Sixty Years of California Song
THE TEXT Antecedents and Childhood 1 Our Trip to California via the Isthmus and Early Days There. First Church Choir in Stockton 13 Stockton in the Fifties. Benicia Seminary. Genesis of Mills College. Distinguished Pioneers. Marriage 33 How I Made the First Bear Flag in California 43 Boston. Dedham Choir, 1858. The Civil War. Musicians. Return to California. Santa Cruz 48 Music in Santa Cruz in the Sixties. Return to San Francisco. How and Why I Became a Dressmaker. Opera. Music in San Francisco in the Seventies 59 Lady of Lyons Given for the Fire Engine Fund, Santa Cruz.
As the reader, though this is the biography of Garfield, may feel a
curiosity to learn what sort of a teacher Arthur was, I shall, without
apology, conclude this chapter with the story of a pupil of his who, in
the year 1853, attended the district school at Cohoes, then taught by
Chester A. Arthur. I find it in the Troy _Times_:
"In the year 1853 the writer attended the district school at Cohoes. The
high department did not enjoy a very enviable reputation for being
possessed of that respect due from the pupils to teacher. During the
year there had been at least four teachers in that department, the last
one only remaining one week. The Board of Education had found it
difficult to obtain a pedagogue to take charge of the school, until a
young man, slender as a May-pole and six feet high in his stockings,
applied for the place. He was engaged at once, although he was
previously informed of the kind of timber he would be obliged to hew.
"Promptly at nine o'clock A.M. every scholar was on hand to welcome the
man who had said that he would 'conquer the school or forfeit his
reputation.' Having called the morning session to order, he said that he
had been engaged to take charge of the school. He came with his mind
prejudiced against the place. He had heard of the treatment of the
former teachers by the pupils, yet he was not at all embarrassed, for he
felt that, with the proper recognition of each other's rights, teacher
and scholars could live together in harmony. He did not intend to
threaten, but he intended to make the scholars obey him, and would try
THE TEXT Antecedents and Childhood 1 Our Trip to California via the Isthmus and Early Days There. First Church Choir in Stockton 13 Stockton in the Fifties. Benicia Seminary. Genesis of Mills College. Distinguished Pioneers. Marriage 33 How I Made the First Bear Flag in California 43 Boston. Dedham Choir, 1858. The Civil War. Musicians. Return to California. Santa Cruz 48 Music in Santa Cruz in the Sixties. Return to San Francisco. How and Why I Became a Dressmaker. Opera. Music in San Francisco in the Seventies 59 Lady of Lyons Given for the Fire Engine Fund, Santa Cruz.