USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 1 > Part 22
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Miscellaneous .- There having been an unusually large number of men teachers in the various schools of Taunton, it was thought that, if organized, they might meet regularly and discuss plans that might be of benefit to them in their school work; also that at such meetings they might listen to addresses by experts on special lines of school progress. The club or- ganization and meetings were informal, and discussion and debate formed a large portion of their interest. At the preliminary meeting of September 30, 1920, Principal Fred U. Ward, of the high school, was elected chairman, and Laurence Wilbur secretary. Those present were Charles Hathaway, F. Arthur Walker, Elwood Frazer, C. A. Donold, G. Warren Averill, Wil- liam Quinn, Joseph Parker, Frederic T. Farnsworth, Walter J. Clemson, Clinton Carpenter, Earl Horton, Merle Crockett, Leslie Norwood, P. Byron Reid, L. C. Philbrick, A. H. Cochrane. The officers for 1923 were: Chair- man, F. Arthur Walker; secretary, Harold Galligan.
The High School Cadets in Taunton were organized as a high school military company in 1886, in the old high school building, Colonel Alfred B. Hodges, organizer and director. The first company graduated with the class of 1887, Captain William H. Maynadier. Colonel Hodges was in charge of the military direction of the high school boys up to 1890, when Major Norris O. Danforth was appointed to the position, and with the ex- ception of the years 1912 and 1913, when Major Danforth was chief of police in Taunton, he had supervision from that time. During 1912 and 1913, Lieutenant Edwin G. Hopkins had charge. In 1888 and 1889 the Taunton company, in competition with the Fall River and New Bedford companies, was proclaimed champion of the county. The class of 1896, in competition at New Bedford, won four out of five medals. From the time of the or- ganization up to the year 1915 there was but one company of cadets, the following-named having been captains to that time: William H. Mayna- dier, 1887; Arthur R. Crandell, 1888; Allen P. Hoard, 1889; Edmund F. Cody, 1890; Elliott B. Church, 1891; George M. Lincoln, 1892; Sheldon L. Howard, 1893; Edwin G. Hopkins, 1894; Clarence G. Hathaway, 1895; Everett W. Cushman, 1896; Roy Evans, 1897; Charles E. Redfern, 1898; Charles J. Carey, 1899; Edward F. Whitmarsh, 1900; Russell Peck, 1901; Fremont W. Leonard, 1902; Herbert L. Swift, 1903; Charles A. Gibbons, Jr., 1904; Abbott H. Thayer, 1905; Erford M. Potter, 1906; Robert P. Has- kins, 1907; Howard Briggs, 1908; Bion L. Pierce, 1909; Frank E. Smith, 1910; Henry H. Dunbar, 1911; William R. Anthony, 1912; Clarence W. Boyden, 1913; Harry S. Wilde, 1914.
In 1915, two companies were formed; Major, Edmund F. Flynn; Com- pany A, Walter Raymond; Company B, Charles L. Goodrich. 1916- Major, Charles L. Rogers; Company A, Arthur W. Rouse; Company B, Clinton S. Cole. 1917-Major, C. Lebaron Church, with three companies: Company A, Kenneth Leonard; Company B, Emery D. Champney; Com- pany C, Albert G. Hayes. 1918-Major, Harold A. Dickerman; Company A, Everett Burke; Company B, Edwin E. Pierce; Company C, Morris Klein. 1919-Major, William H. Bennett, Jr., with two companies: Com- pany A, Captains W. Gordon Hughes and William S. Hawley; Company B, Captain Clement G. Noyes. 1920-Major, E. Wade Bishop; Company A, Captain Allison Mitchell; Company B, Edgar R. C. Ward. 1921- Major, Albert M. Carr; Company A, Captain William Swift; Company B,
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Theodore Taylor. 1922-Major, Edward Hubbard; Company A, Captain Bradford Young; Company B, Clinton Antine. 1923-Major, Lloyd Mc- Adam ; Company A, George A. Boardman; Company B, Walter S. Grant.
The following paper on "Americanization," by Miss Mildred Hodgman, director of Americanization in Taunton, may fittingly close this chapter:
"Americanization-to give the term its most comprehensive meaning-is the busi- ness of acquainting everyone who inhabits American soil, with both physical and spiritual America, to the end that this acquaintance may result in a sturdy loyalty to American institutions and American ideals, and the habit of living the life of the good American citizen. Really to Americanize America, it is necessary to reach the native- born and the immigrant, the adult, and the child in school; and incidentally, the task of Americanizing the newcomer will be rendered comparatively easy if we can but succeed first in Americanizing ourselves.
"To accomplish the above end, we must all come to a new realization of what Americanism really is,-of the things that the good citizen believes in, and swears by and loves. And these things must be analyzed and interpreted in terms that touch the life of the average man. What is Democracy? What are our American ideas, ideals and aspirations, principles of government, and abiding beliefs? We must know these. And further, we must find out how to teach these, so that this teaching may find expression in right conduct. Here is a task we must face and do, if our American Democracy is to endure.
"The Americanization of the immigrant has been thought of generally as a matter of schooling alone. It is much more than this. The immigrant is being either Amer- icanized or anarchized by every experience which he undergoes, every condition to which he is subjected. Everything that touches the immigrant's life is an instru- mentality for his Americanization, or the reverse.
"The Americanism to be taught is not a static Americanism, belonging exclusively to the native-born. America and the American spirit are dynamic, ever-changing con- cepts. It is not solely the Americanism of the Puritan that we would teach. It is that, plus the precious contributions that have come, and are coming, and will come to us thru the spiritual heritages of the many races that seek our shores. The process of Americanization is a reciprocal one. We give -- but we receive as well."
The above is quoted from a bulletin issued by the Massachusetts Department of Education, in which were set forth the principles and points of view which are essen- tial to an intelligent handling and a sympathetic understanding of our Americanization problem. We are a land of immigrants, yet prior to the World War we took little interest in our more recent arrivals. In fact, we were hardly conscious of their exist- ence until the war made us keenly aware that there were a number of foreign-born among us who could not speak, read, or write English. On every side we heard a babel of foreign tongues. Our big cities had their ghettos, their Little Hungaries and Little Russias, and we wondered how we could consistently talk of "one nation in- divisible" when we obviously had such variegated minorities. At first we blamed the foreign-born for not speaking English and for being "different," but Massachusetts sanely went about investigating to ascertain if these more recent immigrants had ever had an adequate chance to learn our language, customs, ideals and forms of govern- ment. In some communities, civic organizations had opened classes in English; in others, evening schools were running for a term of weeks, but the work was not usually well organized because it was not recognized as a community necessity. In fact, the survey proved that little opportunity for learning English and citizenship had been available. In 1919, accordingly, Massachusetts enacted Chapter 69, Sections 9 and 10 of the General Laws, in order to establish immigrant education on a sound basis. This law specified that any city or town wishing to take up Americanization work would be reimbursed dollar for dollar if it complied with certain requirements.
To reach these adults in large numbers it became necessary to broaden the scope of the work and arrange for classes to be held at times convenient for the pupils. The evening school alone was not sufficient. Classes are now held in factories after hours, or during the noon hour, in foreign-speaking clubs, in homes, in church basements and school buildings-in fact, in any place convenient for the pupils, where adequate
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classroom facilities can be set up. As a result of this policy and the fact that the State Department stands ready to help any community that takes up this work, not only by a refund of 50 per cent. of the cost, but by expert advice in all matters per- taining to Americanization-by materials for use in classes, and most especially by teacher training courses-the State of Massachusetts shows this remarkable increase in enrollment in these classes-most remarkable indeed when you think that this attend- ance is purely voluntary. Surely the foreign-born have proved that they welcome these educational opportunities.
Total number of pupils belonging to all classes: 1918-19, 3,381; 1919-20, 9,030; 1920-21, 20,475; 1921-22, 22,242. The foregoing is a very brief summary of how Ameri- canization as it is at present set up came to be, and what it has done up to date. It is of interest to Taunton because Taunton is one of thirty-eight cities which are cooperating with the State Department of Education in providing educational opportunities for adult immigrants.
Taunton has long been conscious of its immigrant problem. In 1909 three public-spirited men gave their services and spent two evenings a week at the Polish Club teaching English to its members. In 1910 the Y. M. C. A. sent a paid worker to continue this work at the Polish Club. Largely as a result of this, the Whittenton School was opened the following year and classes were conducted by the public schools. In this same year, or possibly previous to it, classes were held for non-English speaking adult immigrants in the following schools: Central Evening School, Weir Grammar School and East Taunton School. The attendance at the Whittenton School and the Weir Grammar did not warrant their continuing for long, but the Central Evening School and the East Taunton School can be justly proud of a long and creditable history. In October of 1919 the Y. M. C. A. appropriated $1,000 of the War Work Fund to be used in the developing of industrial classes and in citizenship work. This pioneer work directly preceded Taunton's adopting the Massachusetts law, Chapter 69, Sections 9 and 10, and helped convince the community of the advisability of going into this work in earnest. In 1920 Taunton appropriated $2,000 for Americanization work, and classes were held in factories, in foreign-speaking clubs, and in evening schools. This appropriation was renewed in 1921 and 1922, but without increase; and so it is impossible to point with pride to any striking development of the work during the past two years. The school department is operating this year eighteen Americanization classes with over two hundred students in attendance.
Such a bare presentation of essential facts pertaining to the organization of immi- grant education in Taunton gives only the faintest idea of the effect of this work on our adult aliens. The interest displayed by them in what the community has been doing is the best assurance that Americanization, as here organized, is very much worth while. Proof of this interest is offered in the following original letters, which speak for themselves:
Work of beginners:
"I arrived in this contry nineteen months ago. I did not spek English but I went to schul and now I spek and writ English. The schul is very grat help to me.
"I come to evening school because I learned to speak and write English. I like that."
Work of second year pupils:
"I am come to evening school last winter for first time. I am learn plenty things which I never know before. The evening school are good for anybody who want to know something about read and write English. I have take out my first cityzen papers year ago last October. I am try to take out the second one because I like to be American cityzen. I am very thankful for America."
"When I have 23 years, I came in this country, because my brother wrote me a letter, he told me that this was a free country, and I can make a better living. Now I can speak and write a few words, now I go to school, because I want learn more. If I know English I can do many things better, I can have good job, I can know many people and I can do my business myself. If I can do that I am satisfied."
"I take my pen first to tell you something about what I'm learning in school. In school we learn so much things and good things. Now I tell you what I learn in one year. When I went the first time to school I was ignorant about the United States
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language. But now I'm not ignorant because I speak English and can read and write a little."
Work of third year pupils:
"I came to this country nine years ago to better my position. For five years I worked in a brickyard with fellows that came from Italy at the same time I came, there I never had a chance to speak a single word of English. Four years ago I went to an industrial school in the shop where I worked, there I learned to read, speak and write a little English, but that was not enof because I was eager to learn more. Three years ago an evening school started near my home; there I went and learned to make myself understood better from the English speaking people. Now I can read, speak, and write English fairly good. I am very thankful to this country for having so many free evening schools, where us foreigners have an opportunity to better our education."
"I came to America ten years ago, and for a few years I felt so strange and home sick that I thought I would never get used to this country. What made me feel that way was on account of having no school. About three years ago the night school opened near my house, I started going, and now I think there is no place like this country. I thank America for doing so much for us foreigners. I appreciate the schools very much. It has helped me to have a good position and to make a better home."
Written by a pupil in a citizenship class:
"I wish to become a citizen of the United States, so I have decided to attend at the public school where I can study and get free naturalization instruction. There are several more of the fellows who are attending the evening class and who also wish to become citizens of the United States. I will say that we take a big advantage of every one lesson and I feel we should be thankful to our teacher. In fact we had only several lessons but we learned a lot about the American history, United States Government, and we know already what is Democracy! I believe myself there is many citizens of the United States yet, who do not know what it means Democracy and It is why we still have sympathizer of the Bolshevism and other sort of things."
Nor have the native-born of Taunton been backward in appreciating the value of this enterprise and lending it their hearty support. The manufacturers of the city have been cooperative, and all of our factory classes of this year are the continuation of classes which were held the year before. In some cases they have a longer history than that. This year the president of the Rotary Club is giving a prize for the best record in attendance, and the Lydia Cobb Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is awarding books to "honor pupils." The Woman's Club, the College Women's Club, the American Legion and the Women's Auxiliary, the Mothers' Club, the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Boys' Club, have all given evidence of their willingness to cooperate.
A recent bulletin issued by the State director of Americanization says: "Good leaders, good teachers, public interest, money-these factors have brought success to the work in Massachusetts wherever they have been found present. The way is clear. It rests with the people of the State to decide how far the work is to be extended. It will cost money. But the goal is a commonwealth within whose confines every one talks the English language. Those who are content to stop short of this attainment may well doubt if our American democracy is destined to endure."
The above paragraph has its application to Taunton. The work of educating the immigrant has been established. Its continuance is now largely a matter of public interest and continued financial support. Will they be forthcoming?
CHAPTER XIII. THE TAUNTON BAR.
Personal recollections of a number of members of the Taunton bar, extending as they do over a period of a half century, and as told by an old attorney still in practice in 1923, bring the reader of local history into still
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closer touch with that group of men who have constituted leadership here, as well as among lawyers throughout the county. There have been no better representatives of their profession elsewhere, they having been mostly men of vigorous mentality, and excellent defenders of their faith in the law and its procedure.
There never existed a more kindly disposed judge than Edmund H. Bennett. He was a native of Manchester, Vermont, where he was born April 6, 1824. That State is to be credited with the training in its schools of so excellent a jurist, but he put the most of his experience into the life of Taunton. He was educated at the University of Vermont, where he was graduated in 1843, and from which institution he received the degree of LL.D. in 1873.
Judge Bennett was admitted to the Suffolk county bar in this State, July 3, 1848, and shortly afterwards he removed to Taunton, and in May, 1858, was appointed as judge of probate and insolvency. He was recog- nized everywhere as an ideal probate judge, and after twenty-five years of service he resigned. He was elected as Taunton's first mayor, and was three times chosen to that responsible position. He also became noted in the law as lecturer at the Harvard Law School, and for his attainments he was appointed the first dean of the Boston University Law School. A voluminous writer of special works on law, he will be remembered by most people throughout this part of the State at least for that little book entitled "Farm Law," that contains everything that the everyday farm owner should know concerning the law as it relates to the farm. He was in partnership here, also, with Henry J. Fuller. Judge Bennett died in 1898, an exemplary citizen, who delighted in the history of his adopted city, and was an orator on various historical occasions. We shall not forget Judge Bennett, who was far more than an ornament to his pro- fession.
One of the noted criminal lawyers of this city during the past century was James Brown, who was born in Swansea in 1828. Like many of his profession hereabouts, he graduated at Brown University, in 1850, and he was admitted to the bar in 1852. He was a law practitioner in Taunton for the long period of more than forty years, and he was one of the leading characters in his profession here, for he was a man of decided military appearance, that quality being his by right, as he enlisted in the Civil War, and received a commission as major. Serving both in the Massachusetts House and the Senate, he established a brilliant record as a pleader in criminal cases. Major Brown will be recalled as one of the most astute of lawyers in his method of taking advantage of the defects that might exist in criminal papers brought to court. He was very zealous for his clients' rights throughout this section, and he had many clients on Cape Cod, and in the islands in particular. On all occasions he wore his military cape; he was an incomparable story-teller and he was an excellent jury lawyer. He died in 1893.
One of the quiet and very refined lawyers of his generation, yet successful in all his undertakings, was Henry Williams. He also was a graduate of Brown University, in 1826. Mr. Williams had the honor to be a member of the constitutional convention of 1853. He served faith- fully as register of probate in Bristol county, and was a member of both
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branches of the legislature in this State. He also was a Congressman at Washington four years.
Taunton born and bred, William H. Fox was a typical Old Colony townsman because of the unfailing interest that he always took in every matter that pertained to the history and progress of all the institutions that stood at the front of the city's progress. He was born here in 1837, and spent all his life here. He went to Harvard College, and graduated there with the class of 1858. Starting in Taunton with the practice of law in 1861, he was foremost in the wartime activities, and at the close of the war, in 1865, he was appointed justice of the First District Court. The latter court was then first established, and for more than forty years, Judge Fox served in the capacity of its justice. Invariably he became the true and tried friend of the young lawyer, and he was successful in making his part as easy as possible in his court. Judge Fox, whose great urbanity was the subject of the admiration of all with whom he came in contact, and especially with the lawyers, settled many a dispute for parties with- out the necessity of their going to the courts. He was mayor of the city for one term; was for twenty-two years trustee of the Carnegie Library, trustee of Wheaton College, and vice-president of the Bristol County Savings Bank.
No one can speak of the late Judge Alger without at the same time recalling his methods of thoroughness for reasons of accuracy that dom- inated his entire life, and whose application almost to severity might have been some cause of his death so comparatively early in life. To make sure of the truth of small details, to be sure of the correct spelling of a word and a name,-that was part of the daily round of his life. He was born in Boston in 1854, and he graduated at Boston University Law School in 1876. It was that year that he came to Taunton to begin the practice of law, and from then onwards his talents were recognized both as administrator of the city's affairs and attorney. He was city solicitor for several years, he twice served the city as its mayor, and he was clerk of the First District Court of Bristol county, and register of probate and insolvency, being appointed thereto in 1893. It was upon the death of William E. Fuller, judge of probate, that Judge Alger succeeded him in that office. He was author of several law books and works on genealogy. His ambition was fulfilled in placing the probate court at the front rank of such courts in this State.
One of the men who made a point of insistence of winning trial at law by fair means only, was the late Judge Lloyd E. White, a man of great push and energy, a lawyer of great ability. He had many friends throughout the city, but his clientage was largely from among the farming community of this section. He was a native of Norton and he graduated at Tuft's College, but his entire life was spent in Taunton. At first he practised law with Major Brown, but later had an office of his own. He was city solicitor of Taunton, and was district attorney for the Southern District. Receiving his appointment from Governor John L. Bates, he served for more than fifteen years as judge of the Superior Court.
Another Vermonter like Judge Bennett, who came here and made his home, and entered heartily into the spirit of the city of his adoption, was Judge William E. Fuller. Among the leaders in the life of Taunton
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in all its branches of progress, we shall ever mention the name of William E. Fuller. Withal, he was a man of great dignity and of persistence in maintaining the rule of decorum in the court room. No one should read a paper there; no one should delay court procedure by any slightest disorder. He made a very graceful judge. Judge Fuller graduated at Harvard. He was principal of Taunton High School, and he served many years as register of probate; in 1893 he received his appointment as judge of probate and insolvency for the county of Bristol. Judge Fuller was the author of a standard work on probate law, as well as of other law publications.
A quiet trier of cases and a natural born lawyer-such was Sylvanus M. Thomas, a New Bedford native, but Taunton attorney all his life. The bar will bear him in mind as a very careful student, and it will be re- membered that he had his story all ready. He allowed no one to get by him on that score. He was born in New Bedford in 1850, and graduated at Brown University in 1871. He studied law at Harvard Law School and in Boston, and he was admitted to the bar in Taunton in January, 1874. He was city solicitor here for several years.
Of James M. Cushman: regularity and reliability are the chief quali- ties by which he is known. He was admitted to the bar, but practised very little in Taunton. He was the last of the town clerks and the first of the city clerks of Taunton, remaining in that office until the year 1886. Historian and friend to historians ever since he came to Taunton, he has written and spoken much in behalf of the history of the township, and his accuracy is closely akin to that of the late Judge Alger.
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