KLAMATH FALLS. ORKGOM. SINDAY. PfcXEMBKR 8. 1963
Many Still Fondly Recall McGuffey's Famed Texts
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A DESCENDANT Mrs. Loren (Mildred) Binney, 724 Mitchell, is a descendant of
two hardy men of the great clan of the fighting McGuffeys who migrated from Scot
land to contribute to education in America. William Holmes McGuffey who wrote
the McGuffey's Eclectic (third) reader, and his brother, Alexander McGuffey, who
wrote the Eclectic Speller and the fifth and sixth grade readers. Revised copies of
the third grade reader and the speller, are owned by Mrs. Evelyn Loomis, 216 Pine
. Street, Klamath Falls.
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MANY LESSONS LEARNED School books were used over and over in the early
days of education when school and family funds were low. Numerous children learned
from the same speller and reader, and the volumes soon became dog-eared and worn.
This copy of McGuffey'i Eclectic Spelling Book (revised edition) owned by Mn.
Gordon (Evelyn) Loomis, 216 Pine Street, has childish scrawls on fly leaf and in
side covers. As pupils sometimes are required to do now, unlucky ones who missed a
word, stayed after school and wrote it 50 times.
By RLTH KING
The beloved old school books,
the McOuffcy's Readers and the
MeGutfey's Speller, are known
to many persons of an earlier
generation, but to the younger,
they are names rarely men
tioned, seldom seen.
They are linked to Klamath
Falls through Mrs. Evelyn
Loomis, 216 Pine Street, who
owns the Third Grade Eclectic
Reader and the Eclectic Spell
ing Book, and Mrs. Mildred
Binney.
Mrs. Loren ( Mildred) Binney
of Klamath Falls is a direct
descendant of the McGuffey
family of whom Alice McGuffey
Rugglcs writes in a charming
narrative of the family that
came to America from the
mountains of northwestern Scot
land. McGuffey sons were later
to leave their imprint on educa
tion in this country.
"Outwardly tamed, they kept
their proud independence of
spirit, and a gnawing restless
ness tormented them from with
in. But they lived their hard
lives of work and prayer un
complainingly, and even found
a kind of savor in the hard
ness," wrote Mrs. Ruggles.
It was Billy McGuffey "who
attended strictly to his own
business, farming and cobbling,"
and his wife Ann whom he
adored," but tried to cage her
spirit with his own iron will,"
who emigrated to America in
1774. It was Ann who patched
the family's threadbare clothing
over and over, stinted the por
ridge and doled out the wood
and peat, to help swell the sack
of pennies behind the chimney.
He was 32. she was E7. They
had three children, a boy, Alex
ander, 7, and two girls, Cath
erine and Elizabeth, 6 and 4.
They sailed in a small brig
which took the better part of
three months to reach America.
"Supplies of food, issued once
weekly, were cooked over open
fires in an open galley. Cock
roaches and rats scampered ev
erywhere and Ann's spotless
quilts were soon crawling.
Billy was educated. He wrote
a fine hand and read all the
books he could gather. Ann
could not. He bought a Y o r k
County farm in '75 but the war
with Britain drew him into bat
tle. Ann often killed and conked a
pullet for General Washington
who stopped at the McGuffey
home for rest and relaxa
tion. Came an end to the war
and Billy Mas back, aged and
disillusioned, his new country
was not flowing with milk and
honey. It seemed to Billy a
man without influence or money
was in a pretty hopeless state,
for all the .fine talk about de
mocracy and opportunity. He re
turned to cobbling shoes on the
side. He was still a farmer.
They emigrated again, follow
ing the Daniel Boone Trail
through the Cumberland Gap
and young Elizabeth died and
was buried without shrowd or
coffin beneath a high bank of
laurel.
The first grandson of William
and Ann McGuffey, sun ui San
dy, was named William Holmes
McGuffey by his mother Anna.
He was a "plain-faced infant,"
but a precocious one. He was
taken by his parents into un
broken wilderness to the North,
riding horseback.
His parents fought the un
friendly wilds. His mother was
dedicated to the task of build
ing a road that would lead her
children to education, to pow
er and position. No matter what
came or went Anna McGuffey
"took time to give her children
their first lessons in reading
and ciphering, usually at
night." Above all, it would be
William who must be educated.
He ate up knowledge. He need
ed only to read over a pass
age once to have it by heart.
He, w ith his brothers and sis
ters, walked to a small school,
miles from home, to learn from
a Presbyterian minister. Rev.
crend Mr. Wicks. They learned
to say cow, not ke-owe; catch,
not ketch, and to drop their
voices and not shout.
" William learned Latin. At lfi
he was given a certificate and
became a roving teacher. It
was discouraging work. Parents
were both ignorant and indiffer
ent. Children were unruly. He
determined to become a Presby
terian minister, a secret kept
with his mother.
He tramped the frontier,
Ohio, Pennsylvania and Ken
tucky in patched clothing. Sum
mers he worked hard on his fa
ther's farm, but he loathed it.
He was torn with concern for
the backwoods people, lonely
and hungry for something be
sides their daily grind. With
his mother, he planned ways
and means for further minis
try. His father was not inter
ested in "lamin' " but he snared
William from the farm. There
was no money for schooling.
A seventh child appeared but
Anna never gave up. William
would !e a minister. Henry,
the second son, wanted to be
come a doctor and she would
make the smallest, Aleck, a
lawyer.
Since her husband would not
help her, Anna turned to the
Lord, "Ask and it shall be giv
en unto you." William became
discouraged. He was 18. Anna
prayed as she had never prayed
before. It would take a miracle
to find the money for his
scholing.
Next morning during break
fast, a stranger in clerical dress
knocked at the cabin door and
asked to speak to (Mrs. McGuf
fey. He was looking for pupils
for his academy in Grccrsburg,
Pa. He had been beyond the
fence the day before as s h e
prayed. A week later William
w as on his way. There were
some who believed that Anna
knew the traveling preacher
was in hearing distance.
William earned his tuition, 70
cents a week by hard labor in
the principal's home. His moth
er cherished his letters. He nev
er had a cent in his pockets.
His father sometimes sent him
a barrel of apples or a sack of
meal for the principal's family
and lis mother and sisters
knitted him stockets and mit
tens, and a comforter for his
neck.
"Aim high," his mother told
him, "second bests aren't worth
while." He enrolled at Washing
ton College, and spent six years
there, working his way.
His courses were Latin
Greek. Hebrew, ancient history,
and philosophy no modern
studies. He taught at Washing
ton College, went to Miami
University, started a little
school of his own to try out
some of his theories on educa
tion. The daily lessons William ar
ranged gradually took shape as
a book. He had already pub
lished in London "A Treatise on
Motliods of Reading." By 1833
his "First Reader" was ready
for printing, the year he was
ordained as a Presbyterian min
ister. His sermons were never
emotional.
By 1834 pubpic schools were
being opened all over the fron
tier. William McGuffey fought for
his beliefs in education, un
compromising, and. because of
this, left Miami University
where he was an administrator
and went to Cincinnati "without
a backward look."
It was at Cincinnati College
and at Woodward that the fa
mous "Readers," which he had
long envisioned, came to light.
A shrewd Yankee youth of 18,
Winthrop B. Smith, saw the
great market for schools books
in the West and approached
William Holmes McGuffey to
prepare a set of books. The
series called for a Primer, a
Speller and four Readers. Wil
liam had already planned a
Primary Reader based on les
sons he had taught in informal
classes at Oxford. The Speller
he lelt to his brother Alex
ander who was to collaborate.
The Readers were to lay the
foundation of correct spelling,
pronunciation and usage and
exemplify American ideals of
work, education, character. He
would make them stimulating
to all people. He would have no
dogma, no gloomy or fantastic
tales.
The contract for the first sc
ries was signed by William on
April 28, 1838. The publishers
were to pay him a royalty of 10
per cent on all copies sold until
the copyright should reach the
sum of $1,000, after which the
Readers became absolute prop
erly of the publishers. It was a
clever bargain for the publish
ers. In later years the sales
and profits had mounted to the
millions.
The historic little books a
Primer, four Readers and a
Speller, appeared in 1837, at
tractively bound in green and
pictures on every page. The il
lustrated alphabet in the First
Reader began with A for Ax.
What backwoods child could
fail to learn? It unlocked the
gales of learning. Animals
played an important part and
poetry was written to delight.
The second Reader led the
child into the enchanted gar
den; the third contained unfor
gettable stories and the Lord's
Prayer in verse. In the Fourth
Reader the student began to get
the real McGuffey classics.
"The Old Oaken Bucket," and
"George Washington and His
Little Hatchet." Alexander, in
addition to the Speller, compiled
the Fifth and Sixth Readers. He
preached tho beautiful art of
reading and speaking.
Publisher Smith, now sole
owner of the textbooks, worked
like a beaver to get them into
all schools. West, South and
East, everywhere except New
England where the "Worces
ters" continued in use.
Smith's publishing business
grew. He grew richer year by
year. William Holmes McGuf
fey had sold his copyright for
a mess of pottage. The readers
were widely used down to the
1900s and in some localities, un
til 1910. He went to the facul
ty of the University of Virginia
and continued to fight for his
educational beliefs and propos
als. He held his tongue on
States Rights during the Civil
War. He grew old and sad.
When the war ended, the pub
lishers of the McGuffey Read
ers urged William to tour the
South to gage the effects of
peace on their sales. He was 67
when he toured through
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,
and the Carolinas. What he ob
served was tragedy, but he
made no notes of what he had
seen. He continued to teach. In
his last years he wrote the Mag
num Opus. He died in Char
lottesville in 1873. He was 73.
Shrines and monuments were
erected to his name but William
McGuffey has a living shrine in
the hearts of millions of old
school boys and girls. Copies of
his Readers are in museums,
tucked away, too, in attics and
basements. A few are forgotten
on tlie bookshelves in libraries,
a few are cherished by the old.
Alexander McGuffey wrote no
more than the Speller and the
Fifth and Sixth Readers. He
never needed money nor cov
etcd it although it was said that
at least 10 millionaires "were
made" from the McGuffey se
ries. Alexander was not one of
them. He outlived William 23
years.
Both men lived and died un
conscious of their real contribu
tion to posterity.
Mrs. Binney, Klamath County
deputy treasurer, as tier illus
trious forefathers has taken a
continuing interest in educa
tion, polities and civic proj
ects. She is the mother of three
children, Stephen, a senior at
Oregon State University; Larry,
Klamath Union High School sen
ior, and Susan, KUHS junior.
She is a past precinct com
mittee woman, serves on the
elementary school budget
board, is a past president of
Oregon State University Moth
ers, and is serving this year on
the state board; she has been
active with her husband, Loren,
in PTA, Cub Scouts. Little
Leaguers, Babe Ruth and
American Legion baseball, and
has lived in Klamath Falls for
26 years.
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xl 'NEWYORK CINCINNATI t.e uir. r -
QUAINT TITLES Third grade pupils who studied the McGuffey's Readers, re
peated "The Lord's Prayer" from its pages, and read a story a day The Young
Teacher, A Walk In the Garden, Bird Friends, Weighing an Elephant, The Echo, Find
ing the Owner, Beware of the Firist Drink. When the first edition back in 1837 was
issued, school furniture and equipment was primitive. Boys and girls tat on wooden
benches. They helped teacher pull water in a bucket from a well and stoked the stove
with whatever fuel was native to the part of America in which they lived.
f ' r fjtii- imm.i
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imd tin,! yiiur t it 1 1.
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a sin ill- n li
mi.- liMiii,. fr,,m
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liiiu. Yt.u will m,,,
ix liiii, and And tlia Wim
I'tlics will lifcxnc wild and fw'1, "i
I". " Whether yc, ,iru in tllc, j,,id nr -m
tlio wixhI.i, al or ut iily, at huuio or
abrrnid, remember,
The piod anrl tho kmtl,
By kindiw-w tltir !ov ever pmvtnp,
Will dwul with ttif. jmrv iiutl 0 lovin)(.n
LESION XXXIV.
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OKOKIC II FRAKT.
' t. Opnfe's mother win very poor, Instead
of hm'tnir bright. Uiuinjr fires in winter. !;
had notliii; tn burn but dry Mickx, wliieli
CiMirp' .irkl up from urolor the trew wt
llltlt.
8 One nn dny in July, h "l 0"nre.
to the w..l. wlie b '"" "li,rt!
from tW villngu in bicb she . lirtJ. H
rillRI UKAHfiK
VM , stay H.- - '' l" K"1 "
..ml k be WinM collcet. "
un mm bijrh, he tw but, and wiohed for
fA place where he might real and out tiia
dinner.
4. While he hunted about the bunk, he
mw among the iimjm some (Imj, wild itruw."
berri, which were a bright ncarlet with
ripcneM.
ri
(Vilnius
fi'iil'iiri'
I7.ith'fiil
frail'ty
iji
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Te'lenrj!
fleeVy
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Wln'dujr
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Wil'll'l
Lii'lo
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fellow
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Lemon 78,
THE TORCH OF LEARNING BURNED BRIGHT In those early days of American
Democracy when men toiled to open new frontiers, it was usually the mothers of
growing children who were dedicated to give the younq the advantages of an educa
tion, meager at best in those days when toad and shelter came first. Ann McGuffey,
newly arrived from the mountains of Scotland, who followed her husband Billy from
r.ew land to new land, mothered the authors of the McGuffey'i Eclectic Readers and
McGuffey's Eclectic Speller, William and Alexander. When mortal man failed, the
sought divine help, and sometimes used a women's wiles to gain an advantage. William
aiijAVnj.
omrht. aiovd. -wrj,
trml fd.
rf hud ftf grain.
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OTP1, rrfied nutui
6Yr, ottr.
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Adda, teiiit to.
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tiff, liquor.
VI, to frrl fin.
M, rff mL. .
ct;,')(t, trice four.
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McGuffey became one of the foremost American educators and ministeri. The broth
ers gained little from the publication of their school books while the publisheri
reaped riches. Both men lived and died without knowledge of the great contribution
they had made to education in this country.