unday Bel PART T7IHEF. HALF-TONE PAGES ONE TO FOUR. FOR ALL THE NEWS THE OMAHA BEE BEST IN THE WEST The Omaha VOL. XL NO. 44. OMAHA, .SUNDAY MOKNIMJ, APRIL 16, 11)11. SI NULL COPY FIVE CENTS. Omaha is , Well Equipped in High-Class Schools for Girls I . " 11 1-i,-W9 " i Vt r 1 If!'' ' I ' I , J I 1 1..-- jv3'pf , - rTK,.;( . ' t ; h j r , r Mi , , jl I ;i , jii I . r ' , i nit c t Jfy- 1 TU - -U rWcrTirw? 77)i w rmiHi 11 . Ji. ni. r in n w,l'liy,iiili,jiy.ftjjmfw miuaiiiii mi i ' I o .MAHA has iincp the earlleBt day offered high-cluaa facilities for the education of girls and young women, in denomina tional schools. From the academies for young women conducted hers thousands of well-trained and soundly educated women have gone out to rule over homes of their own In Nebraska and other states. Some of them have, in their turn, established other schools, or become teachers in similar institutions, while others have taken their places In various walks of life some as missionaries, some in religious orders equipped by their early training to make a decided and a favorable impress on the minds and characters of the pupils coming under their sway. There is not a school In Omaha devoted to the special education and training of young women but has on its rolls names that reflect honor and glory on alma mater; and among the hundreds now in the classes of these schools are personalities of similar lai pa promise. Brownell hall, the Episcopal school for young women, has been located at two other points In the city before making its permanent site at Tenth and Worthington. Dishop Talbot established the original hall at what was then known as Saratoga, north of Omaha, controlled by the Saratoga Townsite company. A structure bad been erected, about 1858, for a hotel at the site of the mineral springs, which were looked upon as Bure to develop the nucleus of a future health resort, and Bishop Talbot secured the building In which, to start his new school, the other enterprise having proved a failure. The first students took possession of the building In 1862, but it was not until 1868 that the corporation wfls legally perfected. Of the Incorporators Judge George W, Doane, Henry V. Yates and R. C. Jordan are still living in Omaha, Recalling Once Familiar Names, The first principal was Rev. O. O. Dake, followed by Rev. Samuel Herman as rector and principal. A property was Indicated, by the sale of this ground for $25,000 in 1887. When the school was moved from Saratoga, Mrs. P. O. Hall, became the principal, and five years later Rev. Robert Doherty assumed the duties of rector and principal, officiating for almost twenty years. In 1886 Herman Kountze donated to the corpora tion the present site on South Tenth street, and with a large number of other people he contributed to the building fund for the erection of the present school building. Mrs. S. II. Windsor became principal of the new building, having been associated with the institution for a good many years. Brownell hall graduated its first class in 1868 Miss Helen Ingalls, afterward Mrs. Flemon Drake, and Miss Helen Hoj, who married Horace Burr. Since the graduation day of the two Helens the list of Brownell hall graduates has been enlarged by a goodly number every year, the young women coming from all over the west and taking home with them the high anibitlonsi and deep lessons inculcated by a very elabo rate and enlightened curriculum. 1 Brownell Is duly accredited to about all of the large Easter colleges for women. Start of Convent Schools. In 1858 the residents of Omaha were stirred by the news of the coming of a Cathollo bishop to establish here his see. With a lively Interest in the possibilities of this event a committee of the city council made a report urging the donation of certain city property, and among other things said: "The schools established under the auspices of the church in Iowa have given it a wide educational cele brity, bringing scholars from all parts of the state, as well as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Of its 10,000 Cathollo citizens, known for their wealth, so briety and industry, it cannot be doubted but a large portion have been attracted by the same influences Twenty-fourth and St. Mary's arena e, the first Cstho 11c school for young women erected in Nebraska. He lived to see a fine development of the enterprise be fore his death in 1874. Old St. Mary's academy flourished at its first loca tion, in a frame building, from 1864 until a different location seemed desirable, in 1887, when Its present home' was built,' at Fifteenth and Castellar. This school Is conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, who have been engaged in good works in Omaha for almost fifty years. The same order has charge of St Rita's (for merly St. Catherine's) at Eighteenth and Cass, and of St. Berchman'a academy and St Catherine's hos pital, now in the old Kountze home, at Tenth and Arbor. ' Sacred Heart Academy a Leader. Sacred Heart academy, at Thirty-sixth and Burt, is under the supervision of the Religious of the Sacred Heart. This school Is accredited to the Nebraska State university, and has taken high rank among the con vent schools of the west. The special object of the Religious of the Sacred Heart is to train the char acters of their pupils and to ground them in solid religious principles. At the same time they spare no pains to cultivate the minds of the young women in their class rooms and to teach them the various accom plishments required by their position in society. Needlework and deportment receive particular atten tion, and the study of French is obligatory on all pupils. To make this study effective, special oppor tunities are given for conversation In French. Aside from the thorough grounding in the or dinary branches of education, pupils receive a com plete course of Christian doctrine. They also are taught the elements of Christian philosophy and are drilled in ancient and modern history, special' empha sis being laid on sacred and church history. Study of literature, ancient and modern, goes with the study of 1. It 4- V 0 HW(MiMA(W'A, .:J (,.ROUf OF VOV6& tiPt.S CACHED weAffT.ACAlMr and are a happy and pleasing group to see, in the class rooms and at play. The sisters of this order now have twenty-five convent schools In le United States, and several In Canada. ' St. Mary's and St nerchman's. Mount St Mary's academy long ago gained a repu tation for thoroughgoing work in the training of its pupils. It is also a boarding and day school, and drawa its patrons from a wide extent of territory. Muslo Is featured in this school, and some of the regarded as almost of a class apart, since the basic, never-changing essentials of correct living and think ing are particularly and continually inculcated. Pro ficiency In music, love of poetry, a high appreciation of the good and the beautiful, excellence In art, skill in needlework all these must inevitably add to the capacity and the power of those who are to manage homes and be leaders in social affairs; who will la their turn train youth and direct it aright, as mother, or teachers. -1 Practical to a degree are the exclusive rirls' little later Bishop Clarkson held the place of rector your committee are anxious to add to those which English in all its branches; but Latin, mathematics graduates have taken high rank through the training schools of Omaha today; lyet they emphasise, as they and Miss EllzaBeth Butterfleld, recently deceased, be came principal. Many of the older residents of Omaha-will remem ber the erection of the first Brownell hall in the city proper, at Sixteenth and Jones streets; and many yot on the sunny side of middle life will recall that struc ture. One of the two lota was donated by Herman Kountze and the other was bought from him for the have already made Omaha the metropolis of Nebraska, which. Influences will follow the settlement of the bishop at this place." As the matter, eventuated the Cathollo church got no lots, for the reason that the bishop, James M. O'Gorman, declined to make any hard and fast agree ment as to permanent improvements. Bishop O'Gor man it was who established Mercy hospital (now 8t. and the natural sciences are also given their proper weight in the curriculum. Sacred Heart academy now has one of the finest buildings for its work that is to be found in the whole western country, a new addition having been erected last year. The grounds are commodious and laid ont with excellent taste. Boarders and day pupils are taken, the boarders being very largely from out-of- ajim of $1,600. The great Increase la value of Omaha Josepha. and also built &. M-Ji'a convent, at, Kboaft town tamine Iu puplla range from Little girls up ss ' - EM V ' Pi' "rrr" """ "' --"--"--" - - WMMW ftQiWr.3T.ftAJYSACADlY - JSVAMD CAST SI LA 9 SAC0 ,AH7 .ACADfJlr-JSLJAAfZBtar received here. St. Berchman's academy devotes special attention to the higher arts, painting, muslo and the like. It caters to day students only, but Its list of graduates comprises some of the cleverest women who have been ' educated in the convent schools of Omaha, and Its position as an educational institution of the very high est class Is well established. St. Rita's Is now devoted to the purposes of a high-grade home for young women, under the care of the Sisters of Mercy. 1 Larjre Influence on Modern Life. The term, "convent schools," does not today con vey exactly the same meaning that it had in former times; nor does it have the same significance here, perhaps, that attaches to it In France, for instance. Imbued with the American spirit of democracy, those in charge of such schools in the United States have accepted the view that the great desideratum today is to arouse and deepen in the minds of the pupils a large interest in the vital problems of life, at the same time that the routine of required study Is pursued. With the investigation of history the training for modern life goes hand in hand. Literature of the ages is studied with a Close view to Its bearing on latter-day economic and social questions, since the girls of today are the women of tomorrow, with a most potential Influence for developing the best things wherever their lot may be cast. Teaching of the sciences la carried on with a breadth of view that can not fall to be reflected profitably in the later lives of the young women now so earnestly working In the confinement of the class room. Resourcefulness, self reliance, the power to analyze, are developed as most important elements of an education that shall be fully Useful in the field outside the convent walls. In all ages the convent-trained woman has been always have, the finer things of Christian education. Largeness of vision and widening of ctvlo interest flow naturally from the basic elements so carefully ' inculcated; and this having been proven to the satis faction of thoughtful parents who have seen th splendid effect of such training In the graduates et other years, the opening; of each term sees girls from widely scattered homes- converging to Omaha to secure the advantages offered in such large measure by the schools pictured on this page. They make op a group of which any city In the country can offer no superior. Physical Improvements of the buildings and surround ings are lavishly made as required, and the teaching staffs are maintained in a state of efficiency that leaves little to be desired. From them go out every year groups of young women excellently equipped mentally to fill with honor any position In life. If they have large intellectual Interests as a result of their thorough schooling and development of tnlnd they Lave even larger grasp of the great things com mitted to the modern educated woman a mother, as housekeeper and as citizen. At present between 4 00 and 600 small children and young women are being educated in the primary and higher grades of these s hools. About all of the younger pupils are day students only, while a very large proportion of the older girls are boarders. These boarders come from mauy other states besides Ne braska to take advantage, of the educational oppor tunities offered in Nebraska. Brownell hall has stu dents from as far away as Texas, and many from the Intermediate territory. Sacred Heart has young women from South Iakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Mon tana, Iowa and Missouri. Mount St. Mary's has about twenty-five primary students who reside in Omaha, " while some thing like fifty of the total enrollment are boarders, from various parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Kan sas, Colorado, South Dakota and other westers states.