Gone But Not Forgotten

"This book affords a teacher the opportunity to reach out and give the reader one last history lesson - from someone who was there." Miss Catharine A. 'Katie' McCracken was a teacher who taught in one-room schools in Montour County Pennsylvania from 1859-1877. The schools offered grades 1-8, and boys and girls were taught separately. The six schools at which she taught were located miles from each other. One can only imagine the children walking to school in knee-deep snow in the cold northeast climate, carrying books, along with firewood for the classroom's stove. Or Katie traveling by horse and buggy from one school to the next on dirt, back roads in the rural countryside. But this book isn't a look at their lives from the outside. It is a look at the mind of a 19th century educator, a person who saw her growing country divided, literally fighting for unification, and the pain and frustration that caused for a single, young woman who was in political opposition to the nation's president. For solace, she composed and copied poems that spoke to her. The poems written in the pages of her attendance record book were about friendship, love, grief and longing - all very compassionate human qualities. Though she disagreed with Abraham Lincoln's political views, she did support the troops, wanted victory for the Union, and healing for the nation, dedicating her poem, "Union War Song" to the local company of 'men in blue', The Iron Guards, who in 1863 were stationed in Washington awaiting orders. She was also a dedicated community figure, observing and documenting the smallest of details in her immediate surroundings; local births and deaths, community events, and when the time came on April 14, 1865, a personal note on the assassination of the president, and fate of his assassins. J.A. Willoughby offers historical insights that gives the reader a perspective on the time in which Katie lived as well as comparison and commentary on the Age of Invention to our own Information Age. He also provides current photos of the schools at which she taught as well as scans of the actual pen and ink handwriting from her ledger. $5.00 from the sale of each book is donated to The Thomas Beaver Free Library, Danville PA