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QUAINT AND PICTURESQUE CAVE SPRING.
ITS GREAT SCHOOLS
0116 of the Oldest and Best Institutions
In Georgia.
THE STATE SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF
What the Management Needs
From the Legislature.
ITS WORK AND FUTURE CONDITION
Hon. Felix Corput, the Great Farmer, and
Othwr Prominent Citizens of This
Charming Town,
One of the most beautiful towns in
North Georgia, or in the whole state for
that matter, is Cave Spring, located
twelve miles from Rome on the Alabama
division of the .Southern railway. It is
situated in a low green valley surrounded
by beautiful hills, that rise on every hand
and give to it every advantage of a shel
tered locality, watered by mountain
springs and cooled by breezes from the
hills Cedar Creek flows through the
town and in a hillside above the stream
is the large cavern from which its name,
with a bold spring bubbling up midway
of the dark passage and finding an outlet
in the creek below. This cave is a historic
spot and was known and frequented by
the Indians long before the settlement of
the country. During the war the Confed
erate government explored its depths for
saltpetre from which considerable quan
tities were secured for the manufacture
of gunpowder.
The valleys around Cave Spring are of
the finest character for the growing of all
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kinds of crops, and abundant yields of
corn, cotton, oats, hay, peas, potatoes,
melons and vegetables are grown on this
fertile soil, and on the hillsides splendid
orchards of peaches, apples, plums,
pears and other fruits yield abundantly,
while extensive vineyards of many varie
ties of grapes thrive and yield in the
greatest profusion.
The place is an ideal spot for a happy
and quiet home. It is the very perfection
of a healthy and agreeable climate with
innumerable springs of pure mountain
water and scenery and surroundings that
are surpassed by none within the limits
of the state.
‘AS AN EDUCATIONAL CENTER.
Cave Spring is an ideal spot for the lo
cation of institutions of learning. Away
back in the thirties the Hearn Manual
Labor School was established at Cave
Spring by the Baptists of Georgia, and
for more than a half a century it has been
educating and contributing to the spirit-
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ual training and secular knowledge of the
youth of Georgia. Its alumni are scattered
all over the country and numbered among
those who received their education at the
Hearn school are some of the foremost men
and women of the South.
The present year Prof. J. J. Bennett
was elected principal and under his en
thusiastic superintendence and well di
rected energy and ability it is enjoying a
greater degree of prosperity than ever be
fore. It has a large number of boarders in
attendance and is one of the most pros
perous schools in the state.
This year Mercer university'has granted
tne Hearn school a scholarship. Arrange
ments are being made to erect a new
building very soon which will place the
school in a much better condition for suc
cessful work. Prof. Bennett is ably as
sisted by his sister, M iss Josie Bennett,
who is an accomplished and efficient
teacher and is a young lady of many attrac
tive attainments.
The school is located on a beautiful
site surrounded by a wealth of fine old
trees with grassy lawn and in a stone’s
throw of the building flows the crystal
waters of Cedar Creek. So soon as the
buildings are completed the faculty will
"be increa&d and the scope of the work
very much enlarged.
SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF.
But the grandest institution in Cave
Spring, or in the state for that matter,
is the Georgia school for the deaf which
was first located here in 1846 and on the
fifteenth of May in that year was opened
as a department of the Hearn school by
Mr O. P. Fennon, the associate princi
pal, with four pupils in attendance. They
were taught in a log cabin which stood in
the rear of the present Hearn school
building and from that humble beginning
has grown into a magnificent school which
has done and is still doing so much for
that class of unfortunates.
Away back in 1857 Mr. Wesley O.
PROF. W. O. CONNOR.
Connor entered the institution under Mr.
Fennon at the age of eighteen to learn
the art of teaching deaf and dumb. In
1860 he was tendered the position of
principal but declined on the score of his
youth and in 1861 entered the Confeder
ate service as a private soldier and for
four long years followed the fortunes of
the Georgia Volunteers.
During the war the village of Cave
Spring was on the debatable ground al
ternately occupied by Confederate and
Federal soldiers and the institution was
dismantled. At the first meeting of the
legislature in 1866 action was taken for
its reinstatement, and Mr. Connor fresh
from the federal prison at Camp Chase,
Illinois, was put in charge. Since that
time he has held the position of princi
pal to the honor and credit to himself, to
the satisfaction of the State and the pub
lic at large and to the greatest benefit
of those who have received, instruction
there.
LOG CABIN SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, 1846.
TRADE EDITION—ROME TRIBUNE, DECEMBER, 10. 1895.-FORTY PAGES.
The officers of this school consist of a
board of trustees, Hon. Felix Corput,
president; D. W. Simmons, secretary and
treasurer, both of Floyd county. William
M. Moseley and James C. Harns, of
Floyd, T. J. Dempsey, of Butts, Janies
W. Taylor, of Meriwether, John T. Bou
feuillet, of Bibb, Jos. A. Blanch, of
Polk. The faculty consists of Wesley O.
Connor, principal; C. W. Wright. Sam
uel M. Freeman, Mrs. E. F. Connor,
Miss S. J. Posey, Miss L. A. Foley, in
structors; Henry R. Watts, supervisor of
boys; Miss Della Harris, supervisor of
girls; Mrs. M. L. Bond, matrcn; Miss R.
E. Summers, assistant matron; J. C.
Watts, physician; Henry S. Morris, mas
ter of shoe shop. In the colored depart
ment there are F. M. Gordon, W. A.
Caldwell, Mrs. Loula Palmer, matron.
The attendance for the past year num
bered 109 white and 38 colored, a total of
147 and the present year the attendance
has been largely increased. The school is
not an elemosynary institution as is fre
quently mistakenly supposed to be, but
is one of the best regulated industrial
in the state or in the South. In I
fact, it is claimed to be the pioneer of in
dustrial education and training in the
state having begun on that line in 1848.
A little more than a year ago a depart
ment of art and wood carving was added
to the school under tne supervision of
Miss M. Bayard Morgan, a young lady of
splendid qualifications and untiring en
ergy, under whose careful instruction the
pup'ls have made wonderful advance
ment during the year. Many of them
show a special aptitude for this class of
work and soon become exceedingly pro
ficient in the handling of tools. In addi
tion to this, Miss Morgan has had charge
of the department of physical culture
which has proven one of the most attrac
tive and beneficial departments of this
great institution.
In the line of instruction in sewing
M isses Della Harris and Lizzie Coley, in
addition to their other duties have had
charge of large classes, and the girls of
the institution now make their own cloth
ing and the uniforms for themselves and
the boys.
In the department for teaching speech
Miss Garret has been added, and has ac
complished a great deal of good. In this
line Prof. Connor says that he has no
cause to change his views since he went
on record twenty-seven years ago as favor
ing the giving of every deaf child an op
portunity of learning speech or lip read
ing, in which a large proportion of all
who enter the school are more or less
benefitted. Ever since he was connected
with the school more or less oral teaching
has been done and has turned out several
lip readers who will compare favorably
with those of any other school in the
country. This is not done by specialists
but by teachers in their ordinary work.
This combination of oral teaching and
sign language has been found to be the
most satisfactory that has ever been tried,
but the oral system is not, as many peo
ple suppose, a new method at all, but has
been taught in schools for deaf mutes for
a century at least. For more than a quar
ter of a century Prof. Connor has been
teaching it in the state school for the
deaf at Cave Spring, which may be infor
mation to those who have heard of the
claims of some who have come from the
North with the avowed object of intro
ducing the oral system in Atlanta. It will
be good for them to know that the sys
tem is taught by skilled professionals of
long experience in this great public in
stitution.
The legislature has not been as liberal
in this appropriation to this school as it
has in the equipment of other state insti
tutions. Our lawmakers do not seem to
comprehend the immense scope of the
work nor of the incalculable benefits and
advantages that it gives to those unfortu
nates bereft of the power of speech and
hearing. The buildings are now inade
quate to the wants of the largely increased
attendance. The dining room is filled to
overflowing and it is almost impossible
to acomodate the pupils properly under
the present arrangements. The kitchen,
besides being entirely inadequate for the
work that must necessarily be done in it
is so improperly constructed that it is
impossible to keep it in a presentable
condition, and is a sad drawback to this
great institution and should be remedied
at once. _ „
The institution needs a few thousand
dollars for the shop equipment, for a bath
ing pool and closet for boys, for painting,
steam-heating and for gas or electricity
for lighting purposes, and also for the
girls’ industrial department. These things
are crying necessities and as the school is
an institution of the state and one of
which any state would have a right to
be proud, those in power should see to it
that every deficiency is supplied without
delay. Given the proper apparatus to
work with and sufficient money to defray
expenses, the nupils of this school will be
taught many useful things and the vast
majority of them will be equipped when
they leave the institution for making
their own living and consequently not be
coming a burden on the community or
upon their relatives who are frequently
unable to bear the increased burden of
such a charge.
The terms of admission to the school
are that all deaf persons of s he state be
tween the ages of eight and tw-enty-seven
years who are mentally and physically in
a condition to receive instruction prop
erly, and free from any immoral conduct
or contagious disease, are entitled to all
the benefits of the school free of charge,
no fees of any kind being charged for a
term of seven years. The scholastic year
begins the second Wednesday in Septem
ber and continues until the second Wed
nesday in June, -when there is a public
examination of the pupils conducted by
the principal. These are always occa
sions of rare interest to the public and
the pupils enter them with great zest and
enthusiasm.
With the means at hand no school in
the country has been better conducted
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than, this by Prof. Connor and his capa
ble corps of devoted assistants. The
pupils are given every attention as to their
health and comfort, and they soon learn
to regard this as a real home with ready
hands and loving hearts to keep watch
and ward over '•.hem and to supply all
their wants physical as well as intellect
ual. Prof. Connor himself has been the
recipient of high honors paid him by his
fellow educators, and was last summer
made President of the American Associa
tion of Teachers of Deaf Mutes. He is
the right man in the right place and has
wrought wonders in this school, to which
he has devoted the best energies ot his
life.
A BIG BUSINESS.
In Cave Spring is located the Farmer’s
Alliance Co-operative Company’s store
with Felix Corput, president, J. W. Pul
len, secretary, and D. W. Simmons, man
ager. These gentlemen have conducted
this business most admirably, and carry a
stock of goods which, for variety and
quality, is surpassed by none in the coun
try. They enjoy a large patronage from
the farmers of Polk and Floyd and the
I neighboring counties in Alabama.
| Hon. Felix Corput is one of the most
I enterprising and thorough-going citizens
■ of Floyd county, and has served in many
capacities, having been at one time
Mayor of Macon, and since his return to
Cave Springs represented this district
most ably in the State Senate. His beau
tiful and hospitable home is one of the
most elegant in North Georgia, and has
been the scene of many notable gather
ings.
Adjacent to the town he owns some six
hundred and forty acres of the finest
farming land in North Georgia, and the
methods which he has brought to bear in
his agricultural operations and the sue-
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BUILDINGS OF SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, 1895.
cess which he has made entitles him to
rank among the leading farmers of the
state.
He is a splendid sample of the gen
uine Georgia gentleman,- big, brainy and
progressive, foremost in every enterprise
for the public good and ever watchful for
interests of the state and county, he is the
soul of geniality and many manly traits
of character find room and lodgement in
his generous and hospitabe heart.
Mr. Simmons, the manager of the Co
operative store, is a gentleman - who is
largely interested in milling and farming
adjacent to Cave Springs, who owns one
of the finest farms and homesteads in
Floyd coonty. It is worth a trip to Cave
Springs in the harvest time just to get a
look at the splendid crops of corn and
cotton and other products that he pro
duces on his beautiful valley farm.
Dr. J. C. Watts is another prominent
citizen of Cave Springs -who enjoys a
large practice and physician for the
school of the deaf.
R. B. Tilley does a large business in
general merchandise, and carries a large
stock of goods and enjoys an extensive
trade.
Cave Spring has a neat hotel, the
Wright House, and the proprietor is pre,
paring to erect a new- building which will
be ample for the accommodation ot the
traveling public.
Deputy Sheriff S. B. Albea, one of the
foremost citizens of this portion of Floyd
county, resides at Cave Spring.
The Methodists have a large and well
HON FELIX CORPUT.J,
attended school, and there are a number
of elegant churches of the different de
nominationtions so that intellectually,
spiritually and socially there is no town
in North Georgia that possesses fairer at
tractions. It is an ideal place as a site
for educational institutions, and in time
to come is destined to be a great intellect
ual center.
In its natural scenery and surroundings
it is as fair as a dream, and no spot in
Georgia is more enticing to those in search
of rest, recreation and the enjoyment of
quiet pleasure than in beautiful Cave
Spring.
Beware ot Ointments for Catarrh That
Contain Mercury.
as mercury will surely destroy the sense
of smell and completely derange the
whole system when entering it through
the mucous surfaces. Such articles
should never be used except on pre
scriptions from reputable physicians, as
the damage they will do is ten-fold to
the good you can possibly derive from
them. Hall’s Catarrh cure, manufac
tured by F. J. Cheney & Co., Toledo,
0., contains no mercury, and is taken
internally, acting directly upon the
mucous surfaces of the system. In buy
ing Hall’s Catarrh Cure be sure you get
the genuine. It is taken internally and
is made in Toledo,'Ohio, by F. J. Cheney
& Co. Testimonials free.
Sold by druggists, price 75c per bottle.
When people are obliged to take med
icine they want that it shall give quick
relief and not add discomfort to their
snfferinss. Three reasons why people
who suffer with Constipation, and Bil
iousness should take Simmon’s Liver
Regulator: “It is betterthanpiUs.it
does not gripe; it gives quick relief, and
does not weaken, but strengthens and
refreshes the whole system.”—J. R.
Hiland, Monroe, la.
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