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About Will Maupin's weekly. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1911-1912 | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1912)
ME1EASKA MILITARY EMY Lincoln, known throughout the re public as a great educational center, is having that proud record empha sized by the remarkable record being made by the Nebraska Military Acad emy. One has but to learn of the tireless energy and abiding faith which characterize the founder of this institution to become impressed with his ability to make men of the boys given into his care. Before founding Nebraska Military Academy Col. B. D. Ilayward had made his reputation as a man who knew how to enlist the sympathy and -- T COL. B. D. HAYWARD, Superintendent Nebraska Military Academy- arouse the ambition of boys. He has not forgotten his own boyhood days, nor the ambitions and the aspirations he then cherished. Remembering these, he studied and learned how to incline those boyish ambitions and aspirations into the right channels, with the re sult that "Col. Hayward 's boys," many of them grown men now, are filling re- -sponsible places in life, and every one of them is proud of his former mentor. When Col. Ilayward determined to found a military academy he naturally turned to Lincoln because of its loca tion, and because of its already well known reputation as an educational center. He secured the splendid build ings and grounds of the old Nebraska Normal a few miles southwest of Lin coln. Located on a beautiful site, sur rounded by a beautiful country, with in easy reach of a metropolitan city, yet not of it, and affording every op portunity for healthful recreation, the new school started with every promise of success. Every department was or ganized and working smoothly, when on October 17, one month after the in stitute's splendid start, fire broke out and in a few hours the beautiful build ing was a mass of ruins. The blow would have discouraged a man of less will and energy than Col. Hayward. But he never hesitated a moment. While the ruins were yet smoking he engaged temporary school quarters in the Windsor hotel in Lincoln, and in thirty-six hours the school work was going on as smoothly as if never inter rupted. Class rooms were opened in the Y. M. C. A. building. The citizens showed every possible interest in as sisting Col. Ilayward, and offers of buildings came from every city in the state. Then the board of education of Lincoln vacated the old convent property at Fourteenth and U streets and tendered its use to Col. Hayward. The offer was accepted, the building hastily put in order, and on December 1 the Nebraska Military Academy was again in a home of its own. In the meantime another blow had fallen. Col. George B. Burnett, commandant and head master, was stricken and died on November 2. Hard as it was to replace this loss, Col. Hayward did not hesitate. Professor Clinton Barr was selected as head master, and Col. John G. Workizer, commandant of the University of Nebraska Cadet Battal ion, assumed charge of the military de partment. All this acomplished Col. Hayward bent his energies towards re- r placing the loss incurred by the great fire ' He received many flattering offers to locate the academy in other cities, but he determined to remain in Lincoln. He determined, too, to re build on the site of the destroyed build ing. It was a herculean task, and would have discouraged most men. It did not cause Col. Hayward to pause for a minute. He had the abiding faith, the energy and the ability that overcome all difficulties. In his gigantic task he had the help of a wife who is as energetic as he, and whose faith is equal to his own. And, too, he had the cordial support of men who knew what he was trying to do for the boys, and they lent every possible assistance. In less than one year after the de struction of the old building by fire a new building, even more commodious and practical than the old one, was ready for occupancy. On September 1, 1909, Nebraska Military Academy opened the new school year in a new building on the site of its old home. It is a record that proves Col. Hay ward to be just the kind of a man to teach by example and precept the lessons that boys need to learn. A pic ture of the Nebraska Military Academy adorns this page. Nebraska Military Academy is con ducted for the benefit of those boys who, possessed of fine natural ability, have for some reason or other failed to make good in the public schools. They failed because teachers do not have time, in the press of many duties, to study the peculiarities of each pupil and give the personal assistance and attention that so many boys need and must have if the best that is in them is brought out. To the work per formed by the public schools, Nebraska Military Academy gives each boy the especial training and attention that his individual case needs. The boy's personality is studied, his natural bent ir . , - . - Y 1 is utilized or developed along right lines, he is surrounded by proper in fluences and kept constantly in close personal contact with the strong per sonalities of good instructors. His in terest is aroused and that, after all, is the secret of making men out of our boys. His mental, moral and physical natures are carefully trained and developed into well-rounded man hood. The courses of study at Nebraska Military Academy conform closely to the curriculum approved by the Ne braska Educational Commission. Grad uates of the Academy are admitted without examination to the University of Nebraska. There are no especial requirements for admission to the Academy. A boy is assigned to the class which his attainments indica'o, and in which he can do his best work. His standing is adapted to his needs, and changed as often as required. The purpose in view is to help the boy make the best possible progress. The quarters assigned to the boys are modern, sanitary in every way, well lighted and commodious. The Academy has its own heating and light ing plants. The buildings are fire proof, and all about is a handsome landscape, attractive in every feature and calculated to arouse in the boys a love of nature. Mrs. D. B. Hayward is the home mother of the Academy, and she is in deed a mother to the boys in her care. The refining influence of the ideal American home is thrown about them all. The discipline of the military, the home influence, the ambition arousing course all these tend to make Ne braska Military Academy an ideal school for the boy. Its enrollment is increasing rapidly, and the influence of its work is constantly widening. It is an educational institution of which Lincoln and Nebraska may well be proud. It is making for a better citizenship; it is building for the fu ture of men. And behind it all is the indomnitable ' will and energy of a big-brained, big-souled man who loves the boys, and the love and motherly helpfulness of a good woman whose counsel and admonition is always a source of inspiration to better things. MORALS US THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. There seems to have been some thing of a stir as a result of a report made up on social and moral conditions in the Lincoln schools by the investi gators during the recent Men and Re ligion Forward movement in Lincoln. The teachers have resented some of the report, and some parents are said to have waxed wroth, at what they deemed insinuations against the moral character of their boys and girls. Now why all this fuss? The social and moral conditions in the schools of Lincoln are no different than the social and moral conditions in the schools of other cities where the same sort of parental supervision is exercised. The trouble with Lin coln is, however, that the parents as a rule are too busy "reforming" to pay much attention to their children. The truth of this bald statement is to be found parading O street almost any pleasant evening of the week, and especially Saturday evenings. It is to be found by the attendance of boys " .--1.J NEBRASKA MILITARY ACADEMY Lincoln, Nebraska and girls upon the moving picture shows at night, wholly unattended by parents and free to engage in all sorts of escapades. Whatever the social and moral conditions of the school children may be, the teachers are not to blame. The teachers have to keep so busy to keep in sight of all the fads' and isms of our modern educational system that they have no time to teach either mor als, good manners or commonsense. These are three courses not embraced in the curriculum of the modern high school. - It is asserted that the report made te ' ' p- 7 s z n i " ... , : . rv v , ;-.n ; " j U" ' "V'.' ,' -.?-. V: -' ' ' :fiX.'5.St,.: , 'W :' :: :- ' ;i. " .. v-.v '.' ! ."'! . " J. j! . I ' ' ' ' '.' . . c,- - ;'.- t.-;:--. . . ... f . :;.!-' v-V' rf- . ' :, .-tv. - . -1 - , - U. - ..... -'- f y - - r c - - " . , .. : ' . u-. i b - - - - . , r 'ir',, )', t I f V . " . 'li-'i'';..'. , " . - . . " - . I i , j - n - - -gfc , 'a- - .- ' - : I , MRS. B. D. HAYWARD, House Mother - Nebraska Military Academy vby the investigators , revealed such a shocking condition of affairs that the daily newspapers would only refer to it in the barest mention. We haven't seen the report, but we venture to say that ' it struck mighty close to the facts, and that it merely showed Lin coln to be about like other cities of the same size and social make-up. And if it revealed the fact that moral conditions in the schools were at a rather low ebb, it merely conforms the opinion held by many people who have been watching., What may be expected of feather beaded maidens and adolescent youths when they are permitted to mingle promiscuously, parade the streets un til late hours at night, sneak to public dance halls when parents believe they are studying at the homes of school mates, and all that sort of thing. It is no uncommon sight to see a group of '"." high school' boys and girls in the jshadows of the side streets at 10 or 11 o'clock at night, whispering and jgiggling, the girls allowing their cigarette-smoking male companions -to handle them as if they were boys themselves. , Parents who exercise no more control over, or give no more attention to, their children than that need not be surprised if their protests against the report of the investigators fall on the deaf ears. , Neither should' these parents be surprised if soon or late a very sad and disgraceful situa tion is revealed in their own family circle. When groups of fifteen-year old boys and girls are, permitted by their par ents to visit the picture shows and sit in the semi-darkness of those resorts, it " is only natural in time there will be a ' lowering of moral standards. -The par ent who does not know where his fifteen-year-old daughter or son is after dark ought to be stretched over a bar rel provided by the municipality, and the paddle applied vigorously to the most available portion of the anatomy thus presented. The trouble with Lincoln is that too many parents are engaged in the self imposed task of reforming the world, or elevating art, or something like that, instead of paying proper atten tion to the rearing of children., To the one hour a week in Sunday school is left the moral and religious train ing of the child, and to the teacher in the public schools is left the herculean task of stuffing juvenile heads with fads and isms that mostly have to be unlearned before any progress can be made in successfully fighting the battle of life. And when not in Sunday school or the class room, these children are left to their own devices. Of course the result is a terrible lowering of the moral standard. And parents are to blame. . ' Instead of denouncing the impartial investigators, .parents ought to be do ing a little investigating on their own account. And the best place to be gin is right at home. If your young 'daughter or son is not at home you, Mr. Father, and you,' Mrs. Mother, ought to know where they are and what they are doing. Until you do know you won't make any hit with people who do know by throwing frenzied fits over revelations made.