From 1825 to 1839, when the school closed, there
seems to be trouble in keeping teachers and
Mr. Lockhart, Francis D. Cummings, Cornelius
Kuhn, Rev. John McBeth, Mr. Martin, David
Calhoun, Thomas Mifflin Kennedy, Robert
Cooper, John Ebersole and William Gold follow
in quick succession, some of them staying only a
quarter.
Reverend John McBeth was the most famous
of this list and a noted personality. He is the
same "Rev. Mr. McBeth" whose brilliancy and
venom Thomas Carlyle describes in his sketch of
Rev. Edward Irving, in Fronde's Reminiscences.
Drink, which was his bane, drove him to America
and Harrisburg, where he taught for a time at
the Academy, later drifting to Paxton meeting
house school.
Dr. Hiram Rutherford studied under him and
wrote of him: "To my boyish eyes his powers
of conversation were marvelous, and coupled
with the fact that he read in seven languages and
51
professed to be personally acquainted with
Moore, Scott, Byron and the then literati of
Great Britain, his image is indelibly stamped
on my memory. The last seen of him he was in
the old Cummings wagon on his way to the alms-
house, his great eyes glaring on the horizon with
an immovable daze."
During his few quarters at Paxton, Mr. Mc-
Beth was asked to preach during the absence of
Mr. Sharon. He gave a very brilliant and pow-
erful sermon, but many of the congregation were
scandalized and the pastor learning later the
story of the man's life was horrified at "the dese-
cration of Paxton pulpit."
No wonder the old-time Presbyterian believed
in education for his children! Was not John
Calvin the inventor of the free school svstem,
and did not stern old John Knox, as far back as
1670, urge the church to sustain free schools for
the poor?
Since it was a disgrace not to read and write,
we can picture our forebears in that little log
building under the same spreading oaks that
shade us to-day. There were no frills of hygiene
and forced ventilation in that school house; the
small windows had oiled paper for glass and heat
was furnished by a great wood stove. Desks for
the larger children were placed facing the walls,
perhaps to spy an intruding savage; the little
ones sat on a low bench within this row of resks,
while the master, when not hunting some of-
fender with his formidable hickory stick, was
perched at a high desk near the stove.
52
There was no chance for graft in school equip-
ments in that day of quill pens, laboriously whit-
tled from some domestic fowl, heavy slates and
horn books. Nor could the master have taken up
school for "what there was in it," since the salary
of Paxton's school teacher was a penny a day
for each pupil, or seven shillings, eleven pence,
per scholar each quarter.
They had the Bible for a text book those days,
and besides being a man of wide information, the
master must be versed in Presbyterian doctrines.
Woe betide the child who failed in his Westmin-
ster Catechism when it was recited by the entire
school each Saturday morning, often with the
pastor on hand to conduct the examination.
Then there was drilling in the "three K's," some-
times with surveying thrown in for the boys, and,
if the master were fond of the classics, there was
Latin and Greek, which the unhappy youngster
must know well enough for speaking and poetry
writing.
Page 17
Presented as published in 1913. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
From 1825 to 1839, when the school closed, there seems to be trouble in keeping teachers and Mr. Lockhart, Francis D. Cummings, Cornelius Kuhn, Rev. John McBeth, Mr. Martin, David Calhoun, Thomas Mifflin Kennedy, Robert Cooper, John Ebersole and William Gold follow in quick succession, some of them staying only a quarter.
Reverend John McBeth was the most famous of this list and a noted personality. He is the same "Rev. Mr. McBeth" whose brilliancy and venom Thomas Carlyle describes in his sketch of Rev. Edward Irving, in Fronde's Reminiscences. Drink, which was his bane, drove him to America and Harrisburg, where he taught for a time at the Academy, later drifting to Paxton meeting house school.
Dr. Hiram Rutherford studied under him and wrote of him: "To my boyish eyes his powers of conversation were marvelous, and coupled with the fact that he read in seven languages and
professed to be personally acquainted with Moore, Scott, Byron and the then literati of Great Britain, his image is indelibly stamped on my memory. The last seen of him he was in the old Cummings wagon on his way to the almshouse, his great eyes glaring on the horizon with an immovable daze."
During his few quarters at Paxton, Mr. Mc- Beth was asked to preach during the absence of Mr. Sharon. He gave a very brilliant and powerful sermon, but many of the congregation were scandalized and the pastor learning later the story of the man's life was horrified at "the desecration of Paxton pulpit."
No wonder the old-time Presbyterian believed in education for his children! Was not John Calvin the inventor of the free school system, and did not stern old John Knox, as far back as 1670, urge the church to sustain free schools for the poor?
Since it was a disgrace not to read and write, we can picture our forebears in that little log building under the same spreading oaks that shade us to-day. There were no frills of hygiene and forced ventilation in that school house; the small windows had oiled paper for glass and heat was furnished by a great wood stove. Desks for the larger children were placed facing the walls, perhaps to spy an intruding savage; the little ones sat on a low bench within this row of desks, while the master, when not hunting some offender with his formidable hickory stick, was perched at a high desk near the stove.
There was no chance for graft in school equipments in that day of quill pens, laboriously whittled from some domestic fowl, heavy slates and horn books. Nor could the master have taken up school for "what there was in it," since the salary of Paxton's school teacher was a penny a day for each pupil, or seven shillings, eleven pence, per scholar each quarter.
They had the Bible for a text book those days, and besides being a man of wide information, the master must be versed in Presbyterian doctrines. Woe betide the child who failed in his Westminster Catechism when it was recited by the entire school each Saturday morning, often with the pastor on hand to conduct the examination. Then there was drilling in the "three K's," sometimes with surveying thrown in for the boys, and, if the master were fond of the classics, there was Latin and Greek, which the unhappy youngster must know well enough for speaking and poetry writing.