Clinton's Early Principal Here's another letter from Mary Roberts Scott, 85 years old, of 330 Winding Way, San Francisco, Calif., whose father was one of the early teachers in Clinton,Tenn, She writes: "I want to send $10 to Clinton, and with it send a story that happened about 1865 or 1866. "My father, Thomas Roberts, was a minister and scholar. 'Egghead' he would be called now. He was chaplain of the 12th Ohio Cavalry and was mustered out in east Tennessee. He was principal of the school in Clinton and my mother taught with him. "Many adult men attended who wanted to learn 'figgering.' This meant higher arithmetic. My father introduced elementary algebra which was not well known at that time. nown at that time.) "One day a man, I think his name was d'Armond, one of the leading families, persisted in disturbing the class. Father asked him to come out in the hall. D'Armond called him an insulting name and accused him of favoring Negroes over whites. Father said he was afraid that was not true, but that he had more respect for a Negro than for a white man that misbehaved. D'Armond knocked him down and mother shoved d'Armond down the stairs and hurt him. My parents lost the job. They went to Knoxville and often had hard times all through the reconstruction. Source: Nevada State Journal, Reno, Nevada, Nov. 27, 1958