USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > City Officers and the Annual Reports to the City Council of Newburyport 1875 > Part 8
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A. F. Towle, brick paving,
30 15
Rufus Dodge, setting edgestones,
3 00
Thomas Ronan, jr., paving sidewalk,
3 50
202 85
REBUILDING NEWBURYPORT BRIDGE.
J. C. Stanley, spikes, ropes, etc.,
72 69
Wm. Noyes, hardware,
5 02
W. & M. O'Connell, stock and labor,
321 98
Henry M. Cross, expenses paid, 10 00
Clapp & Ballou, account of contract on building pier,
9500 00
John C. Kimball, 6755 feet spruce plank,
114 84
Sloop Gazelle, 10 days' work pulling piles,
250 00
H. B. Lamprey, piles,
24 00
George Lucy, horse hire,
5 00
Watson Manufacturing Co. account of contract,
18,000 00
George B. Hicken, labor on bridge,
38 50
W. W. Marshall,
30 37
Lemuel Hicken,
31 50
John J, Hicken,
30 37
G. H. Messenger,
33 75
Joel D. Hodgdon,
31 50
E. S. Lewis,
66
18 00
T. Sweeney,
66
1 00
D. Lyons,
1 00
James Lyon,
1 00
Samuel P. Dole, ‹.
4 00
Amos Coffin, 2044 feet spruce plank,
32 01
William Silliken, labor on bridge,
55 CO
Thurston & Colman, 10 spruce pickets,
25
-
21
B. W. Ordway, filing saws,
75
John T. Fillmore, 17,843 feet southern pine,
371 00
Gerrish & Pike, towing,
3 00
Charles F. Pike, returning plank,
75
Charles Gorwaiz, 5 days' labor,
10 00
Joseph Gorwaiz, 4 "
8 00
Bayley & Perkins, mill work,
11 90
Merrimac Steam Tug Co., towing,
30 00
J. W. Davis, diving,
37 00
John E, Bayley, stock and labor.
3 65
Thomas Mackinney, hardware,
1 15
Total,
29,088 98
INCIDENTALS.
Charles R. Sargent, stock and labor,
172 02
Wm. H. Huse & Co., advertising, 169 50
Richard Plumer, P. M., box rents and postage,
11 21
Nathaniel Tilton, services as inspector,
2 00
Nehemiah Flanders, jr., services as warden,
2 00
Nehemiah Flanders, jr., services as inspector,
2 00
John J. Hicken, services as inspector,
2 00
L. S. Learned, stationery,
21 38
David C. Ash, attendance on ward meetings,
11 00
John Nelson, ringing bell,
1 00
Putney's Express, expressing,
5 50
Enoch Goodwin, ringing bell,
7 75
William Collins, services as inspector,
2 00
George Lucy, horse hire,
3 00
Chas. W. Page, services as inspector,
2 00
Blake & Noyes, stock and labor,
75
R. L. Greenleaf, sale of house lots,
25 00
Colby, Coombs & Co., advertising,
44 75
22
John N. Pike, professional services,
22 00
John B. Porter, services as police at City Hall, 6 00
S. H. Fowle, Daily Advertiser and stationery, 15 41
Rufus Sargent, plans,
8 00
Ellen S. Clark, stationery,
20 50
John J. Putnam, services as warden,
4 00
John C. Lang, services as clerk, 4 00
Charles H. Allen, attendance at ward meetings,
8 50
Samuel J. Ford, services as inspector,
2 00
Oliver P. Townsend, services as inspector,
4 00
Chas. H. Lunt, ringing bell, etc.,
7 41
W. H. T. Dodge, services as clerk,
4 00
S. H. Safford & Co., undertaking,
5 00
John H. Worthen, services as fish warden,
25 00
Nathaniel S. Osgood, expenses on Atkinson Common,
28 90
Eben Little, jr., damages,
25 00
Eben F. Stone, professional services,
41 00
Wm. H. Lovett, expressing,
15 80
Nathaniel Greeley, expenses to Boston, etc.,
16 90
A. W. Greenleaf, sundries for the year,
17 16
Abatements of 1873 taxes,
2,493 49
Total,
3,258 93
NOTES PAYABLE.
No. 165,
$2,000 00
No. 168,
6,000 00
No. 169,
5,500 00
No. 170,
5,500 00
No. 172,
10,000 00
No. 174,
9,000 00
No. 178,
6,800 00
23
No. 179, No. 181,
2,100 00 6,000 00
Total,
52,900 00
COSTS ON TAXES.
Paid J. M. Tappan, for service of warrants, $24 39
NON RESIDENT BANK TAX.
Paid A. W. Greenleaf, collector, for collecting tax, $28 63
ABATEMENT OF TAXES OF 1874-75.
To sundry persons,
$1,770 10
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
OF THE
CITY OF NEWBURYPORT.
FOR THE YEAR
1875
CITY OF NEWBURYPORT
TEARA
MARIOUL
MDCCCLI
NEWBURYPORT : WILLIAM H. HUSE & CO., PRINTERS, No. 42 STATE STREET. 1876.
-
REPORT.
The School Committee present to their fellow citi- zens the following report of the condition of educa- tion in the city of Newburyport, and of what the public schools of the city are doing to fit the children to become useful and intelligent citizens. The edu- cational system of Massachusetts is established by laws of the Commonwealth, and our schools have been in harmony with the system, which successive boards have endeavored to make of as much benefit to the community as lay in their power. The schools of Newburyport have always ranked high in this Commonwealth, and we believe that they never stood higher than they do to-day. On some of the details of the system there is an honest difference of opinion in this board, and as upon such matters we cannot be unanimous it is well that we should preserve silence, for a report should be such as to insure the confidence of the people, as the judgment of men selected by them for this special duty, and who having given faith- ful attention to the subject can give an intelligent opinion. There is often complaint of the manage- ment, expense, and course of study in the schools,
4
and this is worthy of attention when it comes from those who visit them and make the matter one of se- rious contemplation and comparison with the same elsewhere. But often complaint is made because our schools are not perfect in every detail by those who forget that perfection is not to be found upon earth, and that a present evil is magnified by the laws of perspective; that a molehill near at hand is higher than a mountain on the horizon. We would not im- ply that there is any general complaint of the man- agement of the schools; there is none; but such evils as are complained of are felt as deeply by the committee, and they are as careful and anxious to ap- ply the remedy where one can be found or suggested, as can any private citizen. A board of school com- mittee is composed of men of various opinions, neces- sarily, but on one matter we are of one mind, and that is that by far the greatest evil which attends our sys- tem of education is
ABSENTEEISM,
if we may apply that name. The Aaron's rod which swallows up all others, the most voracious serpent of all which eat away the beneficial influences of our schools, is non-attendance. Not merely truancy, but the fact that so many children are kept away from our schools either from necessity or from choice. It is something fearful to contemplate. By the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts we have a sys- tem of compulsory education; those who know the practical operation of the laws know how utterly ab- surd it would be to claim that such is our practice.
5
There is no compulsory education in Newbury- port or elsewhere in the Commonwealth. The co- operation of every manufacturing corporation with every board of school committee could not make it compulsory on parents to send their children to school under our present laws as at present administered. We could give the figures as to the number of chil- dren between five and fifteen years of age in the city and those of the same age who attend school, and show that there were a hundred or more who do not receive the advantages of a school education, but these figures are delusive in more ways than one. The favorable side is that there are private schools which are attended by some, and the unfavorable side is the fact that the whole number which is reported is largely composed of those who attend only at inter- vals, and by the further consideration, that there are many people who will deceive as to the ages of their children to get them into the primary school, when they are poor, toddling, wee things, under the age when the law admits them to school. The parents are often poor; they wish their children to get all the edu- cation for which they can afford to allow them the time; soon these little ones can earn something; now is their only chance, and so the mother or father says that the babe is five years old when it is consid- erably less, and has it cared for while it is yet a babe, and taught a few of the rudiments when it ought to be playing in the open air and learning that there is a free sky above it and heaven's own breath blow- ing from it, and not be shut up in a narrow school room to gaze about upon confining walls and see the heavens only through dingy window glass.
The figures of our statistics of the children of prop-
6
er age who attend school and the total number have little significance. If it be desired to learn the diffi- culties in getting these young souls under the sun- light of instruction and out of the shadow of the squalid home, the street, the alley, and of the devil's wing which is spread over the boys who in the even- ing roam about uncared for, ask the truant officers to relate some few of the scenes which have come' under their observation in the performance of their duty. Hear them tell how a so called truant has been pur- sued to his home, and such a home! the mother in garments scarcely sufficient for decency, and the tru- ant having for his sole garment a pair of his father's worn out trowsers with a string for a suspender, while his only shirt was being washed. This is a family too proud to call on the city for aid, while there are many others who with less pride are as needy and keep their young children at home to help eke out a scanty subsistence. Poverty is stronger than law. Nesessity, as the proverb says, knows no law. What is the use of learning the alphabet and the multiplication table when one starves in the pro- cess? A man must be comfortable while he is learn- ing, and it is no less true of a child. That it is not wholly from indifference to the advantages of educa- tion that such persons keep their children from school is evident from the fact that so many under fifteen years of age endeavor to get into the evening schools. Every year, when these begin, the committee find it necessary to inquire into the ages, so many are appa- rently mere little boys and girls, and with all their care it is doubtless true that very many give a greater age than their years will warrant. Little boys whose looks are those of nine years claim to be thirteen or
7
fourteen, and those whom one would judge to be twelve claim to be over fifteen. The endeavor of these children to gain a living in the day and an edu- cation at night is laudable, but ruinous to their health and vigor of mind and body. Our schools are excel- lent, they rank high among the schools of the com- monwealth everywhere, but those who attend them would for the most part be sent to school by their pa- rents even if we had no public school system. Just those whom it is the most desirable to reach are those who stay away, and the consequence is seen in the great and increasing number of juvenile criminals whose depredations and the cost of whose trials and purishment is a lesson and a warning that something should be done to remedy this evil. It is one in which Newburyport is not peculiar. The report of the bureau of the statistics of labor makes this its first and most important topic; showing that the evil is general in the large towns and cities of our com- monwealth, and especially where manufacturing in- dustry gathers a class which largely lives from hand to mouth, and many of whom on the slightest reverse of prosperity are reduced to actual want. We dwell upon this topic because it is of primary importance. Our system of education is established to rear good c'tizens from the rising generation, and if it only trains those to be good whose parents would rear them to be good, the system is a failure and the mon- ey spent for education is wasted. Such we do not assert to be the fact, for many are taught who would not be but for the system; but it is sad indeed that any soul should grow up in ignorance, and still sadder that the young should mature in crime in spite of all
8
the expense and care and labor which our public schools cost.
THE REMEDY
must be in legislation after a careful inquest into the facts and causes, which are general and not confined merely to Newburyport. There is no remedy which the school committee or the mill corporations or the courts can apply under the present laws and methods of administering them. An inquiry as to the needs of all parts of the State, and legislation for all, is re- quisite to remedy this, the greatest evil in our system of education, probably the greatest of any kind which legislation could affect.
PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
The very name shows their importance. The Pri- mary schools, first in order in which the children attend and first in the magnitude of their results. The Grammar schools, the High school, the college only finish off and polish the work which the Primary schools shape and lay out. More than half the chil- dren educated in our public schools finish their school education when they leave these. Here is furnished the key of all knowledge, the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic, and many parents consider their children sufficiently educated when they have finished the course in the Primary school. There is
9
a good deal in the name of having finished a course of study, and thus much of the work should be done in these schools, and the grade made pretty high for admission from them to the Grammar schools. The condition of the Primary schools in Newbury- port is excellent; we have a fine corps of teachers who are doing their work faithfully and well. The changes made in the teachers during the year are as follows:
CHANGES.
On the third of May a Primary school for boys was re-opened on Buck street, there being a call for ad- ditional school accommodation in that part of the city. Miss M. Agnes Pearson was elected teacher of the school. October 5th Miss Sarah J. Shackford was transferred from the Buck street school to be an as- sistant in the South girls' Grammar school, and Miss Alice H. Olmstead was elected to succeed Miss Shackford in the Buck street school. October 18th Miss S. H. Ilinkley resigned as teacher of theBuck street school, and Miss Agnes A. Somerby was elected to fill the vacancy. The changes made in the Pri- mary schools at the annual election were as follows: Miss Mary E. Hayes was elected principal of the Davenport girls' school in place of Miss E. A. W. Pearson, and Miss Clara J. Edgerly assistant in the same school, in place of Miss Mary A. Moulton. Miss M. Louise Bartlett was elected principal of the Davenport boys' school in place of Miss M. E. Cogs- well, and Miss Alice H. Purington was elected as-
2
10
sistant. Miss M. Agnes Pearson was transferred to the Kent street school in place of Miss Hayes, trans- ferred. Miss Sarah J. Shackford was elected to the Buck street school in place of Miss Pearson, trans- ferred.
PLAINS SCHOOL.
The school at the Plains is classed for convenience as a Primary school, but it is actually conducted like the district schools in the country, both sexes attend- ing, and the pupils being of every grade, from the first year of the Primary course to the highest in the Grammar school course. This school was taught at the beginning of the school year by Miss Lottie E. Forsyth, who resigned May 17, and the vacancy was filled by the election of Miss Marietta D. Paul, who resigned Dec. 6th and the vacancy was filled by the election of Mr. Walter Hoxie, at a salary of $500.
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
The Grammar schools of Newburyport are in a condition of prosperity of which the committee and the city may feel proud. Most of the teachers have established reputations for ability in their profession and are respected by pupils, parents, and the School Committee, and although there is a difference of favor with which the labors of teachers is received, there is no Grammar school in the city which is not well and faithfully conducted in the main, as will be
11
seen in the results of the work. Those pupils who go through the course and pass the examinations are found fitted, almost universally, to enter the High school when they apply for admission there, and it is a question whether it would not be better to adopt the rule which is in force in Salem and elsewhere, to make the final examinations in the Grammar schools a little more strict and dispense with the general ex- amination for admission to the High school, having a sufficient certificate of fitness that the Grammar school course has been thoroughly completed.
Those who finish the Grammar school course should be fitted for all the ordinary business and duties of life so far as the school can accomplish this. To spell cor- rectly, to be able to speak and write grammatically, to keep accounts and make all the calculations of arith- metic needed in ordinary business, and to know some- thing of the geography of the country in which we live more especially, and of its history and political con- stitution are needed to make an intelligent citizen, and in these pupils should be well grounded even if they go no farther in learning than the Grammar school conducts them.
It will be seen by the following that the admissions to the High school from the applicants from the Grammar schools hardly necessitated an examination :
BROWN HIGH SCHOOL.
From Bromfield Grammar 5
Jackman Grammar. 14
Kelley Grammar 15
Currier Grammar. 6
Total
.40
GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL.
From Hancock Grammar
2 South Grammar. 6
.
12
From Kelley Grammar. 14
Currier Grammar Other schools. 2
4
Total
28
PUTNAM FREE SCHOOL.
From Jackman Boys Grammar. 1
Hancock Girls' Grammar. 8
Kelley Grammar. 2
South Girls' Primary 1
Total
12
Aggregate.
80
All who applied were admitted.
The questions were prepared to test the knowledge of the pupils in the principles of what they had been taught, and were not taken from the text books they had studied, showing that the teaching had not been wholly routine and from the book. The questions were as follows:
For each correct answer in Arithmetic two credits were given. One credit given for each correct answer in Geography and Grammar. In Spelling and Defining each one half credit. Reading and writing were marked on a scale of ten each.
In Arithmetic, if the answer was incorrect, but it was apparent that the process was understood, one credit was given.
ARITHMETIC.
1. Write in numerals fifteen millions, thirty-seven thousand, seventeen, and twenty-two ten-thousandths.
2. A can hoe 16 rows of corn in a day, B 18, C 20, and D 24; what is the smallest number of rows that will keep each employed an exact number of days ?
3. How many feet of boards will a fence 603 9-10 rods long require, allow ing 74 1-4 feet of boards to a rod ?
4. Divide 12 by 1.2.
5. A seedsman retailed 75 bu. 3 pks. of clover seed at 8 1-2 cents a pint. How much did he get?
6. What decimal part of two rods are 2 1-4 fathoms ?
7. Washington was born Feb. 22, 1732, died Dec. 14, 1799. At what age did he die ?
8. Find the interest of $6523 from Aug, 12th to the 5th Jan. following, at 7 per cent ?
9. How many rods of fencing does it require to inclose a square farm of 122 acres 30 sq. rods.
13
10, What is the interest of 800 for 9 years at 6 per cent., compounded an- nually ?
GEOGRAPHY.
1. What are the names of the grand divisions of land ?
2. Why does the sun appear to rise in the east ?
3. What are the Arctic and Antarctic circles ?
4. Name the zones and give their location.
5. What States border on the Atlantic ocean ?
6. What States touch the great lakes ?
7. Name six rivers that flow in a Southeasterly direction from the Appala- chian mountain range.
8. Name three rivers that flow in a southwesterly direction from the Rocky mountain range.
9. Name four principal cities on the Merrimac river, and tell what States they are in.
10. What is the seat of government of the United States, and where is it located.
11. What is the principal agricultural product of the Southern States ; and what of the Northern ?
12. Where are the West Indian Islands ? Where are the East Indies ?
13. What three large rivers in South America, and where do they empty ?
14. Give the names and locations of the capitals of any six of the South American States.
15. What mountains north of Italy ?
16. What separates Spain from France ?
17. What is the largest river in England ? Whence does it empty and what large city on its banks ?
18. Describe the river Ganges.
19. What is the largest of the Japan Islands ?
20. Name the most easterly, southerly and westerly capes of Africa.
GRAMMAR.
1. What is Grammar ?
2. Name the parts of speech.
3. What is an adjective and into what classes are adjectives divided ?
4. What is a verb and how do you conjugate verbs ?
5. Into what classes are pronouns divided ?
6. Give the relative pronouns.
7. What is an adverb ?
S. What is a sentence ?
9. What is the subject and what the predicate of a sentence ?
10. What is a conjunction ?
11. What is a preposition ?
12. How do nouns form their plural ?
13. How are adjectives compared ?
Parse the marked words in the following sentence :
14 15
16 17 18 19 20
The young may die ; the old must; therefore be always prepared for that great event.
14
SPELLING AND DEFINING.
SIREN. A sea nymph.
LIVID. Black and blue.
LEGEND. A doubtful or fictitious narrative.
CONVERGING. Tending toward the same point.
LITHE. Gentle ; mild ; supple.
LANGUISH. Grow feeble or weak.
SHROUDED. Dressed for the grave.
CHARTER. An instrument bestowing rights.
HAVEN. A port.
PURPOSE. Intention.
THEORY. Plan.
DISCOUNTING. Lending or advancing money.
CALUMNY. Slander.
ADVICES. Intelligence.
SUFFICE. To be sufficient.
DERISION. Scorn, ridicule.
CONDONE. To pardon.
GIBE. Scoff.
SPINET. A stringed musical instrument.
PREJUDICE. Previous bias or judgment.
CHANGES.
On March 1st Miss Virginia Clarkson resigned as assistant in the Jackman Male Grammar school, and Miss Lucy Lowe was elected to fill the vacancy. In the South Female Grammar school at the autumn term it was found that there were more pupils in Miss Appleton's school than one teacher could attend to, and Miss Sarah J. Shackford was transferred from the Buck street school as an assistant to Miss Apple- ton.
-
KELLEY SCHOOL.
In this school we have tried an experiment which has been attempted in various other places, of a grad- ed school under the supervision of one head master,
15
in which boys and girls are taught together and Pri- mary and Grammar pupils are all taught in one school. Of the success of the experiment there is not unanimity in this board nor among the people. All that we can say of it is that it is an experiment not yet thoroughly tested to the satisfaction of all. The changes in teachers in this school have been the dropping of Miss M. E. Jaques at the annual election of teachers, the promotion of Miss S. E. Forsyth to fill the vacancy, and the election of Florence A. Winn in place of Miss Forsyth. Sept. 20 Miss Forsyth re- signed and Miss Mary E. Jaques was elected to fill the vacancy caused by her resignation.
HIGH SCHOOLS,.
The consolidated High schools, formed by the union of the Boys' Brown High School, the Girls' High School and the Putnam Free School, was also an experiment. Those who proposed it gave as one reason for making the experiment that it would be more economical, that it would lighten the expense to the people. As a measure of economy it has been a failure. The High schools have never been so ex- pensive as since the consolidation. This has been, perhaps, partly attributable to the general increase of wages, salaries and cost of living, but cannot be wholly due to these causes. The Putnam school is open to the youth of either sex wherever they may reside, and the course of study in our High schools and instruction from our teachers, is thus opened to all. Aside from the question of economy the High schools are in a condition to compare favorably with
16
with those of any other city or town of the Common- wealth. The pupil who desires instruction and is willing to study can be thoroughly and faithfully taught here. It has been the policy of the successive committees, since the present arrangement was made, to make this a popular school, one for the young of all classes, and at the same time to give to all a High school training equal to any elsewhere, if the pupil had the disposition and the capacity to take ad- vantage of the opportunity offered. In this endeavor . the school committee has been eminently successful. It has been sometimes objected that poor scholars come from the High school. True. So they do from the best Universities in the world. The High school nor the University can never create capacity,-they can only train what nature has already furnished. The school gives the opportunity, and the youth who have capacity and the will to improve it find there excel- lently qualified teachers, faithful in the performance of their duty, and their work is best appreciated by those who have most carefully observed what has been done.
In the teaching of languages in the High school the committee would suggest that more should be read by the pupils, especially in the lower classes. The grammar of a language is more thoroughly learned by use than it can be from treatises on gram- mar, as is seen in the way in which young children learn their native tongue. Those who hear the lan- guage spoken correctly and who read the best written books, learn to speak and write correctly even if they never look into a grammar. In learning a foreign tongue or the dead languages the graminar is, of course, necessary as an adjunct, but the form may be
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