USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > City Officers and the Annual Reports to the City Council of Newburyport 1904 > Part 14
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376
ANNUAL REPORTS
the effort will be renewed this year and I bespeak the hearty co-operation of this city government and all our people along this line.
OVERDRAFTS AND CAUSE OF OVERDRAFTS
The present method of buying supplies for the city ap- pears to be defective, which is clearly shown by the fact that every department to which I have called your atten- tion, shows an overdraft.
Judging from the past few years there has not been, in my estimation, sufficient check upon the contraction of bills against the city, causing large overdrafts. While it is true that bills contracted by committees may not be ap- proved, or the mayor may refuse to approve or draw a special order for their payment, it would be a question for the court to determine whether or not parties selling to the city could not recover the amount of their bills even after the refusal referred to. You will agree with me that no private corporation, however limited its business, would allow bills to be contracted against it in such an indis- criminate manner, and I feel that I am not asking too much of you to consider with me all orders of the city council calling for the expenditure of money before they are passed and perhaps save me exercising my prerogative or vetoing power.
As mayor of this city I feel that I must insist that here- after all bills against the city must be accompanied by a voucher signed by the members or the city council or- dering the same and a duplicate of such voucher be placed
377
MAYOR'S ADDRESS
on file at city hall by the member issuing the same, and the said bills must be presented for payment within 30 days from date of contraction.
This method will create a complete file at city hall of all goods purchased or debts contracted and make it pos- sible to determine, when the annual statement is compiled just what outstanding indebtedness exists.
I feel that all citizens having claims against the city will approve of this course and assist me in enforcing this rule.
I am also aware that the city ordinances allow each member of committees power to contract bills to a certain amount. I don't wish it understood that I desire to de- prive any member of any committee of his right or power, but from observation I feel that the city council should act on a greater number of the expenditures of various committees than has been the custom heretofore.
OTHER DEPARTMENTS
I have briefly called your attention to the work of the larger departments. In many of the smaller the work is equally as important. On an occasion of this character it would be impossible to call your attention to them all.
In your work of the city government, whether it be in the city council or in the different committees, let the same rule of careful investigation, considerate action and eco- nomical expenditure be your rule of conduct.
378
ANNUAL REPORTS
CONCLUSION
I will suggest that as the financial question will be the most important with which you will have to deal, that you exercise the greatest care in passing loan orders and itemizing appropriations, also that you exam- ine all bills carefully and see to it that the city gets the full value for every dollar expended, and as we are to be intimately associated together during the next twelve months in the management of our municipal corporation, may we be considerate, careful, judicious, true to ourselves and our constituents, so that at the end of the year we may receive the approbation of our friends and merit, at least, the respect of our opponents.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1904. 196
CITY GOVERNMENT, 1904 .
5
1905 365
DETAILED ACCOUNT OF RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES:
Abatement of Taxes . 107
Ashes and Rubbish . 109
Board of Health III
Bridges and Culverts II3
Bromfield Fund. II6
City Bonds
Fire Department
I18
Fuel Department
I22
Highway Department.
123
Interest Department. .
Lighting Streets and Public Buildings .150
Memorial Day
15I
Notes Payable I52
Parks and Public Grounds
I53
Parks (Atkinson Common)
155
Police Department. I55
Poor Department. 158
Printing Department. 163
Public Library I64
Public Property . I66
Salaries of City Officers I7I
School Department I73
Sewerage (Construction) . 179
Sewerage ( Maintenance ). I80
379
. 13I
Incidental Department 148
380
ANNUAL REPORTS
DETAILED ACCOUNT OF RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES:
Sidewalks and Edgestones. . 181
State of Massachusetts, Military aid 183
Soldiers' Relief. 184
Watering Streets for 1903 185
Miscellaneous. 186
JURY LIST 349
MAYORS OF THE CITY OF NEWBURYPORT 21
MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 1904
23
1905 .367
MEETINGS
19
OFFICE HOURS OF CITY OFFICIALS
4
REPORTS:
Board of Assessors . 223
Board of Health 227
Bridge Tender . 243
Chief Engineer 213
City Auditor 47
City Marshal 233
City Physician 208
City Registrar
249
City Solicitor 237
City Treasurer 89
Election Returns for 1904 · 355
Inspector of Animals and Provisions . 289
Overseers of the Poor . 205
Public Library 293
School Committee 381 Sealer of Weights and Measures .. 291
Sinking Fund Commissioners 81
Superintendent of Sewers 259
245
Surveyor of Highways
Tax Collector 89
Trust Funds. 273
Water Commissioners. 331
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
OF THE
City of Newburyport, Mass. For the year 1904.
HERALD PRESS
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT - 1904.
JAMES F. CARENS ( Mayor)
Chairman
PRENTISS H. REED
Vice Chairman
Ward I - RICHARD G. ADAMS, 70 Bromfield street. Term expires 1906 ERNEST W. BLISS, 10 Allen street. 66
66 1905
Ward 2 -CHARLES W. BAILEY, 62 Prospect street.
66 1906
PRENTISS H. REED, 55 Lime street. 66 66 1905
Ward 3 -JOHN F. YOUNG, 9 Fruit street. 66
1906
WILLIAM F. LUNT, 33 Prospect street. 16
66 1905
Ward 4 - PHILIP H. KIMBALL, 2 Bradstreet place. 66
66 1906
CHARLES F. JOHNSON, 45 Washington street. " 66 1905
Ward 5- RANDOLPH C. HURD, 230 High street. -
66
1906
OLIVER B. MERRILL, 35 Monroe street. 16
66
1905
Ward 6-PAUL A. MERRILL, 24 Tyng street. 66
6 4 1906
GEORGE A. DICKEY, 14 Toppan street. 66 60 1905
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
WILLIAM P. LUNT
Office at City Hall
TRUANT OFFICER.
ROBERT G. ALLEN . Office with Superintendent
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT (CONCLUDED).
SUB-COMMITTEES.
HIGH SCHOOL-J. F. Young, O. B. Merrill, C. F. Johnson, C. W. Bailey, G. A. Dickey.
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS-C. W. Bailey, R. G. Adams, P. A. Merrill, J. F. Young, R. C. Hurd.
TRAINING AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS - P. A. Merrill, C. W. Bailey, O. B. Merrill, R. C. Hurd, C. F. Johnson.
TEXT BOOKS AND SUPPLIES - E. W. Bliss, C. F. Johnson, P. A. Merrill.
RULES AND REGULATIONS - P. H. Reed, G. A. Dickey, W. F. Lunt. EVENING SCHOOLS - R. G. Adams, W. F. Lunt, P. H. Kimball.
PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE- C. F. Johnson, R. C. Hurd, W. F. Lunt. SALARIES- W. F. Lunt, J. F. Young, E. W. Bliss.
JANITORS AND BUILDINGS- G. A. Dickey, E. W. Bliss, P. H. Kimball.
DRAWING AND MUSIC- R. C. Hurd, R. G. Adams, P. A. Merrill.
COOKING AND SEWING - P. H. Kimball, O. B. Merrill, J. F. Young.
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SCHOOL DIRECTORY AND CALENDAR.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE ROOM - City Hall.
OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT - City Hall.
REGULAR MEETINGS OF THE BOARD - Last Monday evening of each month except July and August.
SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE HOURS- Wednesdays, 9 to Io, a. 111. Other days, 4 to 5, p. m.
SCHOOL YEAR - Begins tenth Tuesday after the Friday preceding the fourth of July.
VACATIONS AND HOLIDAYS - Saturdays ; Thanksgiving day and two succeeding days; Washington's birthday ; Patriots' day ; Memo- rial day; Labor day; from Christmas to New Year, inclusive ; one week commencing the first Monday in April; also, nine weeks from the Friday preceding the fourth of July.
SCHOOL SIGNALS.
8: 15, a. m. - Two strokes of fire alarm, no forenoon session of primary and grammar schools.
I : 15, p. m. - Two strokes of fire alarm, no afternoon session of primary and grammar schools.
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HIGH SCHOOL.
WALTER E. ANDREWS, principal : DANA C. WELLS, FRANK A. PAGE, sub-masters; SARA A. LEONARD, ELIZABETH GOLDSMITH, C. MAUD NORRIS, MABELLE L. MOSES, MARY STARK, HARRIET C. PIPER, CLIO CHILCOTT, assistants.
On Tuesday, June 28, 1904, graduating exercises of the Newburyport high school were held at City Hall. The exercises consisted of vocal and instrumental music, written essays by members of the class, and an address by Rev. P. S. Henson, of Tremont Temple, Boston.
The graduating class consisted of twenty-two young men and twenty-one young women; thirty-two from the city, and eleven non-residents belonging to the Putnam school.
Eighteen of the class have entered higher institutions of learning, as follows: Four members have entered college; two have been admitted to normal schools ; eight have been admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and four have been given positions by the school board as pupil teachers in the training school. Other members of the class will enter upon advanced work later, so that more than half the graduating class have thus manifested the laudable ambition to pursue further the
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#
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
course of intellectual training for which the school, with credit to itself, has prepared them.
The Toppan prize was awarded to Miss Bertha G. Cole. The committee of awards consisted of Messrs. John B. Blood and Robert G. Dodge. This prize is annually given to the pupil passing the best written examination in civil government.
Some changes have taken place in the corps of teachers during the past year. These changes, coming at a time of the year when few candidates were available, caused the sub- committee on the high school some anxiety. From the few competent candidates that presented themselves the committee secured Miss Elizabeth A. Towle, of Milford, N. H., and Miss Bertha Bonart. of Southboro, Massachusetts, both of them teachers of successful experience. Both these new instructors have thus far fulfilled the expectations of the committee, and except for the interruption of school work that necessarily comes from replacing one teacher with another. no harm has come to the institution.
Another resignation, which took effect December 2, was that of Mr. Page, teacher of the commercial department. As this is a comparatively new department, and has hardly arrived at the condition in which it can be judged as the older departments of the school can be, and as its development has depended largely upon the ability and skill of Mr. Page, naturally the school board accepted his resignation with much reluctance.
The qualifications required of a teacher in this department being peculiar, and the number of candidates for such a position comparatively limited at any time of year, the candidates of experience before the sub-committee were few. Mr. Rollin H. Fisher, of the Attleboro high school, was selected, who will
S
ANNUAL REPORT
begin his service in the school with the opening of the winter term.
The addition of a fifth year to the classical course, in 1903, made the services of another teacher necessary in the classical department, and Miss Fannie A. Kingsley, of Palmer, Mass., was appointed to the place. The addition of this teacher enables the work of the school to be arranged more systematically than before, and of course with better results.
The older departments,- Latin, Greek, Mathematics, and Modern Languages,- taught by fixed processes, need little com- ment except to say that the work in these branches is done satis- factorily. The department of English, including rhetoric and English literature, occupies, as it should, a large part of the time of the teachers, being taught in every year of the school course. History is taught topically, and students are encour- aged to do much reading in this study as well as in English, as different writers of history are apt to look at events from different "points of view." Hence the necessity for a more liberal supply of books for these two departments than for the others. While the public library furnishes some such books, it cannot, for obvious reasons, provide all.
For the teaching of physics and chemistry the school is better prepared than ever before. The wisdom of placing the labor- atory on the upper floor of the building is apparent, as the annoyance to the other rooms that prevailed, when it was in the basement, is entirely obviated.
The Commercial department is intended to give training in business matters as far as such results can be obtained outside the actual work of the counting room. The course covers four years, and is intended to give a general mental training as well as practice of typewriting and stenography.
9
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
As this department is comparatively new, it cannot be judged as easily as the older departments of the school. Practical tests. however, given by business men and others. have shown gratify- ing results.
Members of the school board and others who have visited the school during the past year have in general been pleased with the appearance of things, and believe that the school is under conditions such that the best results may be expected.
At the close of the school year, in June, eighty new pupils were admitted without examination, and twenty-eight, princi- pally in the Putnam, after examination.
STATISTICS OF THE HIGH SCHOOL.
Whole membership of boys in High school
121
..
girls
147
pupils
268
Average
pupils
240.8
Average attendance of pupils
228.7
Per cent of
pupils 94.9 66
Average age of boys in class I, High school 17.10
girls
"
I, 18.0
..
boys
II,
17 .1
..
girls
II,
16.9
.6
boys
III, 66
15.5
66
girls
III,
15.7
boys
IV,
15.0
girls
IV, 66
14.8
..
66
boys
I, Putnam school
18.1
I,
17.7
66
boys
66
II, 66
16.5
66
66
girls
II, 16
16.3
16.0
16.0
15.0
66
girls
" IV,
66
14.0
Number over 15 years of age, boys.
78
girls
108
Non-resident pupils sent by trustees of Putnam school 64
Other non-resident pupils 5
boys
" IV
girls
" III,
boys
III,
66
girls
66
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GRADUATING EXERCISES-CLASS OF 1904 CITY HALL, JUNE 28.
MARCH, "Constitution "
ANNIE LAURA BROWN.
PRAYER
REV. RICHARD WRIGHT
MUSIC, "Voices of the Woods"
. Rubinstein SCHOOL CHORUS.
ESSAY, "An Incident of Local History "
KATHARINE REBECCA LITTLE.
PROPHECY
FLORENCE IRMA TUCKER.
MUSIC, "Evening Primrose " . Ernst Schmid
SCHOOL CHORUS.
ESSAY, "The Benefits of Historical Study "
JOSEPH WOODWELL LEDWIDGE HALE.
ADDRESS, "Gunnery "
REV. P. S. HENSON, D. D. (II)
12
ANNUAL REPORT
Music, "Jehovah Reigns"
.
Mendelssohn
SCHOOL CHORUS.
ESSAY, " Nature As Seen by Old Time Poets," with Valedictory
MARION DUTTON SAVAGE.
AWARD OF TOPPAN PRIZE
John Balch Blood, - Committee on Award. Robert G. Dodge,
PRESENTATION OF DIPLOMAS
CLASS ODE Music : Fair Harvard
WORDS BY FLORENCE IRMA TUCKER.
Lo, we stand at life's portal and eagerly seek To behold what a course may be ours ; Diverse paths there must be, each one's destiny free Must be wrought amid sunshine or showers.
Now attain we this goal, once so far, far away, With a joy not unmingled with pain, For the hopes and the fears of these swift fleeting years May be ours but in memory again.
But courage, my soul ! There's a battle to win, There's a race ere the laurels we claim ;
Tho' we faint by the way, still be up while 'tis day, Strive to earn a more glorious name.
Then, however the billows press hard on our prow, Howe'er dark the fierce storm clouds may brew ; We'll encounter the blast, and stand firm to the last And our rudder forever hold true.
BENEDICTION
GRADUATING CLASS.
HIGH SCHOOL.
George Ralston Badger Emma Thayer Batchelder Nellie Boyle Waldo Frank Davis
John Raymond Doyle
Everett Merrill Hatch Follansbee
Joseph Woodwell Ledwidge Hale Bessie Florence Langley
William John Magowan Charles Morse Pritchard William Hills Safford
Leavitt Weare Thurlow
William Hervey Toppan
Harold Edwin True Ethel Ruby Welch Edward Patrick Woods
Lorenzo Wilson Baldwin Grace Ethelynde Boyd Mary Hale Cusack Ralph Cooper Dickey Elizabeth Helen Felker Daniel Albert Goodwin, 3d Edith Wells Lambert John Francis Leary Edward Ashby Plumer Ella Florence Robinson Marion Dutton Savage Marion Hilliard Toppan Jessie Newell Towne Florence Irma Tucker Anna Hale White Jonn William Woods
PUTNAM SCHOOL.
Bertha Greenwood Cole Roscoe George Frame Hannah Knight Alfred Bartlett Nutting Eliza Norwood True Samuel Edward Webb
Chester Newell Fogg Gratia Lucretia Godfrey Katharine Rebecca Little Arbella Piennis Pingree Mildred Benton Vennard
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1$
ANNUAL REPORT
HONORS IN GENERAL SCHOLARSHIP.
Marion Dutton Savage Joseph Woodwell Ledwidge Hale Bertha Greenwood Coke Eliza Norwood True Jessie Newell Towne
Katharine Rebecca Little Anna Hale White Charles Morse Pritchard Marion Hilliard Toppan John Francis Leary .
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
There are now eighteen grammar school rooms, with an attendance of over eight hundred pupils. These rooms vary in size, some containing only thirty-six seats while others have from forty to fifty or more. In the Jackman school there are from forty-eight to fifty-eight desks to a room. These rooms are spacious, and well ventilated and heated. In so far as the comfort and convenience of the children are concerned, they can properly accommodate as many pnpils as there are seats and desks. But no teacher can do justice to more than forty pupils ; certainly none should have more pupils than can be provided with seats and desks. In the Jackman school several rooms have been more than full since the schools opened, last Sep- tember.
In the grammar department of the Kelley school there are four rooms with forty-nine desks each, and one with forty-one. Two of these rooms have more pupils than there are desks. The Currier school has thirty-six desks to a room; with the limited size of these rooms no more pupils should be desired. At pres- ent there is an excess of pupils in two rooms.
Probably the number of grammar school children is larger than at any previous time. The chief cause of this is that fewer
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16
ANNUAL REPORT
children are leaving school for work. On the average children are receiving longer schooling than ever before.
When the schools opened at the beginning of the school year, in September, 1903, there were so many pupils in the Currier and Kelley schools that it was found necessary to reopen the ward room. Mrs. Alice E. Silloway was reappointed principal of this school. Sixteen pupils were transferred from the eighth grade of the Currier school, nine from the eighth grade and thirteen from the seventh grade of the Kelley school.
The Kelley school was partially relieved again this year by the transfer of pupils from the seventh and eighth grades. The Jackman school, with several roonis over crowded, has not yet been relieved, although various plans have been considered, but so far none has been adopted.
It has been suggested that, if the Currier school is not to be remodeled, some additional accommodation for the grammar school pupils of that section might be obtained by removing the grammar pupils to the Curtis school and placing the primary scholars in the Forester street school. The number of pupils in the Curtis school is so small that ample room would be found for them in the Currier school, while the Curtis school could easily accommodate eight or ten more pupils to a room than the Currier school.
With the ward room on Congress street to accommodate the excess of pupils belonging in the Kelley school, and those in the Currier school provided for, there remains only the question of how to care for the surplus scholars of the Jackman school. Several plans have been suggested. One was to remove the cooking and sewing schools to the lower room in the east corner of the high school, then to take the only primary room from the
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Jackman school and put the pupils of that grade into the room now occupied by the cooking school on Purchase street. The school board recommended the removal of the cooking school, but has not as yet decided upon the removal of the primary room.
Another plan suggested was starting a room for grammar pupils on the third floor of the Jackman school, which is used possibly once or twice a year for a lecture or for graduation exercises. All the school rooms below State street are now occupied, so that there seems to be no other way of providing for the large number of grammar pupils than one of the two plans just mentioned.
The branches of study taught in the grammar schools are arithmetic, language, grammar, reading, spelling, geography, history, bookkeeping, music, drawing; penmanship, and nomi- nally physiology. The girls in the sixth and seventh grades receive instruction in sewing, and those in the eighth grade in cooking. Special teachers are employed for the drawing, music, sewing, and cooking. It is also expected that physical exercises will be given at least once each day by the regular teachers.
That the fundamental branches are generally well taught seems to be proved by the fact that pupils removing to other places are fully able to hold their positions. and in many cases are advanced a grade, while those coming into the city are fre- quently unable to perform the work of the same grade here. In some places attempts have been made to introduce some of the high school branches into the upper grade in the grammar schools. While this might be desirable here, in some cases, in others there would be serious objections to such a course. If all pupils in the ninth grade were intending to continue their school
18
ANNUAL REPORT
work and take a high school course, preparation in the same line of work would probably be helpful, and might enable students to complete the high school course in four years. But as a large number of grammar school pupils never enter the high school, it would be wasting their time and the energy of the teacher to give them either algebra or Latin. It is possible that the upper class might be divided, those intending to enter the high school, in one division, to take special preparatory branches, while the other division received the ordinary grammar school instruction. There would be serious difficulties then. In the first place, two of the three large grammar schools have already two grades in a room, as many as any teacher should have, if good results are expected. In the only room having a ninth grade alone there are at the present time over fifty pupils. To introduce an additional study, and give proper attention to the branches now taught, would hardly be possible.
During the year ending June 30, 1904, no changes occurred in the corps of grammar school teachers. At the close of the year Miss Cassine H. Brown, third assistant teacher in the Currier school, relinquished her position, where she had been a most efficient and satisfactory teacher. The vacancy was filled by the election of Miss Ruth Sargent, of this city. Miss Sargent graduated from the training school in 1903, and had since then taught a grammar school in Byfield with excellent success.
The work of the various rooms in the grammar schools has been carried on in very much the same manner as for several years past. All of the teachers are devoted to the duties of their position, and though the measure of their success is not always the same, as it never will be, there is none that is neglectful of her pupils nor indifferent or careless as to their progress.
19
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Late in the fall of 1903, Buehler's English Grammar was introduced for the use of the eighth and ninth grades. This was in line with the demand for more technical instruction of gram- mar in the upper grades of the elementary schools. At the beginning of the present term Buehler's English Lessons, belong- ing to the same series, was provided for the other grades in the grammar schools. Later it may be found advisable to move both of these books down one grade, commencing the use of the English Lessons with the fourth grade and continuing it through the fifth and sixth grades, placing the larger book in the seventh, as well as in the eighth and ninth grades. This could be accom- plished at slight expense.
GRAMMAR PUPILS PROMOTED TO HIGH SCHOOL.
[Only those marked (e) actually entered.]
JACKMAN SCHOOL.
e Albert Atkinson Elizabeth Brown
e Vida Campbell
e Jay Maddock
e Fanny Cashman
e Ethel MacBurnie
e Frederick Coffin
e Elsie Nutting Georgie Nutting
e George Currier
e Willis Currier
e Olive Oburg
e Alice Dixon John Dondero
e Mabel Page
e Ernest Dow
e John Pettingell
e Arthur Petts
e Annie Simon
e Lillian Foley
e Michael Simon
e Earle Stratton
e Hazel Fowler Mary Furlong
e Helen Somerby
e Bertha Gilbert
e Elizabeth Sullivan
e Marjorie Goodwin
€ Charles Thurlow
e Harold Grant
e Lydia Trask
e Boyd Jones
e Bertha Welch
e Leslie King
Grace Warden
e Ethel Winder
e William Wheeler
20
e Willard Little Earle Lovejoy
e Everett Packard
e Jere Doyle
e Earle Gagnon
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
KELLEY SCHOOL
e Leland Balch Mabel Bragg
e Elizabeth Coffin
e Rita Cashman Joseph Chase John Dineen
e Edith Dole
e Norman Frederickson
e Bertha Houston James Kane
e Ernest Miller
e Patricia Moynihan
e Elizabeth Sullivan
e Helen Usher
e Ethel Fox
CURRIER SCHOOL.
e Lena Carter
e Annabel Patriquin
e Grace Currier
e Martha Bruce
e Harold Bartlett
e Harriett Kendrick
e Homer McQuillen
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