Page:History of Public School Education in Arizona.djvu/32

26 30, 1873, he wrote that arrangements had been made to open a free school in every district in the following October. He urged the necessity of keeping all religious instruction out of the schools and concluded by saying:

Again he says:

McCrea has given some additional information on the difficulties encountered which is worthy of quotation here:

Fortunately there is a contemporary witness who has given his testimony to the same effect. John Wasson, surveyor general, said in his newspaper, the Arizona Citizen, on May 14, 1874:

Less than two years ago the free-school system was started in Arizona, without schoolhouses, books, or teachers. It seemed a forlorn hope for the poor Apache-ridden people to provide for the education of the children under such adverse conditions, but the same undaunted spirit that had faced death and torture through a long series of years said, “We must either have schools or more jails, and we prefer the former”; and the result shows that people can do if they will, Yuma has a good schoolhouse, neatly furnished, and one will soon be erected at Ehrenberg. We are assured that Mohave County will erect schoolhouses as fast as required. The people of Prescott are now constructing a schoolhouse that will be a credit to the town and Territory. A schoolhouse was built below Phoenix, in Maricopa County, last year, and now the people of Phoenix are making arrangements and already have the necessary subscriptions to build one worthy of that enterprising and growing town. A schoolhouse is in process of construction at Florence in every way suitable