OMEN SCHOOL SYSTEM - SUMMER HILL SELECT SCHOOL - Smith County, TX Contributed by Dr. Alma Moore Freeland Submitted by East Texas Genealogical Society P. O. Box 6967, Tyler, TX 75711 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ***************************************************************** Memories of School Days in Tyler and Some Smith County Schools 1898-1951 By Alma Moore Freeland (1904-1991) A copy of this book is in the Tyler Public Library. Permission has been given by Jerry Moore, nephew, to publish articles from this book in the Smith County TXGenWeb Archives. OMEN SCHOOL SYSTEM - SUMMER HILL SELECT SCHOOL My mother was a student in Summer Hill Select School at Omen in 1900. From her and my uncle, also a student at the same time, I heard many interesting stories about that famous school: its curriculum, teaching methods, its broad and varied fields of study and its innovations in all areas of learning. In retrospect, I can see that emphasis was placed on people--parents and other citizens, teachers, and specifically the headmaster, Professor A. W. Orr. I heard little about Omen's interesting historical "roots." This I learned mainly from Andy Leath's excellent account in a copy of Smith County Chronicles, Volume 16, Number I, Summer 1977. This is a resource which should be read devotedly by everyone who for any reason is interested in Omen's past. During the past one hundred and ten years there has been ample time to prove that the establishment of the Summer Hill Select School was one of the boldest ventures ever taken in the field of education in East Texas. There seems to be perfect agreement among people even today that Professor A. W. Orr, a teacher and a native of Stewart County, Georgia, was well-qualified academically for the task. He was a master of the English language, a student of the classics, and proficient in Greek and Latin. He showed himself to be unexcelled in administrative abilities, and admirably qualified to lead and direct people-- colleagues, patrons, and students. In addition, he had a worthy goal and the courage and character to achieve it! Of course I was not around to observe his many activities and demonstrations of leadership, but I was privileged to meet him in the 1913-15 period. He was superintendent of the Smith County schools and on several occasions he was our house guest in Winona where my father was local superintendent of schools. I can't forget that I stood in most uncomfortable awe of him. After supper each night we sat around the fireplace and listened to him describe some of his experiences. Suddenly one evening he directed a question to me. "What is an oasis?" he asked. I've often wondered why he put me "on the carpet" as it were. Was it because he was curious to know if Lola Hill Moore, my mother and one of his former students, was providing a good education for her children, or was he testing the superintendent of the Winona Schools? I'm sure his motive was not a malicious one; he was the very essence of good manners--his twinkling eyes and smile beneath his well-trimmed Van Dyke bespoke his interest in others. Incidentally, I couldn't answer his question, but I assure you I never forgot the definition he gave me--"An oasis is a fertile spot in the desert!" When we moved to Tyler a few years later, the Orrs lived just over the hill and I passed their home twice each day enroute to and from high school. I shall always regret that he had retired when I began teaching in Starrville. I have also regretted that I did not stop and ask him. "Why did you choose Omen as the setting for your ambitious plans?" Of course we shall never know the answer, but since I knew him personally and had the opportunity to observe the results through some of his former students, I am willing to guess. I think he made an educated guess and decided that Omen met as many, and probably more than other places, the requirements for an effective experiment. He needed a quiet, isolated setting and Omen was a small village surrounded by miles of sandy-loam farm lands. It was reported that he fought tenaciously to keep the railroad from coming through Omen. Some newspaper accounts show that he was aware of the fact that some students would experience difficulty in reaching Omen when they arrived by train at Troup some six miles away. But he comforted them with the promise of a buggy ride to their final destination. Uncle Shade said Professor Orr insisted the presence of the railroad in Omen would bring in an undesirable riff-raff element, thereby distracting the students from their studies. In the second place, Professor Orr was looking for a community whose people desired and needed the educational opportunities he hoped to provide. This would insure their support. On the whole, Omen was made-to-order: the citizens in the village, on surrounding farms and in adjacent areas were not far removed from their Georgia, Tennesseee, Alabama and Mississippi roots. Many were first generation Texans. Few had rece.ived much formal education: even fewer could boast of great worldly goods. The success of the lawyers, doctors, ministers and other better-educated citizens may have convinced the less fortunate ones that it was education which made the difference! The new school curriculum would include a wide range of subjects--art, music, business courses, preparation for teaching and commercial law. A strong foundation in the classic, Latin, grammar, literature and mathematics would serve as basics for study in law, medicine and other professions. The Summer Hill Select School would be designed to attract those students who would otherwise be sent back to Tennessee and other "mother states II for schooling. There may have been a third equally important reason for Professor Orr choosing Omen as the new school site. I believe he recognized a kindred spirit of adventure that had brought these people to Texas in the first place. He felt they had "the right stuff." They would help him build something new, something far-reaching: they were still looking for greener pastures and they could satisfy this need--at least for a time--in providing for their children a great new school system! They could match the Headmaster's spirit of adventure with their own! Whatever the motive may have been, Professor A. W. Orr and Omen estab11shed an educational beachhead the like of which was certainly "uncommon" at the time and for a few years--dare I say it--set up a sort of Camelot. Professor Orr was perceptive enough to know that the economic situations had to be faced--most of the students would come from farm families where "hard cash" was scarce. He took the pragmatic approach and made it possible for each student to meet tuition fees, cost of room and board and incidentals in an individual way. Uncle Shade Moore's story is a case in point. Grandpa Moore provided bountiful amounts of good home-grown farm products each Sunday afternoon when his son returned to Omen. Packed into the bags would be fresh and dried fruits and vegetables, home-ground meal, jars of molasses, ham and bacon. However, an especially embarassing situation happened when his horse stumbled on a rock in the sandy ruts--his freshly-laundered clothes, books, and produce were scattered along the road. That was bad enough: but a screeching chicken Grandma had insisted on his taking flew into the air, the horse bolted, and one Summer Hill Select School student was left stranded with a problem. Mamma lived at home and escaped such situations. She also avoided the boarding house rules, curfews, etc. There were no dormitories and student boys and girls lived separately in carefully monitored boarding houses. Uncle Shade, in his usual cavalier manner, dismissed them in his conversation with me with "Oh well, boys will be boys, you know. As to the curriculum, I found he agreed with Mamma--very rigid, grounded on basic content and techniques. The aim was total mastery of subject matter and skills. But they felt the personality of the Headmaster and many faculty members inspired students to want to accomplish the best: thus much of the learning by students came from self-motivation. Maybe in the long run that was the secret of the school's success. Even today as I write these words I think about Mamma's admonition based upon her instruction in English composition at Summer Hill Select School--"It must be the best you can do!" Ev1dently the addition of extra-curricular activities appealed to some patrons and attracted students. Professor Orr, his wife Patty, and other faculty members were determ1ned to bring "culture" to Omen and East Texas; music instruct1on, glee clubs and recitals became so fash1onable every home that could afford one purchased an organ and other instruments. Sunday afternoons and after supper musical entertainment became the "thing," especially with "upper crust" society. Even the Hills put a beautiful organ in the parlor: what a treasure it became through the years. I can conjure today such lovely pictures--Aunt Tiry playing the organ, her sisters, nieces and nephews, brothers-in-law and parents raising their voices in praise to the Lord for His goodness. Maybe that was one of Summer Hill Select School's legacy to our family. About 1901 Mamma's family moved to Troup: again she was lucky to attend an excellent school, this time under the leadership of Professor M. M. Dupre. The Hills lived across the road from the A. J. Moores, whose son, John R., married Lola Hill in 1903. By 1914 my Hill grandparents were back in Omen and lived in a large comfortable house on the Old Starrville Road, across the street from Miss Bunch Wilson, whose niece, Lucille Andrews, became a close friend. The Omen of the 1914-1920 period was quite different from the days when school bells rang at Summer Hill Select School. The school building looked sort of bobtailed: the third floor had been removed. Although the school was under the able supervision of Professor Lawrence, it was but a ghost of its former self. Many people had moved away--remember the railroad had bypassed Omen! Membership was small: curriculum was limited to that of a typical country school. I visited several times with my two aunts slightly older than I and all I recall about these days was the constant drilling at home and at school in arithmetic, spelling and geography. I remember learning quite a bit myself about the multiplication tables. Although I recall little about school experiences, I do remember the happy days we spent with our grandparents--good food, picnics with lemonade, trips to the store, Sunday church services and sing-songs in the parlor after fried chicken and homemade ice cream. Two special events come to mind: After our family acquired a shiny new Model-T Ford, we often drove to Omen, and as a rule went by Whitehouse and invited Aunt Tiry and Uncle Oscar to go with us. Late one afternoon we left Whitehouse-- eight of us, four adults and four children--planning to arrive by suppertime, most of which we were carrying with us. As usual we were a noisy group--singing our favorite songs: "Ja-Da," "It's A Long Way to Tipperary" and other popular tunes. About half way through the "short-cut" in the Mud Creek bottom, the car came to a sudden stop. All of us crawled out to survey the damage--we had run into a stump. Just as the sun set we started out afoot over the two miles of sandy road to Omen. Finally we were settled in bed hoping to get some much needed sleep. About midnight Papa awoke with a start: he remembered the Ford Booklet said the radiator might freeze if not drained. It was freezingl Grandpa saddled a horse and Papa set off-lantern in hand on his rescue mission. The next day the Tyler Motor Company repaired Model-T No.347. We were charged $5.00 for the service. My last most cherished memory of Omen is about a Christmas program we attended in the schoolhouse. It was Christmas Eve: the chores were done early, the fires carefully banked in the fireplaces. Wrapped in our warmest coats and scarves, we set out the short distance holding hands in the moonlight radiance and glancing often at a bright evening star--all reminiscent of that First Holy Night. We were so quiet, even the small children uttered not a sound when they stumbled. Dominating the room as we entered was a tall majestic pine tree decorated with yards of homemade bright colored paper chains, strings of popcorn, surrounded by piles of green and red covered gift packages, and lighted with soft, flickering candles. All of this was immersed in the heavy fragrance from pine tree, popcorn, red apples, oranges and peppermint candy. Then we sang the lovely Christmas carols. Never again has there been a memory more lasting than that Christmas Eve with our parents, uncle, aunts, and grandparents!