In 1843, at the aged of nine, Susan Mary Edelen began her "manuscript" at the Clear Spring Academy. Over the nest seven years she meticulously copied her mathematics studies into four folios along with some poetry. A few of these poems have been identified as the work of others but the majority of them may be original with Susan. Whether original or not, when read collectively they poignantly portray a maturing young woman with a fear of being forgotten, and who is ultimately disappointed in first love.

The Clear Spring Academy was no ordinary one-room school in rural western Maryland. At a time in American history when there were few public schools the private academies provided a quality education for the middle class. Founded in 1834, its curriculum included the classics of Cicero and Virgil, as well as extensive studies in math and literature. Susan and her fellow scholars also learned how to solve such practical problems as:

In January 16, 1990 Mr. Charles Harold Snyder reached the end of his days and passed away at the age of eighty-nine in Clear Spring, Maryland. I never knew Harold nor had I ever heard of Clear Spring.  To me that day was just another rather ordinary Tuesday.  Little did I suspect that one day I would fall in love with Harold's grandmother.  Over three years later, on April 17, 1993, I attended an auction in Pennsylvania and bought four hand-written folios that I thought were rather attractive.  They contain mostly mathematics problems with some poetry included.  The first page of the first folio is inscribed "S.M. Edelen's Manuscript Clearspring, March 4, 1843" in carefully drawn multicolored letters.  My attention was caught by the beautiful penmanship throughout, by the meticulous drawings, and by the sometimes highly ornamented titles at the top of each page.  With closer scrutiny I found that the author was someone named Susan Mary Edelen who had been associated in some way with the Clearspring  Academy in Washington County, Maryland.
    My first thought was that she had been a math teacher and that these were carefully selected problems and notes gathered as a curriculum for the Academy.  When I searched the federal census I found that Susan was only sixteen years old in 1850.  Hence she would have been only about nine years old in 1843 when she lettered that first page and began working with fractions and percentages.  Her later subjects included a full secondary school mathematics curriculum: algebra, practical geometry (calculation of areas and volume), calculations used in common trades, mechanics, and astronomical problems. What seemed curious to me was such an extensive amount of mathematics was included in a girl's general education, and that her handwriting was so perfect at the age of nine.  But Susan had dutifully worked through the sometimes page-long calculations in ink and with very few erasures.  Throughout, her meticulous penmanship and precise geometry drawings reflect what must have been a strong emphasis on neatness and precision.  Her penmanship is also interesting in that she has been taught to write "fs" for "ss", a practice that seems archaic for this period.
    In addition to the mathematics, the manuscript also contains some poetry.  There are thirty-eight poems in all, some of which may have been  part of her literary studies at the Academy.  Here are examples of the intensely romantic, sometimes maudlin, poetry typical of the time, some of which may also be a reflection of Susan's first love relationship.  Several of the poems have been located and attributed to other authors.  However, the majority of them have not been found previously published and are presumed to be original with Susan.  In her obituary sixty years later, Susan was remembered with the tantalizing comment that she was a "woman of fine Christian character and literary attainments."
    The more I studied the manuscript the more I wanted to know about Susan and the Clearspring Academy.  I've since learned that Harold Snyder was Susan's only grandchild and her last surviving descendant.  His death and the subsequent sale of his personal property apparently started the chain of events that filtered the manuscript into my hands at that auction in Pennsylvania.
    I have devoted the first part of this book to Susan: who she was at the time she was writing the manuscript, the poetry and what it seems to reveal about her innermost feelings, and who she became after finishing her days at the Academy.  The second part is a history of Susan's school, the Clearspring Academy.  This was no ordinary one-room country school house in rural western Maryland.  It was founded with the highest possible academic standards by five local citizens and was incorporated in 1836 by an act of the Assembly of the State of Maryland.  It is a representative example of the type of private school that predominated in American education in the early nineteenth century.  The Academy was open to all scholars regardless of religious affiliation at a time and place where there was no centralized public school education.
    A word about proper pronunciation of proper names.  Every region has its own peculiar and idiosyncratic local pronunciations and Clear Spring is no exception.  When I visited the area I found myself being corrected many times at what I thought was obvious.  Out of respect for the owners of the names here are some important examples that will be encountered in this book:
        Edelen = ēdelen or ēdlin
        Loose = lōs
        Grosh = grush
        Jacques = jākes
        Prather = prāther

Acknowledgments:
    I am especially grateful to the heirs of Otho Nesbitt: Lillie Frantz Davenport, Jean Weller Rowe, Betty Jane Lee, Mary Margaret Fiery, and especially Mrs. Nora M. Snyder for permission to quote freely from Otho Nesbitt's diaries.  Mrs. Snyder is a lifelong resident of Clear Spring, a dear lady, and a fount of local information who has spent many hours sharing her personal recollections with me. 
    I am also deeply indebted to Mrs. Phyllis Hill, Librarian of the Washington County Historical Society, Hagerstown, Maryland, for her assistance in providing information on the history of Clear Spring, Maryland; to Mrs. Hilda Frantz Cushwa, a lifelong resident and a historian of Clear Spring, for her personal recollections and genealogical knowledge;  to Mr. David Wiles, President of the Clear Spring District Historical Association (C.S.D.H.A.) for his time and help in digging out relevant photographs from the Association's collection;  to Mr. John C. Frye, curator of the Western Maryland History Room of the Washington County Public Library; to Mr. Philip Downs for sharing the only known copy of a Clearspring Academy Catalog; and, of course, especially to Susan for leaving behind such a beautiful and tangible glimpse into her lifetime.

    On September 28, 1993, a birthday party was held in Susan's honor at the church she attended, St. John's United Church of Christ, in Clear Spring.  Had she lived, she would have celebrated her 160th birthday.

Richard J. Martz (1994)