Recollections of My Life and Reflections on Times and Events During It: A Memoir by Father W. J. Howlett Main Menu Introduction Table of Contents Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Other Writings by Father W. J. Howlett Timeline Howlett Family Tree William J. Howlett Family Tree Maps and Geography: Howlett's First Trip West Fr. Howlett moved with his family to Denver when he was a child, and then moved to St. Thomas Seminary in Bardstown, KY several years later. This map recounts the path he took to get to both places. Maps and Geography: Howlett's European travels Fr. Howlett traveled far and wide during his trip to Europe. Here is a map of the places he recorded visiting. Maps and Geography: Howlett in Paris, 1872-1873 This map shows the locations that Fr. Howlett mentioned visiting while in Paris, France. Maps and Geography: Howlett in London, 1874 This map shows the locations that Fr. Howlett mentioned visiting while vacationing in London, England Maps and Geography: Colorado Missions with Terrain Fr. Howlett's Colorado mission locations, with Colorado terrain. Index Acknowledgements Contributors' Biographies HIST 394 at CUA, Spring 2020

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          The plowing was for the men - and those plows would be curiosities now. They were so large that only a strong and expert man could handle them. As many as six yoke of oxen were sometimes hitched to them, and this was especially true when the brush and saplings had not been taken out of the ground by the roots. The steel plowshare, sharpened to a keen edge, cut roots two or three inches thick and turned over a furrow two feet wide. Then came another job for the children to gather up all those roots, or grub as we called them, and piling grubs was worse than picking potatoes or husking corn. Oh, we children were not rarin’ to do this kind of work; it was a case of “had to” with passing years and growing strength; however, it became less distasteful, and during the last year of our stay on the farm I was virtually manager and factum, for all my brothers were doing for themselves elsewhere. That I was not a failure is shown by the fact that the purchaser of the farm wished me to stay and operate the place for him.

         School was always my delight, but our schools were of the most primitive sort. Our log school was early replaced by a brick structure, but it had only the usual one room. A three-months term was taught by a woman in summer and a four-months term in winter was taught by a man. The teachers, unless they lived in the neighborhood, lodged and boarded with the families of the scholars, spending a week with each family. This was called “boarding around,” and was included in his salary agreement. I speak of the scholars: the term pupils might do in the towns and students had a college flavor, so we were just scholars even if we were not very learned. “Schoolers” might more exactly express our condition.
    
         Not long ago I asked a boy of the lower grades if he liked to go to school. He answered “Yes.” To my further question on what he did there, his reply was, “We play.” I always liked to go to school, but I liked it for its studies. In our one-room school we did not have grades, but each of us was put into classes where we fitted, so that there were big boys in little classes and little boys in big classes, and there did not seem to be any dissatisfaction either way. Our classes were reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, geography, grammar and some history. Grammar was not popular among the ordinary boys; they made fun of the studying, “I love, you love, he loves, she loves, and they love,” etc.; yet they managed to get a fair primary education. We had McGuffey’s and Saunder’s readers; Webster’s and Saunder’s spellers; Davis’ arithmetic; Clark’s grammar; Mitchell’s geography, and some U.S. history.

         A popular and profitable custom was the holding of night schools and for different studies. These were not on the regular program, but held occasionally as the teacher and scholars decided. There were singing schools, writing schools, spelling schools and sometimes debating schools. They were open to the public and well attended. The spelling schools were contests between different schools and it was a great honor for any school to gain the victory. In my studies I was up to my age, and in arithmetic and spelling, beyond it, so I was at times the champion in these contests even when the subject matter was anything between the covers of the book.

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