Elmira Free Academy - Torch / Sagoyawatha Yearbook (Elmira, NY)

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short lived debating society was started by the girls, but both its name and its history are wrap- ped in obscurity. At the time of the Commencement in '71, there were several rizes given by public spirited citizens. These continued for three years, until, some dissatisfjaction with the award- ing having arisen, the donors thought best to withdraw them. The Arnot prize in mathematics, given by john Arnot, jr., consisted of two gold medals for the best results in an algebra examination given by the teacher. H. W. Foster and Loula Fassett won these medals in '71. The Hall spelling prize was a Webster's Unabridged Dictionary contributed by Chas. Hall for the best speller. Emma H. Beers and Mary Turner tied for first rank and a dictionary was given to each. ' The Diven composition and elocution prize was established by George M. Diven. He donated 70 dollars for books as prizes each year. These were awarded on the results of two prize exhibitions. The first awards were as follows: Oratory, 1st prize, Fred Dundas, 2nd prize, Henry Flood, Composition, 1st Senior prize, Ella Beecher, 2nd Senior prize, Mary Turner, 1st Junior prize, Josie Bullard, 2nd Junior prize, William P. McKnight. Junior and Sophomore Recitation and Declamation prizes: Declamation, 1st prize, William P. McKnight, 2nd prize, Alex. C. Eustace. Recitation, 1st prize, Hattie Hart, 2nd prize, Lizzie Thurston. In '72-'73 an English Literature prize was added to the foregoing list. 15 dollars in was given to the student attaining highest rank in a written examination in English Literature set by the teacher of literature. No record was found of the donor or o the winner. In all cases, these prizes were awarded at Commencement, though the successful competitors were sometimes announced at the close of the exhibitions. On January 13th, 1872, Prin. Steele was given a leave of absence for four months because of the pressure of his literary duties. January 29th, Prof. Monks was appointed Acting-Principal during Prin. Stee1e's absence. On June 25th, of the same year, the Board of Education declined to accept Prin. Steele's resignation, granting him six months further leave and requesting him to withdraw his resignation. He never returned to E. F. A. aslprin- cipal, however, although the Board waited until July 14, 1873, before appointing Acting- rin- cipal Monks actual Principal. A Principal Steele's administration had done great things for the progress and reputation of the Academy. That fact, coupled with his literary fame, made the Board very reluctant to release him. As has been shown, he brought order out of chaos, made the Academy an illus- trious example of self government, and established many worthy customs. Moreover, he was an exceptionally able teacher, commanding the respect and admiration of his students, and was a great organizer. For many years the school bore the impress of his strong personality. CHAPTER VI. PRIN. MONKS'S ADMINISTRATION, 1872-1887. Prin. James R. Monks kept the Academy up to the standard established by his predecessor. W In his '73 report to the Board, he emphasized the fact that no teacher in his school was called an a assistant , each in her department was supreme authority, a preceptress of a special department, thus adding dignity to the position. Their com- pensation was also better than it is to-day, though the requirements now are much higher than then. There were five departments in '73, history and literature being combined in one. In February 1873, Prof. Steele's collection of geological specimens was purchased for 450 dollars. This is an unusually line collection for a High School to own. It has been added to some- what by later instructors, Miss Herrick contributing a collection made one summer in Ithaca. Un- fortunately, under the present regent's regulations in science the collection can be little used. In September, 1874, the course of study was changed from a three to a four years' course for x all students. Previous to that, the general course N had been three years. College preparatory students 1 had been graduated at the close of the third year, I on the general course, returning for a fourth year and a second diploma. . books 2' U 1871 1872 1872-' 73 1873 1874

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1867 1867 1869 1869 1870 1871 1871 The first class graduated under Prin. Steele was in 1867. This was also the first class to use the terms Valedictorian and Salutatorian for Commencement honors. Chas P. Thurston was the first valedictorian and Henry R. Redfield salutatorian. These terms have been used ever since. In a large part of Prof. Monks's administration, however, instead of being, as originally and now, applied to the students ranking first and second in scholarship, regardless of sex, the valedictory was given to the one ranking highest among the young men and the salutatory to the one ranking highest among the young women, though the latter's standing might be much higher than the former's. On the 30th of October, 1867, a preliminary meeting was held to plan a literary society open to both sexes. As a result, on Nov. 15, 1867, the Lyceum was established. Its purpose was cultivation of literary taste by composition, declamation, and reading choice literature. There were thirty-eight charter members, among them Dr. Steele, Prof. Norton, J. Sloat Fassett, H. S. Brooks, Clement Bainbridge, Jacob Schwartz, Adele Gleason and Emily A. Nel- son, names well known to most Elmirans. The motto chosen was Stratum supra stratum. For twenty years the principal of the Academy was president of the society, and several mem- bers of the faculty were usually in the membership. Prin. Steele continued president until Jan.25, 1872,when,going on a leave of absence, he resignedfrom the presidency. Prof. Monks was elected Jan. 30, 72 and continued until he left the Academy, June 1887. Officers were elected three times a year, serving one school term. The meetings were held Monday evenings in the northwest room of the basement, which the society fitted up as a cosy club room. Prof. Monks took great interest in the society and the Lyceum continued in a flourishing condition, doing excellent work, as long as he remained at its head. When Mr. Lovell became principal, the control of the Lyceum passed entirely into the hands of the students. Arthur booth was the first student president, elected in September, 1887, As the students were unaccustomed to the management of such a society, it gradually ran down. The last minutes were recorded April 19, 1889. Thus passed the first literary society of E. F. A. In 1869, the Adelphic Debating Club was organized. John R. Joslyn and C. Carroll Fitzhugh had moved to Elmira from Mt. Morris, N. Y., where in 1868 they had been charter members of an Adelphic Debating Club. They organized one here with the same name and for a second time became Adelphic charter members. There were nine others. It is interest- ing to note that J. Sloat Fassett and Jacob Schwartz were charter members of the Adelphics as well as of Lyceum. George W. Knox was its first president. Many of the famous business and professional men of Elmira have been members of the Adelphic in former years. Con- spicuous among them are such men as John B. Stanchfield, Edgar Denton, Judge Walter Lloyd Smith, Boyd McDowell, Casper Decker, Alex. Eustace. David M. Pratt, Harry Bogart, and Thomas F . Fennell. The list might be indefinitely extended. As a society open to all the young men, it drew the best talent of the school into its membership. It is to be regretted that in December, 1895, the constitution was revised, making it a secret society and thus narrowing it into a clique and defeating the purpose for which the Adelphic was organized. There is no occasion for secrets in a debating society. There should be no reason why any fellow of the school, whether a fraternity man or not, might not be privileged to belong to the historic old debating club. Until 1902, the meetings were held in E. F. A. Now the club rooms are at 206 East Water Street. The Class of 1869 was the first to hang a class picture upon the walls of E. F. A. They set a style that lasted until classes became very large in the late nineties. Jacob Schwartz was valedictorian of '69 and Will Ayres salutatorian. Our honored townsman, J. Sloat Fassett, was the brilliant valedictorian of the Class of 1870, and Clement D. Bainbridge, later an actor of repute, now living in Elmira, was salutato- nan. Soon after the beginning of the fall term of 1870, James R. Monks, A. M., a graduate of the first E. F. A. class, later of Union College, was added to the faculty to take exclusive charge of the college preparatory students. The next fall, five students entered various colleges well-prepared and admitted without condition. In September, 1871, there were thirteen students in this class. This was the beginning of Prof. Monks's long and valuable service to E. F. A. In Prin. Steele's report to the Board of Education for the year ending June 28, 1871, he mentions the custom of impromptu compositions. Whether it was established that year is not clear. This custom was continued until the inadequate accommodations of old No. 6, in 1891,whenthe second buildingwas being erected, rendered it impossible. It was not revived later. One period a week, in rotation, was devoted by all students to the writing of a composi- tion on one of several themes announced at that time. Subject matter must be drawn from one's own knowledge or experience, there was no opportunity for investigation. At least two pages must be written within the alloted period. These impromptus were divided among the faculty for marking until 1888, when the English department was separated from the history. After that, all these weekly impromptus fell to the lot of the English teacher. The system was an excellent one for the students, but a heavy burden upon one teacher. In 1870-'71 a girls' debating society called the Philorhetorian was in existence. The date of its origin is uncertain, as is also the date of its disbanding. The society met Thursday afternoons after school, in the same room as the Adelphics, whose meetings at that time were 'Thursday evenings. Later the Adelphics met Fridays. Six or seven years after this, another

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1 , uni: 5 - in w' S. Ji I if N 1875 In the fall of 1875, Miss S. Cornelia Norman joined the Academy faculty. She had previously 1878 1878 1878 1880 1887 been teaching in School No. 1. The coming and going of all teachers of the school it would be im- possible to chronicle, but Miss Norman was no ordinary teacher and her advent is worthy of notice. In June 1878, appeared the first number of the HE. F. A. Record, an eight page paper of considerable interest. Frank Fishler was its first editor. It was published semi-annually at first, the second number coming out December 19, 1678, the Commencement day of the only Christ- mas Class in the history ot the school. In the Personal column one item reads: Our alumni list records six M. D's. That number has been many times multiplied since. The Record be- came an annual later, but its career was compara- tively short. The June Class of '78 was the only one to be graduated on the four years' course established in 1874. It was the Hrst class to hold its Commence- ment exercises outside of the Free Academy build- ing. Park Church was the place chosen. Com- mencements continued to be held in various churches from that date until 1888, when the Lyceum theatre was secured. A December 19, 1878, the Christmas Class of '78 was graduated. This was a unique Com- mencement, the only winter graduation in Academ- ' ' ic history. The decision to return to a three years' general course made it necessary to reduce the number of classes, and the Christmas Class therefore stands alone as the one class graduated onia three-and-a-half years' course. Their Commencement took place at the First M. E. Church. june 21, 1880, some students of the Academy, whose names did not appear upon the paper ---perhaps wisely published a paper called The Mirror, a four-page sheet containing caustic criticisms of the management of E. F. A. and decidedly personal roasts upon some members of the faculty. The editors, in two paragraphs in different parts of the paper, took pains to except Misses Norman and Nelson of the faculty from any adverse criticism. The student body,as a whole, did not approve the tone of The Mirror and the nature of its reflec- tions. Naturally the faculty disapproved. Hence it became another illustration of the first shall be last. On the same day, the UE. F. A. Record for the year came out. Its editors that year were William E. V. Kemp and Cassius I-Iibbard. Its tone was very different from that of its rival. . For the first years of the eighties there seem few distinctive events to chronicle. Prin- Monks's methods were fully established and the machinery of the system moved smoothly- The retirement of Prin. Monks, in June 1887, was a cause of deep regret to the school and alumni. His infiuence in the school had been a particularly happy one. All students had a profound respect for his intellectual attainments and for his opinions. His bearing was dignified, but gracious, and his manners polished. In his students, also, he tolerated no manners but those of ladies and gentlemen, and he inculcated these more by example than by precept. Seldom did he speak severely, but on the rare occasions when it was necessary, the few in- cisive words of scorn with which he scored an ill-bred act made the offender shrivel into a pygmy in his own eyes as well as in those of his schoolmates. No such babyish tricks as char- acterize students of some High Schools were ever seen in E. F. A. during his administration, although the average age of students was about the same here as elsewhere, and then as now. His leaving was a serious loss to the school and marked the passing of the old regime. I