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Literary Society Quarrels

October 20, 1905, V. XXIII, No. 22

CHAPTER 64.

The Normal school opened the Fall of 1871. By the contract of April 5th, 1871, we were to begin paying back all subscriptions paid, amounting to $20 or more, on certain specified conditions. A good roof was one of the conditions. The roof, as the reader of these sketches may remember, was not good, it was bad, very bad; and some time in June or July 1873, I do not have the paper, the trustees signed an agreement canceling all obligations if we would complete the Normal building, put on a good roof and bind ourselves to conduct the school not less than five years. That agreement is lost. We had it some years.

One evening some time in September, 1876, three gentlemen, two of whom are now dead, but one of the number still resided in Ada called to collect the ten percent we were to pay annually. I showed them the contract of April 5, 1871, and the release signed by the Trustees the summer of 1873. The gentlemen said they were appointed at a meeting of the stockholders to call and see us and to demand immediate payment and if we would not pay, that legal action would follow. I replied that we had complied with the contracts of 1871 and 1873 and that we would pay no more; that the stockholders, in justice, owed us for losses we had sustained. The committee departed. Some of my associates were somewhat alarmed. In about a week or two members of the committee in company with Mr. Ramsey, a prominent attorney of Kenton, called to see me. He requested to see our contracts. He read them carefully, but made no remarks. In about two weeks I learned through some students that I had bribed Mr. Ramsey.

In about a month the same gentleman called to see me accompanied by an attorney from Lima. I can not recall his name. No legal action followed. Some time in the spring of 1877, the committee again called in company with Mr. Blackford, of Findlay. He asked to see the papers. He read them carefully. He said, "Who wrote this contract?" referring to the contract of April 5, 1871. I told him. He replied, "You ought to be a lawyer, not a teacher." He then said to the committee, "You have no cause of action, the Faculty have fulfilled their part of the contract." That closed that controversy but it did not stop the mouth of a certain man.

At the close of the Fall term of 1876 occurred one of the most serious society quarrels in the history of the school. As had been related in a previous chapter, it had been agreed upon by a joint committee of the societies and the Faculty that in future there should honor men be elected by the societies for the salutation and valedictory orations at commencements. By the alphabetical arrangement, the Franklins had been getting both at each commencement and they had many of the B's most of the N's and nearly all of the Y's, and most of the Z's. To compensate the Franklins for their loss, they were to have Friday night instead of Thursday night for their pay entertainment. The agreement was made by a committee and not a joint meeting. The Franklins kept no copy of the proceedings of the meeting, the faculty could not find their copy and Philos took the position that their society never acted on the report of the proceedings. They had profited at the last commencement by having either the salutatory or the valedictory oration, probably the valedictory. I remember only three of those present at the meeting of the committees, Prof. Park, G.W. Rutledge and George Henry. Mr. Rutledge was the author of the movement and at the time of the difficulty, was in New York. I telegraphed to him. I will here insert his answer.

Rutledge's Letter.

St. Nicholas Hotel, N.Y.
Oct. 28, 1876

Friend Lehr:

I answered your telegram this morning. According to the constitutions the Philos are entitled to the last evening and you can not hinder them, but I suggested alternation a year ago, but as there was not then time sufficient to amend before closing, the change was not made, but it was there decided and agreed upon that the step to amend would be taken buy as it had not been taken we can not justly deprive them of that their right. While I would wish the Franklins strict justice, and financial success, I could not advise the Philomathean to yield their point without first amending the constitutions for in that event the Franklins would always have the advantage and in all their history they have never been known to succumb to Philomathean wished, but have ever exercised the advantage they possessed. I write Lacy and Millar today advising them to amend the constitutions so as the enforce alternation. Don't you undertake to destroy the individuality of the societies by setting up Faculty decisions of justice higher than their constitutions. We can kindly influence the change. Tell Mr. Walton I will send or bring the books. Hoping that this matter will be amicably adjusted, I close. Am well. My love to all. Write me at 126 Price St., Philadelphia, stating how the affair is settled.

Yours in sympathy,

George.

The pay entertainment meant much those days. To show you what they meant I will here insert a Philo program of 1872. The reader will please notice that the entertainment was to begin at 6:30 p.m., and that admission was 25 cents and reserved seats 50 cents. Frequently those coming a distance would buy tickets from some town party and pay $1.00 a seat and I have known an enthusiastic Franklin or Philo who came probably forty or fifty miles to pay $1.50 for a good seat. And from '71 to about '83 or 4, the students would return for the Thursday and Friday contest by the scores. It was a feast for the railroad, for the livery barns and the hotels. We had two then; but it was a bill of expense for the boarding houses for the keepers seldom charged their old friends for two day's board. Many old friends visited the Lehr family on those occasions.

Philo Program

Friday evening, Mar. 15, 1872, commencing at 6:30 o'clock. Admission 25 cents; reserved seats 50 cents.

Program

Music..................................................Choir
Salutatory.............................Ira Doling, Ada, Ohio

Recitation

The Scourge of Fire........Eliza J. Wilson, Huntersville, O.
Music-Duet..........................Misses Sutton and Ferral Music...................................................Band
Periodical

The Rose Bud.......................Jennie Melhorn, Ada, Ohio

Farce

The Troublesome Servant..........Charles Melhorn, B.H. Oyler
Music...................................................Band

Debate

Is Self-Interest the Main-Spring of every Human Action?
Affirm............................A.D. Snively, Canton, Ohio
Deny..........................G.W. Rutledge, Roundhead, Ohio
Music-Duet.........................Misses Sutton and Ferrall

Drama

The Unfinished Gentleman.........R.L. Souder, Nettie Maguire
Music..................................................Choir

Essay

Beauty and Utility........Achsie A. Marshall, Bluffton, Ohio

Oration

Patriotism......................M. Jay Ewing, Bluffton, Ohio
Music...................................................Band

Pantomime

The Lovers Strategem................B.H. Oyler, Sudie Shuler
Music..................................................Choir
Valedictory...................Nettie Ferrall, Bluffton, Ohio

Benediction

As there were no records of the agreement, the Philos kept the last night, but the Faculty announced if the change would not be made binding in future we would again return to the alphabetical arrangement, I feel certain, had it not been for my niece, Ida Lehr, a Franklin leader and a Franklin of the Franklins, there would have been serious trouble; but she poured oil on the stormy waters.

A year or two later Mrs. Prof. Park found the Faculty copy of the agreement in the pocket of an old coat, but by that time the trouble was adjusted and new troubles to settle.

Some time in the school year 1876-7, Mr. J.J. Wood found his interest in the Normal a not very paying investment. He employed Miss Mollie Schoonover to represent his third interest. That year we paid out $580 for apparatus. The year before we bought the Normal school at Fostoria for $1200, and he feared litigation with the original stockholders who had paid, in all, about $8000 to erect the Normal building. He sold a twelfth interest in the school to G.W. Rutledge and a fourth to Frederick Maglott. At this time J.G. Park owned a third interest in the Normal, G.W. Rutledge a fourth, Fred Maglott a fourth and H.S. Lehr a sixth.