I couldn’t wait to get to school on Monday. I had my plan for my essay all worked out, and knew that I could do a good job on it.

But I had to wait until the last class of the day, English Grammar and Composition, taught by Miss Frances Marble. She also taught French and German.  I know that Miss Marble is 29, and she lives in a boarding house with one of our other teachers, Miss Mary Miner who is 26. Miss Miner teaches the practical subjects for girls - sewing, cooking, embroidery, practical housekeeping. The only other teacher, Mr. Charles Peck, is older, maybe 50 even, and he is the principal. He teaches science, math, geography and history.

We have 74 students in the high school which has been going in three rooms on the upper floors of the Prospect Street School since 1876 when public education became compulsory in Connecticut. There are plans for a new high school building on Congress Street, but that won’t be ready while we're still in school. Both Cora and I want to go to the Bridgeport City Normal School for teacher education next fall.

Because there are so few teachers, many times during the day, we have study periods when we work on our, without being taught. But the last period of the day is English, my very favorite.

Everything started out well. We, the seven top class students with potential to go on to further education, were all keen to work hard, and prove to the others how much we could do on our essay project. Miss Marble suggested that the best student’s work might have a chance of being published in the special section of our newspaper, the Bridgeport Daily Standard.

“Now, students, settle down, and let’s talk about whom you have chosen to do your essays on. Let’s start with you Nelson.” Nelson comes from the poshest area of Bridgeport, and plans to be a doctor like his father.
 

“I’ve chosen Abraham Lincoln, Miss.”

“Well, that’s just fine, but I hope you will make it more than just what we all already know about President Lincoln. I’m sure you can dig up some facts that will astound us all. And how about you Thomas?”

Thomas Congden is the oldest of our group, as he is 20, but he was not able to attend school for many years due to ill health.

“I was going to do Lincoln, too, Miss.”

“Well, I don’t think that is a very good idea. Surely you can think of someone else. I will come back to you again at the end and see if you have had any more ideas. Now Cora Sue, who have you chosen?”

“I plan to do Phideus Barnum, Miss.”

“Well, he certainly is famous, and local as well. I look forward to what you stories you will have to tell us about his life. Now what about you Fredrick?”

“My Ma said that she thought 10,000 words was way too much to ask of us, Miss. She said that was half a book and would take an age to write.”

“Did you tell your mother, Fredrick, that you have until May to do this work? And let’s see, that is 18 weeks. So let’s see how well you learned your arithmetic. How many words does that make per week?”

Fredrick thought for awhile and said, “About 525, Miss.”

“And how many words can you write on a piece of paper, do you know?”

“No, Miss.”

“Well, I will tell you. It’s about 300 unless you write very big, so that makes it less than two pages a week, or less than half a page a day. Do you think that is too much for someone who is aspiring to higher education?”

“Well, no, Miss. I’ll tell my Ma that you said it was half a page a day. She will be okay with that.”

“Now, are you going to enlighten us as to what your topic for this half page a day will be, Fredrick?”

“Mark Twain, Miss. Did you know that he lives in Hartford, Miss? I think I would like to interview him personally.”

“That is an excellent choice, Fredrick, and we will talk more about your research methods in a few moments.
Now, Josephine, whom have you chosen to write about?”

“I think I will do Sacajawea, Miss. I got the idea from Mattie last Friday when she mentioned her, and she might be an Indian, Miss, but she was famous, and I wish I could have met her.”

“Well, I think it would be more sensible, Josephine, if you were to write about Lewis and Clark’s expedition. I cannot believe you will find enough material on Sacajawea to write 10,000 words, but if you write about them, then it would be okay to mention a bit about her too.”

“Yes, Miss. I will do my best to make most of my words be about her, but I will mention them too, Miss.”

“Now what about your subject, Albertina?”

“I think I would like to write about Harriet Beecher Stowe, Miss. She is the one who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, you know.”


“Yes, I did know that Albertina, and she wrote many other books as well. I hope you will inform us about all of her work in your essay. And that leaves you Mattie. I hope you have chosen wisely.”

“Yes, Miss. I am going to write about my Pa, Mark Kellogg.”

“I don’t really think that would be appropriate, Mattie. This is a project to teach you methods of research. You already know all there is to know about your Pa, or you could find it out very easily. I think you should take someone else.”

“I’ll take her Pa, Miss,” said Thomas. “You said I couldn’t do Lincoln, and as long as she can’t do her Pa, I can do it, and I can use her as my reference.” Everyone laughed but for Cora Sue and me.

“Don’t let him, Miss. I don’t want him writing about my Pa. He'd make a mess of it.”

“I don’t think it is up to you Mattie to determine who writes about whom, but I agree with you that it would not be a good choice. Mattie and Cora Sue, I don’t mean to be insensitive, but your father is not really famous in the true sense of the word. I want you to write about someone whose name will be known to nearly everyone, say 100 years from now all over the world, but for example in England. Do you really think that people in London in 1980 will know who Mark Kellogg was? I don’t. But you do know the name that they will recognise, and that is General George Custer. So Mattie, I think you should write about General Custer, and include bits about your father in it. Would that suit you?”

“I don’t like the sound of General Custer much. I know my Pa liked him, but he seemed a pretty stupid man to me,” I said.

“Well, stupid or not, he did a lot of things in his life that he will be remembered for - as well as getting massacred at the Little Big Horn. Make sure you bring in some of those other things too. But now Thomas, we still have to find someone for you. Someone that you have thought of yourself, I would prefer.”

“I could do Shakespeare, I suppose,” Thomas said, not very happily.

“An excellent idea,” said Miss Marble.

“Or I could do Charles Dickens. I think maybe that would be easier as he didn’t talk quite so funny.”

“Well, let’s settle on that then, before you think of someone else. You shall do Charles Dickens. Now we have a president, an explorer, a circus leader, two authors, an authoress, and an Army General. I think that is quite a nice cross section of society for us to work with.

"But now let us concentrate on how you are going to go about doing this project. By next Monday, I would like you to do a rough outline, and also your introduction. Now, Kellogg girls, you come from a journalistic background. Tell me what should be in a good introduction.”

“Who, What, When, Where and Why, Miss,” Cora Sue piped up before I could get a chance to say a word.

“And don’t forget How,” I added importantly.

“Well done girls. They are very easy to remember, and you all already know WHO you are writing about. You need to find out WHEN they lived, if they have already died, and when they were born, if they are still alive. You need to find out WHERE they lived, both when they were born, and when they became famous. You need to think about WHAT they did that made them famous, and what specifically about what they did that makes you wish that you could meet them. And of course, not forgetting the WHY and HOW. If they did something famous it probably means that they had to overcome obstacles in their lives to achieve it. And now my next question to you is, how are you going to go about finding out about these people?”

“Books, Miss, at the Library.”

“Yes, good, Thomas, and we are very lucky to have such a good library in Bridgeport. And you mentioned another way earlier, Fredrick, and that was by interview. But some of these people will not live close enough for you to interview them, and many of them are no longer living. How else could we find out about them?”

“By writing to people who knew them - or perhaps their wives or children,” I said.

And by newspaper reports too, Miss,” Cora Sue added.

“There might write letters to us, if they live too far away,” added Albertine. “I know that Mrs Stowe lives in Connecticut, but I couldn’t easily get away to interview her, but I could write to her and ask her all sorts of things.”

“Yes, indeed, Albertine. We have Mr. Lincoln and General Custer, both dead, but not all that long ago, so there will be relatives of theirs still around to write to. Lewis and Clark will be a bit more difficult.”

“My grandmother has a copy of their journal, Miss. She has lots of books at her house and I expect she will let any of us go and look through them, if I ask her.”

“That is a wonderful help Fredrick. Thank you. Now let’s see who else there is. Mr. Dickens didn’t die all that long ago, so some of his relatives might be willing to write to you and his publishers will be easy to contact.

"Mr. Clemens (Mark Twain’s real name you know) and Mrs. Stowe should be quite easy to come by information from. But the easiest of all will be Mr. Barnum, who lives in our very own town. And I understand that he has quite a book collection of his own, so you will have to find out if he will be willing for us to make use of it, Cora Sue.

"Well, that is about it for today, but you will need to be getting busy to get your outline and introduction, of perhaps 500 words, ready for me by next Monday. And that is about all we have time for this afternoon. Class dismissed.”

I felt very let down as we walked home. I really wanted to write my essay all about Pa, not just have him as a paragraph, but I could see Miss Marble’s point of view.

“Why didn’t you say you would write about Mr. Bennett, Mattie? I thought he was the one you would choose if you couldn’t do Pa.”

“Well, I certainly intend to use him to get information for me, and maybe even we can get a trip to New York out of this - and find out information from his newspaper, the New York Herald.”

“Do you think he would let us come with you?” asked Josephine.

“We haven’t even asked if we can go yet, but if there is a chance, we will see if we can get permission for you to go too. I would love to see New York.”

So our school day ended, and we said good bye to our friends and went up the steps and into the porch of our house, full of plans about how we were going to get going on our projects.