Chapter XVIII

FAYETTE'S PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM

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EARLY SCHOOL HOUSES IN FAYETTE COUNTY

Perhaps the children and people who read this book would like to know what kind of school house existed in Fayette county seventy years ago.  At that time West Virginia was not a state, but most of the territory now comprising the state was known as Western Virginia.  There was no board of education to build school houses and furnish them with desks and apparatus. Stoves and coal were unknown in the school houses of that day.

The first step toward a school was to appoint a day for the people to meet and select a site for the school house.  The place selected was usually in the midst of the forest near a spring or rivulet.  The location being agreed upon the next step was to give notice to all who were to be patrons of the school to meet on a certain day at the place selected for the house and begin work on its construction.  The work began by cutting the logs for the walls of the building.  Trees of medium size would be selected and cut into lengths to correspond with the dimensions of the house which was usually eighteen or twenty feet long and sixteen feet wide.  The logs were notched together at the corners and left with the bark on just as they grew in the forest, unless as was sometimes the case, logs of suitable size could not be procured near by, in which case the larger logs would be split in the middle and set on the wall with the split side facing inward.  In this manner the walls of the house would be raised to a height of eight or nine feet.  For the roof, poles would be cut and laid three or four feet apart lengthwise of the building, each pole raising a foot or two above the other until they would meet in the center.  Upon these poles or ribs as they were called clapboards were laid, each layer weighted down with a pole to hold the boards in place.  Thus the roof was finished.  The floor, if it was decided to have one, was made of puncheons, broad pieces of timber split from a log as thinly as might be, one side of which was smoothed with a broad axe.  These puncheons were laid closely together with the hewn side uppermost.  This made the floor.

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   There were usually two windows, one near where the teacher sat to hear recitations, twelve to fourteen inches square, the other on in the end of the house opposite the fire place.  This window was eight or ten feet long and about 12 inches high.  Strips of paper from newspapers or fooscap paper was used for lights instead of glass.  The strips were greased in order that they might admit more light.

Under this long window at the proper height a puncheon was fastened to the wall for a writing bench.  At this bench the children would sit and write.  The fireplace was six or seven feet wide and four or five feet high.  The arch was always wood.  The chimney was built of small split logs as high as the coping, and from that point slats similar to fence pailings with mortar laid between them was used.  Rough stones picked up on the surface of the ground and built up inside the wood work for a few feet composed the back wall and the jambs of the fireplace.  The hearth was laid with flat stones.

The seats were made of small logs split in the middle, the split side being smoothed and legs similar to those of a stool were inserted in each end to raise the bench to a proper height.  These benches were without backs and were extremely uncomfortable.  What would the children of the present day think or do if they had no better school accommodations than these rude school houses and seats afforded in those days?

OLD TIME TEACHERS, THEIR METHODS OF TEACHING, TEXT BOOKS, ETC.

The teachers of the early days were generally self made or self educated men.  But few of them were college bred or had ever had any special training for their work.  Not many of them could have stood the rigid test of scholarship to which teachers of to-day are subject.  Many of them had acquired their knowledge by hard study by the light of a candle or pine knot at the close of a hard days work at manual labor.  Some of them were good mathematicians while others were very deficient.  Some would only agree to teach arithmetic as far as the single rule of three; but at that day this limited knowledge did not debar one from teaching, for in that day many people believed that all that was necessary in arithmetic was a knowledge of the fundamental rules, especially for girls, al-

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though a more thorough knowledge of the subject was necessary for boys.  The teaching of English grammar was very much neglected; indeed many of the teachers could not have taught it properly if they had been required to do so.  Some attention was paid to the teaching of geography and history but these subjects were not extensively taught, the three R's being the branches upon which the efforts of the teachers and pupils were entirely concentrated.

It is difficult to define the methods of teaching practiced by the teachers of those early schools.  As compared with present day methods there was but very little method in their teaching.  The method, if it may be so called was briefly contained in two commands; "Get your lesson" and "Say your lesson."  If these commands were not obeyed the rod was used to enforce them, but the teacher should not be severely criticized for they were very much handicapped in those days.

There were no graded school books then, and with the exception of Webster's spelling book, scarcely two children in the school could be found with books similar.  For reading the child was given most any kind of a book that could be found in the home.  The same may be said of other books studied at school.  Another handicap was that none of the books in use were suited to the needs of the beginners.  Blackboards were not in use and would have been considered an "innovation."  A proper classification of the pupils with books so dissimilar was of course impossible and the teacher was often reduced to the necessity of hearing each child recite by himself.  With the exception of spelling and perhaps reading the teaching in early schools was not thorough.  A pupil was kept at a spelling book until he becomes master of it before he was permitted to attempt to read.  In arithmetic the pupils worked together to get the answer to the problems regardless of the proper solution of it, and while they sometimes memorized the rules little attention was paid to the principle upon which the rules were based.  Mental arithmetic had not been introduced into the schools at that time.

Most of the teachers were strict disciplinarians and the rod was generally kept within easy reach.  If a teacher did not whip some of his pupils once in a while the people were apt to regard him as a failure.  They usually had a set of rules for the government of the school which they read on the first day of school and some-

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time they would tack them up in the school room where they could be seen at any time by all of the scholars.

There were no morning or evening recesses given.  The children both large an small were required to sit on those uncomfortable benches that were in use for four or more hours without intermission except that one child at a time was allowed to go out of doors while school was in session.  This was kept up by means of a board which hung at the door with the words "OUT" IN."

At noon, the school was dismissed for an hour.  The first thing at this recess was for the children to eat their lunches.  Then everyone that could wield an axe went to the woods, cut a shoulder load of wood, carried it to the woodpile in the school house yard and cut it in the proper lengths for the fireplace.  After that they would play until school was resumed.  The girls were required to sweep the school room at this recess.  Two girls taking their turn one day until all the girls had worked their turn.

At the time to which this refers Fayette county was very sparsely settled and schools were few and far apart.  This made it necessary for some children to go a distance of two or three miles in order to attend school.  In the winter season when the days were short and the weather inclement this was quite a hardship especially to the smaller children.

In Fayette like most other counties the first schools were subscription schools.  These schools at first were two and one half months long, taught during the winter months when the boys could not be profitably used fencing or clearing new ground for the next year's crop.  When 8, 10, or 12 children could be gotten together a school was taught and the price for tuition was usually 5 cents per day per pupil and the teacher boarded around with the pupils, generally staying a week at a time with each family - and this week was looked forward to with great interest and anticipation, both by pupils and patrons for the teacher was considered a kind of walking encyclopedia and this week meant much special instruction and information for the whole family.

Schools were conducted in this way for many years, until it was finally discovered that there were a great many children whose parents were too poor to pay even the small tuition required.

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   It was seen that this was depriving many children of any opportunity to get an education.

In 1796 the General Assembly passed an act known as the "Aldermanic School Law."  This law provided that the state of Virginia pay the tuition for the children whose parents were too poor to pay it.  The people living west of the Blue Ridge mountains made application to the General Assembly for help and received a small amount from the Virginia literary fund for the purpose of paying tuition for the poor children.  Schools were maintained in this way until 1846.  In 1833 there were 24 counties west of the mountains, Fayette being one of the number.  There had been established in these 24 counties and supported by the literary fund 678 common primary schools.  School commissioners were appointed in each county to look after these schools.  Fayette county at that time had seven school commissioners and 21 schools.  There were in Fayette county 218 of these poor children and 147 of them were enrolled in these schools.

In 1846 the General Assembly of Virginia changed the Aldermanic school law, making it the duty of the county court of each county to define and lay out definite school districts as to boundary lines and population.  A county superintendent was to be appointed by said court whose duty was to keep a record of all the schools in the county and of the children enrolled in the schools under his charge.  Under the school law of 1846 the :Old Field Schools" became prominent in many sections, but many aristocratic people not caring to have their children attend school with these poor children preferred to pay tuition and maintain subscription schools the term of both having been increased to three months.  The three county superintendents serving under the appointment of the county court prior to the Civil war were, Joseph W. Pryor, Beuhring H. Jones, and T. S. Robson.  Some of the pioneer teachers of that day were Sue M. Warner, Joshua Holt, J. C. Love, George Lomis, John Rodes, Camel Settle, and others, and, it was under the bold leadership of these pioneer teachers that the love for, and the importance of education was instilled into the early settlers of Fayette county.

West Virginia was admitted into the Union June 20, 1863, and with the rise of the new state came a free school system, such as

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the school men of the state had longed to see.  These school men drew up an educational bill which was passed by the legislature of West Virginia and became the first real school law of the state.  This new school law provided for an irreducible school fund, also for a state superintendent of free schools, and for a county superintendent for each county.  This was the real beginning of our present school system with William Rayland White as the first state superintendent.

The following is a partial list of teachers that taught immediately following the Civil war, some of which began a little later and continued teaching almost up to the present time: Lander Hardy, J. C. Love, S. H. Love, Maria Dews, Benjamin F. Bibb, J. R. Koontz, Virginia Young, J. R. Ford, W. T. Timberlake, Thomas Burdette, J. C. Ramsey, Charles Hill, H. H. Bennett, W. R. Bennett, C. W. Dillon, G. A. Pegram, A. B. Withers, Bell Roscoe, Ella Farley, Thomas Lowry, Nannie Carter, Nannie Dews, H. L. Wriston, Sam Hutchinson, John Wriston, George Hughart, James Armstrong, M. P. Malcolm and many others.

The county superintendents who have served in Fayette county since the formation of the state are:

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   The schools continued for a number of years in about the same way, each teacher teaching whatever he thought best suited.  Many times pupils would attend school for a full term and only study one or two subjects.  Each school was a separate and independent republic within itself and the teacher was monarch of all he surveyed.  It was only a few years ago that some one conceived the idea of consolidating two or more one room schools into a graded school, and even then the teachers in many instances taught the same grades in adjoining rooms not having gotten the idea of the advantage obtained by dividing the pupils by grades.  Fayetteville was the first school district in Fayette county to establish a high school.  This was voted upon in the year 1902 and four high schools were established which made very slow progress for the first few years.  The salaries of teacher remained extremely low and the term short, which retarded progress very materially, but in the year 1908 the state legislature under the advice of State Superintendent M. P. Shawkey, grasped the idea of the necessity of closer supervision of schools.  They therefore passed an act authorizing boards of education to appoint district supervisors in order that this might be accomplished.  Several boards of education in Fayette county acting under the authority of this act appointed district supervisors, and they, together with the boards of education, county superintendent, high and graded school principals formed an organization which brought about unity of action and purpose throughout the county.  They visited, observed and studied the school systems in several of the large cities in the United States and brought back the best they found and introduced it into our schools.

They secured the co-operation of the boards of education, teachers, patrons and taxpayers and ere long with all these forces working together it began to be notices and became a statewide saying, "That Fayette county had the best organized public school system in the state."  In the year 1923 Fayette county had 536 schools, eight high schools and 30 standard schools.  We also had the distinction of having the school that made the highest score for standardization in the state for the year 1922, 1923, 1924 and 1925.

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   As to school buildings; we have advanced from the old buildings described in the first part of this chapter to some of the best, most modern and best equipped school buildings in the state.  Let us say that with the working organizations we have, with the taxpayers, boards of education and teachers all working together and with the strong, hearty support given the teachers and school people by the New River school at Montgomery, W. Va. and the proper leadership of Fayette county should continue to lead the educational van in West Virginia, and to give to every child within her borders an opportunity to get an education that will equip them for life's work, and also to do her part toward eliminating illiteracy by the year 1927.

Much more could be said about our schools but as many of them will be discussed along with the towns wherein located we will refrain from discussing them further here.

A BURLESQUE ON THE TEACHERS' NAMES. 1879.

By Mrs. Fannie Davis

A party of "Young" folks are on their way to "Dickerson" county, led by the "Salt River Crew" - "McCutcheon" and "Koontz" who were honored by the company of Misses "Wriston," "Fitzwater," "Huddleston" and "Cavendish": of course these ladies are escorted by "Finter," "Thurmond," McClung" and "Ellis."  They can not go very "Farr" on the train, as they have only one "Nichol."  When the "Walkers" come to the river they will not have to "Ford" as they have a noble "Campbell" which is "Armstrong" and can carry them over very "Easley."  Their "Wills" are not to tire him; but building boats is not the business of their "Cooper."  If they get wet in crossing the river the "Coleman" will be kind enough to build a fire.  The road from the river is shaded on each side by dense "Woods" and the leaves look very pretty in the sun-light glistening with the brilliant "Dews."  The party will be supplied with the necessaries of life by the "Miller," "Taylor" and "Carter;" nor will they lack the precious "Boone" of "Love" for they have "Darling(s)" (by the) "ton"; but be careful when in the presence of "Col. Henry" that you do not say KISS HER for "Kesler," as "Prof." might laugh.  Those

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who intend staying for examination should review "Mitchell's" Geography, "Anderson's History, "Dorsey's" Penmanship and Deitz's Encyclopedia.  The examiners do not like "Bur-detts," so "Mosley" along and "Gwinn" (go in) and pay your "almighty dollar."  Finally put on your best "Bibb" and "Tucker" and "Settle" yourselves to sing the closing ode, "Polly Hopkins."

The foregoing text was taken directly, verbatim, from The History Of Fayette County, West Virginia as it was originally written.  This book was written by J. T. Peters and H. B. Carden.  It was published in 1926 by the Fayette County Historical Society, Inc., Fayetteville, West Virginia, and printed by Jarrett Printing Company, Charleston, West Virginia.  All rights reserved.

[Table Of Contents]
[ Dedication | Foreword ]
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