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Butch Furse
The school year could be wrapping up next month. Well, at least school-out dates could be questionable for some districts because of the changes in what was a typical “school year” impacted by COVID-19.
Still the thoughts of kids out for the summer or 2021 graduating classes facing plans for the step of college or vocational education are on the minds of many. Nearly all of us cannot deny the importance of education whether it is scholastic or vocational. That is why the following historical report caught my eye.
Did you ever stop to wonder who invented the old-fashioned stove – or bifocal glasses; who first used copper for roofs; who conceived of a damper for chimneys; who first pointed out that white is the coolest thing to wear in the summer; who invented the long pole that now is used in grocery stores to reach top shelves in some retail establishments; who thought of a combined chair and step-ladder; who was responsible for paving and lighting of streets; who thought it would be nice to have trees bordering both sides of the street; who formed the first library company, the first fire company, the first American fire insurance company; who founded the dead letter office and the penny post; who was responsible for the first American university education?
Well, it was Benjamin Franklin, who incidentally was the first president of America’s oldest university – the University of Pennsylvania.
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Here’s a story of a man who we say was “half educated”.
Over in the corner near the fireplace Uncle Henry had been working industriously with a stub pencil and a piece of paper. Suddenly he looked up and smiled. “Doggone!” he exclaimed. “If I ain’t learned to write.”
Maw got up and looked over his shoulder at the lines scrawled across the paper. “What does it say?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” said Uncle Henry, puzzled. “I ain’t learned to read yet.”
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Never miss an opportunity to make others happy – even if you have to let them alone to do it!
RL Furse is publisher emeritus of the News-Register
