Spiceland High School - Yearbook (Spiceland, IN)

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THE EVOLUTION OF THE ACADEMY- PLATE I

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ALUMNI Realizing that a great deal of the present standing of our Academy is due to the way in which students and teachers of former days have wrought, we have attempted to make the Alumni section of this, our first annual, of special interest to the hosts of old friends of the school. We are sure that on this Anniversary year as we are endeavoring to increase our bounds and efficiency as an institution we can count on your loyalty and support. May the glimpses of our life at school this year awaken in your hearts mem- ories of your own school days and bring you back in person as well as in thought to The green retreats Of Academus. — The Editors. SOME OF THE BEGINNINGS OF SPICELAND ACADEMY LIFE As early as 1859 Spiceland Monthly Meeting School was feeling the impulses of renewed vigor as of springtime growth. The idea of permanency for the in- stitution was beginning to dawn upon the community. Some of its friends who bad caught the vision made a determined effort to replace their first frame school house, built about 1830. with a substantial brick structure. But sufficient means could not be secured at that time. Excellent timber was plentiful on every farm, and was not then a commercial commodity, of which the owners could contribute liberally toward a wooden building. A good two-story frame was the alternative, with the old bell atop that has since called us all to books. After the close of the Civil War the growth was quite marked and the ex- cellence of the work being done attracted patronage from remote localities. It was during this period that an addition was built to the south end of the two- story building mentioned above, the resulting building was in the shape of an L, known as the Old Frame Academy Building , which occupied the site of the present Public Grade School I ' .uilding. The girls dormitory, popularly known as the Asylum, was also built then to accommodate young ladies who wished to do light-housekeeping while attending school. A course of study was devised that was supposed to equip young men and women for the ordinary duties of life or fit those who wished, to enter college. The first catalogue we have was issued for the school year of 1 864-1865. For thirty-seven years the school had steered the course of a guarded reli- gious education from the a-b-c ' s, through the exact and speculative ologies, literature, and the dead languages. The method had been largely elective as to studies pursued ; all were irregulars. There was no class grouping along lines of similar work done ; no class spirit. If any hazing was to be done, some clique was at the bottom ; and not the under classman, but the principal, the likely victim. A new method was introduced, a new precedent established when two men, mature men of twenty-five or twenty-six years, one of them married, com- pleted the course and were duly graduated in 1870, with fitting ceremonies and proper dignity. About the same time a subscription of $3,000 was made as a nucleus for an

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i endowment fund ; and the machinery was set in motion for incorporating the Academy. The unwinding of the red tape from the intricacies of the Indiana laws relative to such matters, was a tedious process, so that a year elapsed before the final papers were issued. The requirements of the school again called for additional room. A two- story brick building with assembly room and two class rooms on the lower floor, and an auditorium above was made- ready for use in the spring of 1872: Five or six years later, a two-story addition containing four class rooms was built across the east end of the above, the resulting building being in the form of a T. The partition cutting off the class rooms in the older portion were removed, leaving t ie entire lower floor of that portion for an Assembly room. Thus completed, that building served to house the Academy till it was razed to give place to the present modern equipment. It is worthy of note that many of the teacher candidates for the public school took the normal work given here during this period. A lecture course, that brought in some of the best platform talent of the country, was successfully maintained for many years. There were three literary societies organized within the student body that were quite helpful in cultivating oral and written expression. Early in this period these societies started the collection of two libraries. First the Crescents, the older bovs societv, and the Lucernians, the girls society, joined their efforts in one. The Gliscos. another boys societv, interested themselves in another. The funds for the purchase of books were derived from the proceeds of semi- annual entertainments given by the societies. These entertainments consisted al- most entirely of original material by members of the societies, orations, essays, papers, declamations, farces, tableaux, etc. Xo musical interludes for some years. On one occasion the societies appointed a committee to ask the trustees of the church for permission to have two or three songs with organ accompaniment by society talent in approaching entertainment. The first one interviewed, promptly replied: No, boys, but come and ask every time. It is of interest to note that not many years after, the catalogue announced that A competent teacher would give instructions in music. The books assembled by those societies came to make quite a respectable showing ; and together with those of the town stock-company library, constitute the bulk of books now on the library shelves. It was a common practice for students of this period to rent rooms, some- times a small house, and small groups, to board themselves. Almost any citizen of the town would take those who wished to board, at reasonable rates, in order t help along the interest of the Academy. During the period of the 70 ' s, forty-six completed the required course of study. They were distributed in nine classes. One year there were none, one vear only one. The largest number in a class was nine. Thirty-five were males and eleven females. More than forty-one percent taught school before graduat- ing, and seventv-six per cent afterward. Four continued teaching as their life work, ore of whom has been instructor in normal institutions, east and west, has written on the techniciue of teaching, and is author of a history of education. One became a railroad man. One a medical doctor. Six substituted the practice of law for teaching. One has been superintendent of the Academy and president of four colleges. Fourteen have engaged in farming, stock-raising, dairying, and fruit growing. Eight have tried other lines of business. Three were married before graduating and all the others were married af- terward except one woman and one man. The mates of fourteen attended school at Spiceland, and those of four have taught there. Four took post-graduate work in the Academy. Nine took professional work elsewhere. Only one took a regular college course. Nearly seventy per- cent have been affiliated with the church. Two have been ministers. A number have been efficiently engaged in some line of religious activities. A backward look at the problems that have beset the Academy life at every