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
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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
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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
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, 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.
