USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > City of Melrose annual report 1862-1879 > Part 26
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The other Grammar Schools are in the hands of teachers who have long enjoyed the confidence of the public.
The schools have been very full, containing an excess of pupils sufficient to form a new school, but not having sur- plus funds we were obliged to put extra duties upon the teachers, and advance ten scholars to the First Grammar School without proper preparation. We hardly need add that this is ill-advised, and should not be resorted to except when prompted by actual necessity.
As many of our scholars are obliged to content themselves with their school studies by the time they have completed the Grammar School course, we have deemed it advisable to furnish diplomas to the graduating class of the First Grammar School.
HIGH SCHOOL.
Principal
ALONZO G. WHITMAN, A. M.
First Assistant
· Miss MARY L. CHARLES.
Second "
EMMA A. J. BUGBEE.
High School Course.
First.
Second.
Third.
Fourth.
Virgil,
French,
Algebra,
Latin,
French, Rhetoric,
Latin,
Rhetoric,
Geology,
Sallust, Eng. History,
Algebra,
Botany,
Physics, Physiology,
Reading,
Astronomy,
Geometry, Reading,
Bookkeeping, English
Reading Eng. Reading
Authors.
Shakespeare.
Grammar.
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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Present number of scholars 74
Average
.
· 72
Per cent of attendance .
. 97.5
Yrs. Mos.
Average age, March 1, 1876 .
16 3
66 rank in all exercises .
·
81.2%
Number not absent during five months
· 31
Class of 1876.
BLANTON, LIZZIE ANNA.
DUTTON, HATTIE.
Goss, FLORENCE MARY.
LANE, HATTIE ESTELLA.
Average age, eighteen years, two months.
Class of 1877.
BAILEY, CARRIE WINTHROP.
LECRAW, LIZZIE GRIFFITH.
BARRETT, NELLIE JOSEPHINE.
LOVEJOY, MINNIE BARILLA.
BROWN, MINNIE.
LYALL, ADDIE LOUISE.
CHAPIN, ANNIE MARIA.
MCCOUBRY, LIZZIE ANNA.
EMERSON, GEORGIE THERESA.
NORTON, ADA ELIZABETH.
SARGENT, LULIE BROWNE.
PARKER, MARY.
VINTON, MARY ISABEL.
BABB, EDWARD EVERETT.
WORTHEN, SUSIE STRICKLAND.
RUSSELL, WILLIAM CLIFTON.
Average age, sixteen years, seven months.
Class of 1878.
AUSTIN, CORA FRANCENA.
SELEE, LUCIE CORA.
BOARDMAN, ELLEN CARVER.
STRATTON, NELLIE MARIA.
BURR, FANNIE WOODBURY.
TROWBRIDGE, CLARA BELLE.
DAMON, NELLIE BELL. UPHAM, MARY ELIZABETHI.
DRAKE, LOUISE ISABEL.
BRADBURY, WILLIAM BENJAMIN.
GRUNDY, EMMA JANE.
CHANDLER, HENRY GORDON. COLEGAN, HUGH THOMAS.
HALLETT, IDA LOUISE.
JONES, ANNA MAY.
DOLE, WILLIAM ANDREWS.
LOVEJOY, JENNIE GILBERT.
LITTLEFIELD, HOMER SWEET.
MOLYNEUX, ANNIE ELIZABETH.
MANSFIELD, GEORGE WHITE.
MOLYNEUX, MARIA LOUISE.
MONROE, LIZZIE JACOBS. TROWBRIDGE, AMELIA FRANK. MANSFIELD, FRANK.
·
Average age, fifteen years, eleven months.
125
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Class of 1879.
ANTHES, EMMA CHARLOTTE.
STRAINE, HATTIE ELLA.
BARTLETT, ANNA AUGUSTA.
BURR, ARTHUR MARKIIAM.
BRIGGS, SARAH.
COBURN, GEORGE LEWIS.
CURRIER, MABEL LULU.
CHANDLER, HERBERT WILLIAM.
FARNSWORTH, MINNIE LOUISE.
EDWARDS, WILLIAM HERBERT.
GIBBONS, HANNAH JANE.
ELLIS, WILLIAM BERTON.
JONES, MARY ALICE.
HEATH, BENJAMIN LINCOLN.
KIMBALL, MINNIE CLIFFORD.
JONES, GEORGE RICH.
LONG, EMMA FRANCES.
LOVEJOY, ALBERT WINSLOW.
LOWE, ADA ESTELLA.
MORGAN, EDWARD CURRIER.
MORSE, JENNIE FLORENCE.
MORSE, FRANK ALBERT.
REMICK, STATIRA JANE.
MORSE, HORACE ELMER.
ROBINSON, CAROLINE FRANCES.
RORKE, MARY AGATHA.
STANTIAL, EDDIE BROOKS. START, EDWIN AUGUSTUS.
SARGENT, ANNA FLORENCE.
WASHBURN, CHARLES HENRY.
STANTIAL, AMY MARIA.
WILLIAMS, WILLIAM HALL.
STETSON, RUTH CUSHING.
WILLS, GEORGE AUGUSTIN.
STONE, ALMA MARIA.
YOUNG FREDERIC GRANT.
Average age, fifteen years, five months.
The exhibit of this school must be specially gratifying to our citizens.
Teachers and pupils show a common interest in its reputa- tion, and, as must be true in respect to every prosperous school, share the enthusiasm and pride in its welfare.
The proficiency of Miss Charles in the French language has enabled us to dispense with a special instructor in its pronunciation, although this year we were obliged to pay for one, as it was a part of the legacy of unpaid bills left us by our predecessors.
We trust that the parents and guardians of the pupils who may attend this school will exert their influence to persuade them to complete the prescribed course of study. The bene- fits of the training here cannot well be over-estimated ; the strengthening of the faculties, the ability to use, exert, and concentrate the powers of the mind as occasion will demand, which are acquired in our High School, are absolutely inval- uable in after life, and there is great danger that just at this
126
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
point our young students may make a grievous mistake in neglecting the advantages which it is their privilege to claim.
MUSIC.
Most of the year we have been unable (through lack of funds) to employ a special instructor in this department. Mrs. Georgie N. Bordman has, however, with characteris- tic public zeal, frequently and regularly given lessons in the schools, and through her unrequited efforts this branch of education has not materially suffered. We trust another year to be able to reinstate Mrs. Bordman as instructor of music for at least a portion of the year.
DRAWING.
This branch of education, which is being pursued with very great practical results in many schools elsewhere, is being adopted in our schools as we find teachers competent to instruct it. We do not feel justified by "the times"'in procuring a special instructor in this department, and even if we were, we doubt the propriety, under our common school system, of raising any study to such prominence. Educa- tional luxuries should not be confounded with the education contemplated under the common school system.
DISCIPLINE.
The discipline of our schools is good.
It is our purpose to save unimpaired the energy, vivacity, and courage of the student ; not to crush or injure these God- given qualities, but rather to teach their possessors to control and direct them in channels of usefulness to bless the world ; not to diminish the steam and power of this wonderful engine, the human mind, but to place in charge an engineer who shall so direct these mighty powers as to scatter blessings in their pathway. No teacher is worthy of a school who, in the absence of ability, character, and talent to govern without the rod, resorts to brute force, lets loose his passions,
127
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
degrades himself before his scholars, and stirs into activity all the worst elements in his school.
The spectacle of such a teacher before a school should not for an instant be tolerated.
Our scholars are apt to become just what our treatment presupposes them to be. Show us a school of " bullies," and we will show you a teacher of the same stamp. Appear before your school in the rôle of a policeman and straightway , you will have a list of criminals. Maintain the demeanor of a true gentleman, and your school will graduate ladies and gentlemen. Let us not forget the rule of Pestalozzi : to do no harm to any.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
Education is not so much the accurate knowledge of the text-books as it is the development of the faculties ; growth and cultivation, not the pouring-in process. We do not gain by attempting more than we have the ability to accomplish ; the mind, like the body, carries only that which it can carry, and therefore neither must be overloaded.
We must be taught by the senses, by nature, and obser- vation. This was the philosophy of Sir Francis Bacon, who, Goethe says, "drew a sponge over the table of human knowledge."
From observation and memory there is only one step to reflection. Thus we are led through Nature to Nature's God ; and thus should the teacher teach his pupils.
" God opened the heavens to the patriarch Jacob," said a German writer of education, " and showed him a ladder reach- ing thither." This ladder is let down to every descendant of Adam, and he must study and work who would climb its rounds.
The temple of learning in some of the old books was placed on a steep, rocky eminence, like the Parthenon on the Acropolis, or the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine Hill. To ascend it hard work was required; but Fame, with
128
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Minerva or Apollo, with benign aspect, stood in front and pointed to this inscription : "This is the way to the stars."
In closing this Report we desire to express our apprecia- tion of the liberal support which we have received from the citizens.
We cannot condenin too severely the practice of leaving a large amount of unpaid bills at the close of the year, in the eagerness to bring down an unexpended balance. We are aware that there may be a few bills, inconsiderable in amount, not presented ; but there is no good reason for having outstand- ing claims to embarrass the accounts of the succeeding year.
We have no doubt that your good judgment and liberality will not be wanting in providing for the support of your schools the ensuing year ; we should avoid on the one hand extravagance and on the other a short-sighted economy, re- membering that it is strikingly true of the cause of Education " that there is that scattereth and yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth more than is meet and which tendeth to poverty."
GEO. F. STONE, W. IRVING ELLIS, S. A. RANLETT, MISS P. A. NORRIS, MRS. J. C. CURRIER, MRS. A. V. LYNDE,
Committee.
SCHOOL REGULATIONS.
SECTION 1. The schools shall commence during the year at 9 A. M. and 2 p. M., closing at 12 M. and 4 P. M. No extended session allowed.
SECT. 2. The school year shall consist of forty weeks, commencing on the first Monday in September, and closing on the last Friday in June.
Vacations shall occur during the school year as follows : -
Close of Fall Term, from the Saturday previous to the annual Thanksgiving to the Monday following.
Close of Winter Term, from the second Saturday to the third Monday in February.
Close of Spring Term, from the fourth Saturday in April to the first Monday in May.
Close of Summer Term, end of school year.
Also, all legal holidays.
SECT. 3. Teachers shall be in their school-rooms fifteen minutes before the opening of the school, admitting pupils, commencing exercises promptly at the hours specified.
SECT. 4. Teachers themselves shall hear all recitations.
SECT. 5. Teachers are not to absent themselves from school, or procure substitutes, without the consent of the committee. All such absences are to be distinctly recorded in the school registers, and the chairman of the committee notified of any unavoidable violation of this rule.
SECT. 6. Teachers are required to report all damages to school property, unless repairs are immediately made at the expense of parent or guardian.
130
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
SECT. 7. "The several school teachers shall faithfully keep the registers furnished to them, and make due return thereof to the School Committee; and no teacher shall be entitled to receive payment for services until the register, properly filled up and completed, shall be so returned." * A fortnight's notice required of resignations, except in case of sickness.
SECT. 8. In case of inclement weather, when, in the judgment of the committee, it shall be thought proper to omit the afternoon session, notice will be given by ringing the town bell at a quarter before twelve o'clock, A. M.
SECT. 9. Teachers may temporarily suspend pupils from school for truancy or gross violation of rules, informing the committee at once of such suspension, and the reason there- for.
SECT. 10. Pupils must attend school in the district in which they reside ; must be at least five years of age, and obtain a permit, before entering, from the committee. Alphabet scholars admitted only at the beginning of a term.
SECT. 11. Pupils are required to furnish themselves with such text-books as are authorized by the committee. In case of refusal or neglect, the books will be furnished by the committee, and the town assessors be notified, that the value may be collected from the parent or guardian. Orders sent by teachers to the town agent must have the name of the parent or guardian. Books furnished to indigent scholars shall be considered the property of the school, and be retained when the pupil is discharged.
SECT. 12. Pupils shall not be dismissed before the close of the school (alphabet classes excepted) without a written request from the parent or guardian. Frequent and repeated requests can be disregarded, and the committee informed of the evil. Parents shall be notified of absences or tardiness of pupils when explanation or information is deemed neces- sary.
* Extract from Revised Statutes.
131
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
SECT. 13. Pupils absent a term, or not present at the quarterly examinations, shall be considered new pupils, liable to lose their connection with their class, and needing on their return a permit from the committee (alphabet scholars excepted).
SECT 14. Pupils shall have a recess of twenty minutes at each morning session, and no pupil will be allowed to leave the school-grounds without a special permit from the teacher.
SECT. 15. Pupils guilty of defacing or injuring school- houses, school-furniture, out-buildings, fences, or school- property in general, shall be subject to such penalty as the statute prescribes or the committee deem proper.
SECT. 16. Pupils are not allowed in school yards after school-hours, Wednesday or Saturday afternoons, or during holidays or vacations ; are not allowed in other school-yards than their own, at any time, unless sent with messages.
SECT. 17. The duties of the several janitors shall be to sweep each school-room and entry twice every week; wash the floors and windows during each of the vacations of May and November ; clean and wash all out-buildings as often as necessary ; keep steps and paths free from snow in winter ; close gates when schools are not in session ; report to teach- ers or committee all injuries to property ; prepare and put in the coal and wood, practise rigid economy in its use, and have a general oversight of the buildings in their care. No extra pay for any of the above services.
SECT. 18. No wares or amusements shall be advertised in the schools without the consent of the committee.
SECT. 19. Teachers shall read to the pupils at such times as they deem expedient any or all of the foregoing Rules and Regulations.
REPORTS
OF TIIE
TOWN OFFICERS OF MELROSE,
FOR THE
FINANCIAL YEAR ENDING MARCH 1, 1877.
BOSTON : BABB & STEPHENS, 79 WATER STREET. 1877.
TOWN OFFICERS FOR 1876-77.
Selectmen and Overseers of the Poor.
WALTER BABB.
H. G. FIELDS.
N. D. BLAKE.
-
Town Clerk. JOHN LARRABEE.
Treasurer. GEORGE NEWHALL.
Collector. ANSEL B. PIERCE.
-
Assessors.
C. H. EDMONDS.
J. C. CURRIER.
G. W. FARNSWORTH.
Water Commissioners.
W. IRVING ELLIS Term expires 1879.
JOSEPH D. WILDE .
66 66 1878.
JOSEPH R. SIMONDS
66 66 1877.
School Committee.
S. A. RANLETT
Term expires 1879.
MISS PHŒBE A. NORRIS
MRS. A. V. LYNDE .
66
66 1878.
W. IRVING ELLIS
MRS. J. C. CURRIER
LAFAYETTE BURR .
1877.
Highway Surveyors.
JAMES MARSHALL. GEORGE P. FULLER.
L. T. FREEMAN.
Engineers of the Fire Department.
J. G. EMERSON.
J. M. THOMAS. R. W. CHANDLER.
66 1879.
66 1877.
1877.
4
TOWN OFFICERS FOR 1876-77.
Trustees of the Public Library.
FREDERIC KIDDER. E. H. GOSS. C. C. BARRY. HANNAH LYNDE. ADDIE A. NICHOLS.
Representative in the General Court. W. IRVING ELLIS.
A. B, PIERCE.
Constables. H. B. NEWHALL. JOSEPH HOLBROOK. H. C. RICHARDSON.
Auditors.
JOHN R. NORTON.
FRANK E. ORCUTT.
Fence Viewers.
N. HOWARD. M. L. RAY.
Measurer of Wood and Bark. Weigher of Hay and Coal S. E. BENSON.
GEO. NEWHALL.
Committee on Cemeteries. JOHN LARRABEE. N. HOWARD.
Field Drivers.
OTIS HOWARD. CHAS. BARRETT.
STEPIIEN HYDE.
FRANK GIBBONS.
Pound Keeper. H. G. FIELDS.
Sealer of Weights and Measures. JOHN L. CHAMBERS (resigned).
Police Officers.
A. B. PIERCE. H. B. NEWHALL. JOSEPH HOLBROOK. N. HOWARD.
J. D. LITTLEFIELD. H. C. RICHARDSON.
HENRY ROBINSON. E. H. YOUNG.
H. W. CUSHMAN. AI ROWE.
REPORT OF SELECTMEN.
FELLOW CITIZENS :
Time, in its hurried flight, brings us again to the close of another financial year, and, as has been the uniform custom, we present to you our annual report, containing a faithful record of the receipts and expenditures for the past year.
In many respects this has been an eventful year; for besides being remembered as the centennial year of our nation, it will be remembered by every business interest as one of the most depressing, in its financial aspect, through which we have been called upon to pass. Everywhere the needy poor have increased, and many men who a year or two ago were considered wealthy and on the high wave of success find that, by a succession of reverses, they are barely able to stem the current. On every hand the cry is, " Re- trenchment !" and fully appreciating its full import, we have endeavored, without being niggard or mean, to so scrutinize every claim upon the treasury that not a dollar should be spent that was not actually necessary.
We ask your careful consideration of all the matters pre- sented, feeling sure that they will meet with the approval of the liberal-minded citizens of Melrose.
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, JULY 4, 1876.
In accordance with the President's proclamation, we ap- pointed a committee of citizens to arrange for a proper
6
REPORT OF SELECTMEN.
celebration of the day, with the express proviso that no expense should accrue to the town. This committee held various meetings and faithfully performed their duties, and no town in this Commonwealth enjoyed a more sensible or rational day's festival - one in which the aged and the young were alike cared for - than our own town; and thanks to the committee and the liberality of our citizens, sufficient money was subscribed to meet the entire expense. A full and complete historical account of the exercises of the day has been published by E. H. Goss, Esq., and should be in the possession of every citizen.
PRESENTATION OF FLAG.
In connection with the above, the ladies of our town, not to be outdone in patriotic deeds, procured a large and costly American flag, which on this day was presented in their behalf. We have caused a staff to be placed upon the Town Hall, where hereafter, on all public occasions, this flag shall ever remind us of the patriotism of the ladies in this cen- tennial year.
NEW REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT.
Early in July, notice was received from the County Com- missioners that they were about to make a new apportion- ment of representative districts for the county, and gave notice of a hearing for that purpose. At that hearing we were present, and strongly urged the separation from adjoin- ing towns and the importance of making our town a district of itself. We met considerable opposition from our neigh- bors, who urged every argument to defeat this proposition, but were glad to find, when the result was promulgated, that our view had been sustained by the Board. By this action our town is directly represented, and in no case liable
7
REPORT OF SELECTMEN.
to be misrepresented by the votes of other towns who have no special interest in our local affairs. Our last election was held under the new rule.
POOR.
The continued stagnation of trade and a consequent scarcity of employment has made labor, the only resource of our poor, without demand, and the most strenuous efforts have been made by the organizations and citizens who possessed the means to tide over what has been universally felt to be the worst year ever known for this class of our citizens. But for these kind charities we must have been compelled to largely exceed the appropriation for this department. One hundred and twenty persons have applied for and received aid during the year. Of these, ninety-four have legal pauper settlements in this town, fifty per cent of which have matured under the new law, passed a't the session of 1874.
The number who have been fully supported for the whole or a part of the year is fourteen.
There are four in the Hospital for the Insane, an increase of two for the year. Those remaining belong to the State sick department, for whom bills are presented, and to those towns for whom we are providing at their expense. A large number have applied who had no claim upon us, and received no aid, but were referred to their places of settlement or to the State.
Two hundred and seventy-one tramps have been provided with lodgings in the lock-up.
The cost of maintenance of the poor for the year has been eighty-seven cents to each inhabitant.
A careful examination of reports in other places, conducted under the almshouse system, show that the cost in those places has been from one dollar and ten to one dollar and fifty cents for each inhabitant.
8
REPORT OF SELECTMEN.
It is due to the acting overseer to say that a large amount of additional labor is imposed upon him that would not arise under the almshouse system. The extreme difficulty of pro- curing asylums for the aged and infirm, as well as the sick, in any of the institutions of other places, at reasonable cost, compels him to seek them in private families, or to adopt expedients which are usually temporary, and liable to change at a moment's notice. These cases often present the alterna- tives of a dilemma extremely embarrassing, which could not happen if we had an asylum of our own. To this is added the regular work of the overseer, to be done under any sys- tem of provision for the poor, and which has been greatly augmented by the growing importance of this department. We believe that your officer has faithfully fulfilled those re- quirements of law upon which our rights in the varied cases depend, and which often include many questions under the pauper laws, which raise controversies with other munici- palities, for which a correspondence has to be conducted, sometimes greatly extended and burdensome, but which in every case for the past year has been terminated without litigation.
We believe that the results have justified the labor and the cost, which has been little or nothing above that of the previous year.
While the exigency of the times makes it sure that the number of our poor must increase, we feel that we cannot close this report without sounding the note of warning in the ears of our tax-payers that the present system of legislation makes it more sure.
We are painfully aware that a. burden is rolling up for the future too formidable to be thrown off, unless our public ser- vants be prompt to provide more friendly enactments, and to define more strictly those statutes which profess to regulate the bringing of strangers into our borders, who are now
9
REPORT OF SELECTMEN.
swelling the number whose settlements are maturing in a double ratio to those of the former terms. A wholesale immigration, induced by capitalists, for the public works, together with the Act of 1872, taking the bonds and head- money off alien passengers, the evasion of the statutes by the lines of public communication from the other States and the Provinces, had operated to fill our communities and our State institutions with a demoralized element, who are always in a suffering condition, and, without constant labor, are dependent upon the charities of those where they may happen to locate.
To relieve the State institutions of this burden, the new settlement law of 1874 was passed, by which nearly all who had been State paupers were thrown upon the towns and cities where they happened to reside, and which matured the settlements of a large percentage of our own adopted citi- zens. Still the State institutions find little or no relief. They are filled with paupers, criminals, and lunatics, and they continue to come. Public buildings are being erected and enlarged to hold them, involving an expense of millions ; pauper taxes are increasing, and will continue to increase, until we correct the mistakes of the past by again providing those safeguards which our fathers wisely erected, and which were sufficiently broad and liberal to meet the demands of duty and humanity, yet stringent to be just, effectual to pro- tect against the burdens which are now bearing us down, and which should be carried by others.
We unite in recommending the sum of $3,500 for the sup- port of our poor for the ensuing year.
LIGHTING STREETS.
In accordance with the vote passed at the last annual town meeting, we advertised for proposals for the current year. Three parties responded, viz. : -
10
REPORT OF SELECTMEN.
Union Gas Light Co., of Boston.
R. F. Clayton, of Melrose. Globe Gas Light Co., of Boston.
Each and every one of which offered to take the contract for $14.50 per post.
As the Globe Company had done the lighting for the past three years in a satisfactory manner, and was as low as either of the others, we voted unanimously to renew the contract with them.
We believe they have done all in their power to fulfil their contract, and have always courteously heeded and practi- cally put in operation any suggestion coming from our Board.
ADDITIONAL STREET LIGHTS.
Five new posts were added during the year and paid for from the appropriation, as follows : -
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