Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Bowles, Prof. James B. ???? -
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Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 July 19, 2025, 7:18 pm
Source: Pen Pictures of Friends and Reminiscent Sketches, Altoona, PA: William F. Gable & Co., Mirror Press, 1911
Author: J. N. Tillard
Fifty Years a School Teacher
Prof. JAMES B. BOWLES, Dean of Altoona Pedagogues
Paragon of Tact and Patience
FOR fifty found years a school teacher. In all of the half-century he has
never had a quarrel with a patron or director. What volumes that speaks for
the tact and patience of the man who has made the record! This is one of the
achievements of the dean of Altoona teachers, Professor James B. Bowles.
In 1858, a boy in his 'teens, he went from Huntingdon County to
Stonerstown, Bedford County, to begin his life work. From thence he drifted
over to Blair Furnace, Blair county.
While there are thousands of his pupils, now middle aged men and women
themselves, living in this city, those who remember him longest are the old
boys and girls of the "Hillside Academy," otherwise the Hamilton School, in
Logan Township - not that which men forty years old remember as the new
school house, but the old log one at the forks of the road, the walls of
which had been hewn out of the solid timber, proof against the attacks of
wild beasts and wilder men.
Sometimes the defenses were set the other way and the master barred out.
This was at Christmas time. He was expected to treat before he regained
possession of his domain. Then there usually followed some great diplomatic
performances. The strategy of a lot of boys versed in all forms of woodcraft
against a teacher equally well informed as to the tactics of such warfare. It
was the business of the teacher to get in without any compromise, for, while
the crowd would appreciate the apples and candy if the pedagogue capitulated,
he would lose considerable prestige and his authority might be questioned
during the balance of the term. On the other hand, if either by force or
guile he succeeded in getting behind the ramparts he was master of the
situation and the boys felt that they had suffered ignominious defeat.
All the generalship taught in the histories of the day and the wiles of the
chase and Indian warfare were resorted to. Any measure that did not threaten
the absolute destruction of the building was allowable. It was useless for
the teacher to appeal to the directors or the parents of the rebels. Custom
had made it a legitimate warfare and it was up to the teacher to demonstrate
his ability to govern. And he usually found a way to win out. Sometimes a
bluff worked, and sometimes it didn't. Then sterner measures were resorted
to.
One of Professor Bowles' immediate predecessors, finding himself "barred
out" one cold morning, went to the blacksmith shop and gathered up a lot of
iron rust that resembled gunpowder. With a great show of solemnity he poured
it into the sills, being sure that his every movement was being watched by
the keen, bright-eyed defenders. Deliberately constructing a fuse by wrapping
paper about a long line of the stuff, he produced a match and began to
parley. Lugging out his bull's eye watch, he commanded an immediate
surrender, under pain of being blown up. A howl of derision greeted his
demands. The boys were wise and the bluff had been called. But the lone
army of assault had not exhausted his powers. Every child in the community
had about its neck a calico bag, filled with asafoedita and other fetid gums,
believed to be a charm against disease. Going to his home, he gathered up
all of the material in sight, "and by gum he would smoke them out." And out
they came as the smoke went up through the wide cracks of the floor.
All such performances ceased when "Jimmy" Bowles came on the scene. Prince
of diplomats, he never had an insurrection, or even the shadow of one.
Though probably the youngest "master" that ever attempted to rule over this
somewhat turbulent tribe, such was his unvarying good humor and tactful
meeting of every contingency that all opposition was disarmed and rebellion
nipped in the bud. And he never lost his dignity at that. Never going out
of his way to placate an obstinate or unmanageable individual, he managed to
inflict just punishment and subdue the refractory one without allowing him to
gain any sympathizers. His schoolfellows always were made to feel that
punishment was just and in the very nature of things the way of the
transgressor is hard.
During these years Professor Bowles was a shining light in the church of
his choice. A Methodist from childhood, he had the profound religious
feeling and native eloquence characteristic of the time. In every community
where there was a Methodist society there was a sort of sub-pastor, who was
known as the class leader. The ordained minister rode a circuit that made it
impossible for him to give his people much individual attention.
To give counsel to the erring, comfort to the dying and even to perform the
last rites over the dead in the country churchyard were the provinces of the
class leader. Professor Bowles was revered and loved by the whole countryside
as the representative of the Gospel. Always mild and gentle as a woman, the
toughest reprobate in the community never questioned his authority or scorned
his reproof. As a young man, he compelled the lawful obedience in school and
church of every one who came under his authority, whether child or adult,
without strife or commotion.
When the war clouds broke over the land, he listened to the bugle call of
duty with the same calmness of demeanor that characterized all his relations
in life, and enlisting in the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment,
Pennsylvania Volunteers, he substituted the birch for the musket and marched
away to face sterner foes; and without enmity or rancor, of which he was
incapable, he fearlessly and steadily fought the battles of his country.
When he was mustered out, he returned to his old occupation in new fields.
Coming into the growing city, he began his labors as primary teacher in the
schools of the Third Ward. Since that time he has taught every grade in every
ward in the city. For eighteen years he has been the principal in the Madison
School. Of the hundreds of his pupils living in and about the city, it is
safe to say that he has not among them a single enemy. Respected by all,
hated by none, he is coming down to the end of life with the feeling and
assurance that the world is better because he has lived in it.
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