Condit, Charlotte

CONDIT

Posted By: Mary H. Cochrane, Volunteer
Date: 6/29/2019 at 08:14:06

CHARLOTTE FRANCES CONDIT
Lamoni's Passing Parade by Joseph H. Anthony
Page 217, 1948
Copied by Jean Belzer , September 10, 2001
One of my earliest recollections is of my eldest sister, Lenor, going out West to teach school. Actually I am not too sure that I remember her going. It might have been that the details incident to her trip were discussed so generally in the family that through this discussion I gained the impression that I remember the incident. However, if I actually remember her departure, then my memory must not be so very much at fault, as I could not possibly have been much more than a mere babe at the time. But whether or not this was but flight of childish fancy makes little difference in the details of this story. Of one thing I am certain and that is that in later years I often heard her tell of this adventure when she was but a girl in her teens and abut a few months out of high school. There were many experiences she told that were very interesting and unusual - so unusual that today I at least wonder as to the wisdom of a girl her age making such a venture.

The West to which she went at that time was really the land of the wide-open spaces, and the school in which she taught was located in a typical frontier community much different from anything she had seen in her home state of Nebraska. These conditions generally were so very different from what she had expected to find that upon her arrival the wave of lonesomeness and homesickness that engulfed her was so overpowering she was completely discouraged and she felt that it was entirely out of the question for her to remain for the duration of the school year.

In this community, however, she soon found new friends who realized the difficulty she faced, and they endeavored to help her make the adjustment. Among these were several members of the Condit family, who were among the pioneers of that region, and who proved themselves real friends in need by demonstrating that they possessed the ability to offer real encouragement in helping her to find a way to conquer what she considered an impossible problem.

"I certainly learned many things that your." Lenor said, in telling of these experiences later. "It was a new experience for me. I had never been away from home before and that western country was so large and there were so few people to live upon all those miles of open prairie - and so few people to see - that I though I would die of lonesomeness. This for one thing made the task I had undertaken seem utterly impossible of fulfillment. But the Condits were wonderful people - the genuine, sincere, sympathetic kind of people, who knew how to win their way into one's heart and instill strength and self-reliance; and this they did for me. As I think of it today I realize that experience was one of the most valuable of my life, for in spite of all the discouragements and heartaches, I learned the real value of friends and the courage that comes with the realization that they are standing by."

This story was still fresh in my mind when, many years later, Charlotte Condit came to Lamoni to teach in Graceland College. Yes, she was a descendant of this same family of Condits who had done so much for that immature, inexperienced little school teacher. Her father was one of the husky mischievous western lads who had been a member of the teacher's class. Charlotte had heard him tell of some of the incidents relative to that experience. And thus it was that with the mutual knowledge of these incidents, so familiar to her family and mine, we felt from the beginning that we had something in common, and from that moment Charlotte and I became really good friends.

She was person who at once gave the impression of genuineness and sincerity, whose smile, so gracious and assuring, was so much a part of her that everyone immediately felt at ease in her presence. Her unbounded enthusiasm, even concerning some of the more ordinary subjects, was a trait of hers which seemed to be contagious. In her teaching was this especially noticeable, and she was always so genuinely full of her subject that this enthusiasm was caught up by her pupils, and it inspired them to conscientious and determined effort.

An interesting incident occurred at one time which convinced me that such a condition really existed. I happened upon two lads, members of her English literature class, who had found a rather secluded spot in one of the upper rooms of the Ad building to work upon the next day's assignment. The class was then studying the work of Chaucer, who quaint old English style seemed strangely at variance with the temperaments and dispositions of these particular boys. To watch them as they earnestly endeavored to prepare the lesson was amusing. At times their manner was jocular and bantering, to be analyze the sentence structure of this particular style. The assignment involved portions of the famous Canterbury Tales, and as I became somewhat inquisitive one of the boys attempted to read aloud some of the lines in the "Monk's Tale" relative to the exploits of Samson, the noted Bible character:

"Three hundred foxes took Sampson for ire,
And alle hir tayles he togider bond,
And sette the foxes tayles alle on fire,
For he on every tayl had knit a brond;
And they brende alle the cornes in that lond.
And alle hir oliveres and vynes eek.
A thousand men he slow eek with his hond,
And had no wepen but an asses cheek."

Of course it was amusing to hear this student attempt to read these lines, for the story, though familiar in content, was all but lost in the use of the words which revision since that time has made obsolete. The awkward pronunciation of other words by the inexperienced reader was also amusing. Naturally we all laughed over the interpretation as the youth hastened to consult the reference section of the volume to correct his errors. But as I left them they had sobered down perceptibly, really making a serious effort to cover the assignment as thoroughly and efficiently as it was in their power to do.

The serious side to these efforts was significant, and to this day I remember it with interest. Knowing the lads as I did I wonder as to the advisability of their participation in this particular course of study so out of line with their natural inclinations, and yet here they were, deeply engrossed and determined to bring to light whatever significance these verses written in the fourteenth century contained that was necessary to their development. Today as I recall the incident I do not think it was any hidden motive in the works of Chaucer that prompted the desire; I am confident that motive was inspired through the untiring efforts of Charlotte Condit.

Sometime following this particular incident she invited me to meet with one of her classes to discuss some points pertaining to story writing as well as methods employed in the printing trade. I gladly complied with the request, but as the appointed time arrived I found myself not a little embarrassed as she introduced me as an experienced and successful writer. I had not then nor do I now dare to so classify myself; and for that reason I hesitated to appear before her group under such pretensions. Then she immediately followed that opening introduction with a few remarks which immediately relieved the tenseness of the situation until finally I found myself agreeing with her to a far greater extent than few moments previously I had though possible. We are all endowed with a certain amount of ego and I guess she located the source of whatever amount of that element is contained in my make-up for, as she finished, all my embarrassment had disappeared, and when the time came for me to stand before the class and lead the discussion I did it with full confidence that I could bring to them just what she promised them I would. I think we all enjoyed that class period. At least there was every evidence of it on the part of the pupils, and, as for me, I will always consider it one of my outstanding experiences.

Each year, I think, as long as Miss Condit taught at Graceland we repeated this procedure and each year it was an equally enjoyable experience. I claim little of the credit for the success of those sessions, for that a credit undoubtedly goes to Charlotte Condit. As I think of it I realize now that she knew how to handle people and install within them the desire to give their best, and in this instance I feel that I experienced the effects of that influence along with the members of the class. In her capacity of teacher she was undoubtedly as impartial as it is possible for a teacher to be, and she certainly had a way of giving encouragement to even the least brilliant of her pupils by making them feel that whatever contribution they made to the recitation was just as important as that of the ore capable ones.

She was undoubtedly one of those people who possessed the rare gift of imparting to others the desire to seek out and to develop the best that was in them and put it to practical use.

I had opportunity to visit Charlotte a few times during her last illness. I am sure she realized the conditions were more serious than she would admit, but in spite of this bright optimism, which beamed forth through the same old cheery smile, warded off any feelings of apprehension one might have about her physical condition. Her main interest seemed to center in the things I was doing at the time and the objectives I hoped to attain, and upon these occasions these were the things she wished to talk about. As I left her room, with her gracious invitation to return reverberating in my mind and the memory of her still keenly alive in my heart, I could not help but feel that, in spite of her weakened physical condition, her morale was high and her outlook upon life was apparently as optimistic and as cheerful as ever. Even though the purpose of my visits was to bring whatever encouragement I could to her, yet as I departed I realized that I was the one who had really been strengthened.

Thus Charlotte Condit confirmed the traditions of her family. Those incidents wherein they had played such an impressive part in the life of that young and inexperienced country school teacher - that story which had been impressed upon my mind as a mere child - were made to live again through associated with this slenderly built, unassuming little woman, who met all her friends in the same gracious manner and with that same friendly smile.

To consider Charlotte Condit in the light of just another teacher is to do her memory an injustice. Her methods of teaching were not the stereotyped, follow-the-book kind, and in no sense could she be classed as a hard-boiled disciplinarian. By precept and example, and with a natural love of people and a wonderful show of enthusiasm and devotion to duty, she was successful in instilling in many young people a love for the finer things in life and a desire to grow and develop under the inspiration of them . . . and what more significant achievement could be desired?

In the years Charlotte taught at Graceland she really became a loyal member of Lamoni's great family - a teacher whose teaching was emphasized in her living, whose friendship was truly a prized possession, and whose memory is an inspiration to all who walked with her in Lamoni's passing parade.

NOTE: Charlotte Frances Condit was born on August 20, 1895, the daughter of James Erwin and Jennie M. (Dennis) Condit. She died on March 12, 1937, and was interred at Hagerman Cemetery, Hagerman, Idaho. Her epitaph reads, "Faculty, Graceland College 1926 - 1936".