DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA - SCHOOLS - Mary Adams, Scholastic Award, 1870
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Washington Post April 4, 1910 School Medal Found Page 5

BURIED SCHOOL MEDAL

Bears the Words "Mary Adams, First Honor, 1870".

FARMER PLOWS UP TRINKET

Is Willing to Restore It to Rightful 0wner if She Can Be Found - Awarded at 
McCormick School and Given, No Doubt, for "Exemplary Conduct," as Was the 
Custom Then.

 A medal of honor, won in 1870 by Mary Adams, then a pupil at the McCormick 
School, was found several days ago by Arthur Robinson, a farmer, of 
Manassas, Va. while plowing in his garden.
 Superintendent of Schools Stuart has been advised of the flnd. Mr. Robinson 
says if the school autborities can locate the owner he will restore the 
medal to her.
 According to the records of the board of education Mary Adams was a pupil 
at the old McCormick School, in Third street southeast between M and N 
streets. During the year 1870 she was in the primary class, her teacher 
being Miss Louise F. Hopkins. Mr. Stuart, speaking of the medal, said:
 "I distinctly remember a custom that prevailed in the early days of 
awarding a medal of honor for exemplary conduct. This practice, as well as I 
can remember, began shortly after the civil war, and was discontinued about 
the year 1873. At that time I was a teacher in the Franklin School.

Presentation Was Ceremonious.

 "The occasion of the presentation of these medals was always attended with 
much ceremony, and was a source of lasting pride, not only to the pupils, 
but to the teacher as well. Every effort was made to secure possession of 
one, and the competition served to aid discipline among the pupils.
 Curiosity is rife as to how the medal came into a garden at Manassas. 
Possi­bly the owner dropped it, and not knowing of her loss until recovery 
was too late, made no further effort to find it. With the working of the 
garden in the spring it was plowed under, only to he uncovered at this time.
 When found it was encrusted with earth. On the obverse side are the words, 
"Mary Adams, first honor, 1870," and on the reverse, "Public School, 
Washington, D. C."