ALBEMARLE COUNTY, VA – WILLIAM DAY SMITH, 90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION, 1949 ----¤¤¤---- This is a transcription of a booklet compile to honor William Day Smith, former principal of Scottsville High School on his 90th birthday. (cover) Selected Writings by William Day Smith Compiled In Celebration of His 90th Birthday June 7, 1949 Charlottesville, Va. (inside cover) To Bob Burnet Alice and Edith From Grandpa and Parke (page 1) (page 2) (page 3) William Day Smith Born to Reverend Henry Bagg and Sarah Hazen Smith, their seventh child, on June 7, 1859, in Abington, town of Pomfret, Connecticut. Educated at Amherst, Mass. High School where he graduated in 1878 and Amherst College from which college he received the degree of A. B. in 1882 and A. M. in 1884. He was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society in 1882. Mr. Smith was principal of high schools in Port Jervis, Sparrowbush and Warwick, N. Y., for ten years and then took charge with his brother-in-law, Charles M. Hazen, of a boys' private school at Bon Air, Va. In February of 1908 he was elected to the vacant principalship of the Scottsville High school, remaining in that position thirty years, until his retirement to his present home in Charlottesville, Va. During that time the school enrollment increased from 125 to 500 pupils. A new school building on a new site with ample playground facilities was provided. Home Economics and college entrance courses were instituted. The school took a prominent part in the County Athletic events, and for eight successive years won the Rally Day Contests. A deep and lasting interest in the problems of childhood kept Mr. Smith in close sympathy with his pupils. During the summer vacations Mr. Smith was an instructor in the summer session of the State Teachers Colleges, for twelve years at Harrisonburg and for five years at Radford. Mr. Smith was married in 1888 to Eunice King Hazen, daughter of Reverend Dr. James King Hazen of Richmond, Va. She died in 1907. There were four daughters and one son, Philip, the only one of the four now living. His second marriage was to Annie Parker Harris, daughter of Mr. Charles B. Harris of Scottsville, Va. There are two children to this marriage, a daughter, Mrs John Justice of Chester, Pa., and Captain Charles W. Smith, now living in Wilmington, Del. (page 4) Class Ode For Class of 1882 Amherst College Farewell thy sacred wall, Old Amherst, best of mothers! Farewell thy storied halls Fond nurse of loyal brothers! While here we stand, As hand clasps hand, Of firm knit hearts a token, We pledge to Thee eternally A filial love unbroken. Farewell loved comrades all! Though ties of class we sever, To part as blown leaves fall, Love's links shall hold forever. And as with snow The swift years' flow Shall crown our temples hoary, The bond that binds Our hearts and minds Shall gather greater glory. (page 5) Virginia Ferns The teacher who depends upon textbooks solely and does not use educative material independent of someone else's say so is missing golden opportunities. Earth and sky and water abound with animate and inanimate creation which fill the child's mind with wonder and whose interpretation will add untold treasure to its store of wisdom. Almost every boy and girl is instinctively interested in ferns. Their graceful form and decorative growth and even their shy avoidance of trodden ways give them and immediate appeal. This article aims to help the teacher to an acquaintance with some of the fifty or more species of ferns native to Virginia. Most widely distributed in our State is the Christmas fern. It may readily be distinguished from all other ferns by its wing-feather shape, close fitting pinnae (leaflets), darker polished upper surface, and clustered spore cases on the under side of the upper half of the fertile fronds. The only closely similar frond is found in the polypodies, which grow on cliffs, have a duller surface and a running rootstock, while the Christmas fern grow in rosettes. Along all north-sloping banks by streams in the forest and on the side of deep worn gullies in the open, whence predatory sheep and calves have not driven it, the Christmas fern may be found from the mountain to the sea. Perhaps the next most widely known fern is the little ebony spleenwort, commonly called the sword fern, a name given because of its slender uprigth frond. Growing in somewhat similar yet drier locations than the Christmas fern, it has held its own even more persistently, protected by rock ledges and even stone fences, where conditions of soil and shade allow. The lustrous brown stipe and rachis is a distinguishing marking of the ebony spleenwort, but there are many (page 6) spleenworts the hunt for which along gray cliffs holds many a rare adventure. Most extravagantly admired for its grace of all ferns is perhaps the maidenhair. Its fronds are arranged like the sticks of an opened fan on the wiry branches of the stipe, which is also polished like the stipe of the ebony spleenwort. So greedily has this fairy of the woods been picked that it is a wonder any have escaped where man and his pasturing herds and flocks have penetrated. I have found it, however, in small colonies, and always with surprise in a dozen counties in the State. If an unfolded stick fan describes the maidenhair, perhaps a palm leaf fan would best characterize the general shape of the bracken, our dry land fern. Colonies of the bracken persist in blackberry infested pastures and borders of woodland in many parts of the State. It is seen at its best, however, only at high altitudes near the tops of our highest mountains. There its stipe grows to four feet or more before unfolding the rigid blade whose upper surface is polished as with many coats of varnish. The polypody, the likeness of whose frond to the Christmas fern has been noted, is a cliff fern. Seeming to be driven to the very edge of cliffs or abrupt precipies, it decorates with its greenery the grey forehead of many an otherwise barren ledge. In the recesses of the mountains, however, it often holds complete sway, carpeting boulders and fallen tree trunks alike. If overhead the arching hemlocks curtain out the too ardent rays of the sun, behold an antechamber of beauty which man's art can in no wise rival. Other cliff-dwelling ferns there are, some of which grow with so little possibility of gathering water by their roots that their very continuance seems a miracle. There is the cliff brake with its light green color and often odd shaped pinnae; then the two lip ferns, the woolly and the hairy lip, which hold within the lacy growth, netting the (page 7) surface of the frond, the moisture which the dew and the raindrops dole out to them in their perch on the perpendicular faces of the rocks. Dearest of all is the walking leaf whose tiny, lengthened tips of frond venture out on voyages of discovery, to plant, when rooted, new colonies in a new world. I have not yet made mention of the osmundas or flowering ferns. These all spring in large spreading crowns from strong thickened rootstocks and do not bear the spores on the underside of the frond as do others I have so far described but in a separate growth. The royal fern bears its panicles of spores at the ends of the "branches" of the fertile fronds, the interrupted fern along the rachis where leaflets are left out and their place taken by spore growth, and the cinnamon on separate beautiful, golden spires. The cinnamon and the interrupted fern furnish those waist-high, even head-high plumes to be found in some swampy spot along streams. The children carry them waving like palm branches but unhappily they soon wither and may not be depended upon for decoration on commencement day. The cinnamon fern fruits in May, the interrupted a little later, and the fruit stems in a month or two disappear; so that in order to identify the two ferns from each other later in the season or when there are no fruiting fronds in the colony, it is well to know that the cinnamon fern bears a woolly tuft at the base of each pinna while the interrupted does not. This sketch might be prolonged with some account of the two limestone loving bladder ferns, the shield ferns which grow like wheat on the mountains, the lady fern which really deserves mention in the first group because of its adaptibility to civilized conditions and persistence, the fragrant Dicksonia with an odor like new mown hay, the New York fern whose colonies border the forest which the shield and lady ferns fill. There are, too, (page 8) the long and broad beech ferns somewhat like miniature brackens, and the grape ferns whose succulent single frond and separate branching fruit stalk seen to set them apart from other ferns. All these and a few others grow somewhere in Virginia. The search for them would make a worthy study for any class of any size anywhere. The student of botany will notice that this paper makes little effort at classification, which depends, of course, upon the manner of spore bearing and not upon outward resemblance of frond and growth. Note: The author of this article would be glad to identify any fern specimen sent him by any Virginia teacher. Published in Virginia Journal of Education, September 1928 ---------------- Two recent visitors to our school, of wide experience and capable of judging, offered unsolicited testimony to the spirit of ready obedience and co-operation among our boys and girls. No words could be spoken more acceptable to the teachers. We know that we exercise no stern Spartan discipline. We seek for willing hearts and hands to make our school life the best, and if we obtain anywhere near our goal the result is gratifying. No home, school, or community is safe where law breakers out number law observers. Such a condition is sure prophecy of eventual ruin. Happy the school where teachers and students act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly. (Scottsville High School) (page 9) To Mountain Lake Cupped in the mountain cove As by God's own right hand, Embosoming the sky, thou art My soul's enchanted land. No summer sun can heat Thy green dim-shadowed deep, The secret of the mountain's birth Thy fastnesses ever keep. About thy friendly rim The shy, wild life doth cower; Ferns, birds, from plain and valley chased In this man's reign of power. I love thee, Mountain Lake, I love thy kindly care Of all that shelters on thy shore I would thy vigil share --------------- As Mr. Smith Sees It Our school life should give us at least three things: First, skill in learning; second, ability to impart to others; third, true wisdom. Now wisdom is the art of living well, and is more than knowledge. However learned he may be, not every scholar is wise. The student who is not growing to be a better citizen of this world is not getting much from school. All the philosophers of the world have counted the same things as essentials of wisdom; honesty, industry, foresight, cheerfulness, consideration for others. Take an inventory of your present acquirement. LIFE IS A SCHOOL Father and mother supervise first grade, God and the world the rest. The days are years, quick gone and past, Life's lessons sure and true. The prize Conscience and Heaven's-- "Well Done" (Scottsville High School) (page 10) Scottsville Boy Scouts Apply For 19th Charter Is One of the Oldest Scout Troops in State in Point of Continuous Service The local troop of Boy Scouts has registered for another year and the committeemen have applied for the charter - the nineteenth. The Scottsville troop is one of the oldest in the state in point of continuous service, having never lost its charter since the troop was organized in 1919. Some of the young men of the community doubtless recall their days in scouting under direction of Dr L. H. Walton, who was the first scoutmaster. Mr. William Day Smith was chairman of the committee of sponsors. Scoutmasters have come and gone and the personnel of the committee has changed several times with one exception; Mr Smith's name has always appeared on the application for the charter. ------------------- New Idea for Opening Exercises On Monday Prof. W. D. Smith conducted chapel in a new way, thereby giving us fresh inspiration. He suggested that, since we are allowed free use of the Bible in the schools of Virginia, we have an unparalleled opportunity for teaching the great truths upon which our government and religion are founded. He stressed socializing our "Opening Exercises" in school by allowing the children to take turns in leading, allowing the leader to choose his own passage of the Bible and to lead the prayer or choose some one to lead it. It is perhaps wisest to choose twenty-five or thirty of the best passages of the Old and New Testaments and see that they are thoroughly understood, loved and memorized. Prof. Smith illustrated one ideal way of teaching the Bible. He chose the one hundred and third Psalm and read it - one verse at a time and the student repeating it - one verse at a time, after him. Chapel conducted in this new way would not be interesting to children alone but to grown-ups as well. (page 11) "Your Right To Say It" ---------- NATIVE FLOWERS To the Editor: Everyone is busy these days in the vegetable and flower garden. That is to say if you are not a slacker. The petunia, phlox, zinnia will make a brave show, and the blossoms will decorate indoors. To give added interest and variety it will be wise to consider some of our rare and beautiful native flowers, which are not too difficult to secure if you love the fields and woods and roam occasionally. Of these I speak with confidence and from experience. We have nothing from the greenhouse more bright and cheerful than the bloodroot, with its leaves like a grapevine leaf and its quarter-size white blossom. Why rob the forest? There are spots along streams where there are not millions but billions of bloodroots and in the Spring the rocky banks are like snow drifts with bloom. Besides, when the forests are removed, and the calves, pigs and chickens hold sway, the wild plants will disappear. Then there are the spring violets. What could be more educational to the children and the neighbors' children than a colony of our half dozen or more different species of native violets of varying leaves and colors of blossoms? You will surely include the birdfoot violet named from its divided leaf and several other purples, the Confederate, which is so vigorous it may run the other white out, and happily, the one native yellow we have, and the slender and small flowered Heart's Ease, growing profusely on sunny banks. Rarer but still available to the native flower lover are trilliums and orchids. You may have seen the colonies of a white trillium with pink center along Skyline Drive. A certificate is required to gather plants in that area, but it does grow elsewhere almost as abundantly as the blood root. The orchids are rare enough, as is the Virginia cowslip, to be sparing in the gathering. (page 12) Every admirer of Albemarle's greatest statesman should have a plant of the Twin Leaf, Jeffersonian diphylla, in his garden or border. This plant, with a transitory white bloom like the blood root, may be seen in a bed close to the hedge at the right of the Monticello mansion where it has been planted by Prof. Edwin Betts, who has had charge of the restoration of Monticello's beautiful grounds and gardens. The Jeffersonia is not unusual on rocky banks along the lanes, but perhaps the source whence these plants came should not be told to any but flower lovers. Then for graceful form there are the ferns. Eight or ten species are local habitants in the University of Virginia forests. In almost any rocky hill, high enough to be styled a mountain and covered with forest, may be found the lowly sedums. They are now covering the spots where they grow with their yellow wealth of flowers. They are good for rocky banks. William Day Smith ------------- THE COUNTY SCHOOLS To the Editor: The attendance at the recent county school meeting at the Court House proves that there are many people in the county who are interested in giving the county children better school advantages. It is to be hoped that this splendid effort of Superintendent Graham, the School Board and the school principals may not come to naught because of the short sighted policy of the opponents of their efforts. The present arrangement of many small high schools scattered throughout the county is both uneconomical and inefficient in securing the best educational results. As a teacher of long experience in the county I have been sadly conscious of the lack of any sufficient choice of commercial and technical courses absolutely called for (page 13) by our present complex civilization. The best city schools have them, and the buildings with laboratories, gymnasiums, and equipment and the teaching force to use them. In these particulars the small country schools are woefully lacking. Cooperation and consolidation is the remedy which has been found efficient. The states whose educational record is highest are accomplishing this. I happen to know that in Connecticut, where the subject has been long discussed, consolidated schools are now in successful operation with almost universal approval. Transportation seems to be stumbling block, but most people in the country must be transported in any case as conditions now are. A high school cannot be placed at everybody's front door. With improved roads, better transportation facilities, even air transport in the offing, this ought not to be an insurmountable obstacle in the way of better schools. There are two unanswerable arguments in favor of the School Board's plan: 1. The country child should have the opportunity for the training and education that the city boy and girl are now receiving. 2. The county and state of Thomas Jefferson, the first and foremost advocate in the world of universal education, ought not to come trailing in at the rear, while other sections are using modern methods to keep abreast with the times. A Former Teacher in Albemarle County (page 14) Parents Help In School Work, Too Principal Tells How They May Aid In Making Teachers' Work More Effective As a rule those children secure the best standings and results from school whose parents work in sympathy with the teachers and uphold all reasonable school regulations. One or two suggestions I should like to make in order to remind everyone how he may be of assistance. In the first place strive to secure regularity and punctuality in attendance. A day lost leaves a gap which is rarely filled. Tardiness lowers the standing of this school in the superintendent's rating and encourages one of the worst of habits. To secure a quiet room and a good light, especially for the pupils of the academic grades, is of the highest importance and is absolutely necessary if real student-habits, of inestimable value in later college life, are to be formed. In the third place due attention should be given to examining and signing all reports and giving the commendation or reproof merited. The children's social activities are a source of anxious concern to both teachers and parent in these modern times. The faculty of this school take, and always have taken, the position that they cannot be officially responsible for any entertainments held away from the school buildings. Always glad, individually, to have a part in and to encourage the normal social functions which young people need, there are so many differing standards of social conduct that the teachers cannot act as official sponsors, and each parent must decide his own child's share in the children's parties and take the responsibility. (page 15) Editorial Ink Drops The editor of The Bee is indebted to his uncle, Professor William Day Smith of Charlottesville, Va., for a contribution to The Bee's columns which we choose to print as an editorial. We feel that he has expressed an attitude of mind and conviction of the heart which is too rapidly going out of style. For more than four score years he has led a life dedicated to the firm belief that there is a God, and a very real one. More of us should think and act so too- The fool hath said in his heart, "There is no God." Twice in the Bible we are warned that it is folly to declare, even to one's self, the non-existence of things which our eyes cannot see and our hands cannot touch. Man's discovery and use of atomic force calls us anew to belief in the most real things in God's Universe - the unseen forces. Some man has said in his heart that there is no law of gravitation with which his strength and skill cannot cope. Lying on his back on the ground with perchance a broken leg or neck where an unsound tree limb or too daring a reach has placed him, he learns his folly of the disregard of a force with which Mother Earth draws all things to herself, the same force which holds the countless spheres in their courses. The fool hath said in his heart there is no such thing as human love and devotion. All men are selfish. So he gives himself to grasping and hoarding or fleshly lusts, as his evil self calls him, disregarding the truth which closer observation might have taught him that all human history, and life in the world today, is filled with noble examples of love and self-sacrifice, notwithstanding the lie in his foolish heart. But you say, "We cannot see God nor touch God with our mortal hands." Happily, God has allowed man since the discovery of the telescope to learn that God's Universe (page 16) is so vast, with countless suns and planets, that the human mind cannot comprehend it. Since the discovery of the microscope we know that the unseen multitude of the minute is as wonderful, if not more wonderful than God's world in the heavens. In the spiritual world man's own ability to conceive of God, and his guilty conscience for wrong-doing, prove his sonship to an all-powerful and all-good Jehovah. Countless saints of all ages and millions living today bear witness to this eternal truth - There is a God. Most wonderful of all physical forces is life itself. I hold in my hand a tiny acorn. Who but an infinite God could wrap up in that tiny covering a potential force which might, if wisely guided, cover the earth with giant oaks? The fool hath said in his blind foolish heart, "There is no God." The oak and the lily and the singing bird proclaim: "There is a God and you, his highest creation, are accountable to Him." - William D. Smith, Charlottesville, Va. Editorial in the Newtown Bee Newtown, Conn. May 16, 1947 ---------------- Christmas Is For The Heart The heart of man is as important as the head. The human attributes of which these words stand both need to be schooled. The heart means more than the, shall we say, silly fancies of youth and the ineptitudes of later years. The heart means the deep attachments which stir and motivate the whole being, the anchors of the soul both sure and steadfast, like patriotism, the mutual love of parent and child, husband and wife, lover and beloved, friend and friend. Christmas is one of the many agencies God has given us for educating the heart. May the thought and experience of this yuletide fill our hearts with "Peace beyond comparing." "May our Christmas stanza be each one's prayer." (page 17) Pay Tribute To Retiring Principal On Friday evening, June 11th, the alumni of Scottsville High school gave a reception at the school, honoring Prof. William Day Smith, who is retiring after having served as principal of the school for 30 years. The auditorium, made attractive with flowers, was a fitting place for such an occasion and the first hour was spent in greetings and reminiscent conversation. Prof. and Mrs Smith, other members of the faculty; L. G. White, ex-member of the school board; C. R. Dorrier, chairman of the board, and Mayor T. E. Bruce formed a receiving line near the doorway. Punch, cakes, nuts, and candies were served throughout the evening. At a little past 9 o'clock Dr. L. H. Walton, member of the faculty for a number of years, called "the school" to order in a delightful and amusing manner. Following his short talk the following program was given..... George Omohundro, Jr., presented to Mr. Smith a check, gift from the alumni, and Mr. Smith responded with fitting remarks. The entire assembly then joined in singing the school song, "Dear old Scottsville, dear old school," words of which were written by Mr. Smith. A short prayer by Dr. Walton closed the program. Throughout the entire program there was evidenced the love and respect in which Mr. Smith is held by the graduates and an appreciation of the high ideals, as a scholar and a Christian gentleman, he has exemplified by his life in the community. (page 18) School Song Dear old Scottsville! Dear old school! Fond the memory of the rule! Now our hearts would hymn a message of good cheer Fondest thoughts about thee cling, While with voices glad we sing, Scottsville! Scottsville! Scottsville! Ever praise to thee. Dear old Scottsville! Dear old Scottsville! Ever dear thy name to me. Dear old Scottsville! Dear old Scottsville! Now my love I pledge to thee. Dear old Scottsville! Blest the day, When we knew thy helpful sway, Learned to follow wisdom's footsteps for our guide. Filled with study, play, and song, Hours which now we would prolong, Scottsville, Scottsville, Scottsville! Happy days with thee. Dear old Scottsville! May the years, Mingled gladness, mingled tears, Find thee sturdy, strong and steadfast all the way, Honors may there be Sons and daughters bring to thee, Scottsville, Scottsville, Scottsville! Honors bring to thee. (Words by William Day Smith) ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. 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