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This is an incredible autobiography of a man devoted to forming children both in schools and in literature. His legacy lives on in his books, especially the Tom Playfair series.
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CHAPTER VIII
Pioneer Work
IN THE last chapter I spoke at considerable length of trials and difficulties. The reader might gather that the boys attending St. Mary’s were a disreputable lot. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is true that in this particular year there happened to come together an unusual number of difficult characters. Some should never have been accepted. Early in the year the fine standard maintained by the students was in danger of being considerably lowered, but that was only for a period of a few weeks.
In the mean time the boys, in general, were unusually good. The leaders of the school, young men to whom everyone looked up with respect and admiration, were remarkable characters. Jack Cunningham, Dick Dunne, Paul Ozanne and Horace Hagan were recognized leaders. All four of them were remarkable. Jack Cunningham and Dick Dunne became priests. Both promised to go far; but death cut them off early in their careers. Horace Hagan is also dead. Two of his sons have since attended St. Mary’s College, and one of them, Horace Hagan II, is now one of the leading men in Oklahoma. Of Paul Ozanne I have heard nothing in later years, but I know that he is a credit to his alma mater. Around these modern young men were grouped a number of high-minded students, many of whom afterwards entered the religious life or became secular priests.
Also the smaller boys did not want for leaders. As I write, there come vividly before me four youngsters whose fine characters and winning ways unconsciously planted in my imagination the seeds that were to result in a series of books depicting the Catholic American boy. The quartet was made up of Joe Garvy, George Kister, Tom Donnelly and Frank Conroy. You could trust those boys much farther than you could see them. They were pure, truthful, and with a high sense of honor. But they were not prigs. There was too much in them for that sort of thing. Just as Cunningham, Ozanne and Dunne led the large boys in athletics, so Kister and Donnelly were the unquestioned athletes of the younger set. Also they were loved and respected by every small boy without exception. Conroy and Donnelly are dead. The other two are now the Reverend George Kister, S. J., and the Reverend Joseph Garvy, S. J.
The years have not changed these two. They have realized the promises of their youth. Father Kister is as tactful and agreeable as he was nearly half a century ago. He is a model superior, at present presiding over the destinies of St. Xavier High School, Cincinnati, and previously, for six years, rector of Campion College, Prairie du Chien, which, under his rule, attained a success surpassing the record of all previous years. Father Garvy for years has been the inspiring professor of English in the juniorate at Florissant, one of the most scholarly men in the province.
It is true, then, that at the end of the year which I spoke of in the previous chapter the standard of St. Mary’s College was extremely high. The most popular boys, the boys with the most influence, were unquestionably the best boys in the school.
Also, discipline was flourishing, and studies were more satisfactory than ever before; and this improvement in studies was beyond doubt owing to the splendid direction and influence of Father Cop pens. It was in this year, too, that the honor system was inaugurated at St. Mary’s. It worked so well that it has never been changed to this day.
So it came about that at the end of the year the boys left for their various homes in great good humor. They carried away from St. Mary’s an evident admiration for the various improvements. We were advertised north and south and east and west by our loving friends. So, in consequence, it became evident early in the vacation days that our numbers for the coming year would be largely augmented.
Then our rector, Father Coppens, took a new step. He arranged for the opening of a new division in the college, the Junior Division.