USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > City of Melrose annual report 1893-1895 > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
Respectfully submitted,
FRANK M. MCLAUGHLIN, Chief.
Report of Superintendent of Streets.
To the Honorable Board of Selectmen:
GENTLEMEN : - In answer to your request I respectfully submit the following report of the distribution of expense for the year ending December 31, 1894.
LABOR.
Accounted for by Highway Pay Rolls.
Beech avenue,
$175 00
Beverly street,
50 00
Breaking stone at crusher,
1,000 00
Ell pond brook,
100 00
Emerson street, east,
75 00
First street,
50 00
Foster street, east,
400 00
General repairs,
2,028 70
Greenwood street,
50 00
Grove street, .
275 00
Hillside avenue,
47 00
Larrabee street,
250 00
Lebanon street,
534 87
Linwood avenue,
250 00
Main street,
100 00
Melrose street,
50 00
Orient avenue,
125 00
Perkins street,
75 00
Pleasant street,
400 00
Porter street,
49 00
Amount carried forward, .
. $6,084 57
165
STREET SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
Amount brought forward,
$6,084 57
Prospect street,
550 00
Sanford street, -
25 00
Sargent street,
200 00
Removing snow,
515 70
Walton park, .
350 00
Washington street,
675 00
Whittier street,
25 00
Wyoming avenue, .
150 00
Total amount of pay rolls,
$8,575 27
Concrete Crossings.
Foster st. at Sixth and Larrabee, 49.8 sq. yds. at 50c.
$24 90
Green st. at Linden,
19.
9 50
Green st. at Rowe,
20.94
IO 47
Grove st. at Larrabee,
21.3
66 66
IO 66
Vinton st. at North High,
20.33 66
10 16
Howard st.,
50.5
66 66 25 25
Franklin st., at Chipman ave.
36.
66
18 00
Gooch st. at Foster,
23.1
II 55
240.97
$120 49
Concrete Gutters.
Grove st. at Gooch,
24.4 sq. yds. at 50c.
$12 20
Green st. at Rowe,
3.
I 50
Melrose and Ashland sts.,
83.5
41 75
Upham st.,
24.9
12 45
Belmont st.,
106,48
53 24
Walton park,
19,98
9 99
Otis st.,
15.2
66
7 60
Wyoming ave. at Summer st. 40.4
66
20 20
Main and Lebanon sts.
18.4
66
9 20
336.26
$168 13
66
66
166
STREET SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
Summary of Bills Paid.
Blacksmithing, etc., $278 40
Coal and wood for crusher and roller, . 309 42
Catch basin covers,
I20 00
Crusher, repairs and supplies,
143 17
Drain pipe, 309 97
Dynimite, etc.,
77 10
Gravel,
391 60
Lumber,
190 85
Miscellaneous,
444 57
Roller, repairs and supplies, .
65 41
Removing snow,
261 85
Superintendence,
916 67
Tools,
248 69
Watering streets,
150 00
Total, .
. $3,907 70
Recapitulation.
Total amount of pay rolls, .
. $8,575 27
66
for concrete crossings, I20 40
for concrete gutters,
168 13
66 of bills paid, . .
3,907 70
$12,771 59 Amount of highway appropriation and balance, $12,269 98 Amount of highway receipts, 512 25
$12,782 23
Total amount paid out,
. 12,771 59
Balance,
$10 64
NOTE .- A detailed statement of these bills can be seen in the Auditor's report.
167
STREET SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
Drainage.
Beech ave., 500 ft. 12 in. pipe, 150 ft. 10 in. pipe, 2 catch basins.
Pleasant street, 30 ft. 10 in. pipe, 2 catch basins.
Porter street, 300 ft. 8 in. pipe, 2 catch basins.
Prospect street, 35 ft. 8 in. pipe, I catch basin.
Grove street, 75 ft. 6 in. pipe, 2 catch basins.
Sanford and Whittier streets, 200 ft. 8 in. pipe, 3 catch basins.
Sargent street, 950 ft. 12 in. pipe, 2 catch basins.
Tappan street, I catch basin.
Washington street, 30 ft. 10 in. pipe.
Walton park, 36 ft. 8 in. pipe.
Bridges.
The bridge over Spot pond brook at Pleasant and Whit- tier streets has been recovered.
Snow.
The amount expended for plowing sidewalks, removing deep snow and sanding sidewalks, was as follows : Labor, per pay roll, $515 70
Labor done by outside parties,
261 85
Total,
$777 55
Special Appropriations.
See auditor's report in regard to Perkins street, Main street widening, and concrete sidewalks.
W. B. ELLIS, Superintendent of Streets.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
AND THE
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS,
OF THE
TOWN OF MELROSE,
FOR THE
YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1894.
MELROSE : DUNTON & POTTER, PRINTERS, REPORTER OFFICE.
1895.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
JOHN O. NORRIS, Chairman,
Term expires 1896
MRS. GEORGE H. DEARBORN,
1896
MRS. GEORGE F. MACDONALD,
1895
MR. WM. D. STEWART.
66
1895
MRS. WM. H. FLANDERS,
1897
DR. JOHN DIKE,
6
1897
Superintendent of Schools and Secretary of Committee. B. F. ROBINSON.
-
SUB-COMMITTEES.
On Accounts.
Highlands.
MR. STEWART.
MR. NORRIS,
MRS. DEARBORN.
MRS. MACDONALD. MR. STEWART. MRS. FLANDERS.
On High School. Centre.
MR. NORRIS.
DR. DIKE.
MRS. DEARBORN.
MRS. FLANDERS. MRS. MACDONALD.
MR. STEWART,
Wyoming.
MRS. FLANDERS.
MRS. DEARBORN.
DR. DIKE.
DR. DIKE. MR. NORRIS.
On Text Books and Course of Study. MR. NORRIS. MRS. MACDONALD. DR. DIKE.
1
MRS. MACDONALD.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
To the School Committee of Melrose :
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- The following is respectfully submitted as the fifth annual report of the superintendent of schools,
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.
A reference to the tabular statement which appears on the last page of this report will show that the population of Melrose is steadily increasing, for the school population is as good an indicator as can be had. The number attending our schools since the year opened in September last, to the end of the year was 2086, against 1936, last year.
This increase has been largely in the lower grades, as the numbers in the high school, and the higher grades of the grammar schools, are about the same as one year ago.
TEACHERS,
Several changes have been found necessary during the year. The seventh and eighth grades at the Highlands, which, until the end of the June term, were both in charge of Miss Mendum, have been separated and each has a teacher by itself. Miss Mendum remains at the head of the Warren street school as teacher of the eighth grade, and Miss Mitchell, who formerly taught the sixth grade, was advanced to the seventh grade. This change was necessary
172
SCHOOL REPORT.
on account of the increase of pupils in these grades, it being impossible for one teacher to longer do the work of both grades satisfactorily. During the year Miss Mitchell was absent from her school for several months, leave of absence being granted by the committee, and her place was tempo- rarily filled by Miss Sara G. Smith. The fifth grade was moved from the Franklin building to the Warren street school the last part of last year, and remained in charge of Miss Guptill until the end of the June term when Miss Guptill was placed in charge, of the sixth grade, and Miss Harriet H. Dowe was elected teacher of the fifth grade.
The separation of the seventh and eighth grades at the Warren street building made it necessary to move the school made up of the first, second and third grades from this building to the old West school house, and Miss Plummer, who had taught the school for several years, having resigned, Miss Ruth Knowles was elected to fill the vacancy. The moving of Miss Guptill's school from the Franklin street school made it necessary to elect a new principal of that building, and Miss Davies, teacher of the fourth grade, was accordingly placed in charge. The first and second grades at the Franklin street building under Miss Field was so crowded at the opening of the September term that it was necessary to employ another teacher, or to divide the second grade and transfer a part of them to Miss Tupper's room, and as a matter of economy the latter course was pur- sued, but it is probable that another school will have to be established in March, when new pupils are allowed to enter. Miss Mary I. Coggeshall was transferred from the Centre school to Upham hill, and placed in charge of the building as teacher of the sixth and seventh grades.
For several months during the spring the number of scholars in Miss Coyle's room was so large that she found it impossible to take care of them properly, and Miss Loring
173
SCHOOL REPORT.
was chosen as her assistant and remained with her until the close of the school year.
It being uncertain whether the services of an assistant would be needed for the September term she was not re- elected in June.
Early in October, it became necessary to again employ an assistant to Miss Coyle, and Miss Loring having secured a position elsewhere, Miss Grace Rhodes was elected to the position.
Miss Gertrude Stewart was elected to the second grade at the Centre school, made vacant by the transfer of Miss Coggeshall.
Miss Annie G. Smith was placed in charge of the seventh grade established at the D. W. Gooch school at the opening of the year in September, and Miss Alice Long and Miss Call were advanced from the fifth and fourth grades, to the sixth and fifth grades respectively.
To fill Miss Call's place in the fourth grade, Mrs. Mary R. Clark, a teacher of experience in Greenfield, Mass., was chosen. Miss Arline Merrill was elected to one of the first grade schools in this building, in place of Miss Taylor, who went elsewhere.
Miss Rosamond Heath resigned as teacher of the Lynde street, first grade, and Miss Clara D. Bishop was elected to that position.
This constitutes the changes and transfers made during the year in the lower grades, and it is hoped that fewer changes will be necessary during the current year.
Miss Clarimond Mansfield resigned her position as teacher of German and Greek in the high school, in June, after ten years of faithful service, which made it necessary to select her successor, and after much looking about the committee chose Miss Clara B. Mowry to succeed her. An additional teacher was considered a necessity, and it was finally de-
174
SCHOOL REPORT.
cided to elect one, Mr. Howard D. Barrows being the choice of the committee.
Both of these teachers are doing excellent work in their special departments, Mr. Barrows having the Greek and Miss Mowry the German, both also assisting in such other work as is assigned them. A different atmosphere seems to pervade the high school, and more honest hard work is being done therein than has been for some time previously. This change is, I believe, attributable to several causes. In the first place, there were in the school a year ago, some disturbing elements that have since been removed, so that at present most of the scholars attending the school are there for work, and are trying to do it well. Again some of the teachers had felt that they were not heartily seconded in their efforts to bring the scholarship of the school up to a high standard, but the action of the com- mittee and parents sustaining their judgment at the begin- ning of the present year, as to what scholars should be pro- moted, gave them new courage, and they each and every one entered into their work with renewed vigor.
The addition of another teacher to the corps of instruct- ors has made it possible for Mr. Whitman, the principal, to devote some of his time to a general supervision of the work of the school in all its departments, and this has had a wholesome effect.
I think it but just to the scholars and teachers to say that there is a very noticeable improvement in the work being done, which cannot fail to be apparent to all who visit the school.
SCHOOL HOUSES.
Right here let me say, that two large Andrews globes were presented to the D. W. Gooch school early last year by
175
SCHOOL REPORT.
Mrs. D. W. Gooch, receipt of which wasacknowledged by the school committee. They are very handsome and valuable pieces of school apparatus, which both the pupils and teach- er appreciate highly, and they cannot fail to be of great value to the pupils in their work.
At the time of making the last annual report there was one vacant room in the D. W. Gooch school and one in the Warren street building. These have both been filled and a school of nearly fifty scholars transferred to the old, once abandoned West school, near the Highlands station. This leaves no vacant rooms in either of these buildings, and the only vacant room in any of the large buildings in town is one at the Franklin street school, which is temporarily va- cant, but which will probably have to be used after the March term begins.
The lower grades at Upham Hill are very much crowded ; the first grade in charge of Miss Coyle having seventy scholars therein, while the second and third grades of Miss Lawrence opened the year with sixty, and in the two next higher grades under Miss Chadbourne there are forty-eight pupils. All of the rooms at the Grove street school are full and an over-flow school, first grade, has been established in the old Lynde street building. Some additional accom- modations for scholars in the south-eastern part of the town, between Upham Hill and Grove street, seems an absolute necessity this season, and we would recommend the con- struction of a four-room building there.
SWAIN'S POND.
At the Ripley school very little change has taken place in conditions during the year except that there are fifty per cent. more pupils than one year ago, and there are, besides, thirty scholars attending the schools in Malden, for whom the sum of ($750) seven hundred and fifty dollars is paid in tuition.
176
SCHOOL REPORT.
HIGH SCHOOL.
As to the condition of things at the high school, little more can be said than was said in our last report. The num- ber of scholars is nearly the same as at that time, and exist- ing conditions about the same, except that with an addi- tional teacher more recitation rooms are necessary, and in this respect the school has been lacking for a long time.
The first and second classes sit in Mr. Whitman's room, the large room in the third story, and there is plenty of room for them as there are but sixty-nine pupils in these classes at present. The third class numbers seventy-seven and is crowded into one half of the second story, where Miss Ballou's room is located, the other half being occu- pied by the physical and chemical laboratories.
In Miss Fairbanks' room, which is located in the east end of the first story, the fourth class sits and the floor space is pretty well covered, as there are eighty-five in the class at the present time. The other half of the floor is used for a recitation room. On Monday and Wednesday of each week Mr. Carter teaches drawing in the school during the entire session, and this lower room in the west end of the building is used for his classes, making it necessary for the eight teachers in the school to accommodate themselves and hear their classes as best they can in the three sitting rooms, the laboratory and two small recitation rooms, and a small room originally intended for a coat room for the teachers. The result is that two recitations have to be conducted at the same time in the upper room, making it very difficult for the scholars to give their undivided atten- tion to their work, however well disposed they may be, and requiring extra exertion and tact on the part of the teachers in conducting their recitations.
The two small recitation rooms are very much crowded,
SCHOOL REPORT. I77
in fact overcrowded, so that when mathematical recitations are conducted therein requiring blackboard, the scholars have not sufficient room to work properly. The laboratory is altogether too small for laboratory work proper, and Mr. Small finds it almost impossible to arrange his classes, so few can be accommodated at one time, yet in addition to the laboratory work done therein it is used regularly for a recitation room.
Three days in the week the large room on the first floor is not used for drawing purposes, and is devoted to recita- tion work, but during the other two days the classes which regularly recite here, are sandwiched in wherever it is possi- ble to find room for them.
The side room that it is found necessary to use for a reci- tation room, is about ten feet square, and yet into this space are crowded from five to twenty pupils, and there they sit during a recitation period with only such ventilation as is afforded by the doors and windows, which is poor at best. If every parent and friend of the pupils in the high school could visit them and see how they are accommodated they would wonder that the results are as satisfactory as they are. The town of Melrose certainly needs a new high school building and needs it badly.
If it should prove to be the judgment of the voters of the town that it was a wise policy to build a new high school building at once, and one was built to accommodate five hundred or more pupils, there would be no immediate need of other buildings, as the extra space in such a building as well as the old high school building, could be occupied by some of the grammar grades and the schools in the Lynde street, Green street, and the old Franklin street buildings could be transferred to some of the rooms thus made vacant. Unless this is done, it would seem that something should be.
12
ยท
178
SCHOOL REPORT.
done to obviate the necessity of keeping the schools in any one of these three buildings, as they have all been abandoned once and should never have been reoccupied for school purposes. The parents of the scholars who are obliged to attend these schools are beginning to protest, some of them quite vigor- ously, and we believe they are fully justified in making the protest, against maintaining the schools in these buildings ; but the school committee can do nothing else until addi- tional accommodations are provided.
PHYSICAL TRAINING.
No greater truth or sounder doctrine was ever expressed than these words of Emerson contain :
" The first requisite to success in life, is to be a good ani- mal."
In many places measurements have been made of large numbers of children to determine the period of greatest growth and development, in both boys and girls, and as a result of the measurements in Boston, it has been shown that the period between II and 16 years with boys, and be- tween 9 and 14 with girls, is the one in which they have the greatest power to resist death, and when there can be the greatest physical development and upbuilding, if they are properly trained.
This being the case, how necessary it is that the children in the common schools should have regular training under the guidance of a skilful teacher.
Your committee recommended to the town, at its last annual meeting, the employment of a teacher of physical training, but no special appropriation was made for that purpose although many citizens expressed themselves as in favor of such instruction.
During the last few months of the year just closed, the com-
179
SCHOOL REPORT.
mittee, thinking it saw its way cleart o do so, engaged Miss Clara E. Sheppard, of Newton, to come here two days in each week to instruct the teachers and work in the schools. Miss Sheppard, who is a graduate of the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics, is doing her work in a most faithful and telling manner, going into each of the schools every two weeks, and into the high school twice each week, holding teachers' meetings once in two weeks, so that the regular teachers are being thoroughly drilled in the work.
A more detailed account of the work is given in. her re- port which is printed elsewhere.
TRUANCY.
Early in the year I. C. Weeks and George E. Fuller were appointed truant officers, and Mr. Weeks has devoted con- siderable time to looking up absentees, and the effect of his work is noticeable in the improved attendance, although parents are inclined to keep scholars out for very slight reasons. The last session of the legislature amended the law regarding school attendance, as will be seen by a refer- ence to it as it appears in the back part of this report, and several parties have already been notified that any further unexcused absences will lead to their prosecution. Mr. Weeks' report appears elsewhere.
In addition to his work as truant officer, Mr. Weeks is under contract with the school committee to devote a cer- tain portion of his time each day to repairs and such carpen- ter work as needs to be done, and under this arrangement a large amount of alterations and repairs have been made at a very moderate cost, and there is no doubt but that this arrangement will result in saving a great many dollars for the town.
180
SCHOOL REPORT.
EPIDEMICS.
Our schools have been remarkably free from epidemics: during the past year, and very few cases of scarlet fever,. diphtheria or measles have been reported during the year ..
NEW STUDIES.
During the past year some time has been given to Nature Study and Science Work in all of the grades even to the lowest. The object of introducing this work into the lower grades is so little understood, many intelligent parents being only too ready to echo the expression of one citizen who said that he preferred his child should "spend his time in learning how to make out a bill properly than in trying to find out how many legs a bug has got," that it may be well to preface our report of this work with a few explanatory words.
The great weak spot in the whole American school system has been in the teaching of our own language, and the average citizen who is called upon to express himself in a concise, clean cut manner, either orally or upon paper, makes a dismal failure, yet these same people can sit down with you and talk intelligently upon any subject with which they are familiar; now why is it thus ?
A fellow superintendent relates his experience in the country one summer as follows: "A number of families were boarding with an old deacon, and in one of the families was a bright boy, who, being an exceptional child, was fond of writing, and he could write wonderful effusions upon almost any subject. The good deacon after listening to one of his tales of life in the west, his subject being 'My bron- cho and I,' was much affected, and being asked his opinion of the boy's work, said : 'I beg you will not encourage him to draw on his imagination so. You will make that boy a liar!
18I
SCHOOL REPORT.
Don't give him such a class of subjects, but let him go out into my potato patch and see what he can find there, and then come back and tell in plain words what he finds. It is a shame to let him run on so when the true and the beauti- ful are all around us, and there is so much in the world worth knowing.'" If the people of the present generation could have had a potato patch, or its equivalent, to study, and then been allowed to write about what they saw, instead of being called upon to libel Faith, Hope, Charity,and attempt to write several pages of matter upon some abstract subject, of which they knew nothing, we venture the assertion that they would not only be able to write better English them- selves, but that they would enjoy the best writings of the best authors more than they do, and that there would be less demand for the trashy literature of the present day.
This nature study is no experiment with us, for the same course that we are now pursuing has been tried in other places, and has resulted in broadening and enriching the course of study, and in reaching those children who are so often called stupid because they cannot comprehend mathe- matics as well as the mathematical minds, and of stimula- ting and encouraging a moral growth that nothing else can do. The committee of ten, of whose work I presume all of our citizens have heard, in making their recommendations for a course of study for secondary schools, regarding the subject of nature study, says: "The primary object of nature study is not that the children may get a knowledge of plants and animals. The first purpose of the work is to interest them in nature. This must be done before other desirable results can be obtained. The second purpose is to train and develop the children; i.e., to train them to observe, compare and express, (see, reason and tell); to cause them to form the habit of investigating carefully, and of making clear, truthful statements, and to develop in them a taste for
182
SCHOOL REPORT.
original investigation. The third purpose is the acquisition of knowledge. This, however, must be "gained by actual expe- rience," and it must be knowledge classified or science. For the attainment of these objects, i. e., interest, power, knowl- edge, the children mast study the plant ; no book should be used by them. The effort of the teacher should be so to interest and guide them that they will learn how to work profitably."
Early this year Mr. Arthur C. Boyden of the Bridgewater Normal School, who has no superior in the United States in this line of work, was engaged to come here and instruct our teachers in this work. He has been here at intervals. during the year and given evening talks to the teachers, in which he has definitely laid out the work in the several grades, and the teachers have thus been enabled to start the work, and we hope that the near future will demonstrate to all parents that this study has a place in the common school course.
MUSIC AND DRAWING.
Mr. Carter still remains in charge of the work in drawing and the exhibition of work done in the schools, which was given in the Town Hall last June, showed for itself, better than we can tell, what is being done in this branch.
In Mr. Carter's report of the work of the year which he has submitted to me, he says :
"Just what and how much drawing should be taught in the schools, is a question a great many authorities are try- ing to decide. We know that the type forms and their parts should be studied first. The sphere, cube, cylinder, ellipsoid and ovoid, with many others, are taken up in our course. From these almost all the fruits and leaves can be taken as applications of these forms, as for example :- from the sphere, the apple and orange; from the ellipsoid and
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.