I continued in the school work in Lawler until June 1884, when, at the request of the New Hampton friends I applied for the principalship of the New Hampton school and was elected to that position.

Elmer, our second babe, was born in the old "Harvey" house in Lawler on the 15th of Nov, 1882.

At that time Ethel was a little over 2 years & 2 months old and was a general favorite. She could talk plainly; could sing and speak pieces and was a bright, healthy and winsome child.

At this time, Nov 7, 1895, many changes have taken place among my old pupils at the Waucoma Lawler. Most of them are now men and women, who have taken up the burdens of life and are journeying onward to-ward that mysterious bourne to which all mankind is hastening. Some have passed over the river and are waiting on the other side.

Several of them have grown wealthy. Some others have won honors in fields of professional labor. The " old school-master " is no longer young and the threads of silver and gray can now be seen on his temples.

He has known much of strife with the world and sorrows have crept into his heart since those days; but he still thinks fondly of the boys and girls who were once his pupils and hopes that they may be happy and prosperous through all the coming years.

So it has been since the world was peopled with the children of men, and so it will doubtless ever be! "Lo all things grow old and die":!

"Thow unrelenting Past!
Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain,
And fetters, sure and fast,
Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign."

In August 1884 we moved to New Hampton & occupied the Chas. Wilkins house in the south part of town.

School opened early in September. There were then eight rooms including the recitation room and eight teachers were employed.

In Lawler we had but three teachers, and after the establishment of the Catholic parochial school, the number was reduced to two.

During the first month spent in this school, I revised the course of study & the same was adopted by the school board & printed.

The corps of teachers was a good one & was loyal to me and enthusiatic in their work. They were Miss Addie Jacobs, assistant, Emma Gibson, Minnie Sherman, Lizzie Carroll, Ella Douglass, Lena Wachtil, Alice Harrison.

The enrollment was between 450 and 500, and the school was a very pleasant one. I enjoyed the work in this school as never before and it is a pleasure to be able to state, without any desire to claim more credit than I deserve, that pupils and teachers were pleased with the management of the school.

I had here, for the first time, an opportunity to visit some of the other rooms daily & inspect the work in the different grades.

We usually had teachers' meetings about once a month & discussed methods & whatever else pertained to school work.

While in Lawler I had done Institute work one year for Supt. H.A. Simons, and at the close of my first years work in New Hampton Supt. Lapham employed me to assist in the Normal Institute. In June 1885 the Board employed me for amother year at the same salary $100.00 per month.

In 1883 the Democratic party of Chickasaw Co. gave me the nomination for County Supt. much to my surprise.

It seemed but justice to Supt. Lapham, who had made a good officer, to decline the nomination & this I did.

When the Republican county convention met in the fall of 1885, they gave me the nomination for County Supt. This nomination was accepted though the county at that was Democratic. No time was lost from school work to make a canvass. The only personal work I did was on three or four Saturdays. My opponent was Geo. E. Stowe, a New Hampton attorney, who had formerly been a teacher & who was an honorable man.

His treatment of me during the campaign was gentlemanly & fair. I was elected by a fair majority, resigned my position in the school, and entered upon the duties of the office early in January 1886.

On the last day of my term's work in the school a pleasant surprise was planned for me by the teachers and high school pupils.

After the different grades had been assembled in the high school room, a handsome easy chair was brought in & presented to me. At the same time a paper expressing the best wishes of teachers & pupils was handed to me. I prized both the chair & the testimonial highly & shall always look back with the kindest of feelings upon those days spent in the New Hampton school.

Oscar A. McFarland our third child was born in New Hampton on the 21st of March 1885.

Soon after assuming the duties of the Supt's office I planned several teachers' meetings and began to visit schools.

That winter was a severe one; the roads were bad & the cold was so intense that riding across the country was far from pleasant.

That spring we held our first Normal Institute and this part of the work was pleasant. School visitation was made prominent during my entire term of office & I always tried to aid teachers & encourage them in their work.

The granting of certificates was carefully attended to and it was my constant effort to deal justly by all; to know no favorites & have no prejudices.

In the fall of 1887 the nomination came to me again & I was again elected, having James W. Bradford for an opponent.

During the Normal Instutute which closed my first term's work as Co. Supt. in the fall of 1887, a very pleasant surprise was planned for me one afternoon. The teachers had purchased a gold watch for me & it was presented in a neat speech by Prof. C.E. Baldwin of Fredericksburg, one of my loyal and steadfast friends. The present was a most acceptable one; but the sentiment which prompted it - the friendship and regard of the teachers of Chickasaw Co, was something to be prized more than the gift itself.

About Dec. 1887 we purchased a home in New Hampton of a Mr. Miller, it being the first place we ever owned. Prior to that time, or for eight years we had rented, paying from $6.00 to $10.00 per month rent. The place consisted of 2 1/2 lots 4 X 8 rods, with a house 14 X 24 feet one and one half stories high and a wing 12 X 18 feet, one story. There were sixteen rooms besides a butry and two closets. The next spring we built an addition 12 X 18 feet one story in height. This made us a comforable home and we were very glad to have a home of our own and have it paid for.

In Feb. 1887 my step mother Sarah McFarland met with an accident which cased her death a few days afterwards. Going out to look at her clothes on the line she slipped and fell striking her head on the ground. No serious results immediately followed, but a day or two later she became worse & soon died of concussion of the brain. Father & her sons, Marvin, 20, Walter about 17, & Welli 12 years old were almost heart-broken.

	Continue with Part VI
	Return to the Table of Contents
	Bethany McFarland's Family Journals