Wharton High School - Tiger Yearbook (Wharton, TX)

Page 18 text:

COLORADO Fon rirrn THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE HISTORY OF WHARTON S SCHOOLS Wharton s progress along educational lmes has been phenomenal In a comparatively short tlme we have advanced from the one room stage to that of the best and most modern school ln any town of thrs slze rn the State The metamorphosls of the schools of Wharton has ln short been complete We shall not be content to stop at thus pomt but our advancement shall contmue The early history of our schools conslsts mostly of brographxcal sketche of the teachers to whom me owe a great deal for the foundatron of our present advantages they lard In September IBSO there came to Wharton from Camden Alabama one Mrs Maggle Watts a wndow wlth four small children Upon her devolved the task of then support and to thus end she opened a pnvate scnool whlch proved mutually benehclal a there was no mstltutlon of thls kmd ln the community The success of her school was so marked that two leading cxtlzens Dr Saltman and Mr Rust came to her home and gave her a crude examlnatlon of oral questions These she answered satxsfactonly and she was accordmgly granted a teacher s certlhcate Thus the school became Whar tons 6l'St public mstrtutlon of learning The only difference that was brought about by the change was that a portion of her salary was pald by the State the pupils paymg the rest She had twenty two pupxls but the salary was so small that she had to serve as asslstant postmaster to provide for her famlly The crtlzens of Wharton she says were very kmd to her and helped her ln every way they could but the straxn was too great and the next fall she had a nervous breakdown She was forced to gave up the school and devoted all of her time to the postofhce of vshlch she became postmnstress An mslght into Mrs Watts admirable character may be gamed from the following episode that she related to me s QM X. i v . - 1. A , fy-1+ A ,t Y ' A '. , Y 1 - f , , V . I Q ,. ,. 9 T' ' ' ' I I I 71 . .7 n S' ' T 5 . . 1 . . - . 9 Y . s , . 1 7 Q Y ' . , - . . , . . . , s . . . - . - , . , . , .... . . , . a ' 7 I - , . ' : , . , . . . . . , . . .

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Y, 9 fc., ONE OF THE EARLY CLASSES CAPTAIN VIACNEALY Prmcupal ANOTHER EARLY CLASS MR PEACOCK Pnncxpal Tlmhu Q-. .. ., - . , I i - , . . I . x 1 A . - 4--N A-- A f E. , , ...-1....,. . . I - .1 ' f , , I . , Q ' ,' . A - X ' 7 ' r I - Y- f- ff - - - ,,.........., gi K , , H - Q 5 h A .. , L K' -U . g ' f. 4 h '--: ' . ' Q K A ,-, , Q-.-,,,, 1' 1 1 , 2 ' I . V C 41. .X - A' ' I l ,, f V. ' 'L , fix U A ' A , , 1 1 A ly' ' LA. ,a f W - .' f VL .',:,-' 4 1 A ,I 'V 4 ' A ' , 5' - - 4 4 ' P f , Q ' 'T' gn' .-Yr! - N.. J 4 - . . , ' ' . V . . C - . Q - . - z X xf I ' Q , - , A ' f .ish t 'A ' A 4 ' -. -, ., ,E.-. -,,, .,,., . Nl 1

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LOLORADO The mother of one of her puprls called on Mrs Watts to drscuss her son s progres ln school He was not advancmg as raprdly as hrs mother thought he should Mrs Watts explarned matters to the mother s satrsfaclron You knovv Mrs Watts sard a chrld IS like a trny plant to me You take cart of rt and It grows so slowly that you do not realize that rt has grown at all untrl presently the plant rs a large one and bears rlch fruit So rt rs wrth the chrld He rs makmg progress each day though lt may be only a lrttle nevertheless ln time you wlll see the results of your efforts The mother after thmkmg rt over returned laome well satrsfied Her confxdence rn Mrs Watts was Justrhed for the httle boy afterwards became a promment physlclan This shows that Mrs Watts used true pedagogy and obtamed good results even as the teachers of today Mrs Watts now resrdes rn Wharton and s very actrve and energetic for a woman so advanced m years G G Kelley was Whartons second pubhc school teacher He graduated from Xvaco University rn ISBO and the followrng year havmg heard of thrs rrch agricultural chstnct he came here to teach At that trme the rarlroad had teen completed only a far a East Barnard Her a dance was rn progress The cowboys were makmg an old negro Jlg By way of encouragement they were shooting at his feet and at every shot he would jump h gher ln the alr Mr Kelley sald he thought to hrmself What sort of place have I got mio 3 From there Mr Kelley made the trrp m a wagon The road wa hidden m water and they were forced to remalr' overnlvht at a farm house As soon as he arrived ln Wharton he opened his school whrch was held ln the Baotl t Church a frame bulldlng located where the present church IS There were no desks those puplls desxrlng them furnlshed tl'e1r own the others occupying the benches H had to order the books and sold them to the pupus There was no prescribed curriculum and no State Department of Educatlon The school was not graded but all the puprls were rn the same spelhng class He had a few pupils m Latm and algebra none of them were as he sald far enough advanced for history The Idea of germs had not been lnstllled lnto the young mlnds as they were not even careful about the drlnkmg water The boys brought a bucket of water to school and everyone drank from the same dlpper How different from our modern drmklng foun talnsl The pupils numbered twenty one About Hfteen dollars a month was furmshed by the State and the rest was pald by the puplls Hrs salary altogether amounted to about sixty five dollars a month He drd not have report cards but used a system of awards Those who drd the best work recelved a hook or some Slmllaf grft while tne poor ones were grven demerlts At that time Wharton was a small vlllage Then came the fire which really proved to be a blessrng ln dlsgurse for after the conflagratlon brick structures rose where before had been frame shacks Another of Wharton s early teachers who rs hrghly esteemed rs Miss Lrlly Bythewood now Mrs Moore of Cahforma She came from Alabama to Wharton to vrsrt her brother Whrle here she met Mrs Anderson and between these two there sprang up a lasting frlendshrp Mass Llllys brother died and shortly after that occurred the demise of lvlr Anderson The two ladies then engaged rn farming near Glen Flora Mrss Lrlly rode over the farm and bossed the hands with the capabnhty of a man She always earned a gun for protectlon Such a prcture seems mcongruous with that of a woman fond of pets and kmd to every cluma ammal as well as humans but that vvas Mrss Lnlly She drd more for Wharton than any one woman ever has She was at the head of every actlvlty grven for the benefrt of the town She belonged to the Busy Bees an organrzatlon for crvrc Improvement frreless energy was one of Mrss Lllly s gifts She worked for her church of vvhrch she was the organrst besides this she taught school and gave muslc and fancy work lessons No one ever thought of bemg marrred wnthout havmg Miss Lrlly supervise everything Q Fifteen 1 . . , 5 . , . . as H . .. . . . . . , . , . , . , . S . .. 1 . v ., , , . . . , . - v , . . . 1 G , . . ' S . C . - v . . . . . . ,, V . . . , . ,, . , s , r U . ' e s A v , . . Q , . e ., . . - , . , , . - , , . - I , . . . . . . I - , - - 1 , . . . . . , . . , . . . . . , . - , . , . v v . s , . . N - , . . .. . . . . . , . , 1 n U , 1 , .