Newton Bateman. MISCELLANY We present below two statements written for THE JOURNAL by two men who can speak from intimate personal acquaintance with Dr. Bateman and his work. He died full of years and of honor, respected and beloved by all who had the good fortune to know him. It can be truly said of him that his life has been one continued benediction.-EDITOR.] NEWTON BATEMAN AS STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS. Illinois owes much to Newton Bateman who has just passed away. While a boy he came to this state from New Jersey in 1833, and settled near Jacksonville. After a struggle that was almost pitiful in its details he succeeded in working his way through Illinois College and was graduated in 1843. In this pioneer college he had for instructors such men as Julien M. Sturdevant, Truman M. Post, and Jonathan B. Turner, who were then not only the ablest exponents of higher education in the West but were most zealous advocates of common schools. To this source, doubtless, we may trace much of the strength and enthusiasm which Dr. Bateman brought, in subsequent years, to his work as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. But to understand clearly how important was the service he rendered in the office, we must consider for a moment the condition of educational affairs in the state when he was first elected. After a struggle continuing for thirty years, when the population of the state had already grown to a million and a half, a free school law had been enacted in 1855. Ten years before, pursuant to a law just passed, Ninian W. Edwards had been appointed superintendent, and had been directed to prepare and present to the General Assembly a bill for an act to establish a system of free schools, which should take the place of the fragmentary school laws then in force. The provisions of the bill were for the most part wise (the township system was one of its features;) but unfortunately, the legislators were wedded to many of the old laws; the bill was extensively amended, and as passed was full of inconsistencies and was almost impossible of execution. In 1857 many changes for the better were made in the law. The term of the state superintendent had been made two years, and the first election was to be held in 1856. The State Teachers' Institute nominated for the office Newton Bateman, who had since leaving college studied theology for a while, been a college professor in Missouri, and had come into prominence as a teacher in the high school in Jacksonville, the first free high school in the state. Political influence, however, gave the nomination to another man, who held the office for two years without filling it, and was succeeded by Dr. Bateman in January of 1859. It was well that the new incumbent brought to the office abundant enthusiasm and unlimited capacity for work. The statute had given the superintendent but little more than advisory powers, so he could speak with authority only as he fortified every position he took by citing law therefor, or by convincing argument. Quite generally, the law was unfamiliar to the people; its provisions, often far from clear, were greatly misapprehended; in some parts of the state the free school idea was still bitterly opposed; efforts looking to substantial progress were made more difficult by the political animosities then so prevalent and so strong. We get some idea of his labors for the first two years when we read in his report published in 1861 that over five thousand cases in controversy had been submitted for official decision, that his other correspondence had been extensive, and that he had visited thirty-one counties making addresses on educational subjects. We know, too, that besides this he prepared and distributed in great numbers circulars explanatory of the school law, that he was ex officio secretary of the Normal School Board, and that he prepared and printed a report of three hundred pages, containing voluminous statistics, recommendations as to the school law, school architecture, etc. It seems almost pathetic when we find him saying to turn "the edge of criticism touching the character of the work done," and to break "the force of censure for labor not performed," that, though not unaccustomed to rigid economy and not wont to spare his own strength, he had been unable to limit his expenses to his salary of $1,500 a year, with no allow. ance for clerk hire or for traveling expenses. We are glad to learn that during his next term he had munificent appropriations of $750 for clerk hire and $150 for traveling expenses. The work thus begun was continued during his official term-three of two years and two of four years each, following in succession without break save for two years after his second term. Out of the discussions of the questions of law and administration, grew his carefully annotated edition of the school law of the state, published under the title of "Common School Decisions" and, by legislative appropriation, put into the hands of all school officers. His seven bi-ennial reports were filled with well-digested statistics; and in the reports and on the platform, were discussed ably and with great fullness such topics as "The State and School;" "The Relations of the Colleges to the Public Schools;" "The Township School Sys tem;" "The Rights of Colored Children;" The County Superintendency and School Supervision;" "The Natural Sciences in the Public Schools;" "Normal Schools;" "The Coming Teachers;" "The State University;" "What Should the Public School Accomplish;" "The Educational Rights of Children;" "The Public High School." Of this work a friend who knew him intimately wrote me several years ago: "Newton Bateman came to the office as the second elected superintendent while the office was as yet a new one, and it was his lot to shape its work so far as it was not yet shaped by law. He had the great advantage of enjoying the confi dence and good will of the teachers of Illinois; and this he never lost. His work was partly official, i.e., what by law falls to the office; but I think his reports and discussions of educational questions, his personal influence, his addresses to the teachers and people, his work with the legislature to secure amendments to the law from time to time, and to prevent unwise tampering with it-these held the public confidence and did great good. He had good judgment on questions brought officially before him; he was judicial and judicious. He has been called the Horace Mann of the West; but he was less origi nal than Mann and less a warrior; he had less opposition. He was no politi. cian; he was able to carry his points in legislation by their considerate reasonableness, and not by urgency or by balancing of interests. He felt deeply on all subjects; during the war be bore the burden of every battle as if his own brother and children were wounded and slain. So he carried his sympathy, his feelings, his sense of justice, into all his vast correspondence." Dr. Bateman was not, in the office of state superintendent, an aggressive man; neither was he a great organizer of men and forces, or an originator of ideas; he was a facile and able writer, a fluent speaker, and he gave himself lovingly and unstintedly to his official duties. For the sixteen formative years, "The Schoolmaster," as Lincoln used to call him, was the most potent man in moulding school administration and growth in this state. Great good has come and will continue to come from his labors. W. L. PILLsbury. University of Illinois, Oct. 26, 1897. NEWTON BATEMAN. In the spring of 1854 I met for the first time the man whose death is lamented by thousands of men and women whose lives have felt the power of as noble a spirit as ever tenanted a human body. My introduction to him was in the presence of his class in the high school at Jacksonville. His conduct of a recitation, his mode of address to his pupils, his manner of control of his school all proved a lasting inspiration to a young man a year or two his junior. That which impressed me most in the half-day spent with him was the evident sympathy manifested toward those pupils who were laboring under embarassment arising from lack of early training in habits of study; and toward others whose ambition was far in advance of their means. It was some years later that the source of this sympathy was known to me. Dr. Bateman's struggle with poverty as a student is well known. Had it been less severe he might have had release from bodily ailments in his later life. But the benefits from his sacrifice have saved many a young man from despair. A few years brought us both into positions of responsibility in educational matters, and we often met in counsel which proved to me seasons of refreshing and strengthening. In him I always found wisdom of counsel and a brotherly sympathy most fully appreciated. When my field of labor changed and brought me under his official survey, to his biennial reports, which are recognized everywhere as classics in educational lit erature, I turned for light and never turned in vain. As in still later years we left the work of supervision and again entered fields of administration and of instruction in higher institutions of learning, I found the lessons learned from him in the half day spent in his high school at Jacksonville of incalculable value. To the memory of this warm-hearted friend I would offer a tribute which words fail to express. J. L. PICKARD. University of Iowa. Chattanooga Meeting of Department of Superintendence. President Nathan C, Schaeffer, of the Department of Superintendence of the N. E. A., sends the following for publication: NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE. It will interest you to know that the time and place for the next meeting have been definitely fixed and that the chairman of the Southeastern Passenger Association has just written me that it is decided to adopt a rate of one first-class fare for the round trip; tickets of iron-clad signature form to be sold February 20, 21 and 22, final limit February 28, 1898, inclusive. All other associations in the country will be notified of this action at an early date. If you can help to give this fact publicity I shall be much obliged. Very respectfully, NATHAN C. SCHAEFFER, The notice does not say so, but Chattanooga, Tenn., is the place of meeting. We hope to be able to publish the main features of the program in our January number. THE PUBLIC-SCHOOL JOURNAL will conduct a party over the lines of the Big Four system to Cincinnati and from thence to Chattanooga. We invite all the readers and friends of THE JOURNAL to join this company. More definite information will be published in our January number. TEACHERS' COLLEGE, BUFFALO, N. Y. Mr. George P. Brown. DEAR MR. BROWN:-I do not know that I have acknowledged the receipt of your delightful little book by Miss Lucas and Dr. Van Liew. I am obliged to you for the privilege of examining this manual. I read it through the first evening I received it, and was much pleased with its purpose, plan, and content. I wish to assure you of my belief in its successful future. It, no doubt, will be of great benefit to all teachers of reading. commend it most cordially. Very truly yours, I can LOUIS H. GALBREATH. Program State Teachers' Association. Dec. 28., Tuesday evening, 8 p.m. President's address, J. W. Hays. School Legislation of '97, recomendations and suggestions, Hon. S. M. Inglis. Free Text Books: (a) What we accomplished and why we failed, J. W. Errant; (b) What we are going to do about it, President John W. Cook. General discussion. Appointment of committees on auditing. President's address. Resolutions. To Dec. 29, Wednesday, 9:00 a.m. what extent is there a science of education, Inspector James L. Hughes, Toronto. General discussion, Dr. Charles A. McMurry. 11:00 a.m. The ethical and physical element in physical education, Prof. Wm. G. Anderson, Yale University. General discussion. Dec. 29, Wednesday evening, 8:00 p.m. Address, The public school system as an instrumentality of social advance, E. Benjamin Andrews, President Brown University. Dec. 30, Thursday, 9:00 a.m. The teaching of morality in the public-schools, Supt. F. Louis Soldan, St. Louis, President Finley, Knox College. General discussion. 11:00 a.m. Business. Re. ports of committee on president's ad Deserved Commendation. Superintendent John Richeson, of East St. Louis, in a private letter to the editor, speaks of President John W. Cook's recent addresses in that city as follows: EAST ST. LOUIS, ILL., Nov. 19, 1897. Dear Mr. Brown: On the occasion of our November institute President John W. Cook gave us two very fine addresses. The first, for the high school idea, was to the general public, and was highly ap preciated by many of our best citizens. The second, to the teachers, on "The Imagination in Education," was full of wholesome meat. It so happened that we were groping for just what President Cook brought us. He is a true teacherapt, clear, logical, inspiring. A very large part of our three thousand boys. and girls are being, and will be, better taught because of his coming. I sincerely hope that such a man can be secured for our Southern Illinois Normal. Yours truly, JOHN RICHESON. The Boston Owl. Bostonian owls, they say, As other owls do, To-whom? To-whom? To-whom. So highly grammatical theyYou may hear them thro' the gathering gloom, To-whom? To-whom? To-whom? CARRIE SHAW RICE. |