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I relate are my own experiences and recollections, though some of the earlier stories may have been from hearing them so often.
     The first school was named Tipton School. A small amount of taxes had accumulated in the county seat for school purposes, but not used, so in 1872, some of the homesteaders raised some money and with what they received from the county, put up a small building, four and one-half miles west and a half mile north of the present town of Elmwood, then known as Stove Creek. Before time for the school to begin however, a tornado came along and what was left of the school house could have been put in a wheelbarrow. What to do was something else. There was little money left, and of curse, no insurance.
     Late in the fall my father, T. N. Bobbitt who had some experience in teaching, went to the board with the proposition that if they would advance him his salary, he would build an addition to his homestead shack of 12x12 and hold the winter term of school in his home. The school board agreed to this, paid him approximately $100 and he carried out his part of the agreement. This was the first school in the precinct.
     I have forgotten where my parents first secured their mail, but about 1876, some of the most energetic settlers secured the establishment of a post office and called it Eagle. It was in a farm house across the road south of the present town of Eagle. Sam McClintock was the first postmaster and kept it for several years. Later, A. S. Cooley was postmaster and the site was moved two miles north where it remained until the Missouri Pacific rail road was built.
     About 1879, there was a post office called Andruville, about one mile south and twon (sic) and one-half miles cast of Eagle. It was named after a farmer by the name of Andrus.
     At this early day, there was a stage and mail route from Plattsmouth to Weeping Water and another stage route from Weeping Water to Elmwood. This was extended to Eagle. About this same time, there was a star route established between Lincoln and Eagle. This was on Saturday only, and, no doubt, was instigated by the State Journal to get their weekly paper to subscribers the same week it was printed.
     There was some illiteracy among the early settlers, but for the most part, they were thoughtful, well-read people according to the standards of that day. Nearly everyone subscribed for the Weekly Journal. The price was one dollar per year. We were heartbroken when the weekly edition was discontinued. We could not afford to pay for the daily. The Journal Company then put out a semi-weekly which bridged the gap until we could afford the daily.
     You must keep in mind that this took place before there was a rail road. There was Greenwood on the north and Palmyra on the south, Plattsmouth on the east and Lincoln on the west - a territory about as large as the state of Delaware, without a railroad.
     Let us return to Tipton Precinct.
     About 1880 Henry Roelofsz, a homesteader, conceived the idea or running a sort of huckster wagon, going around among the farmers carrying staple groceries, tin pans, pails, churns and like merchandise to exchange for butter, eggs, chickens and

meat in the winter time. It was a funny looking contraption, always piled high with all kinds of merchandise. He came to Lincoln once a week and if he did not have what was wanted one week, he would bring it the next trip. That was in the days before pianos, so I never saw him with one, but there was nearly every thing else. A Mexican burro with a load of hay did not have anything on him.
     The idea must have been profitable because in a couple of years he established a store near his home. This was four miles west of the present town of Elmwood. The next move was to get a post office, which was not hard to do since it was already on the route operating between Weeping Water and Eagle. Thus the village of Sunlight appeared on the map, a very appropriate name, though now it is not even a ghost town. There had been a Sunlight postoffice some years before, but at this time it was in a state of suspended annimation (sic). There is not a farm house there now.
     During the time it flourished it was quite a business center. It had a blacksmith shop, a doctor, a resident minister of the United Brethren faith, a store and a post office. The church people had built a parsonage, but held services in the school house, then a half mile north. The blacksmith was George Wright. He was a great singer. He led that part of the service at church and Sunday School. As I look back now, it seems he made up in strength and vigor what he lacked in musical training.
     The doctor was a unique character, though I think his training was good enough. If there was a dentist in the world at that time, I had never heard of him, so when a tooth got so bad that the pain could not be endured, the sufferer went to the doctor who yanked it out. "Yanked" is the right word. You paid him fifty cents if you had it, otherwise, nothing. Incidentally, there was no sterilized instrument - notice I said instrument - for he had only one - no antiseptic treatment, no anesthetic.
     The first church edifice in that vicinity was erected by the Dunkards or River Brethren. This was five miles west and one mile north of Elmwood. It has been moved since to Alvo. At one time the membership was quite large, but it did not appeal to the younger generation and faded out of the picture. They were an honest, industrious people. We thought them a little clannish. They always preferred to help Brother John or Brother Henry. However, I see nothing wrong now with what they did.
     In 1886, the Missouri Pacific Railway Co., built the present line from Weeping Water to Lincoln. They made a station at Stove Creek, now Elmwood, and another at Eagle. The post office department discontinued the star route and Sunlight was left out on a limb. The blacksmith died, the minister moved away. The store keeper held out for a while, then moved his stock to Eagle. It seemed to me our world turned upside down at that time. Changes were taking place and we were never to be the same again. Boots went out and shoes came in
     We country boys looked on shoes for men as affeminate (sic) and if some city boy came into the community wearing shoes, we wanted to throw mud balls at him and did if no one was looking.
      The Rock Island Railway built from Omaha to Lincoln in 1888 to complete

the breaking up of the world we knew. We had gone modern. Gone were the heavy boots and hickory shirts. In had come shoes, fancy sox, neckties and stiff shirts. I would not want to go back, but the new things did not bring much more happiness than we already had.
     We were never annoyed much by the Indians, though we saw many. My mother did not have the advantage of any scientific child training, so to curb a roaming disposition of mine, she held up the Indian as a bogey man. There were legends of children being stolen by them, so whenever I saw one, I made it home in nothing flat.
     In 1875, a large party of them filed by our home. I was told they were from the Omaha reservation, going to visit the Pawnees down around Beatrice. There were probably 100 of them, though to my childish eyes, there were thousands.
     Recently, in conversation with Mr. Sheldon of the State Historical Society, he said ithat (sic) they were probably migration of the Poncas from their reservation in northeast Nebraska to their new home in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.
     Since the advent of automobiles and paved roads, Tipton precinct has became almost a suburb of Lincoln.

	NEBRASKA'S PIONEER SCHOOL SYSTEM By G. H. GILMORE

     When the Territory of Nebraska was being organized, many perplexing problems arose among the law makers for solution and one of these was the formation of our free public school system.
      Many visionary organizations were advanced through the Territorial Legislature by the citizens from each community in the Territory from 1854 to 1860. Each town, whether bonifide or a paper town, had a block set aside in its plat for a university.
     The Hon. John F. Buck of Three Groves, Cass county, served in the legislature in Omaha in 1855-56, was appointed chairman of the Committee on Common Schools and many of these "Dream Oxfords" passed thru this committee and by the legislature in good faith. The following is a partial list of some of the "University" bills introduced and passed:
     Feb. 25, 1856. An act to Incorporate the Simpson University at Omaha.
     Jan. 15, 1856. Incorporate Nemaha University at Archer, in Richardson county.
     Jan. 18, 1856. John F. Buck, Washington College in Cummings county.
     Jan. 21, 1856. Grant of land to the University of Fontenelle University.
     Jan. 24, 1856. John F. Buck, an act to incorporate the Plattsmouth Preparatory and College Institute. Recommended for passage.
     Jan. 15, 1856. An act to incorporate the Wyoming Academy at the City of Wyoming in Otoe county.
     Feb. 2, 1857. An act to incorporate

the Salem College at Salem, N. T.
     Feb. 3, 1857. An art to incorporate the University of Nebraska at Saratoga.
     Feb. 3, 1857. An act to incorporate the Rock Bluff Seminary.
     Feb. 10, 1857. St. John's University in Dakota county.
     Dec. 30, 1859. Bill enacted to incorporate a seminary at Florence.
     Jan. 5, 1880. An act to incorporate the University of Columbus in Platte county, N. T.
     In 1860, to incorporate a seminary at Peru which later became the present state normal.
     Oct. 5, 1858. There were bills introduced to incorporate the Cass County Seminary and also "An act to incorporate the University of Cass County."
     Oct. 30, 1859. A memorial and grant for land to build the Lewis and Clark College.
     Jan. 26, 1856. The Western University incorporated under the supervision of S. M. Kirkpatrick, H. C. Wolph, M. B. Case, William Laird, Jr., John M. F. Hagood and Mathew Hughes created a body politic and coporated (sic) by the name of The Western University, to be located in or near Cassville, Cass county, Nebraska Territory.
     Jan. 27, 1857. The council presented bills for 10,000 acres of land to the Simpson University and 10,000 acres to the Nebraska City Collegiate and Preparatory Institute. Recommended.
     In 1856 there was considerable trouble in arranging and providing for the building of a school house in Louisville precinct.
     What is now the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, was in the territorial days known as the Commissioner of Education and during this period we had no County Superintendent of Schools, but the county clerk in a limited way, had charge of the schools in the county.
      Under the formative period of our schools system we had a township board of education, composed of a chairman, clerk and treasurer. The township was divided into sub-districts and the first of March three directors were elected for one, two and three years and one elected each year thereafter as his term expired. The directors of all the sub-districts met each year in the township and from their number selected the Township Board of Education.
     On April 20, 1863, the Conn School was established on the northeast corner of the southeast quarter of section 11, in West Rock Bluff precinct by the Rock Bluff Township Board of Education, composed of John Allison, August Case and Jasper W. Conn.
     The directors of the sub-districts were under the rules and regulations of the township board of education. In the payment of a teacher the clerk of the sub-district made a certified statement of the amount due which was presented to the township treasurer for payment.
     W. E. Harvey was serving as commissioner of Common Schools in Nebraska in 1860, and from his office at the capitol in Omaha City, he submitted to the legislature the second Annual report of schools which was very elaborate while the first report made was brief and confusing. The commissioner in his opening remarks says:
     "Cass county has the most perfect school organization in the Territory and made the nearest full report re-

quired by law. For the promptness and completeness with which the returns from that county were made, her honorable and efficient clerk defound employment in schools of Cass county in primary schools:

Date     Name	Granted for
Mar. 20--Sarah Winchell	2 years
Apr. 7--Ursula E. Arnold	2 years
Apr. 7--Hattie Haywood	2 years
Apr. 7--Cordelia E. Mitchell	2 years
Apr. 11--Geo. L. Seybolt	2 years
Apr. 11--Elizabeth Workman	4 Mos.
Apr. 7--Alvin G. White	2 years
Apr. 21--Matilda Countryman	2 years
Apr. 24--Ellen Decker	4  1-2 Mos.
May 2--Malinda D. West	2 years
May 5--Maggie Gilmour	2 years
May 25--Gertrude Jenks	6 Mos.
May 28--H. D. Snyder	4 Mos.
Joun (sic) 2--Mary Hughes	2 years
July 2--Celestia Bellows	2 years
July 3--Artemetia Mitchell	2 years
July 10--Mary E. Berger	2 years
Aug. 7--Wm. C. West	2 years
Aug. 13--M. A. Fort (female)	1 year
Aug. 18--Kate E Mannering	2 years
Sept. 7--J. C. Mitchell	2 years
Sept. 22--H. C. Fardee	2 years
Oct. 8--Wm. S. West	2 years
Oct. 8--J. C. Bell	2 years
No. 3--J. W. Barnes	6 Mos.
Nov. 6--William Rager	2 years

     In this report much is devoted to the plans and specifications of the school houses with the cost when completed. The price of lumber was $8.00 per thounsand (sic) and shingles $3.00 per thousand. A building 20x24 was constructed for $276.07.
     The commissioner of education was much in favor of libraries by the state for each school, that good literature might be brought before the children instead of the "yellow covered literature which is flooding the country with such titles at "The Pirate's Own Book," or the flashy stories by Sylvanus Cobb and authors of that stripe, found in the literary family newspapers of the day, with such titles as "Roderiquez Scuboberino," "The Sage Astroliger," or the "Insane Manica of Chimborazo, "A Tale of Love, Mystery and Revenge." In this report he is much opposed to "spirit-rappings, table-tippings and ghost stories," for the bad effect produced on the developing mind of the child.
     The teachers as per instructions from the commissioner of education were to grade the scholars on their efficiency at good, very good, bad, very bad, poor or middling.
     The Indians prevented the organization of schools in Cummings county as given by their county clerk:
     West Point, Dec. 20, 1860. "When I made my report last year I expected to see schools in this county before this time, but we have not been able to raise any tax for the reason that the settlers of this county were robbed last year of over fifteen thousand dollars by the Pawnee Indians, and not a dollar has ever been returned.
     There are twenty-nine scholars in this county, fourteen males and fifteen females, nearly all of whom could go to school. Respectfully,

J. C. Crawford,     
Clerk Cumming Co.

     The most complete outline of the "Common School System" in Cass County Is found in the records of Avoca Township Board of Education, as made by Amos Tefft from 1861 to 1865, and his son, Orlando Tefft from 1865 to 1868, as clerks of this board. During this period of seven years Robert O. Hoback served as treasurer

and William Altaffer as chairman of the board.
     The Avoca township board of education had four sub-districts under its supervision. In 1861, Sub-District No. 1, embracing all of Avoca township. The boundaries and numbering of the sub-districts made frequent changes but eventually settled to Sub-District No. 1, in the vicinity of Folden's Mill, now Union No. 2, centered about Factoryville; Nos. 3 and 4 along the southern border of the township.
     The settlers in the Kirkpatrick settlement patronized Cassville Common School, which was in Mt. Pleasant township and was known as Sub-District No. 2. At an election held at H. C. Wolf's home on June 7, 1856, W, D. Gage was chosen president; S. M. Kirkpatrick, secretary and John F. Buck, treasurer.
     School teachers and school houses stood foremost in all the educational problems.
     Reports from sub-districts in Avoca township regarding payment of teachers and building school houses follows:
     "Lucinda Loomis has taught common school in Sub-District No. 3 of said township all sixty days and there is due her for her services the sum of seven dollars. Oct. 25. 1863."
     "Report of Sub-Dist. No. 4 Third Monday in April, 1865: Number of school houses, one log school house valued at $25, unfinished. There has been no public money expended in this sub-district since its organization,

O. Tefft.
E. Tromble
P. Clouzer, Directors."

     "Artemetia Mitchell, teacher in Sub-Dist. No. 2, from the 27th day of May 1861 to the 14th day of June 1861, in all 15 days at the rate of $2.00 per week."
     'Treasurer of Avoca Township: Pay to George H. Bryan or order, Twelve Dollars of money in hands to build a school house in Sub-Districe (sic) No. 2 of said Township. Avoca, May 27, 1863." serves much credit."
     Funds for the support of the school was another problem and a law was passed making all fines paid for law violations to he turned to the school district's credit in the county. Several hundred types of fines are listed in the school laws of 1860, some of which are:
     Issuing bills as money without a charter, $1,000. For bigamy, $1,000. Playing games for money, $100. For dinintei-ring (sic) dead bodies, $500. Laboring on Sunday, $5.00. Disturbing the peace on Sunday, $25. Intermarriage with a Negro or Indian, $500. Keeping open store or shop on Sunday, $10. John B. Boulware, keeping a ferry boat on the Missouri river at Nebraska City, must pay into the Otoe county treasurer $30 per year for support of schools.
     In letters to the county clerk from the township school boards in Cass county, much dissatisfaction was expressed that no fines were collected. In all the reports from the precincts throughout the county not a single fine was collected in 1860.
     D. H. Wheeler, county clerk of Cass county, made a report to the Commissioner of Education November 30, 1860. He suggested that the Territorial School Commissioner should not be abolished until the present system has had a full and perfect trial. He also asks that the Territorial Commissioner be required to select a standard list of text books which shall be adopted throughout the Territory.

     The Commissioner in his report follows the suggestion of D. H. Wheeler and gives a long list of text books from Saunders Alphabet Cards and Primary School Charts through readers, spellers, arithmetics, down to Arnold's Latin and Greek Series.
     D. H. Wheeler in his report gives a brilliant description of the Oreapolis Seminary under construction and "when in operation the first day of September, 1861, will he the only first class high school in Nebraska."
     Some of the township hoards presented very interesting reports from Cass county:
     The board of education of Eight Mile Grove township says: "Our school law is too complicated; a common clod hopper can not understand it, even the lawyers cannot agree upon it ........"
     The board of education from Weeping Water township says: "This precinct has been settled but three years and the inhabitants are scattered over a large territory. The average age of the pupils was less than ten years, consequently the instruction given was rudimentary."
     The board of education of Mt. Pleasant township says: "In sub-district No. 1, a contract has been entered into for the erection of a school house at a cost of $250 and a further sum of $100 will be necessary to finish the same. The amount necessary to be expended in sub-district No. 2, during the current year, $120. It is the intention of the directors to keep up their school six or nine months if possible."
     The schools of 1860 were run from 20 days to 86 days with the exception of Weeping Water, which reported 120 days of school.
     The board of education of Rock Bluff township says: "Sub-district No. 4 reports that no money has as yet been expended in the district for schools. A site for a school has just been selected and the district is now negotiating for a school house."
     In 1860 there were five school houses in Cass county with a total valuation of $575 and the furniture and equipment for these schools, $28.00.
     The reports of all the township treasures in the county shows twenty teachers employed, four males and sixteen females. The total salaries for these teachers during the year was $654.07, leaving in the township treasuries a surplus of $459.37.
     During this year there were in the county of school age from 5 to 21 years, 1105.
     The expense of conducting schools in Case county in 1860 is given by precincts - the amount allowed and the amount spent:

     The examination of applicants to see if they were qualified to teach school was conducted by the county clerk and two others selected by the Probate Judge, whose services were without pay. In 1860, T, M. Marquardt and S. H. Elbert, both lawyers, and D. H. Wheeler, all of Plattsmouth, com-

posed this board of examiners. A report of D. H. Wheeler on November 15, 1860, shows that the board had passed 26 applicants, all of whom (sic - article ends!)

	THE LIFE OF AMOS AND ORLANDO TEFFT By C. B. TEFFT

     Amos Tefft, son of Jonathan Tefft, was born in Madison county, N. Y., August 29, 1815. The family moved to Elgin, Ill., in 1825. There were seven boys and seven girls in the family, so each brother had a sister and each sister a brother. Amos Tefft was engaged in the mercantile business at Elgin and was married to Margaret Culvert, who was born in Greenock, Scotland in 1808.
     To this union of Amos Tefft and Margaret Calvert Tefft was born a son, Orlando, December 26, 1843, and a son, Randolph, who died in infancy.
     Amos Tefft went to California during the gold rush and in 1857, he with his wife and son, Orlando, came to Nebraska, first going to Bellevue and later coming to the farm, now adjoining Avoca, which he homesteaded. It was there they built their home and continued to live until 1866. The land which Max Straub, Sr., now ownes (sic) was then purchased and this was their home until 1882. The same year the Missouri Pacific Railroad built its first line in Nebraska and located a station on their lands. The town of Avoca was platted on the homestead and the Tefft family moved to the new ttown (sic).
     Amos Tefft planted the first orchard near Avoca and one of the first in Cass county. He took a prominent part in the early settlement of the new country and was elected justice of the peace for several years during which time he married a good many couples, while his grandson, the speaker, only married one couple. *He was refused to serve and the cost of the elected to the territorial legislature but refused to serve and the cost of the session was credited back to the territorial government.* He served as the Avoca postmaster for years. Amos Tefft was a man of few words but he spoke the truth. He spoke it without malice and without coloring or embellishing the facts under discussion. He hated sham; he honored truth; he lived his life unashamed and without any guilty act; he walked among his friends honored and honoring his neighbors with whom he lived and served.
      There were many good friends: the Quintons who lived on an adjoining farm, the Sheldons, Lawson and Amsdel. the Pollards, Isaac and Levi, the Kirkpatricks, the Wolphs, the Carters, the Marquardts, John and Bernard, these and many more were his friends whom he esteemed and with whom he lived and worked and served. Neighbors then were few but they were helpful; they worked together; in sickness they afforded aid and comfort; they stood together and wrought together and formed a civilization that has lasted and moulded (sic) a government and a country with proud traditions and true ideals. They lived on and

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* Portion between the marks appears here exactly as it is in the booklet.

from their farms. They were miles away from stores and doctors, yet they wrought and worked and did their part without complaint and without expectation of award save the knowledge that they served their neighbors and their country.
     Orlando Tefft was about 14 years old when he came with his father and mother to Nebraska. He received his education at the Elgin Academy, at Elgin, Ill., where he studied Latin and other required subjects. He began his education when he was four years old. From the time he moved to Nebraska he was constantly reading books that were obtainable. He was especially interested in matters concerning the administration of public affairs.
     Those were stirring times when the war of the rebellion was being fought. This was the second crucial period of our government and the sons of Nebraska were all fired with the desire to help preserve the government.
     Orlando Tefft was constantly studying and preparing himself to take his part in the affairs of the new territory and state and his first maiden speech was delivered in February of 1862, at the Polemic Society in the stone school house on their farm. He was then 18 years of ago and was chosen to represent the negative of the question: "Resolved that the press is a better and safer protector of our national and individual rights than munitions of war." Reference was made by him to the degree of power attained by the nations of the earth by virtue of the munitions of war which modern nations have not yet with the aid of the press which is claimed by my opponents, to be so greatly attained and which the speaker thought was extremely doubtful they ever would attain, and reference was made to the Roman empire and its proud station and that to be a Roman citizen was sufficient to insure freedom from insult and injury throughout the world."
     I pause to say that the Roman empire in the year 1939 is still a subject of debate.
     There also followed the second written speech, delivered July 4, 1861, when Orlando Tefft was a young man of 19 years. This was delivered at Weeping Water Falls. Just a short quotation from it:
     "Again we are assembled to celebrate the birthday of our nation, to commemorate the anniversary of the inauguration of our republican institutions. The circumstances with which we are surrounded give us absorbing interest to this day of jubilee and tend to excite in our hearts a more lively feeling of the worth of our institutions now that they are placed in peril. - This rebellion is the conflict of two separate princples (sic), one of them is human slavery and the other human freedom."
     Other debates and speeches followed
     The most important step that Orlando Tefft took was his marriage to Elizzie H. Kirkpatrick which occurred July 4, 1868, in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Lawson Sheldon as official witnesses and friends and relatives. Elizzie H. Kirkpatrick was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Kirkpatrick who came to Nebraska in 1855 and settled at what is now Nehawka. She was a woman who was beloved and cherished by all who knew her.
     Orlando Tefft was always deeply interested in civic matters and education and was a firm adherent and believer in the tenets of his church, and was

always in the forefront of every movement that tended to the betterment of his community.
     He was a charter member of the present Congregational Church of Avoca which was established in the old stone school house on their farm and afterwards removed to Avoca, and took an active part in the work of the church.
     He was a successful farmer and stock raiser. He purchased a half interest in the Bank of Avoca and in the lumber yard, to which he gave his personal attention for many years. He represented Cass county in the State Senate for four terms, 1879, 1881. 1893 and 1895. He was prominent in the early history of Cass county and the State and was an ardent advocate of his political beliefs.
     Above all he was always interested in the development of the ideals of our country; he believed and practiced good citizenship; he was interested in the young people of his acquaintance and sought to help them forward on their successful path to achieve their place in life. He made sacrifices to aid his neighbors and his friends. He was a citizen who sought not alone his own preferment but lived to see others go up the ladder of life to success.
     He did not believe in winning the game; he sought to battle with the forces of right; he disliked those who for their own personal gain beclouded the issues with pleas of special benefits which they well knew were founded upon sand and not upon the eternal troth of right and honor. He sought to keep ever alive the ideals, the spirit, the faith of those who wrought, who sacrificed, who builded in one sweat of their brows, our government and for all which it rightfully stood. He maintained the faith of his fathers, the teachings of his parents, the lessons of his country. He lived and walked before all men worthy of faith and honored by his friends.

	HISTORY OF FIRST MUSICAL ORGANIZATIONS IN PLATTSMOUTH By OLIVE GASS

     As part of the celebration of Music Week, May 7-12, I have been requested to give some reminiscences of Plattsmouth's musical activities, especially during the early days.
     Plattsmouth, Nebraska, was settled in 1853-54 and as early as 1858 we find an organization of the members of the community for the purpose of a general advancement in mental growth. It was called "The Literary Circle."
     We are fortunate in having had the secretary's books of the "Literary Circle" preserved for us.
     In it there are frequent references to "singing by the members," with critical comments on the same. As, for instance, "The singing tonight was fair," or "Tonight the singing was mallifluous!" But on other occasions, the comments on the singing were definitely caustic.   

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