Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

ALAIEDON TOWNSHIP AND ITS HISTORY

241

pound, lumber at $8 per thousand, and glass for windows. There
were twenty-four pupils in the school the first year; the books
used were Cobb's and the elementary spelling books, History of
the United States, New English Reader, Grammar and Geography, the inference being that the "Cobb's" mentioned were
books on mathematics. Three months school each year was the
rule until 1850 when it was voted to have both a summer and a
winter school, and about that date it was voted to raise 50 cts. to
pay one tax payer for inspecting the teacher. Money for teachers
wages was raised by levying a tax on each child of school age.
In 1855 at a special meeting it was voted to replace the log
school house by one made of brick, to cost $200, but this building
was not completed until 1857 and then by vote of the tax payers
it was made of wood instead of brick. In 1859 it was voted to
purchase a Webster's Dictionary at $4.00, and also voted to assess
the parents 12 cord of wood for each scholar attending school.
In 1891 a third school building was erected, and this time a brick
one, at a cost of not to exceed $1,000. At some time during the
years of its existence this district had become a fractional one,
lying in both Alaiedon and Vevay townships. Up to 1881 the
highest wages paid were $35 per month for a male teacher and
$28 per month for a female, while during the '60's a teacher
from the gentler sex received the munificent sum of $8.50 per
month while her brother, for doing the same work, received $25.
The contracts made during the '60's all bore United States
revenue stamps. Not until well along in the '80's was the old
system of having the teacher "board round," sampling all the
viands in the district, as well as all the beds, done away with.
VENERABLE OLD COUPLE.
Mr. and Mrs. John W. Speer, of Alaiedon Township, I-ave Travelled Together Nearly Sixty-two Years. Written in 1912.
Comparatively few married couples are spared to live fifty
years of wedded life together, and the instances of husband and
wife who share each other's joys and sorrows for sixty years are
rare indeed; but Mr. and Mrs. John W. Speer, of Alaiedon Townare well along in the sixty-second year of their joint pilgrimage,