Indiana University of Pennsylvania - Oak Yearbook / INSTANO Yearbook (Indiana, PA)

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HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. The entire number of lady graduates is 210; of these, 5 are dead and 19 are married, leaving a balance of 18G living and unmarried. The whole number of our lady gradu- ates now teaching or attending school is 180. It is thus seen that a larger proportion of them, including those withdrawing from school work on account of marriage, remain in the profession of teaching than of gentlemen ; and it must be a very blind and stupid economy that does not realize the advantage to the State of putting this culture and educational training into the family and social life of a neighborhood. Not alone the number of our students, but the character of our patronage, is a matter of congratulation. Tthas been the constant aim of the trusters to furnish such accommo- dations and to employ such teachers as would attract the more ambitious, thoughtful, and cultivated students of western Pennsylvania. In this they have succeeded. The health record of the school is one ' of the most remarkable features of its history. Your girls are the pictures of perfect health. is a remark often made by visitors. Delicate girls coming here almost always grow stronger. This comes partly from our good fortune and partly from our earnest effort. The building stands on a hill where it is swept by the freshest of breezes, and where we have plenty of light and sunshine, and pure air and pure water without stint. And then we require regular habits and gymnastics, and out-door exercise, and last but not least, plenty of hard work. Almost thirteen years have passed, and over 5,000 students have received training here, yet until within a few days of the writing of this article there had been but little severe illness, and never a single death in the school. Miss Mary Louise Dithridge died of scarlet fever, March 5, 1888. Memorial services were held for her in the chapel, the Sabbath following, in the presence of the students and citizens of the town, clergymen of the leading churches officiating. Improvements in methods of teaching in all the departments have been promptly made. Toward this end recourse has been freely had, from time to time, to the lead- ing Colleges and Normal Schools of the country to fill the different vacancies that have occurred in the department of instruction. Improvements in grounds and building have come more slowly but not less surely. When we, who have been here from the first, remembering how in that May of 1875, when fresh from our budding rosebeds in Lancaster county, we looked about on the rocky battery that surrounded our new building, and wondered if we should be able to grow even a geranium on such an un- promising ledge, display such pride now in our carnations and roses, we might surely be pardoned. And then the trees we have planted, and the vines we have trained, that already make us glad with the glory of each returning spring, and the grading we have done, and the station we are promised at the foot of our own grounds. Oh, while our oaks have grown older and we wiser, to make no more painful admission, our grounds have certainly become more beautiful. And now that we have bought more houses and lands, and enlarged our borders, Our home on the hill will be more graceful and beautiful still. 11

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HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. been a successful instructor in the State Normal School at Albany, N. Y., and in the one at Mansfield, Pa., and at teachers institutes in this State and elsewhere. Dr. and Mrs. French made a fine and deep impression upon the school, especially upon its so- cial and religious character. They remained connected with the school three years. Dr. French ' s successor, in October of 1881, was Professor Leonard H. Durling. Pro- fessor Durling is an Ohio man, was educated at the Wesleyan University, in Delaware, Ohio, and afterwards graduated and taught at the National Normal University, at Leb- anon, in the same State. Five years later he was elected Professor of Natural Science in the Central High School, at Pittsburgh, which position he held until elected Super- intendent of the schools of Allegheny City. From this superintendency he came to In- diana. Under his management the school has grown steadily in numbers and influence. Like all institutions which have become a permanent success and power, the In- diana Normal School has grown gradually. The catalogues give the following attend- ance for each year: TEARS. STUDENTS. YEARS. STUDENTS. 305 375 392 422 TEARS. STUDENTS. TEARS. STUDENTS. 1875, . . . 1876, ... 1877, ... 1878, ... 306 304 304 353 1879, . . . 1880, . . . 1881, . . . 1882, . . . 1883, ... 1884, . . . 1885, . . . 1886, . . . 436 522 557 527 1887, . . . 601 Leaving out the current year then we have had 5,404 students in attendance. The number of graduates is 313; of these 210 were ladies, and 103 were gentlemen. Of these graduates all have taught but 18, many of them for several years, and a very large majority of them are still engaged in teaching. Of the 18 who never taught only 6 refrained from doing so from choice, the others being deterred by death or other unavoidable circumstances. The number of graduates who have been professors in Normal Schools and Colleges, is five; the number who have been County Superintendents, is three; the number who have been principals of graded and high schools, is twenty; the number besides these who have taught in graded and high schools, is two hundred and forty. Quite a number of our graduates after teaching a number of years study some other pro- fession. Among these, eighteen have become lawyers, eight doctors, seven ministers, three editors, four missionaries. The whole number now teaching or engaged in edu- cational work, as nearly as I can ascertain, is one hundred and ninety-six ladies and seventy-one gentlemen. It has been charged that the State loses money by the early withdrawal of the lady graduates of the Normal Schools from the profession. The incorrectness of such a criticism may be seen from the following statement: 10

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HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. And then indoors. Eyes will fall on this that will recall those opening days of ' 75, before our furniture came, and when, do the best we could, the house would seem bare and empty. The boys for a week or two, cheered by Dr. Fairfield ' s hopeful words ; bravely slept on the floor. He promised them that they would remember and laugh at their hardships some day, and be glad, in spite of them all, that they had been Indiana ' s first students. Now that the basement has been fitted up, that the dining room, the society rooms, the reading room, and the chapel are all beautifully frescoed and fur- nished, the parlor handsomely furnished, and the reading room and library filling up with books, is a fitting time to make good the Doctor ' s prediction. Delightful associations already gather about the school. There are men and women in many States and in other lands that recall our class-rooms and chapel and halls in tender and happy memory. The grove, the lawn tennis, the croquet and base ball grounds they remember as that golden world where they did fleet the time care- lessly. The prayer meetings, the Bible class, the societies, are shrines to which good and grateful hearts render homage. Lasting friendships have been formed among both teachers and scholars, friendships that will make life more blest and more happy. Pennsylvania has the foundation of a magnificent and rapidly developing system of Normal Schools. To-day in number, in attendance of students, in buildings and equip- ment, her Normal Schools will compare favorably with any that can be found elsewhere, at home or abroad. Among these schools Indiana has from the first held an eminent place. She has done much to develop the science of education, and to introduce improved methods of teach- ing, much to furnish a body of workers whose thoroughness and skill will everywhere be recognized, much to bring into clearer light the meaning and dignity of the teach- er ' s office. Indiana, March 8, 1888. 12