CORTLAND NORMAL SCHOOL

The Cortland News, Friday, April 28, 1882.

THE NORMAL SCHOOL.

A Week of Agitation--Petitions Flying in All Directions—Anti-Hoose Meeting—Order of the Court Filed and Dr. Hoose and the Removed Teachers Reinstated.

    Through the exertions of a few individuals, the like of whom can be found in every community, and who, governed by spite and disappointment, pursue the "rule or ruin" and “dog-in-the-manger" policy, this village has, since the decision of the Court of Appeals was rendered, been kept in a constant turmoil. All kinds of threats have been made and rumors set afloat. Three petitions have been circulated, one asking the authorities for the retention of the present faculty of the school for the remainder of this term; another asking for their indefinite retention, and another to Chancellor Henry R. Pierson, asking him to unite with the State Superintendent in the removal of the Local Board. The latter received so little encouragement that It was soon withdrawn. The feeling culminated on Tuesday in the issuing of the following handbill:

   Normal School Meeting! A Petition addressed to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Chancellor of the University, signed by nearly 500 [residents] of Cortland village, asking that Prof. Cassety and the faculty under him be retained in charge of the Normal School,  having been submitted lb my examination; a large number of leading citizens having requested that some public action be taken In support and endorsement of said petition; and believing that the Interests both of the Normal school and the village require such action to be taken, I, therefore, as President of Cortland village, hereby call a public meeting to be held at Taylor Hall, this Tuesday evening, April 85, 1882, at 8 o'clock, to consider what course is most advisable to be pursued.
I. H. PALMER, President of Cortland Village.

   On said evening Taylor Hall was well filled with those who came out of curiosity as well as to participate, and the meeting was organized by the election of Geo. H. Arnold, President, and several Vice-Presidents and Secretaries.

   Speeches were made by Geo. L. Waters, W. H. Clark, J. W. Suggett and Geo. B. Jones, in opposition to the reinstatement of Dr. Hoose, and in favor of retaining Prof. Cassety. A committee was appointed to present to the Local Board a series of resolutions asking that body to retain the present faculty, and in case of their refusing so to do, to wait upon Chancellor Pierson, at Albany, and request him to unite with the State Superintendent in removing the Local Board. The animus of the meeting was best expressed in the concluding speech by President I. H. Palmer, who believed that personalities ought to be indulged in. Like the preceding speakers, he had none but the highest opinion of the Local Board, but thought they were mistaken in the character of Prof. Hoose, whom he said was "neither a gentleman nor a scholar," and characterized him as "quarrelsome and hypocritical." He alluded to his style of walking with bent form and bowed head in terms of contempt, that he could "not walk upright before God or man."

   Applied to a man who for twelve years worked with such zeal, ability and energy as Dr. Hoose displayed in bringing the reputation of the Normal school up to a standard second to none in the State, and uttered by one who but lately was unanimously elected to the position he now occupies, we say that the epithets are unjustifiable, in bad taste, and carry on their face their own condemnation.

   In the meantime the order of the Supreme Court, reinstating the removed teachers, had been received and filed in the county clerk's office, and on Wednesday a consultation of the Local Board resulted in the adoption of the following notice, which on Thursday morning was posted in the rooms of the school building.

   Notice! Whereas, By the recent decision of The Court of Appeals, Dr. James H. Hoose is the sole lawful Principal of the Cortland Normal School; and by the same decision of the Court of Appeals, it is also established that the recent attempted removal by Superintendent Gilmour, of Prof. Stowell and others, and appointing to their places Prof. Sawyer and others, without the concurrence of the Local Board, is wholly unauthorized by law, and void; and whereas, at a meeting of the Local Board of said School, held on the 26th day of April, 1882, a resolution was adopted, directing Dr. Hoose to immediately resume his duties as Principal in said school, and also directing the following named persons, to wit: Thomas B. Stowell, Samuel J. Sornberger, Emily P. Halbert, Elisabeth Rase, Emily K. Cole and Sara A. Saunders to immediately resume their duties and positions, as teachers in said school; Now, therefore, notice is hereby given to students and others connected with or having anything to do with said school, that until further notice. Dr. James H. Hoose Is the Principal of said school; that Thomas B. Stowell, Frank S. Capen, James M. Milne, Samuel J. Sornberger, Martha Roe, Mary F. Hendrick, Clara E. Booth, Emily P. Halbert, Elisabeth Rase, Lottie T. Corlew, Emily B. Cole and Sara A. Saunders are the teachers In said school; and that they only will be recognized as such. Dated, Cortland, April 27, 1882.
FREDERICK HYDE,
President Local Board.
NORMAN CHAMBERLAIN,
Secretary Local Board.
C. C. TAYLOR,
Treasurer Local Board.

   At the hour of opening the school, Dr. Hoose, accompanied by the "seven" members of the Local Board, came into the chapel and were received with demonstrations of welcome by the students. The Doctor, Judge Duell, Dr. Hyde. Profs. Capen, Milne and Stowell, Misses Roe, Hendrick and Booth, and Mrs. Halbert, occupied seats on the platform. Prof. Sornberger, by permission of the Local Board, is at Westfield, Chautauqua county, settling matters in connection with his school. After the usual exercises, singing, reading of Scriptures and prayer, Judge Duell read the "Notice" above given, and Dr. Hyde assured the pupils that the school should be conducted as it had been, solely for their good and advancement, and that they would receive full credit for the work already done. A few words from Dr. Hoose of the same tenor, and the students left the hall for the class rooms.

   Only a few of our citizens were present, and the reinstatement was conducted so quietly that a stranger would hardly have suspected that anything unusual was taking place.

Reception to Professor Cassety.

   The regular school sociable at the Normal occurred last Saturday evening. The friends of Prof. Cassety took advantage of the occasion to tender him a reception. It was attended by the students generally and a number of the village people. The principal feature of the evening was the presentation to Prof. Cassety by the students of a fine steel engraving and an autograph album containing the autographs of the contributors, as a mark of their respect for one who has conducted himself under trying circumstances as a gentleman, and who has won the good-will of all.

CORTLAND NORMAL SCHOOL.

Reception to Professor Cassety by the Citizens of Cortland County.

   CORTLAND, April 24. A grand reception was given this (Monday) evening to Prof. Cassety at the Normal School. Over eight hundred persons attended. The students presented Professor Cassety with a beautiful engraving. Great sorrow was expressed over the decision of the Court of Appeals. The excitement over the matter is increasing, and nearly the whole population favors Cassety.—Albany Express.

   This paper is Gilmour's organ and is edited by his deputy, whom Mr. Bardeen, at Taylor Hall, pulled in so lively a way over the hot coals of his scorn. Our people know that the presentation of the engraving is the only truth in the above dispatch.--Cortland News.

CORTLAND AND VICINITY.

   Who began this fight, anyhow?

   Mr. Wells Niles has been appointed postmaster at Chicago in this county.

   The tall Sycamore of the DeRuyter Gleaner made his friendly presence manifest in our sanctum last Saturday.

   Mr. Chas. O Grady, of Truxton, is canvassing Virgil for subscribers to the "Museum of Antiquity." Success to him.

   The Cortland Wagon Company has made Col. Frank Pace its secretary, in which selection excellent judgment was manifested.

   The press of local matter on our columns is such as to compel us to condense where we would gladly give a more extended account.

   It begins to look as though the tail was wagging the dog.— Standard. Why does the tail wag the dog? Because, in this instance, the dog can't wag the tail.

   The present editors of the Normal News can take to themselves the credit of issuing the most readable and interesting periodical the school has ever published.

   Prof. T. B. Stowell, one of the teachers who went from the Cortland Normal school with Prof. Hoose, is a brother-in-law of the Rev. M. S. Hard, of this city.
—Elmira Free Press.

   Our readers were doubtless surprised to learn from THE NEWS of last week that "Mordecai was hanged instead of Haman." Well, it is not the first time that we have known an editor to wrestle with the Bible and get throwed.

   The new plank walks about the residences of Mr. Dewitt Hammill on Merrick [Maple Ave.—CC editor] street and Mrs. E. C. Clute on Madison street are models in their way, and should be imitated by owners of dilapidated sidewalks. Broken planks should be repaired before night in every instance.

   Mr. Robert Bushby is erecting a new iron fence in front of his premises, and generally improving the place. Mr. Wesley Benjamin has built an addition to his residence, while Stillwell M. Benjamin began the first of the week a cellar on Charles street for a residence which he says he will have completed by the 10th of May.

   Mr. Alvord has Introduced in the Assembly a bill giving to Superintendent Gilmour full power to control the Normal Schools even more, in fact, than he has claimed under the existing law; in all respects, making his decision final. We predict that this or any other legislature will never pass such a bill, unless public sentiment undergoes an entire change.

   This week the advance agent of Barnum's "Greatest Show on Earth" billed [posters—CC editor] this vicinity for the 26th of August next. An extraordinary list of attractions is announced: 3 circuses, 2 menageries, 1 museum, 1 hippodrome, or 7 united monster shows under the management of P. T. Barnum, J. A. Bailey, and J. S. Hutchinson. The exhibition is an immense one and will draw the crowd.

   Our citizens are requested to read particularly the article headed, "Circulating Library," and to prepare themselves to assist so praiseworthy an object as this. The Woman's Auxiliary is moving in the right direction, and we believe that every one anxious that our youth should be encouraged to advance morally and intellectually will encourage the ladies in their plans.

   There are no lamps on Merrick street to guide its residents' wandering feet, who knock their noses and their kneeses against the fences and the treeses; they pay their taxess and their feeses and now should ask the village trusteeses to treat that street as others are treated, and thus to them shall lamps be meted.

   The New York World of the 27th states the case in regard to Gilmour and the Normal Schools, and in reference to the bill giving the State Superintendent absolute control of the schools, makes the pertinent remark that "It is thus proposed to place absolute and irrevocable power in the hands of the present Superintendent, who is the laughing-stock of every prominent educator in the United States."

   Hon. O. U. Kellogg has returned from Kentucky, where he purchased a stallion and several brood mares, from such world-renowned stock as George Wilkes and Ethan Allen, horses that have records of 2:15, 2:19, 2:23, etc. Mr. Kellogg brought none of the horses with him, preferring to let them remain there until about the first of July, when we expect to see some of the finest blooded stock in this country.

   Mr. Ernest M. Hulbert has purchased of Mr. M. Rowley the vacant corner lot south of the Givens & Hubbard block, on which he intends soon to begin the erection of a three-story brick block [Standard block—CC editor], ninety feet deep and seventy-five feet front on Main street, with an alley in the rear eighteen feet wide. It is expected that Prof. J. M. Milne and W. H. Clark will be associate owners of the property, and that the Standard office will occupy the first floor of the part fronting on Tompkins street. The price paid for the lot was $6,500.

Circulating Library.

   The ladies of Cortland, having formed a Woman's Auxiliary of the Y. M. C. A. of Cortland, N. Y., for the purpose of promoting the best interests of the young people of the community, and believing that a public library would be an important means to this end, have resolved that the first work undertaken by their association shall be the founding of a Circulating Village Library from which, with proper restrictions, books may be drawn by any who wish to avail themselves of its advantages.

   By an agreement between the Woman's Auxiliary and the Young Men's Christian Association, this library is to be placed in the rooms of the association and will be open each day for the benefit of the public, the association pledging on their part to furnish a suitable place for the books and to care for them while the library is in their rooms.

   On two afternoons and evenings of each week the library will be open for the drawing of books and will be in charge of two librarians appointed by the Woman’s Auxiliary from their association.

   In undertaking to open a public library, the ladies feel they meet a need long recognized by the citizens and ask a hearty co-operation of the public.

   The matter is in charge of the library committee, whose plans will be published at an early date.

   This is but one of the plans by which the Woman's Auxiliary hope to help the young people of our town; other plans of work will be taken up from time to time, by which the Auxiliary hope to forward the good work which the Y. M. C. A. are doing in our midst.

   An invitation is extended to the ladies of Cortland to join in the association; names for membership must be presented to the secretary of the organization for proposal to the society.

A Principal Stands on a Principle: http://www.jeffpaine.blogspot.com/2012/03/principal-stands-on-principle.html