USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield > The history of the town of Litchfield, Connecticut, 1720-1920 > Part 14
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Sarah Pierce was born in Litchfield on June 26, 1767, and died on January 19, 1852. Her father was John Pierce, of Litchfield, by trade a potter. He was twice married, and had a large family. The names of eleven of his children are preserved, but probably there were several others. Sarah was the youngest child by his first wife, Mary Patterson. Upon the death of the father in 1783, at the early age of 53, the care of this large family devolved in great measure on the eldest son, John Pierce. He was born in 1752, and at the time of his father's death was contemplating marriage with a Miss Ann Bard. This naturally made him anxious that some others at least of the family should become more self-supporting than their immediate prospects in Litchfield made possible. He there- fore had the very happy thought that Sarah should become a teacher. She had a mind naturally quick, but no special aptitude for teach- ing had yet been recognized in her. It was a random shot appar- ently, but a most important one, not only for the family, but for Litchfield and the whole history of the higher education of women. John Pierce Jr. was evidently a man of vision, developed, as were
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so many, by the imperative needs of the Revolution. He had been thirteen years in the paymaster's department of the army, a friend of Washington, and an able officer, leaving the army with the rank of Colonel. He recognized at once that however apt his sister might become at her books, she would require a dignity and presence, before she could become a successful teacher of girls from the larger cities, such as she herself could hardly hope to learn in the Litch- field of 1784. Twenty years later it would have been a very differ- ent story. He therefore sent her to New York in April 1784, and his instructions to her are most interesting: "The short time you have and the many things you have to learn, occasions me to wish you would employ every moment for the purpose, I hope you will not miss a single dancing school, and that you will take lessons from Capt. Turner at other times, pray get him and Katy your friend, to instruct you in everything in walking standing and sitting, all the movements of which tho' they appear in a polite person natural, are the effects of art, while country girls never attend to and which you had best take the utmost pains, or you will never appear natural & easy in. I am somewhat fearful that your old habits at your age can not be so thoroughly removed, as to give place to a natural careless genteel air, and which totally hides all the art of it. The Books I left with you I wish you not to read much in town, I want you to study the fashions, the art of pleasing to advantage and for this purpose to spare no necessary expense, and if you do not appear as genteel as any of the girls it will be your own fault, you must however pay a great regard to economy & always remember that every Dollar takes so much from my future prospects, on which you know that not only yours but mine and all our families happiness depends". (Vanderpoel, p. 347).
Col. Pierce was married in 1786 and died in 1788. The cares of the family through these years fell on Sarah and her sisters, and the plans for teaching could not be put into action until 1792. She continued her studies at odd times through this period, never for a moment forgetting what her life work was to be; and, when she took her first pupil in the dining room of her house, she was fully equipped, both mentally and as her brother would have said socially, to guide her school from this humble beginning to the full heights of its future importance.
Mrs. E. N. Vanderpoel, the great-grand-daughter of Col. Tall- madge and one of Litchfield's artists, has written the story of Miss Pierce's Academy in a fascinating volume: The Chronicles of a Pio- neer School, edited by Elizabeth C. Barney Buel, 1903. Her book is quoted from throughout the present work, but this chapter on the School can be but a very incomplete abridgement of parts of it. The Chronicles should be read by every person interested in Litchfield, as the diaries and letters and other papers reprinted therein open up a picture of the life of the whole town in those days of the Golden Age which no chapters like ours can in any manner indicate.
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The School passed through three phases. First it was con- ducted at the "old red house" built about 1750 by Zebulon Bissell near the site of the present Congregational Parsonage. This was the Pierce homestead at this time, and the little dining room served comfortably as a school room until the number of pupils began very much to increase.
By 1798 (Vanderpoel, p. 19) the school had become of sufficient importance to interest the prominent men of the town to build a suitable building for Miss Pierce. It was then dignified by the name of the Female Academy. The subscription list was headed by Tapping Reeve, who contributed $40. 26 other names appear on the list, the total subscribed being $385. The Academy stood immediately below the old house. In 1803, Miss Pierce built her- self a new house, still further south, the house and the Academy occupying the present Underwood grounds. The old house was then occupied by Miss Pierce's sister Susan, who had married James Brace, and her family. The second and most successful period of the school was conducted in this second building, the first Academy.
In 1827, it was decided to increase the scope of the school by the erection of a new Academy, with the incorporation of the insti- tution under a board of Trustees. A company was formed, known as the Litchfield Female Academy, of which Frederick Wolcott was the President, with a. capital not to exceed $7,500. Of this 40 shares of $15. each were given to Miss Pierce in exchange for the land and previous building of the Academy. A new subscription was taken up, and 67 shares of $15. each were subscribed for. In
due course the new Academy was constructed. After the close of the school, sometime after 1855, it was removed to the Beecher Lot, corner of North and Prospect Streets, where it was occupied for some years by the boys' school of the late Rev. James Richards D. D., known as the Elm Park Collegiate Institute. Henry R. Jones of Brooklyn converted it into the present residence of his family after he purchased the corner about 1882. The Beecher House adjoining was bought by Dr. Henry W. Buel about 1872 and removed to Spring Hill, where it now forms a part of the group of buildings.
The Pierce-Brace house was torn down to be replaced by the present Parsonage, and the Pierce house was torn down about 1896 to make way for the present Underwood house. Thus all traces of the Academy are now scattered.
Corresponding to this development of the outward and visible character of the Academy, there was a steady development in its educational policy.
At first the number of pupils was small, the studies very simple. From the start we find that Miss Pierce had a high idea of what girls should be taught. Her ideal was to train them in all the same studies that a boy would be taught. She began Geography and History from the first, both then innovations in girls' schools. At times the lessons were perhaps above the heads of the children. In
MISS SALLY PIERCE
SÅ ¥/199
THE LITCHFIELD ACADEMY, 1827
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the diary of an early pupil, Julia Cowles, aged eleven, we read: "June 30, 1797. Went to school, told History, sewed some. Miss Sally says that I have been a pretty good girl this week. I have not been offended this week. I have helped Aunt Lewis almost every day this week. ... July 6. I do not recollect any History that we read to day only that there was one Punic war. ... July 13. I do not recollect any of the History read to day only that Hanibal died. ... July 21. Attended school, read History. Danced last evening, enjoyed the intended pleasure. ... July 26. Attended school forenoon painted. I dont know a word of the History. P. M. I stayed at home".
Miss Pierce's sympathy with her pupils was proverbial. Per- haps it was stimulated by the death of one of these, little Nancy Cutler, during the second year of the school, August 1793. Miss Pierce took the little child back to her mother, who afterwards wrote: "September 3, 1793: The amiable Miss Pierce is going home. I fear I shall be still more lonely, but I will try to be cheerfull. I esteem Sally for her goodness of heart. She is a good Girl and I think I shall not forget her kindness to me or the attention she paid that much loved child". (Vanderpoel, p. 9).
Miss Pierce was twenty five years old when she began the school. She never lost her sympathy with her girls. She never asked them to do any work which she was not ready to share, nor to undertake any exercise which she was not ready to join in, nor to have any amusements which she did not lead. When she found that the Histories in vogue were dull to her girls, she set out and wrote others herself. Her Histories, dating from 1811 to 1818, were com- piled in the form of questions and answers, which she claimed to be the form most easily imbibed by children, and were intended "to intermix moral with historical instruction".
This first period of the school lasted till the building of the first Academy, in 1798. It was the tentative period, the period of growth.
The second period was one of fruition. Pupils were coming in large numbers. We hear of a hundred and thirty in one year, while the total for the whole forty years of the school was afterwards estimated by Miss Pierce's nephew, John Pierce Brace, as having been three thousand. The assistance of her sisters was no longer sufficient for the carrying on of the school, and different teachers were called in to help. The chief of these was the nephew just mentioned, John Pierce Brace, who lived next door. To prepare him to be her assistant, Miss Pierce had sent him to college at Williams. He appears to have been a born educator like his aunt, and to have held as she did that women deserved the same standards of education as men. The program of the school now became greatly enlarged. The studies of chemistry, astronomy and botany were added to those of history and geography. The fine accomplishments of music, dancing, singing and embroidery, of draw-
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ing and painting were retained. John Brace was an enthusiast in the natural sciences and Harriet Beecher Stowe used to refer to his keeping up "a constant conversation on the subject".
There are a number of amusing references to his passion for these subjects. In her diary, for June 2, 1822, Mary; L. Wilbor wrote, (Vanderpoel, p. 236) : "Mr. Brace had all his bugs to school this P. M. He has a great variety, two were from China, which were very handsome, almost all the rest were of Litchfield descent, and he can trace their pedigree as far back as when Noah entered the ark". Another pupil, Caroline Chester, wrote in 1816, (Vander- poel, p. 152) : "I went to Mr. Brace's, where I spent the evening most agreeably and saw a plenty of butterflies and spiders". The cult of natural science invaded the law school, possibly by way of furnishing another subject of common interest. That rollicking diarist and law-student, George Younglove Cutler wrote October 24, 1820, (Vanderpoel, p. 202) : "A mineralogical compliment from Dr. A. S. M. in return for a box of stones sent him-which I collected from the neighboring stone walls, etc., 'horizontalizing them' to use his expression, much to the disadvantage of the agricultural inter- ests in this part of the country".
The course of study at this time, 1821, has been preserved in the papers of Miss Sarah Kingsbury, (Vanderpoel, p. 233) : "Morses Geography, Websters Elements, English Grammar, Miss Pierces History, Arithmetic through Interest, Blair's Lectures, Modern Europe, Ramsey's American Revolution, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Paley's Moral Philosophy, Hedge's Logic and Addision on Taste".
In this second period, the Academy was the leader in the educa- tion of women throughout the country. The third period, after the construction of the enlarged building, was not so fortunate. Miss Pierce, in 1827, was sixty years old, and though she retained her interest and much of her vitality, could not put into the work all her earlier energy; and John Pierce Brace, in the winter of 1831-32, was offered and accepted the position of principal in the Female Seminary at Hartford. He had been the assistant of Miss Pierce for eighteen years, becoming more and more a dominant factor in the work, and his departure marked the beginning of the end. In 1833 Miss Pierce asked to resign, and the Trustees appointed Miss Henrietta Jones as principal. She had been a pupil of the school, and a teacher for five years. In 1844, the Trustees made applica- tion to the Legislature for a change in the charter, so that the build- ings could be used for both sexes. In 1849 the use of the Academy was tendered to the Normal School. Finally in 1856 the Trustees wound up the corporation, selling the property back to Miss Mary Pierce, a much younger half-sister of Miss Sally, who in the last years had assisted in the conduct of the school. Miss Sally Pierce lived almost to the close of the school, dying in 1852, at the ripe age of eighty five years.
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"She was small in person", wrote her friend, Gideon H. Hollis- ter, in his History of Connecticut, "of a cheerful, lively tempera- ment, a bright eye, and a face expressive of the most active benevol- ence. She was in the habit of practicing herself all the theories that she taught to her pupils, and, until physical infirmities con- fined her to her room, would take her accustomed walk in the face of the roughest March wind that ever blew across our hills".
The life such a woman offered to her pupils was certainly an inspiration. It meant doubtless much more than the mere teaching could; for although the scholarship was so high we do not hear that the graduates achieved any great reputations in science or in learning in their after lives. But they did achieve, many of them, very happy lives, the seeds of which are certainly to be traced to Litchfield. It is not enough to say that many of them became engaged to Law students, whom they afterwards married. What really counted was the influence of Miss Pierce, the influence of the Litchfield culture, the health of the climate, the habit of right thinking developed by the courses, and the cheerful life of the school.
In the next chapter will be found an outline of their more formal amusements, but something should be said here of the everyday life. Few of the girls lived at Miss Pierce's house; the great majority of those who were not Litchfield girls boarded around. There were several fairly large boarding houses, like Aunt Bull's on Prospect Street, and nearly every house took one boarder or two. In many cases the scholars from Miss Pierce's and the students from the Law School boarded in the same house.
Pleasant as the school life was, it was governed by very regu- lar rules, and it is a little surprising to us how strictly these were enforced. Probably this had much to do with everything running so smoothly. Here are some of the rules of 1825, (Vanderpoel, p. 255) :
"You are expected to rise early, be dressed neatly and to exercise before breakfast. You are to retire to rest when the family in which you reside request you. You must consider it a breach of politeness to be requested a second time to rise in the morning or retire of an evening.
"It is expected that you attend public worship every Sabbath, except some unavoidable circumstance prevent, which you will dare to present as a sufficient apology at the day of judgment.
"Your deportment must be grave and decent while in the house of God; all light conduct in a place of worship is not only offensive to God but an indication of ill breeding; and highly displeasing both to the good and the polite.
"Every hour during the week must be fully occupied either in useful employments, or necessary recreation. Two hours must be faithfully devoted to close study each day, while out of school: and every hour in school must be fully occupied. . The ladies where you board must mention if you do not study your two hours each day.
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"You must suppress all emotions of anger, fretfulness and discontent.
"No young lady is allowed to attend any public ball, or sleigh party till they are more than 16 years old.
"Speaking or moving once in school hours either with or without lib- erty will take off a part of the extra-unless they move to recite or prac- tice, or write at the tables-Speaking more than once will take off the whole extra and often give you a quarter of a miss.
"You must not walk for pleasure after 9 o'clock in the evening. A reward will be given to those who do not waste any money, books, clothes, paper or quills, during the term. To those who have their studies per- formed at the proper time. To those who have not been peevish, homesick, or impolite. To those who always attend meeting or church. To those who never write carelessly".
These eight rules were supplemented by fifteen others, so that conduct was well defined. The regulation about deportment in church brings to mind the Reminiscences of Miss Esther H. Thomp- son, (Vanderpoel, p. 297), who tells about "the feuds between Miss Pierce's scholars and the farmers' daughters-more especially that peculiar class of young American girls who were 'living out'-the 'help'-in village families. These girls, usually the most ambitious of their family, made more independent by self support, gaining influence in proportion to the polish acquired by intercourse with village people, easily dominated all of their set, and together were a strong band. The school girls were supercilious, the help aggres- sively arrogant-and both classes equally proud and uncompromis- ing. Many a battle was fought on Sunday as well as on week days. All around the gallery walls of the old church on the Green was a row of square pews fenced in with the conventional high lattice work, while in front were two rows of benches. Many of the young people of the congregation chose to sit there where they were more free from the restraining presence of their seniors. Sometimes one part of the gallery would be considered the special choice, sometimes another, but out girls and school girls would never freely mingle! When one pew was monopolized by school girls for a noticeable length of time the out girls would come early some Sunday and pack the seats. Then would follow pin pricking, pinching and punching through the lattice-and the incensed school girls would bide their time to preempt the out girls' places".
There was a certain rivalry also between the out of town school girls and the Litchfield girls who did not attend the school. Timothy Pierce, one of the half-brothers of Miss Sally, wrote in 1800, (Van- derpoel, p. 378) : "School consisting of 15 only-now there are so few I hope that the native ladies of Litchfield may stand some chance for a part at least of the attention of Mr. Reeve's students".
The rivalry was very friendly on the whole, and the Litchfield people were certainly very hospitable to the girls who came from other places. They were constantly invited out and appear to have reciprocated by being just as nice as they could be. The rule about being home at nine was sometimes a source of difficulty. On
LUCY SHELDON From a Miniature by Anson Dickinson
MISS LUCRETIA DEMING From a Miniature by Anson Dickinson
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one occasion Margaret Hopkins, one of the pupils, went to spend the evening at Aunt Bull's. She was one of the few pupils who roomed at Miss Pierce's own house. A law student of the party put back the hands of the clock so that when one of the number took Margaret back to her house, it was quite shut up. After much knocking, Miss Pierce came to the door in night-cap and gown, candle in hand. (Vanderpoel, p. 289). On another occasion, Caroline Chester, whose acquaintance we have already made, and who was living at the house of Dr. Sheldon, was at a large party at the Wolcott's: "When the clock struck nine, the girl was carrying around the wine, and I too well knew if I was not at home, the family would be displeased. I spoke to the lady who sat next to me and said I must go, and she said it would be extremely improper in her opinion for me who was the youngest in the room to go first, because if I went, all would go. At about half past nine Miss Burr rose to go, and all the company followed her example. It was very cold and as I crossed the green, the wind blew and I thought, what can be keener? but I found when I reached home that a keener blast awaited me, a blast which will never no never be erased from my memory. I opened the door with a trembling hand, no one was in the room, but soon Dr. came. My heart throbbed violently, and he said-why are you home at this late hour? I told my excuse, he interrupted me by saying that it was but a poor excuse. ... He concluded by saying that if I ever staid out again he certainly would lock the door if it was after nine. ... and thus did I pay for my whistle". (Vanderpoel, p. 153).
These stories are worth quoting, if only as a picture of Puritan traits, still surviving only 100 years ago. Something of the same character is found in the ejaculation of another pupil, Mary L. Wilbor, in her diary, 1822, "I went to the Post Office with Miss Averill but we did not go in, for it was very much crowded with gentlemen. I do not think it is quite proper for us to go to the post-office so often but still continue going!" (Vanderpoel, p. 235).
Dr. Daniel Sheldon, who was so strict with Caroline Chester, was by no means an exception. He was universally beloved as Good old Doctor Sheldon. "Dear old Dr. Sheldon", wrote Henry Ward Beecher, in Litchfield Revisited, 1856, "We began to get well as soon as he came into the house; or if the evil spirit delayed a little, 'Cream-o'-tartar' with hot water poured upon it and sweetened, finished the work. He had learned long before the days of home- opathy, that a doctor's chief business is to keep parents from giving their children medicine".
Of him, E. D. Mansfield wrote: "When he had just graduated from a medical college, he had an attack on his lungs, and was sup- posed to be fast going into consumption, and was saved by what may be called heroic treatment. He went to Litchfield to practice medi- cine, which involved much riding on horseback, and he began taking opium, until he took incredible quantities. Nevertheless it cured him; and he recovered from the habit of taking opium as resolutely
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and bravely as he had began it. He survived all danger of early death, and lived to be eighty four years of age, quietly and peace- fully declining, until he passed from this life as gently as the setting star. One of his sons was secretary of legation in France, and one was a very successful merchant in New York. I was indebted to him for a comforting assurance, when we students were charged with being uncommonly 'fast'. There were more than fifty law students boarding in Litchfield, many of them of wealthy families, and many of them from the South. Of course, there must be some amusement, and often the midnight air resounded with the songs of midnight rioters, and sometimes stories were circulated to the students' disadvantage. After hearing some remarks on the 'fast' students, I met Dr. Sheldon walking, and said to him:
"'Doctor, they say we are the worst students ever were in Litchfield'. 'Pooh! pooh!' said the doctor, 'they are not half so bad as they were in my day'. So I was comforted with the idea that we were not casting shame on those venerable Puritans, who had condescended to become our ancestors. Be this as it may, I greatly enjoyed those evening sleigh rides, and those country sup- pers, when we would ride off to Goshen, or Harwinton, or other village, and order our turkey and oysters, served up with pickles and cake, and then set Black Caesar to play jigs on a cracked fiddle. But the grand occasions was something beyond this, when we got sleighs and fine horses, and buffalo robes, and foot-stoves, and invited the belles of Litchfield, who never hesitated to go, and set off to the distant village to have a supper and dance. I seldom danced, and some of the girls did not, but there were always some who did, and we had jolly times". (Personal Memories, p. 135).
The school girls came in for the evening rides, though the nine o'clock hour had to be carefully watched. Here is another extract from Caroline Chester under date January 1, 1816. It will be noticed that there was no full school holiday on New Year's day, as indeed there was none on Christmas at Miss Pierce's: "Went to school with a determination to improve all in my power, recited in History without a mistake, in the afternoon went to Mr. Bradley's tavern with Hannah Huntington, John and Mr. O. Wolcott, W. T. and Mary. Had a most delightful ride, returned with Hannah to tea, in the evening took a sleigh ride and returned home about nine. Had a great many wishes that I might have a Happy New Year". (Vanderpoel, p. 152). The two Wolcotts here mentioned were the two sons of Oliver Wolcott Jr.
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