Spiceland High School - Yearbook (Spiceland, IN)

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multitude, it is but the story of a good and useful life. There is inherent in some characters a certain indefinable force which destines them to become significant factors wherever fate may place them. Clarkson Davis was such a character. Edward Taylor. During the year that Clarkson Davis visited Europe, Edward Taylor filled his place. Mr. Taylor was a young man of force and ability. Knowing that he would, in all probability, remain in the school but one year he worked in such har- mony with the plans of his predecessor that upon Clarkson Davis ' return he found the work strengthened rather than weakened. Edward Taylor had an unfailing fund of humor with which he often enlivened the routine of the class room work. Timothy Wilson. The second time Clarkson Davis was forced to leave the Academy Timothy Wilson was secured as superintendent and very acceptably filled the place. Tim- othy Wilson believed there is good in every person. What he believed he looked ior ' and what he looked for he found. He frankly confessed himself an optomist, believing in the higher things that make life worth living. These things he sought to impress upon his pupils. Thomas Newlin. At the opening of the Spiceland Academy in the fall of 1882 Thomas Newlin, a former student of the school, began his services as superintendent. Without normal training, then in its infancy throughout the Middle West, he began to work out theories of his own and from the first his work was a decided success. He remained two years, then was absent one year, after which he again took charge of the school. Without show or pomp, whatever he undertook was done single mindedly, with earnestness of purpose and heartiness of endeavor. Evidences of this characteristic have been shown all through his career, as one of the important elements of his success. For a number of years he was president of Whittier College, Whittier, California, and later of Guilford College, North Carolina. Mr. Newlin is now living in Pasadena, California. William P. Pinkham. During Mr. Newlin ' s absence from the school in 1884 and ' 85, William P. Pinkham, of Cleveland, Ohio, served as superintendent. Mr. Pinkham was a minister in the Society of Friends as well as an educator. He had a high ideal of scholarship, and expected his pupils to attain as nearly as possible the standard which he set for them. He had an unusual capacity for hard work, but found the two vocations too much for his strength and at the end of the year resigned his position in school to give his entire time to strictly religious work. J. Frank Brown. At the close of Mr. Newlin ' s second connection with the school in 1892, J. Frank Brown assumed the office of superintendent. He was a young college graduate with high aspirations and an optomistic outlook upon life. The following lines seem a very fitting characterization of Mr. Brown: Our lives shall be filled with earnest work, Our hearts undashed by fortune ' s frown, Perseverance shall conquer fate, And merit seize the victor ' s crown, The fight isn ' t always to the strong, The race not always to the fleet, Our aim is not to pluck the stars, But to gather the flowers at our feet.

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A Short History of Spiceland Academy and Its Superintendents Spiceland Academy was incorporated in 1870, but for several years before that time it was recognized as a school of superior merit. Pupils came from other States as well as from the surrounding counties of this State. An old catalogue for i864- ' 65 shows sixteen pupils from Ohio, two from Iowa and one each from Kentucky and Kansas. During this period the school was under the supervision of a committee ap- pointed by Spiceland Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends. This commit- tee was devoted to the interests of the educational works and was very successful in the management of the school and in the selection of superintendents and teachers. Martha Hunt and Oliver White were the first teachers in the new building which was built in i860 to replace the first one. The next school was taught by Eli and Mahala Jay. From 1862 to 1863 Oliver and Martha Ft. Bales had charge of the school. Oliver Bales was a man of sterling character and of broad culture for that period. He was the sympathetic friend of every student and every pupil, no matter what his difficulty, felt that he could go to him with his trouble and receive comfort- ing words and advice that would enable him to overcome the difficulty. Oliver Bales, pupils were not afraid but ashamed to go to his class room with poorly prepared lessons. They know he expected good work and his evident disap- pointment that they should have done less than the best of which they were capable, was punishment enough. in the fall of 1863 the services of Clarkson Davis were secured as head of the school and he gave many years of hard work to the upbuilding of the institu- tion. Mis broad association with the leading educators and school men of that day, and his intimate acquaintance with educational work in general, brought the school more closely in touch with an enlarged sphere of activity. At the close of the spring term, 1867, Clarkson Davis asked for a year ' s leave of absence in which to recruit his health, which had given way under his arduous duties, and to travel in Europe. He again took charge of the school in the fall of 1868 and proceeded to work out his plans for the incorporation of the school as an academy which was completed in the winter of 1870 and the first class, a class of two young men, graduated that spring. Throughout his connection with the school he gave to each student his per- sonal interest and sympathy. To him the pupils went freely for advice and erit- ticism and always found a wise counselor, a just and kindly critic. In 1874 Clark- son Davis, was compelled to sever his connection with the school on account of his health. After traveling for Harper Brothers three years his health so far improved as to enable him for the third time to take charge of the school. This time he remained until the close of the spring term in 1882, when he left the school room for the last time. From that time till the next spring his health de- clined until May 26, when the final hour came. There is nothing in this brief life historv to command the attention of the

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l ' ncttKntftN ' N ? J. Frank Brown spent a number of years in teaching, after leaving Spiceland and is at present with the MacMillan Company, Publishers, in New York City. Arthur W. Jones. Arthur W. Jones was superintendent of the Academy but one year. He was an admirable man in every sense of the term, a strong Latin teacher, also well versed in mental science and pedagogy. At present Mr. Jones is Professor of Greek in Friend ' s University at Wichita, Kansas. Geo. W. Neet. Geo. W. Neet assumed the duties of superintendent of the Academy in the fall of 1894 and remained until the close of the spring term of 1898. He held the idea, recognized by all real educators, that the value of the school depends on the ability and efficiency of its teachers. According to the last account Mr. Neet was head of the English Department in the Normal School at Valparaiso, Indiana. Murray S. Wild man. In 1898 Murray S. Wild man was elected superintendent. Mr.Wildman had been a teacher of mental science and history for two years and already had en- deared himself to his students by his kindly disposition and geniality in the class- room. After leaving the Academy he took his Ph. D. at Chicago University in 1904. He has been a member of the faculty of the University of Missouri, of Northwestern Universitv and is at present head of the Economic Department at Leland Stanford University, California. M. S. Wood succeeded Mr. Wildman and successfully carried on the work upon similar lines as his predecessor for two years when, in turn he was succeeded by Homer H. Cooper, w ho remained at the head of the school until 1916, when Joseph H. Blose was selected by the trustees as superintendent. He did good work and endeared himself to the community by his helpfulness and good nature. Mr. Blose severed his connection with the school in 1918 when Chester L. Reagan succeeded him. M. E. F. CHARLES