The one-room school in Mooresburg, Montour County, is a survivor. It’s one of the few across Pennsylvania that hasn’t been torn down, renovated into a residential home, or even converted into a stable for goats and other farm animals. One hundred fifty years is a long time, and since its initial construction in 1875, if walls could talk, the stories would most likely fill several volumes of books.

The Montour County Historical Society celebrates its 150th anniversary on Saturday, May 17th, from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. Visitors can step back in time to experience the early days of education in one-room schools.

One of the teachers in those one-room schools who witnessed the transformation of the education system was Miss Margaret Madden, a fixture in front of the classroom for sixty-three years. Beginning her career as a teacher in the 1850s, she was younger than some of the students she taught. She was never marked tardy or absent during those six decades.

Miss Madden began teaching in 1855, just a year after the common schools of the state became general by act of assembly. Teachers such as Miss Madden were paid $18 a month for a five month term and boarded around with the parents of the pupils, or walked long distances to and from school, to the much more munificent salaries and conditions of the present day, Frameless slates, with soapstone pencils; ink made from Indigo, poke or soft water and acids, and berries, goose or turkey quills were the chief instruments of learning when Miss Madden began teaching.

 But today's school is a far cry from those days, It is everything that early school was not. Speaking to a newspaper reporter in 1922, just a few years after her retirement, Miss Madden offered these thoughts on her lengthy career.

“I entered the public-school service in 1855 at the age of fourteen years. My first position was in the schools of Liberty Township, Montour County. The common schools of Pennsylvania became general by the Act of Assembly of 1854, so that 1 have been in service almost from the beginning of the public school system of Pennsylvania.

"When I took my first school in Liberty township, I was confronted by about fifty pupils, ranging in age from seven to twelve years and more. The pupils had their own textbooks. handed down from grandfather or great-grandfather, scarcely no two alike. For five years, I tried to teach this indiscriminate mixture of minds and this wide divergence of ages.

“I enjoyed the honor of being the first female to be called to take charge of a winter term in Liberty township, and the salary was $18 per month for a five-month term. All previous years' male teachers had been employed.

“On a beautiful October morning, I left my village home in Mooresburg for a four-mile walk to my new field of labor. When in sight of the school building, a great mass of boys and girls loomed up before me. My heart sank below zero, but only for a brief time. I was met by the older ones cordially, several of whom were older than myself, and the younger ones looked pleased.

"School was called to order on time, and after a hymn and Lord's Prayer, we began to take an inventory of the books brought, which consisted of relics handed down from generation to generation, mostly two or three of a kind.

"After the long, cold walks to and from school, I was persuaded to continue a second term at the salary of the male teachers-- $21 it month for five months.

“Kirkham's and Murray's grammar, Pike's and DaBoll's and Greenleaf's arithmetic, Smith's geography in two parts, one with maps and the other with the text. Town's and Emerson's speller, Goodrich's and Peter Parley's history were the textbooks principally used; except where some antediluvian treasure bearing other names, handed down from age to age, was the only book allowed the fortunate child of the then present age.

“The copy book was a sheet of foolscap, ruled by the teacher and with a written copy. Frameless slates of all sizes and descriptions were the forerunners of the neatly bound tablets of the present day, and these were written on by soft soapstone. The teacher manufactured the pens out of goose and turkey quills, blue ink from indigo roots, red ink from the poke berry, and black from soft water and acids 

"It wasn't long until certain textbooks were adopted in the schools, and each pupil was required to purchase these books as well as all the fixed supplies used. So often and perhaps oftener than necessary,y these books were changed, causing much expense to the parents and entailing corresponding adverse criticism and complaint.

"At this period, spelling schools were common, and every second week our school either visited a neighbor an evening to test and to be tested, or the invited neighboring school visited us. "

Miss Madden said the old family relics used as textbooks were replaced, and tablets, pencils, blackboards, and charts were incorporated into the school day. At the beginning of her teaching career, there was no organization of any kind except school boards. Each teacher was the sole judge of the course to be taught and the text to be used, and the methods to be adopted.

I an essay read at the Teachers Institute in Sunbury in 1877, she offered these suggestions: "Be punctual. Be courteous and kind in your manners.

"Insist upon order and discipline. Know how to teach. Never forget that you are a teacher, and when not employed in imparting knowledge, be acquiring it by study and observation.

"Insist upon order and obedience. Never teach without attention, and teach only what you understand. Know how to teach.”

Years later, in the newspaper interview, she concluded, “God has blessed the public schools of Montour and other counties, and in God's continued blessing lies the hope and safety and ultimate success of the nation."

People said that after she retired, little gifts of food were taken to her home, but found their way to others she felt were more needy. Miss Madden also denied herself a final resting place. As the story goes, she heard there was no place to bury an old man who had died. She generously offered her plot in the family cemetery, and upon her death in the early 1920s, she was cremated.

Much like the Mooresburg School, Margaret Madden was a survivor, transitioning from the one-room school system into the modern educational world.

The Morning Press, December 02, 1922, Pages 01 and 12; The Danville News, January 23, 11959, Page 11, Photo Credit: