Wharton High School - Tiger Yearbook (Wharton, TX)

Page 19 text:

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 , .

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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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Ssxte rn L OLOPADO She and Mrs Anderson went to New Mexico about twenty two years ago Miss Lilly then married and IS now lnmg ln California She was a progressive broad minded woman her natural ablllty wrth her good educatron and culture enarled her to accom plrsh much good for which the people of Wharton stlll remember her wlth appreclat on Teacher smce then have come and gone Among them were Captain Mac Nealv who helped the school a great deal and Mr P acock who with hrs brother runs the Peacock Mllrtary Academy Alway tlae trend of the school s progress has been upward even though at times there was little encouragement Wrth the growth of her schools can be traced the growth of Wharton First the resrdence of the teacher then the Baptlst Church sersed as public school burldmgs Soon the church became too small for the number of puprls and tlc bulldmg which IS now the ewrsh Synagogue was used as a school house There was an annex ln the rear connected with the mam bulldlng by a plank walk but this was outgrown wrth the Increase nn the num er of puplls ln l898 the bulldlng we now refer to as the old school bulldmg was bullt How proud they must have been of the new lirlck structure that vsas to supplant the old frame one' And with Wlmarton s growth the school continued to grow and that bulldmg had to lie enlarged ln I909 the annex of led brick was added to the old bulldlng fhls served untll l9I8 when It was decided that Wharton should have a new and modern hugh school Mr Hodges had worked unceasmgly to secure It as drd the trustees who went down 1 to their own pockets to keep the school go ng at all Exeryone was overjoyed to thunk that at last we should haxe such an advantage At hrst tlse taxpayers were not very en lhuslastlc but as completion was neared they too became reconclled to the Idea and Joined tl c praise of the work It wa not untll l92I that tlfe dream of the school board superrntendent and pupll alike became a happy reality and we found ourselxes ln the new bulldlng It took longer to complete lt than they had estimated as labor and matenals were hard to obtain It seemed a lernble hardshxp to some of us to have to walt so long but lt was not so bad when we thought of how they had needed It for many years before Two classes graduated from the other school who wanted the drstmctlon of bemg the hrst to hnlsh at the New Hrgh School The honor however was saved for us and It IS our wlsh tha we may not prove unworthy Another achievement for which we owe Mr Hodges a great deal of thanks lS o1.r twenty and one half unlts of afflllatlon It was due to his efforts and the co-operatlon of former students that we obtained these credits Vve hope to obtaln an addltlonal credit ln Engllsh besrdes those rn Home Economics Amerrcan HlSt0Ty and Economrcs The mspectors report was very favorable and the mdlcatrons are that we shall recene these credlts The bulldmg rtself rs mdeed a modern archltectural trrumph It rs a handsome stfuc ture to look upon and IS modern convenient and servrceable msxde There rs no space lost ln the whole bulldmg ln the basement are class rooms domestic art and sclence rooms and the cafete ra On tl'e fnst Hoor are the lrbrary the office and other class rooms The second Hoor cons sts of a large audrtonum wrth a seatmg capacity of about five hundred persons The scrence laboratory IS located here also as well as three other class rooms The grounds surroundmg the burldrng are spacious with adequate playground equip ment for all the students Swmgs and see saws are provrded for the small chrldren and tennls and basketball courts for those rn the Hugh School There IS a barn for the horses of the children from the country and a place to park automobiles It would seem that those who planned the bulldmg had remarkable foresrglst for not a detail was overlooked This bulldmg rs no temporary affalr It shall be here as long as Wharton shall stand We feel that a great accompll hment w 1s completed when the new s hool burldmg was erected and so lt was What the future may bring about though we do not know but certamly Wharton and her school will continue ln their development - w l l 5 1 1 i ni . , - - v n v a I , A . 'I . . Q , . 0, u - sf 1 v n . . A , . .s . , ' v v V ' ' ' 1 , . . . A J - n , I., . . - - nn . - uv ' ' v 1 . , , . . . - v h . . . , . Q ,. . - V 1 y rw 1 f . t ' v - y y 5 r ' , , S - 1 , . 1 , . - U A n ' - 1 ,, . ,, . . . , . - v n 1 v - r y 1 - . , . . . . Q u 1 - - v v I - A s v . . . , . . , ' - v . 1 - . S 'c ' . ' C y - . . I 4- .1 . 1 1 1