Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/625

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 563 men of Kennett, and has been for many years one of the most valued members of the board of education. Mr. Shelton is married and has a beautiful home in Kennett. Washington S. Dearmont. There is much of consistency in the paraphrase of a familiar quotation wliieh is made to express the senti- ment that "education makes the man, the want of it the fellow," for the entire basic dift'erentiation between the various social grades is made through the training of men- tal powers. The progress of civilization has been accomplished by men of strong men- tality and well disciplined faculties, and there is no vocation which is of so great importance and that imposes so great re- spousilnlity as that of the teacher, whether his work be in the more rudimentary grades or in the broad field of exalted scholarship. Numbered among the able and valued fac- tors in educational work in the state of ilis- souri is Professor Washington Strother Dearmont, who is the honored president of the Missouri State Normal School at Cape Girardeau and whose career in the domain of pedagogic endeavor has been one of sig- nal success. He has proved a most able ad- ministrative officer in his present position, in which also he has found ample scope for the most effective work along scholastic lines. None of the normal schools of the state has a higher reputation than that at Cape Girar- deau and at no period in its history has its standard been higher than under the regime of its present chief executive, who has at all times held the confidence and high re- gard of the student body and who has been able to infuse the utmost enthusiasm into all departments of the work of the institution, by gaining the zealous co-operation of the various members of the corps of instructoi-s and earnest and appreciative application on the part of the students who have availed themselves of the advantages of this admir- able school. Dr. Dearmont finds a due mede of pride and satisfaction in reverting to the historic Old Dominion as the place of his nativity and he is a scion of a family that was founded in that commonwealth in the colon- ial epoch. He was born in Clarke county, Virginia, on the 22d of September, 1859, and is a son of Peter and Mary (Bell) Dear- mont, both of whom were bom and reared in Virginia, the former being of staunch English lineage and the ancestral line of the latter being traced back to staunch Irish stock. Peter Dearmont was a successful agricul- turist in his native state until the ravages of the Civil war wrought disaster to him, as to so many other citizens of Virginia, which was the stage of action on the part of the contending forces for many weary months, as history well records. In 1871 he sought a new field of effort and removed with his family to Holt county, Missouri. There he purchased a farm in the vicinity of Mound City and with the passing of the years he was enabled, through industry and good man- agement, to again gain independence and sub- stantial prosperity, though he did not acquire wealth. He is now venerable in years and is living virtually retired on a farm near Mound City, Holt county, Missouri. His sterling integrity of character has given him the confidence and high regard of his fel- low men and his life has been one of use- fulness and honor in all its relations. He is a staunch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party and his religious faith is that of the Presbjterian church, of which his wife likewise was a zealous member. The latter was summoned to the life eternal in 1900, at the age of sixty-three years, and her memoiy is revered by all who came within the sphere of her gentle influence. Of the children five sons and one daughter attained to yeai-s of maturity, and of the number Dr. Dearmont, of this review, is the eldest. Dr. Dearmont clearly recalls the scenes and incidents of his boyhood days on the old homestead plantation in Virginia, and he is indebted to the conmion schools of his na- tive commonwealth for his rudimentary edu- cational discipline. He was a lad of twelve years at the time of the family removal from Virginia to Holt county, jMissouri where he was reared to adult age under the sturdy and invigorating discipline of the home farm, in the work of which he gave effective assistance, the while he availed himself of the advan- tages of the public schools of the locality and period. His ambition to secure a liberal edu- cation was early quickened and was one of definite action.. The financial resources of his parents were limited and thus he de- pended upon his own exertions in gaining the funds which enabled him to complete his higher academic education. When nineteen