Ferris State University - Ferriscope Yearbook (Big Rapids, MI)

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JOHN FERRIS JR. HOUSE IN WHICH WOODBRIDGE N. FERRIS WAS BORN 10 MRS. STELLA FERRIS

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Miss Gillespie graduated from the English Department and in autumn began a yearls work of teaching in the public schools of Franklin, Indiana. I left the Oswego Normal and Training School lacking one-half year of graduation. I felt that it would not be a wise use of time and money to remain the last half year for the 'fpractice training . My academic work had been completed. During the following summer I assisted my father on the farm in haying and harvesting. In October, 1873, I entered the Medical Department of Michigan University. At that time the requirements were, indeed, meager. A six months' course of lectures without any quizzes for the freshmen, the course of lectures repeat- ed the second year with quizzes for the seniors constituted the entire requirements for graduation. Students not infre- quently matriculated for the first year, left the University and engaged in other work and returned the next year and, by the aid of notebooks containing the senior course of lec- tures, graduated with an aggregate training of only six months. Since that time there has been a revolution in med- ical education. VVhile at the Ifniversity I had the good for- tune to hear Richard Proctor, the great astronomer, lecture on The Sun , also J. G. Holland, then editor of Scribner's Monthly , author of Gold Foil , Timothy Titcomb's Let- ters and numerous novels, lecture on The Elements of Per- sonal Power . Proctor's lecture induced me to read his de- lightful books on astronomy. I. G. Holland's lecture led me to appreciate the wholesome influence that a forceful speaker exercises over a body of young people. During the winter, Prof. Edward Morse, of Harvard University, gave two lec- tures on 'Evolution'l. At this time the University was stirred by what was then termed Darwinism . One Sunday afternoon I strayed into the Unitarian Church, of which Charles Henry Brigham was pastor. He presented to every student, free, a copy of Channing's works, a volume of james Freeman Clark, and a copy of Letter and Spirit by Richard Metcalf. From boyhood I was what most people would term a skeptic. In the teach- ing and preaching of Mr. Brigham I found a response to my innermost demands. Wliile I have refrained from join- ing any particular church, my views have been in harmony with those of the radical New England Unitarians. I pursued a course in medicine, not with a view of prac- ticing, but with a view of gaining a knowledge that would aid me very materially in my work as teacher. The last of March, 1874, I left Ann Arbor for my home in Spencer, N. Y. On arriving at Spencer I found that the Free Acad- emy was without a Principal. I at once made application and in the course of a week I found myself Principal of the school that I had attended seven years previously. I com- pleted the term and was employed for the succeeding year. During the summer I aided my father in his haying and harvesting. On XYednesday, December 23, 1874. I was mar- ried to Helen Frances Gillespie, of Fulton, N. Y. On the Monday following we began teaching together in the Acad- emy. At the end of the school year we concluded to try a new field. In autumn we organized the Freeport Business College and Academy at Freeport, Stephenson county, Illi- nois. Mr. E. Ii, Sherman, a former classmate at Oswego, joined us in this enterprise. NVe succeeded in building up a school that gave promise of substantial success. Dr. Mc- Kendrie Tooke, of Dixon, Illinois, then President of what was called the Rock River University, induced me to dis- continue my school at Freeport and enter the University as

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Principal of the Normal Department. As nearly as I can remember we entered upon our duties as instructors in April, 1876. This venture proved a failure. The University was little better than a well-organized academy. We failed to receive a11y considerable part of our salaries. NVe con- cluded at the end of 1877 to discontinue work at the Uni- versity and organize a private academy down town. Justin L. Hartwell, then Superintendent of Schools in North Dix- on, Illinois, joined me in this new enterprise. At the end of the year we dissolved partnership. Mrs. Ferris and my- self continued the work. This enterprise was fairly success- ful. I saw that, sooner or later, Rock River University would pass out of the hands of Dr. Tooke and some man of means would in all probability monopolize the private school field. VVe concluded, therefore, to close the Dixon Business College and Academy in the summer of 1879. On September 18, 1876, our first child, Carleton G. Ferris, was born. During our stay of a little more than three years in Dixon we led a strenuous life. After all, we look back to delightful friendships, to tl1e days and hours whose inliuence is a part of our very lives at the present time. It was during this period that I drove to Sterling, sixteen miles or thereabouts from Dixon, to hear Theodore Tilton give his lecture entitled The Human Mind . The most powerful factors in my work as teacher originated in the turn that this lecture gave to my forces. I now have in my possession a beautiful letter written by Theodore Tilton from his rooms in Paris, thanking me for calling his attention to the inliuence of this particular ad- dress. ln this lecture he made it clear to me that the ap- proach to the human mind is through the heart, that the springs of action are man's desires and aspirations and not his intellect. It is from this viewpoint that I have attempted to do my best work as a teacher. In the fall of 1879 I accepted a position as Superintend- ent of the city schools of Pittsfield, Illinois, in which posi- tion I remained for five years. Mrs. Ferris did not teach while we lived at Pittsfield. I was twenty-six years of age when I began my work as superintendent. I was aggres- sive, earnest, diligent, enthusiastic. Probably no five years of my teaching ever bore more and better fruit than the five years at Pittsfleld. The reader will not care to read the de- tails concerning what I aimed to accomplish as city Super- intendent. I was a follower, not a leader, in educational thought. I believed that the Superintendents in the larger cities knew what the public schools needed and I, therefore, fell in line and attempted in my own weak way to imitate them. Although twenty-hve years have passed, both Mrs. Ferris and myself recall with wonderful distinctness our social relations in this little city of Illinois. It was in Pittsfield, June 3, 1881, that our second son, Clifford, was born. It was on September 2o, 1881, that he died. In the fall of 1884 we concluded to leave Pittsneld and organize a private school at llig Rapids, Michigan. W'e had had this plan in mind for a year. The Olllj' question that remained for consideration was where we would locate. XVe had three cities under consideration-Fargo, Dakotag Duluth, Minnesota, and Big Rapids. Other cities were visited, but the choice narrowed down to three. On May 16, 1884, we arrived in the city of Big Rapids. During the summer I worked in a summer school conducted by P. M. Iirown and C. E. Tuck. At that time, C. E. Tuck was Principal of the school at Mecosta, Mich. I received noth- ing for my services, because I was anxious to become ac- vt.,