Mrs. E. T. Johnson, Secretary Amherst Old School House Association.

Dear Madam:

Complying with your request, I will give you a few lines, stating an old man’s memories of early school life in Amherst and my brief connection with the old Red School House. In November, 1855, it was my fortune to become a citizen of Amherst. Coming up the Waupaca road for the first time, I passed the recently erected log walls, as yet without a roof, of the first schoolhouse erected in Amherst. It stood where now is the corner of the Waupaca road and the road running south over the red mill dam, south of the Waupaca road and east of the south road. Here, in the winter of 1855 and 1856, Miss Wylie organized Amherst’s first school and set the wheels in motion, which has lead up to the present proud position of Amherst in the educational field. How many in Amherst, today, remember the big boulder that occupied a proud position In the center of the street, nearly opposite where Dr. Guernsey’s store now stands, a huge relic of the glacial period, which was too big to be removed by the united energies of the men of that period, and was passed by on either side, like the Samaritan of old? Close by said stone, the patriotism of the day had erected a liberty pole one hundred or more feet high, from which floated, all the fall of 1860, Old Glory, made more glorious by the names Lincoln and Hamlin, in large letters along the lower edge of the flag. Patriotism was alive and warm in that day -- men and boys were feeding the soul and nerving themselves for the great sacrifices so soon to be demanded of them. At this time the old Red School House was new to the world and was the center in the way of the political and social life of the community. Here the sturdy pioneers met and voted for Lincoln. Here, subsequently, war meetings were held, and here men pledged their all, even life, to their country. Wanting a few weeks of being twenty-one, I could not vote, as I remember much to my sorrow. The election was held in November and a few days later I took charge - in a way - of the (as I remember) second winter term of school taught in the little Red School House. The desks at that time were built around three sides of the room, all facing the arena where the pupils were called out, lined up along the cracks of the floor and put through their mental paces. Sometimes, too, discipline was enforced, the culprit and the arm of the law, represented by the teacher, making it lively for the open-eyed spectators in the surrounding seats by a lively and exuberating struggle, whereby law was satisfied and discipline improved. Charlie Darling - how many in Amherst now remember him - presented me with a maple ruler, long, smooth and broad, which I carried proudly, as a soldier a sword, and which applied in the right place at the right time, did much to develop a sense of the majesty of the law in the then rising generation.

Suffice it to say that spring came all too soon; the youngsters had made progress and good will prevailed.

At that time Amherst had one store, Gordon’s, a blacksmith shop belonging to John and Emanuel Peickard, located where D. A. Day’s store now stands, a mill and Monroe Moyers’ hotel. James Wilson, William Wilson and Robert Wilson each lived in log houses working up the residence portion of the village. The post office was in Gordon’s store and was supplied weekly from Waupaca. The people were hospitable, friendly and progressive, bearing the hard-ships incident to pioneer life, bravely -- worthy parents of the hardy men who came after them, and now fill the field of Amherst’s activities.

Wishing continued success to all Amherst, and particularly its schools, I subscribe myself as one, who for a time, wielded the “maple” in the little Red School House of Amherst.

C. E. WEBSTER