Illinois State Normal University - Index Yearbook (Normal, IL)

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The Index During the summer, after the battle of Bull Run, President Hovey, all the teachers but two. and almost all the male students volunteered. In June. 1So2, Richard Edwards was appointed as president. Thomas Metcalf and Al- bert Stetson joined us in the fall. Charles F. Childs, the founder ofthe High School, had come to us a few months earlier. Now began the second stage in the history of this institution. We were all compara- tively young men, full of pluck and a determination to make tl1e school worthy ot regard, and to compel a regard for it. NVe put ourselves into it in full measure. IVe traveled up and down the state attending institutes and teachers' meetings, riding in the trains by night and speaking by day. For several summers, we worked in summer institutes here at Nor- mal, from two to four weeks at a time. tvffhoul ll fm! 0fc.vl1'11 juz-V. Squabbles in the faculty. there were none. Conflicts between the students and faculty were very few. The teachers took part with the students in the work of the societies, and in social affairs, on terms of perfect equality. Une frequent feature of the society work in those days was the comic debate. In these debates, a ludicrous or absurd question was chosen, and then argued with all gravity and seriousness. The tirst one occurred in the winter or spring of 1802, at a time when, in addition to the strain and excitement regarding national ahfairs, there was some friction in the internal af- fairs of the school. The question for debate was something like this: Is Mother Goose to be believed when she said: 'Hey diddle. diddle. the cat's in the riddle. etc.' I had the afiirmative, and presented arguments like the following: The cow might jump over the moon, for no one knows how far ott the moon is. Astronomers pretend to tell us, but they guess at one quarter and multiply by four. Then by a labored calculation, I showed how many tleas a cow would equal in bulk. Then, by multiplying the distance one tlea can jump, by the number of fleas a cow would equal, I had an enormous distance. But, most conclusive of all, I had seen a picture in which the cow was directly over the moon.

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The Index the Illinois Normal University opened the gateways of a new life. We loved it, rejoiced in it, and were thoroughly loyal to its name and fame. We were free in our conduct, to a singular extent. No school rules rested upon us. Our hours and our methods were wholly our own. lVe lived as we pleased, formed our friend- ships and associations, made our calls, and managed our atfairs, entirely at our own choice and pleasure. Very few schools were ever so slightly governed. Nevertheless the record of those days was a thoroughly Spartan one. We were from Puritan households, disciplined in self-restraint. Industry and poverty were our safe-guards. On the first Saturday after my arrival in Bloomington, the rain graciously suspended operation for a little, and I made a trip to Normal, then called The Junction, or North Bloomington. The basement of the building was nearly completed, but all work on it was at a standstill, and had been for many months. The campus was a cornlield, with plenty of cornstalks, but not a tree or shrub upon it. The old farm, of which it formed a part, was bounded by a ditch on the west side of what is now Fell avenue. East of that, was only raw, unbroken prairie. Streets had been laid out, but none were opened. Some ofthe magniiicent elms that now shade the streets had been plantedg but they were mere sticks an inch or two in diam- eter. The house lots of Principal Hovey, where Mr. Augustine now lives, were surrounded by a young hedge just set out: and the lots where Mr. John W. Aldrich lives, had just been plowed. The school was hardly settled in its new quarters when the civil war broke out. A few ofthe young men volunteered at the iirst call, in April, 1801. During the spring term almost all the young men drilled every day. The drill-ground was just where the buildings of the public schools now stand. This spot had been used for the burning of the brick for the walls of the University. It made a very convenient parade ground. The clay for these brick had been dug just where the tirst house east of the Baptist church now stands.

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The Index My opponent, Dr. Sewall, enlarged upon the dangers to society that would follow a faith in Mother Goose. He pictured a little boy sitting on his father's doorstep eating his supper of bread and milk, but nervously clutching spoon and dish all the time, lest they run off together. Then, pulling out of his pocket a copy of Mother Goose, he read: Needles and pins, needles and pins, XVhen a man marries his trouble begins. Then he pathetically showed the dire effect of establishing faith in an author who pro- mulgated such sentiments. I do not remember which side won the debate. But the fun did much to smooth the fric- tion, and comic debates became popular. I have confined these reminiscences to a period of thirty years and more agone. Only a few can tell these old-time stories now, but there are many who can tell the stories of later times. EDXVIN C. HEWETT. 1590-1898. THE KE.-XI, INYENTOR Ulf THE PHUNOGRAPH. And you really think that you know who invented the phonograph? You suppose it to be a modern invention. XVell, it was ever thus. To have one's name spelled incorrectly in the dispatches when he fell on the tield of glory, leading the forlorn hope, is the irony of fate, and so it is to have the glories of a great invention ascribed to some presumptuous fellow who is not entitled to it at all, while the real discoverer is forgotten if indeed he is ever known. But justice has her own way of bringing to the deserving their real reward, and in this particular instance I am the humble instrument of the blind-folded Woman with the seales. It was in the early months of 1816. Gene Baldwin had just come back from the army to resume his studies in the Normal School and to manage the affairs of the Wrig-litonian Society in his inimitable way. He was the quaintest of fellows, as he still is, though now