Dedication

E. J. H. Beard

E. J. H. BEARD, to whom this volume is dedicated, was born on a farm in the state of New York. After a course of study in the country schools and preparatory school, he entered Hamilton College, which institution he later left to serve his country during the Civil War. He saw active service in many battles of the eastern campaigns and was with Grant, in his attack on Richmond. After Lee's surrender, Mr. Beard returned to Hamilton College, graduating in the class after Elihu Root, later a member of President Roosevelt's Cabinet and now United States Senator from New York.

The summer of sixty-six, Mr. Beard spent in the United States survey in Colorado, and in sixty-seven he began work in the public schools of Hamburg, Iowa. After remaining in Hamburg as superintendent for fourteen years, he went to Maryville, Missouri, where he worked for eight years as head of the schools. For the last nineteen years he has been the capable and efficient superintendent of the Newton schools.

Under his leadership the schools here have grown from one building with twelve teachers to four buildings with thirty teachers.

His influence on the lives of young men and women of Newton has been tremendous. Because of his words of admonition and advice, many finished the High School course and has gone on to college and is now occupying the position of responsibility.

The graduates of our school, in later life, speak gratefully of the talks he has made and the part he has taken in the moulding of their characters.

He is, as he loves to express it, the friend of the boy and the girl; of the young man and the young woman, and they all know and appreciate this fact.