florence E. Zink
Katherine Linton
THE NORMAL FACULTY
The State Department of Education
has selected a faculty sufficiently re
presentative in character and attain
ments to insure a wide range of stud
ies. During the whole term the fac
ulty will be entirely at the service of
the students as far as possible the
school will be moulded to the needs of
tlie students, and no effort will be
made to mould students to the school.
Tlie members of the faculty are com
ing to O’Neill for work and work of
tlie hardest kind by the student body
will be encouraged and rewarded.
The faculty consists of the follow
ing members: Supt. J. L. McBrien,
Prlnicipal, Dr. H. K. Wolfe, 1727 J St.
Lincoln, Supt. N. C. Abbott, %ipt.
Mote5, Supt. Olias. A. Mobr'man,’
Miss Katherine Linton, Miss Eunice
Ensor, Supt. T. N. Fleming, Florence
E Zink.
---
I)r. H. K. Wolfe or the University
of Nebraska will again bt principal of
the O’Neill Junior Normal. Those
who took work at O’Neill last year are
most pleased to know Dr. Wolfe has
consented to return, lie made friends
with everyone he met here and his ex
cellent work was most highly appre
ciated.
Dr. Wolfe’s preparation for, and ex
perience in educational work places
him among those of the highest rank
in the state. He holds a degree of A.
B. from the University of Nebraska,
has been a student of the University
oflBerliu, holds degrees of A. M., and
Ph D. from the University of Leipsic.
He has taught in the country, village
and ward schools of Nebraska; has
been superintendent of city schools in
California; professer of philosophy in
the University of Nebraska; superin
tendent of city schools in South
Omaha; principal of the Lincoln high
school; professor of philosophy and
education in University of Montona;
and professor of educational psycho
logy in the University of Nebraska.
No one could have been named who
can better fill the posistion as prin
cipal of the normal to be held in
O’Neill than Dr. Wolfe. No one will
be received with more appreciation
among the students and citizens of
O’Neill than he.
Superintendent N. C. Abbott will
work again in the O’Neill Junior Nor
mal this summer. Superintendent
Abbott was one of the favorite in
structors here last summer and he
will return with the same enthusiasm
'
and interest that made him so popu
lar a year ago.
All men who intend to follow a life
profession first prepare themselves for
it. Superintendent Abbott is not be
hind ojher professional men in this re
spect. After finishing his high school
work at Fremont he entered the
University of Nebraska where he re
ceived Lie degree of A. B. and L. L.
B after which he was employed as in
structor in tlie Institute for the Blind,
at Nebraska City. He has assisted in
the Department of English, Universi
ty of Nebraska; been principal of the
Humboldt high school; principal at
Cattabato, Mindanao, P. I.; inspector
of schools for the Cattabato district;
first principal of the normal school at
Zaftiboaga, P. I.;instructor irt the
Lincoln high school and is now and
i has been for several years superinten
dent of tlie Tekamah city schools.
Superintendent Abbott secured more
than one thousand views while in the
Orient which he used in making slides
for his lectures. He has been engag
ed to give one of his lectures before
the institute, on the evening of June
11. He is one of the wide awake
teachers of the state who takes advan
tage of each and every opportunity
for advancement.
Superintendent J. G. Mote received
his early training in the rural schools
of Illinois, and later graduated from
the Vermillion Grove Illinois Acad
emy. lie was a student at the Bloom
ingdale Indiana Academy and the
Kansas State Normal School. He
graduated from the latter institution,
after which he began work as a teach
er in that state. At the close of one
year’s work in Kansas Mr. Mote moved
to Nebraska where he has been engag
ed in school work for sixteen years.
He is at present closing his second
year of successful work as superintend
ent of the O’Neill schools. He is a
man that stands for high moral prin
ciples and his influence is felt by all
who come in contact with him. Mr.
Mote is so well known in this and
surrounding counties that no intro
duction to him or his work will be
necessary. He will have charge of
the mathematical department of the
school this summer and we assure all
who are to have work under him that
they will find him patient sympa
thetic, and above ail a master of his
subject.
The summer school students may
well feel themselves fortunate in hav
ing for an instructor in primary meth
ods Miss Katherine Linton. She is a
graduate from the scientific and nor
mal departments of the Central Nor
mal College which was located at
Humeston, Iowa, at the time she at
tended it. She has also taken special
primary work under Miss Mixer at
the Fremont Normal for a year. In
1906 she took a primary course at the
Supt. N. G. Abbott
Chicago University. The work given
there is especially for institute in
structors. Miss Linton has taught in
the rural schools as well as in the
graded work and will be able to adapt
her primary instruction to the actual
needs of the rural teacher as well as
to those teaching in the towns. Miss
Linton has just entered into her fifth
year’s contract with the board at
Spencer at a salary of *05 per month.
This is an increase of $30 over herlirst
year’s salary. A town that has a
home teacher who can demand and
receive such wages as are paid to Miss
Linton at Spencer is to be congratu
lated, and she is also to be congratu
lated that she lives in a town where
worthy people are appreciated to such
an extent.
No other school man in the county
Is better known than iSuperlntendent
Chas. A. Mohrman. He was superin
tendent of the schools at Ewing two
years ago and has just entered into
his second year’s contract with Atkin
son. His work at both places has
been entirely satisfactory. He is a
graduate from the University of Ne
braska. Wliile in school there he was
captain of the cadet company and
president of the law class. His work
in the Junior Normal will not be an
experiment since he was a member of
the faculty at Alma a year ago. Mr.
Mohrman is pleasing in manner and
appearance. He is always at home
among the young people and will con
tinue to be so as he has chosen teach
ing for his life work. He was born in
Syracuse, Nebraska, and afterward
moved to Geneva where he graduated
7hC °KTNei11 t J«°?8.nC°oses
Junior Normal July 17
Tlie O’Neill Junior Normal opens
June 8 and closes July 17.
The lecture course Is a strong one.
Each entertainer is familiar to most
of us either through his widespread
reputation or from having heard him
on some former occasion. The lecture
course season tickets will be *1.25 to
those who do not enroll for summer j
school work. The dates are: Supt.
N. G. Abbott, June 11; Dr. A. L.
Blxby, June 15; Prof. Adrian M. \
Newens, June 23; Chicago Glee Club,
July 6.
To those contemplating taking a
summer school course we give the fol
lowing general iraformation concern
ing the O’Neill Junior Normal:
The course of study will comprise all
subjects required for the tirst, second
and third grade county certificates.
Classes will also be organized for
those who desire to work on subjects
required for the professional lifecerti- -
licate.
The minimum entrance require
ment for admission to tlie state junior
normal schools shall be a teacher’s
certiticatc, or a ccrtilicate from the
county superintendent showing that
tlie applicant lias completed the
eighth grade, or a certificate from the
city superintendent or high school
principal for admission to the high
school, or the presentation of evidence
of other acadenic work. ’ ■
An enrollment ffee of *2 J will be
J. L. McBrien, State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
from high school in 1900. His friends
in the county are pleased to krow
he has been seleoted to assist in the
Junior Normal at this place for the
year 1908.
The largest classes formed during
the summer school of 1907 were those
in music and drawing. It is the testi
mony of many institute instructors
that teachers don’t care to sing, but
this fault was not found to exist at
O’Neill last year. Miss Ensor has
the faculty of getting everybody to
sing and the rapid progress made at
sight reading was most noticeable.
Miss Ensor is a university graduate
and she has also had the advantage of
an excellent musical education, both
instrumental and vocal. She has
been supervisor of music in the South
Omaha public schools for two years.
She was elected secretary of the music
department of the East Central Ne
braska Teacher’s Association for 1908.
At the spring meeting of this associa
tion held at Soutli Omaha in April
several hundred children directed by
Miss Ensor sang before fifteen hun
dred teachers.
Miss Ensor made friends with all
whom she met while here last year
and it is with pleasure they look for
ward to her return.
Superintendent T. N. Fleming is a
progressive young man in the school
work of the state. lie is a graduate
of the State University at which place
he specialized in the sciences and
while there assisted in the depart
ment of chemistry two years. After
completing his worK at Lincoln he
was employed at Ashland to teach
the sciences and mathematics where
he remained one year after which
(Continued on Page Eight.)
charged. This amount includes the
price of a season lecture course ticket.
Those who wish to enroll for institute
only, will have to pay a fee of $1.00.
All who register for examination will
be requrired to pay an additional fee
of 50 cents.
Those holding “With Credit” or
"With Honor” certificates, doing the
required amount of Reading Circle
work and meeting the requirements
of the county superintendent in at
tendance at institute and county as
sociations, will be entitled to the re
newal of his certificate without ex
amination, which makes the certifi
cate pratically a permanent certifi
cate.
Those holding certificates upon
which are grades below 80 per cent
must take examination in all sub
jects having grades below 80 per cent
before the certificate may be renewed.
Teachers holding third grade certi
ficates may have their grades accepted
to apply on a second grade, provided
they pass in bookkeeping, drawing,
theory and art, agriculture and civil
government. Those holding second
grade certificates may have their
grades accepted to apply on a first
grade certificate provided they pass in
algebra, botany, philosophy and geom
try.
Books of the public sehool will be
used during the term, but since these
will not begin to supply the demand,
we ask all who can do so to bring text
books with them.
The price for board will be $3 per
week and rooms 50 cents per week.
Those wishing to engage board ,and
room before coming tQ O Neill may
secure a list of names of those who
will accomodate us in that respect by
writing to this office.
Flokence E. Zink, Secretary.
O’Neill, Nebraska.