Omaha
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PART TEREE J
MAGAZINE
PAGES ONE TO FOUR
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PART. THREE .
MAGAZINE-
PAGES ONE TO FOUR
THE
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VOL. XL1I-NO. 2.
What I Can Now Remember of My First Day at School
Some of Omaha's Pioneer Citizens Recall Their Start Up the Long, High Hill of Learning
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house by t!
A ragged beggar sunning;
Around it still the sumachs grow
And blackberry vines are runnini
Within, the master's desk is seen,
. ' Deep scarred sby raps official ;
The warping floor, the battered seats,
YThe Jackknlfe's carved initial
The charcoal frescoes on Its wall;
It's door's worn sill, betraying
The feet that, creeping slow to school,
Went storming out to playing.
HITTIER probably did not know how
! iTl well he wrote. Probably he did not
lwr I know that this simple picture through
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ai iuo years to tuuio wuuiu uiuisien
the eyes of old men. To be sure, all
school houses in the old days were
not alike. Sumachs grew around not
all of them, nor blackberry vines; but the battered
seats and the jackknife's carved initials were com
mon to all school houses in the old days, more
common even than' now; when school children are
kept under greater restraint
' But the picture suggests to every old man a
picture of the particular school house in which bis
young idea was taught to shoot and carries him
back to some of the joys and sorrows of those days.
Several Omaha men, most of whose work is
done or will be done before a great many more
years have passed, slipped back in spirit into the
old school houses when the lines, were quoted to
them and their yes grew brighter, as they spoke
of childhood's days.
. Lee EsteUe's Start
Judge Lee S. Estelle's first day In school was
a far from happy one; In fact. It was so unhappy
that there was no second day until two years later.
The boy's misery was the result of that chasmic ,
difference between a little lad's view of mice and
an "old maid's" v!ewof the same animals. '
"I can remember it Just as distinctly as if it
were yesterday," said Judge Estelle. I suppose
It was because it was such a terrible experience
and we always remember such things. The teacher
was Jane Polar. I hated her then and I almost
hate her yet. , .
"I was tickled over the idea of going to school.
I was 5 or 6 years old, I guess, and I thought I
was getting into the big boy class by starting to .
school.
"It was in Frankfort, O., sometimes called
'Oldtown.' We lived only three, blocks from the
school, so I was sent off alone. Before I got there
i turned around and went back home to get my
mice. ' ; ; ' ' ' '
Mice Were Well Trained
"I had four little mice that I had found and
tamed. I kept them ' in a little cigar box. My
brother had made a little wagon out of spools and
some harness, and I used to hitch up the mice to
the wagon and have lots of fun. They bad a little
bed in-their stable and there were pegs for the
harness. The mice would do pretty nearly any
thing I wanted them to do.
"Well, I happened to think of my mice and I
went back and got them. I got to school all right
and was placed in one of the back seats. I put the
box down on the seat beside me. I was Interested
In what was going on, but after a while I got tired
and lost interest. Then I thought of thd mice.
"I got them out of their box and proceeded to
hitch them up, feeding them first, of course. I
wasn't thinking 6f the other; children nor trying
to attract their attention, -but they quickly saw
what I was doing and before a great while those
road, . x. - uamasammmmmmm ir Ji ,r r smaar . i; i .v i l -..a ..
around me were watching the mice and very few
were paying any attention to what Miss Polar said.
Pupils Interested in Performance
"From where the teacher was she couldn't see
what was going on,' so she came walking back to
find out what the trouble was. Well, when she
saw those mice she let out a scream, ran back to
the front of the room and jamped up on a chair.
"She called to some of the big boys to take
'those horrid mice' out doors and kill them. When
I heard that I got my mice into their box as quickly
- I could and started to run;but the big boys
caught me, and while the teacher urged them on
they took the pets away from me and went out
doors and killed them, trampling on them. I stood
there and cried until they got through and then I
started to run home.
"I was yelling at the top of my voice, 'I'll kill
that old Jane Polar! I'll kill her! I ll kill her!
She killed my mice! She killed my mice!
"When I got to Davy Anderson's store, be
tween our home and the school house old Davy
came out and caught me in his arms. He took me
into the store and I told him all about the tragedy
it was a tragedy to me. Finally he got me con
soled with candy and I went home but I didn't
go back to school for two years. ,
Stoned the Teacher
"I don't suppose the teacher, would have had
my mice killed if she had realized how I prized
them; but she had a great aversion, greater even
than that of the average woman. I never got over
my hatred for her. She died before I went back to ,
school. Until she was taken sick I used to lie in
wait for her when she passed our house and throw
rocks at her. I would get punished for this,, but, I
would soon be at it again. Finally she got so she
would go around the block or run past as fast as
she could on the far side of the street to escape
' my wrath. , , ' j ;
Ran Away to War
"I ran away from the same scnool again about
ten years later. Seventeen of us ran away to
Salem, ten miles from Frankfort, to enlist. Every
body was talking war then and we all wanted to go
to the -front. Some of us had no trouble after the
- enlistment, but others did. Our parents took sev
eral of us back home on writs of habeas corpus
and I was one, though later I managed to get away
and the folks at home thought if I was so deter
mined to go to war they might as weir let me." .
Judge Eleazer Wakeley was carried back to his
first school days, but he could not recall his very
first day in school. ' . ' -". '
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l "Nothing happened: tLt(viT1ur i.TMan.
OMAHA, SUNDAY; MORNING, JUNE 30,'
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in my memory," said Judge Wakeley. "I remember
It only in a general way as I remember all the first
days of school. I had heard the larger boys speak
.of floggings, and I had a sort of idea that flogging
was as much a part of the course of study as read
ing and writing and arithmetic. We had those old
fashioned benches that everyone nowadays has
seen in pictures. Everything was new and interest
ing to me when I gained courage enough to take
my eyes from a single spot on the floor in front of
me. This was not until many days had passed, for
the .fear of flogging kept me still. I hoped it might
be delayed and felt that the more quiet-1 should
remain the longer the physical' training might be
postponed.
Judge Wakeley's School Days
"After days had passed and there was no flog
ging I began to look about me. That's about all I
remember of my first school days."
From an intimate friend of Judge Wakeley for
many years it has been learned that as a school boy
he was regarded with a sort of awe by most of his
fellows. Somehow, he could run faster and Jump
further than other boys in the school. He could
swim like a fish and when it came to diving he was
in a class by himself. Now he is no record breaker
in any of these fields of endeavor, being more than
90 years old. He is only a great jurist, revered
and almost worshiped by thousands, of friends,
many of them lawyers, a man ' who has had and
still has much more, than his share of honors.
Early Days In Illinois
J. H. Hulburt, district court bailiff, who is 1
and looks about 50, got to school before his time.
"It was at Hebron, 111.," said Mr. Hulburt. "I
ran away and went to school. It was about a mile
away. It was in town, but it was almost like the
country. My sister was gone and they told me she
-had gone to school, so I started out to find her. I
got to school and found her and they let me sit'
with her and eat some candy. , I would have had a
good time, but my folks found out where' I was.
They found out I was gone and got to making in
quiries. Pretty soon somebody told them they had
seen something that looked like a little boy going
over the hill in the direction of the school house.
They guessed it was me and they came and got me.
"When I got. old enough to go to school I was
pretty, big for my age. The first day I was there I
1912.
gol a licking. I was a hero because I got licked so
soon after I started to school. . I made such a good
impression that way that I thought I would make
it a little stronger, so I, took a run with a vaulting
pole and was going to show them what a good
vaulter I was for a boy my' size. The. pole slipped
and I struck my chin on it. '"That's what made this
scar here." . . . . ,
il'ncle Bill Christy Once a Boy' .' : ,
"Uncle Bill'! Christie's weather beaten old face
wrinkled into a wonderful smile and his eyes
twinkled merrily when he told of his first day in the
little old-fashioned school ; house ' at , Urbana, 0.,
years and years ago. W..B. Christie is his real
name, but more people-know him as just plain
'.'Uncle . Bill." He -is an old republican -war-horse.-He
still is mightily interested in politics, but when
asked about his first, day in school he forgot all
about the Chicago hostilities and made his con
fession. "I got the tar licked out of ;me,", said "Uncle
Bill." "My teacher was Miss Fish. She was a nice
lady, but I didn't like her' even if she was. I be
haved myself pretty well after the first day," but' it '
was because my folks made me. There was a knot
hole in the floor right by my seat. I got to spit
ting at it to see if I could hit It. I think I spit
about 100 times and the last time I pretty near hit
Jt. She caught me and dragged me to the frbnt of
the room and said she was going to lick me. .
"I was a stubborn little cuss and I started to
fight. I used my teeth and my feet and I just
about tore all her clothes off. Some of mine got
pretty well torn, , too. , When we got through I
guess it was what the prlift fighters call a 'draw.'
She sent me back to my seat. ; ; i
"When I got home my mother had heard about
it already I think the teacher had sent word to,
her and she gave me a walloping. She grabbed off
her shoe and she went after me right. After that
I behaved pretty well. I wasn't afraid of Miss Fish,
but I knew what I would get when I got home. In
that old school we used to get a fish book and line
and bait it and let it down through a'knothole and
, catch a rat, but 1 1 never : did ' that -only ' when ' I
thought I was strong - enough ; to stand a good
walloping from my mother." '
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"Joe" Redmon's Beginning' ,
"Uncle Joe" Redman said he couldn't remem
ber whether there were any sumachs growing
around the first school . house, he ever saw,' nor
whether there were any blackberry vines running
around It; but he had a distinct recollection that'
there was something 'growing around" there from
which very effective switches were cut. .'.'",".'' '".'V'
"Uncle Joe" is another old "standby" of - the .
SINGLE COPV FIVE CENTS.
csmsrm
republicans, and it is a rule of the Fifth Ward Re
publican . club that ,' no :; meeting ha)lvbe called ,, to'
order until "Uncle, Joe", and, "Uncle Bill" r
the platform, one. at each side of the presiding
officer. - ," ,. ' V'..H.-' '-. V,
"I don't think much of anything happened the
''first day I; was in school," said. "Uncle Joe.". "If
, there had I would remember it better. ;, I remember
something that happened a little' later.' though.
Our. Schoolmaster .was a fierce old .fellow. I guess
be never had , been .'a, boy.,' After I, had, been -in
school a while I got me a girl. The: girls and tha
boys, were kept apart, the girls on one side and the
boys on the other. I brought an apple to school
for, my. girl one day, but I was late to school and
couldn't Bee her before school took up. I tried to
roll "it over the f loor to her. , , : ,. .
'"I guess I would have got a good licking if It
hadn't been for one of the big boys.' The eld school
master I' forget his namewanted to'kndw who
rolled that 'apple.-. I was scared to death and didn't
answer. ( This big fejlow 1 guess he had seen nie -
Jumped up and said hedid it.,- He. was too, big for
the schoolmaster to try to lick, so he Just, told him
not to do it again.; .You. bet, I was the friend of
that, boy from then on. . I know his, name well
enough, .but I can't Just call it now." . -
. , (' ' . " When' Judge Doane ; Started -. ' (
. Tl)e present political uproar would serve to re
' mind former Judge George. W. Doane of his : first
school days. He is not a republican, but "a very
good democrat and as a democrat has had his share
: of honors and probably some more; ' . , :..
"My. first schoolmaster was, Caleb ' AtwaJer,"
said Judge; Doane. "I did not have him very. Job?
and I knew. his successor better. ' It was in Circle
tvillei O.;' where I was born. Atwater afterwards
'became quite a historian and wrote!, the first history
: of .Ohio.; , t .';,; ;,....'; t" ' v'.--m?
, ''After Atwater,! went to scnool to' a man
' named Warne, who was a typical old style school
master. Of course" there wefe no; public, schools
then; -all .were private. , I- remember one. circum
' stance that' helps me, fix the date. ' It was in the
fall of 1832. ; One day the, time came for the noon
. recess. We expected to go .out ,for an hour as
; usual. ! Just before noon Mr.' Warne said, 'You boys
. get ;your book ( together and '.'put '. them in order.
Then you needn't come back today. I want you all
to go out and hurrah tor 'Jackson all afternoon!'
" '''We .went, but we didn't air hurrah for Jack
son. !' Wme was a great Jackson man,- and .aok
son-was vety popular. in those parts. He was Uk
Roosevelt in: some- ways. ,He had some of those
qualities which . make . Roosevelt, popular and
peculiar magnetism which drew people to aim." -
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