Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 21.djvu/85



METHODIST EDUCATIONAL EFFORT IN OREGON TO 1860 75

rather its door, in 1855. It was a large frame building, two and a half stories high, the best building in Polk county at that time. It may still be seen near McCoy.

T. R. Harrison was the faculty. He taught everything from writing to algebra, though he was no "classical scholar." "Davie's Algebra," "Thompson's Complete Arithmetic" and "Sanders' Readers," first, second, third and fourth, were the text-books. Later "Parker and Watson's" readers were used, in a series of five. "Smith's and Bullion's Grammars" were the foundation of the English course. There was no diagram- ing and very little composition. The instruction consisted mainly of the exercises for "correcting faulty syntax and getting the ideas of the grammar of the language into our heads, though we did not have to memorize it." There also was a course in practical surveying. The spelling match every Friday night was one of the big incidents in the school career of the Bethel student. This was very important, since it was the training ground of the spellers who took part in the spell- ing matches which formed an important part of the frequent meetings of the literary society.

The school was equipped with manufactured desks and blackboards. It was in session from daylight till dark; the attendance, 30 or 40. Each pupil paid six or eight dollars for a term of three months, usually in the summer. "Why nobody ever heard of supporting a school by taxation in those days," said Mr. Burnett.

When Christian College was founded at Monmouth in 1860, Bethel closed its doors. The remarkable T. R. Harrison got pretty overbearing and self-sufficient in the latter days of the Academy, so Mr. G. O. Burnett got John Henry Smith, a "brilliant young man" (and Burnett's nephew) to "assist" Harrison. This caused more or less friction and hastened the decline of the Academy.

"The Bethel Academy endowment still brings in money for the Spring Valley school district, which has always been noted for its good schools," concluded Mr. Burnett.