USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Hatfield > Hatfield Annual Town Report 1860-1890 > Part 24
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80
4
66
1
1
-
8
14
The oldest persons deceased were one male, 84 years, 8 mos. and one female, 84 years, 1 month.
Death rate for the five preceding years :
1879,
1830,
1881, 23.
1882, 25.
1883, 29.
Causes of Death, Classified according to the Nomenclature Adopted by the State Board of Registration :
ZYMOTIC DISEASES.
Sciatica,
1
CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES.
Tabes Mesenterica,
1
Phthisis (Consumption Lungs), 4
4
30
40
‹6
.
1
2
. "
80
90
66
2
2
1
July,
3
22
10
20
50
25.
26.
26
LOCAL DISEASES.
Disease Liver,
Abscess Brain,
Spinal Sclerosis,
Pneumonia,
Disease Heart,
2
Pleurisy,
2 1
Convulsions,
Marasmus,
1 1
Atrophy and debility.
VIOLENT DEATHS.
Burns,
1
Suicide (poison)
1
Suicide (by cars),
1
STATEMENT OF THE DOG TAX ACCOUNT.
W. D. BILLINGS, Town Clerk, in account with the town of Hat- field.
Dr.
To cash received from Dec. 1, 1883, to Dec. 1, 1884,
For Licenses of 40 dogs, at $2 each, $80 00
Less Clerk's fees, at 20 cents each, 8 00
$72 00
Cr.
Dec. 1, 1884,
By cash paid Lewis Warner, County Treasurer, $72 00
The amount paid into the County Treasury on this account for the five previous years, was in
1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883,
$73.80. $77.40. $59.40. $63.00. $80.40.
There have been recorded during the year, 24 mortgages of personal property, 3 assignments of wages ; all other papers, 3.
All of which is respectfully submitted,
W. D. BILLINGS, Town Clerk.
1
1 1 3
REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
One change only has been made in teachers since the opening of the school year, Mary H. Warner retiring vol- nntarily from the West Hatfield school. Each school has been successful through its three terms.
The enthusiasm and progressive spirit shown by some of our teachers is worthy of commendation. Diligent efforts have been made in some of the schools to use more modern methods of teaching. The changes made have given freshness and interest, besides introducing in many instances intrinsically better methods.
The selection of teachers is the most important duty of the committee, for on the ability and earnestness of the teacher far more than on any other circumstance, depends the spirit and excellence of the school. From our own town and from the country towns around us only can we hope to retain the best talent the places afford, for any con- siderable time.
The wages paid for the past year, though small for the service we get in some of our schools, have served our pür- pose, so far as wages are concerned, in retaining this class of teachers.
27
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An assistant has been employed at West Hatfield, both fall and winter terms, and till some bettor means of caring for the wants of this school are provided, the assistant through the year cannot well be dispensed with. No ade- quate relief, however, for the over-crowded condition of this school, in our opinion, can be had, except by providing another school room and grading the school.
Appended to this report will be found some observations and suggestions, kindly furnished by Mr. E. A. Hubbard, in response to an invitation from the chairman of the com- mittee.
MUSIC.
The music has been in charge of a teacher of experience and ability. Below we give her report to us in full :
" Music as taught from the 'Tonic-Sol-Fa' system, in the schools of Hatfield, has been attended with the co-oper- ation of the teachers and hearty enthusiasm on the part of the scholars.
" Attention has been given to Staff Music during the past term, the further advancement of which will necessitate the use of 'School Song Books' among the pupils."
MRS. D. E. SHATTUCK.
STATEMENT OF SCHOOLS, TEACHERS EMPLOYED
&c.
HILL DISTRICT-GRAMMAR. Miss Nellie A. Waite, Three Terms.
No. of scholars enrolled, 35
Average membership,
27 17-20
Average attendance,
23 19-90
No. of scholars over 15 years of age,
1
No. weeks school, 35
Amount paid as wages, $245.00.
29
HILL DISTRICT-PRIMARY.
Miss Julia E. Phelps, Three Terms.
.
No. of scholars enrolled,
49
Average membership,
38 1-3
Average attendance,
32 7-9
No. of scholars over 15 years of age,
0
No. weeks school,
34
Amount paid as wages, $236.60.
CENTER DISTRIBT-GRAMMAR.
Miss Eunice J. Morton, Three Terms.
No. of scholars enrolled, 32
Average membership,
20 1-6
Average attendance,
17 17-60
No. of scholars over 15 years of age,
1
No. weeks school,
35
Amount paid as wages, $245.00.
CENTER DISTRICT-PRIMARY.
Miss Carrie L. Warner, Three Terms.
No. of scholars enrolled, 52
Average membership,
41 5-9
Average attendance,
36 1-2
No. weeks school,
35
Amount paid as wages, $245.00.
WEST BROOK DISTRICT.
Miss Martha D. Gardner, Three Terms.
No. of scholars enrolled, 37
Average membership,
29 1-10
Average attendance,
25 5-6
No. weeks school,
Amount paid as wages, $238.
34
30
WEST FARMS DISTRICT.
Miss Rosella E. Clark, Three Terms.
No. of scholars enrolled,
26
Average membership,
18 2-100
Average attendance,
16 22-100
No. of scholars over 15 years of age,
1
No. weeks school, 35
Amount paid as wages, $245.00.
WEST HATFIELD DISTRICT.
Miss Mary H. Warner, One Term. Mrs. Lizzie A. Kingman, Two Terms.
No. of scholars enrolled,
56
Average membership,
51 32-45
Average attendance,
46 2-9
No. of scholars over 15 years of age,
2
No. weeks school, 34
Amount paid as wages, $238.00.
Amount paid assistant as wages, $65.40.
APPROPRIATIONS AND RECEIPTS.
Balance unexpended last year, $ 9.07
Appropriated by the town,
1,800 00
Appropriated for music.
200 00
Received from State Fund,
168 47
Received from Dog Fund,
50 89
Received from Tuitions, Northampton,
36 00
Received from Tuitions, Whately,
20 00
-$2,284 43
Amount expended for teachers,
$1,758 00
Wood and coal,
184 42
Care of school houses,
52 55
Dictionaries,
41 25
Music,
200 00
Balance unexpended,
48 21
-$2,284 43
31
No. of children between 5 and 15,
295
No. of scholars enrolled, 287
No. of scholars between 5 and 15, 282
No. of scholars between 8 and 14, 199
Average attendance in all the schools for the year, 198 No. of scholars over 15 years of age, 5
FREE TEXT BOOKS AND SUPPLIES.
School books and supplies furnished by the town have thus far been prudently used. Pupils as a rule have been more careful of the town's books than of their own. Teach- ers have used special care to guard against loss or waste. Accurate accounts have been kept between teachers and the supply committee, and between teachers and each scholar. If anything is lost the responsible party can be at once discovered. Only three books have so far been found miss- ing, and these were returned on application by the com- mittee to the pupils to whom they were loaned.
The new law offers obvious advantages, besides the greater promptness and fullness with which pupils are supplied with books. The plan we have adopted of supplying scholars with readers from different series, and exchanging between schools, does away with the need of supplemental readers, besides overcoming the evil of classes being obliged to read from books which they have heard read by the classes in ad- vance of them.
Enlightened teachers, moreover, who assign topics for study, instead of the pages of a text-book, and who rate the progress of their pupils by the information they gather from all sources, rather than from the number of paragraphs they can rehearse, will be pleased to find classes in Geography and History supplied with a variety of books, instead of as now with the same book alike for all.
The expenditure for books and supplies have been as follows :
32
Center Grammar, books and supplies,
$38 50
Center Primary,
66
23 95
Hill Grammar, 66
18 97
Hill Primary, 66 66
11 35
West Brook, 66
20 90
West Farms, 66
21 81
West Hatfield,
66
35 50
Bay State Blanks,
$1 95
Stencil Plate,
1 75
Labels,
1 75
Journal,
65
6 10
Desk, books and paper,
4 29
Books and supplies on hand,
55 45
Total expended,
$236 82
Balance unexpended,
63 18
$300 00
The disproportionate amount expended in the Center school, arises from the fact that a large class in arithmetic has been advanced to the higher book; also in the Primary school two classes in reading have advanced. A similar ex- planation might apply to the West Hatfield school.
The same appropriation as last year will probably suffice, viz., for Schools, $1,800.00 ; for Books and Supplies, $300.
C. M. BARTON, E. A. HUBBARD, Committee.
H. G. MOORE,
33 REMARKS OF MR. HUBBARD.
At the request of the Chairman of the School Committee, I have consented to place in his hands, to be appended to his report, some observations and suggestions pertaining to our public schools. I do this with some reluctance, for my acquaintance with the schools is by no means thorough and complete.
Next in importance to the institutions and interests of re- ligion in any town, are the educational interests, and these may well receive, as they certainly demand, the careful and thoughtful attention of all good citizens. There is much truth in the old adage, " As is the teacher so is the school," and because of its truth I will speak first of. our teachers' They are faithful and earnest, and some of them manifest. a genuine enthusiasm. This enthusiasm becomes an inspira- tion to their pupils, and the whole school is thoroughly alive. Such teachers gladly avail themselves of whatever opportunities for their improvement are afforded them by teachers' institutes, teachers' conventions, and educational publications. They do not hesitate to ask questions, lest they betray their own ignorance, but they seek help from every quarter, and when a better method than theirs is sug- gested, they make it their own, that they may successfully incorporate it into their work.
They seem to feel that one who has ceased to be a learner . should cease to be a teacher. They have learned that keep- ing order, assigning lessons and hearing recitations, is not teaching. They maintain order, but it is that order which grows spontaneously out of the greater interest and the greater desire to know on the part of the pupil, coupled with the better instruction on the part of the teacher. They
5
34
assign lessons, not in that narrow sense of lessons to be com- mited to memory from this page to that, or from this article to that, but they give out a topic and tell the class where they can find something upon that topic in addition to what their text-book presents, and encourage them to look it up. They hear recitations, but not with text-book in hand, to furnish the questions to be asked, and to determine if the answers are correct, but to know with what success the pupils have pursued their investigations, and to that extent they have the power of expression.
The improvement in some particular branches is worthy of special notice.
And first in the reading. We can remember when the child read, or tried to, without any reference to the thought, simply naming the words in their proper order. So far as any ideas are concerned he might as well have named them in the reverse order, have read backwards. We remember also that when the child, by the help of the teacher, and by hearing others read the story, came to understand it, he was required to read it over and over again, till he had lost all interest in it, and became utterly careless in his reading But this is no longer the case. The good teacher recogni- zes the fact that a child cannot read, in any just sense of that term, what he does not understand, hence the greater effort to make him comprehend the thought, and express that thought in his reading. Another thing conspires to the same end. The different schools have different series of readers, and when one school has read its series till the pupils are familiar with it, as the town owns all the books they can be shifted from one school to another, and so fresh reading matter be supplied. This is an incidental advantage, and by no means a slight one, of the "Free Text Book Law.""
Again in the Spelling. The spelling is now done largely
35
by writing, and not of words taken from what some one has called "nonsense columns," but from sentences. This secur es not only correct spelling, for many a boy, and man too for that matter, will spell correctly in his oral spelling, but fail badly in writing, but also the meaning of the words spelled, and the proper use of them. In this way the child necessa- rarily learns to write, and children now at the age of eight write better than those of twelve years of age did twenty years ago.
Closely connected with this is a great improvement in language. Technical Grammar is studied less in the lower grades of school, and the proper use of language, both oral and written, is sought after. In some of our schools geogra- phy is very well taught in connection with map-drawing,
Our schools do not suffer greatly from truancy, but they . do from absenteeism, especially in the busy season. The parent who desires the labor of his boy, either for himself or for another, when there is a demand for that labor, does not rightly appreciate the injury the child sustains by being kept out of school. If the planting of his corn, or the setting of his tobacco is delayed in the spring, and as a consequence the crop is blackened by the frost in the Autumn; if he loses a horse, or a cow, and must buy another, or if he is sick and must hire help, his loss has a money value easy to estimate, but there is no yard-stick by which he can measure; there are no scales by which he can weigh, and so estimate the loss his boy sustains by his absence from school. He may possibly feel that this is a free country, and that these are free schools, and that the father has a right to keep his own boy at home for the father's convenience or for his ad- vantage, but he forgets that he inflicts an injury upon the schools, as well as upon his boy, and that if he wishes to avail himself of the privileges of our free schools he is bound to so avail himself of them that they shall not be less a priv-
36
ilege to others. I would bespeak, therefore, as constant an attendance as circumstances will permit, and as the best re- sults require.
The schools would be improved by a closer and better supervision than the committee are disposed to furnish, and I therefore bespeak for them a greater interest and a greater watchfulness on the part of the parents and of the people. The schools belong to the people, not to the parents. The people elect their School Committee, raise the money and pay the taxes, and the parents enjoy the privilege of educa- ting their children at the public expense. They would nat- urally feel a greater interest in the schools than those who have no children there, but this interest does not constitute ownership, nor give control. The schools are the people's and the people are responsible for them. Allow me then to urge my fellow citizens to cherish fondly and guard careful ly the public schools ; to make cheerfully all needed appro- priations ; and show their interest in them by occasional vis- its to them.
· Respectfully,
E. A. HUBBARD.
37
LIST OF BOOKS PURCHASED FOR THE HATFIELD PUBLIC LIBRARY, 1884-85.
Norston's Rest.
Life of Charles Jewett.
The Complete Home.
The Only One.
A Country Doctor.
Being a Boy.
John Bull and his Island.
Bonnie Leslie.
The Life of Thurlow Weed, 2 volumes.
Mignon.
Maud Percy's Secret. Tinkling Cymbals. Rutherford.
St. Elmo.
Heart of Africa.
There was Once a Man. ---
A Family Flight through Spain. Profitable Poultry Keeping.
Doctor Sevier.
Her Washington Season.
Border Beagles and Charlemont. Beauchamp. Guy Rivers and Richard Hurdis. Kitty's Conquest. Where the Battle was Fought.
Pioneers of the Western Reserve.
History of the 37th Massachusetts Regiment. Life and Labor in the Far West.
ʻ
38
A Young Girl's Wooing. Pretty Lucy Merwin. Square and Compasses. Ned in the Woods. Ned on the River. Old Caravan Days. Farnell's Folly.
Out of the Wreck.
The Yenasee. Woodcraft. -
The Foragers.
The Successful Merchant. -
Stephen Archer.
Life and Times of Fred Douglass. Hans Brinker.
On a Mexican Mustang through Texas.
Dr. Grattan.
The Boys of '61.
How the Farm Pays.
Harper's Magazine, 1884, 2 volumes.
Atlantic Magazine, 1884, 2 volumes.
Century Magazine, 1884, 2 volumes.
Acts of the Anti-Slavery Apostles.
Life at Puget Sound. The Liquor Problem. Gustavus Adolphus.
The Merchant Vessel.
Man of War Life. Wonders of the Railway.
Ramona. The Red Wall Flower. The Making of a Man. An Appeal to Ceasar. Madam. Protection in the United States.
39
The Building of a Nation. The Mystery of the Locks. In War Times. Noble Blood. At the World's Mercy. In the Tennessee Mountain.
End of a Coil.
Nobody. Ziz-zag Journeys in Acadia. Farm and Garden Topics. Donald and Dorothy. The Academy Boys. Life of Chinese Gordon. Self Effort. 845
ANNUAL REPORTS
OF THE
-
TOWN OFFICERS,
OF THE
TOWN OF HATFIELD,
For the Year Ending March 1, 1886.
NORTHAMPTON, MASS. : HAMPSHIRE COUNTY JOURNAL PRINT. 1886.
ARTICLES IN THE WARRANT FOR TOWN MEETING
TO BE HELD MARCH 15, 1886.
ARTICLE 1 .- To choose a Moderator to preside at said meet- ing.
ART. 2 .- To choose all necessary town officers for the ensuing year, including one person for a member of the School Committee for three years.
ART. 3 .- To choose an Elector under the will of the late Oli- ver Smith, Esq.
ART. 4 .- To revise and accept the list of jurors as submitted by the Selectmen.
ART. 5 .- To hear the reports of the Selectmen, Treasurer and School Committee, and act thereon.
ART. 6 .- To receive and pass on Town accounts.
ART. 7 .- To take action in relation to raising money to defray the necessary expenses of the Town for the ensuing year.
ART. 8 .- To see what method the Town will adopt for the maintenance and repairs of highways and bridges the ensuing year.
ART. 9 .-- To see what action the Town will take in relation to the prompt payment of taxes the ensuing year.
ART. 10 .-- To see if the Town will raise money to pay the out- standing debts of the Town.
ART. 11 .- To see if the Town will make an appropriation for the public library, and choose a committee for the same.
4
ART. 12 .- To take action in relation to the support of the poor for the ensuing year.
ART. 13 .- To see if the Town will make an appropriation to defray the expenses of celebrating " Memorial Day."
ART. 14 .- To take action under Chapter 100, Section 5, of the Public Statues. The vote must be by separate ballots, yes, or no, in answer to the question, " Shall licenses be granted for the sale of intoxicating liquors in this Town ?"
ART. 15 .- To see if the Town will pay a bounty for the killing of noxious animals and birds.
ART. 16 .- To see if the Town will employ a teacher of music in the schools.
ART. 17 .- To see what action the Town will take in relation to the railroad crossings in the Town, and to act on all matters be- tween the Town and the railroads running through the Town.
ART. 18 .- To see if the Town will take action in relation to the cemeteries in the Town.
ART. 19 .- To see if the Town will re-imburse E. A. Hubbard for any portion of the expense incurred by him in laying a drain in the highway near his house.
11% del 127, P.S.
185%, tok marken 17,
Selectmen's Report.
To the Inhabitants of the Town of Hatfield :
In accordance with directions given by the Town, the Assess- ors apportioned the money appropriated for the ordinary repairs of highways and bridges among the several highway districts. The South Center district was given $150, the North Center, $100, the Hill $125, West Hatfield $90, West Farms $90, and West Brook $100, leaving $95 to be re-distributed. The survey- ors in the districts where the appropriations have been over-run, notified the Selectmen when the amount of their appropriations were expended, as provided by law, and after that time made only the repairs that public safety demanded.
We at last have solved the problem of draining Main street. The unusual rainfall of this season has thoroughly tested the Surveyor's work in that district.
We have found that in the repairs of bridges we must be guided to some extent, by the actual needs of expenditure in that department, rather than by the amount appropriated. We have built a large, and quite expensive bridge at Brook Hollow, rebuilt Mill bridge, practically making it a new bridge ; another across Mill river beyond the saw-mill at West Hatfield, and made quite extensive repairs on others. It hardly seems as if so much money would be needed in this department the coming year.
We have exceeded the appropriation for paupers by $157.18. By a careful examination of the returns from the cities and towns
6
of the State, we find that we are boarding our full support pau pers at a rate a little lower than the average. We have paid quite a sum to other towns for persons living in those towns, but settled in Hatfield ; but this only after careful examination
As no Board of Health has been chosen in this Town, the Selectmen have acted in that capacity as required by law. We have in our experience in efforts for the suppression of contagious diseases, found that it is desirable that the inhabitants of the Town should be more familiar with the laws on the subject.
We append Sec. 1, Chap. 98, of the Acts of 1884.
SEC. 1 .-- When a householder knows that a person within his family is sick of small pox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, or any other disease dangerous to the public health, he shall immediately give no- tice to the Selectmen or Board of Health of the town in which he dwells, and upon the death, recovery, or removal of such per- son, the rooms occupied and the articles used by him shall be disinfected by such householder in a manner approved by the Board of Health. Any person neglecting or refusing to comply with either of the above provisions, shall forfeit a sum not ex- ceeding one hundred dollars.
7
OLD BILLS.
Leander Cooley, labor on highways, $ 11 75
E. A. Briggs, labor on high ways, 1 50
Philip Carl, labor on highways, 4 75
L. S. Crafts, labor on highways, 9 90
C. B. Dickinson, labor on highways, 5 00
H. Shumway, labor on highways,
11 75
Eurotas Morton, 4 25
E. W. Field, 4 65
Nelson Allair, labor on bridges,
6 00
John Sheehan, labor on bridges. 4 50
John Steele, labor on bridges, 4 00
Joseph S. Newman, balance labor on highways and bridges, 50 00
Joseph S. Newman, repairs, bridges of N. H. & N. Co. R. R., 22 50
Mrs. Lucy L. Morton, lumber for bridges, 4 39
Eurotas Morton, lumber for bridges, 9 40
Oscar Belden, wood for schools, 6 00
Joseph Vollenger, services as janitor, 3 50
Wm. H. Dickinson, services as R. R. committee, 25 00 Thaddeus Graves services as R. R. committee, 25 00 Thaddeus Graves, legal services, case Rosamond Bardwell, 5 00
Thaddeus Graves, wood for library, 6 00
Smith & Dwight, coal for Mrs. Kennedy, 6 93
John E. Doane, wood for Mrs. Kennedy,
2 25
Thos. M. Dea, board of Barney McHugh, 29 00
Eurotas Morton, lodging tramp, 1 00
$ 273 72
PAUPERS.
Mary Wheeler, board of Letty Wheeler, N. L. Hospital, board of Catherine Tobin, N. L. Hospital, board of A. M. Richmond, Michael Flavin, board of Tobin children, Wm. W. Field, board of Charles Morton,
78 00
181 93
184 77
180 00
158 00
8
Theodore Baggs, board of Barney McHugh, $92 00 John Goodchild, board of Barbara Goodchild, 50 75 John Goodchild, cash for burial of Barbara Goodchild, 20 00 ·
Betsey Goodchild, support of Barbara Good- child, 3 00
City of Springfield, support of Barbara Good- child, 47 96
Michael Boyle, board of M. Ryan, 72 00
John Karin, board of M. Ryan, 16 00
Mary Waite, cash for support, 20 00
Wm. H. Dickinson, cash, house rent, Mary Waite, 24 00
Mrs. T. Graves, house rent, P. Doppman, 56 00
State of Mass., board of Penny Wheeler, 12 86
City of Boston, support of James E. Messer, 25 61
City of Northampton, support of Mrs. Joseph Martin's child, 20 90
City of Northampton, burial of Geo. Vollinger's child, 6 50
Clifford Russell, board of Patrick Russell, 61 00
E. M. Martin, clothes for Charles Morton, 4 55
J. H. Howard, shoes for Barney McHugh, 1 50
Theodore Baggs, lodging tramps,
37 00
Martin Lyons, lodging tramps,
1 00
Clark & Parsons, medicine,
85
Chas. K. Morton, cash, 1 00
$ 1,357 18
To be reimbursed by state and town of Wenham : Mrs. Alvira M. Dodge, cash for support, 30 00
Smith & Dwight, coal, 14 74
D. A. Horton, coal,
7 16
Chas. K. Morton, drawing coal,
1 50
John E. Doane, wood,
22 50
Wm. H. Dickinson, house rent,
24 00
$ 99 90
J. H. Howard, groceries, Mrs. W. Stone, $21 00
W. J. Lyons, butcher's meat,
1 00
$22 00
9
SCHOOLS.
Miss Carrie L. Warner, teaching,
$252 00
66 Eunice J. Morton, 66
154 00
66 Nellie A. Waite, 66
252 00
66 Hattie L. Haven, 66
245 70
Martha D. Gardner, 66
245 00
66 Carrie C. Cutter, 66
216 00
Annie E. Bourne, 66
175 00
66 Minnie A. Bourne, 66
163 85
Mrs. Lizzie Kingman, 66
77 00
Miss Gertrude Strong,
66
33 00
Kate Wells, 66
21 00
Lilian A. Brown, 65 80
George Porter, services as janitor,
21 00
Eddie Breor, 66
66
10 00
Minnie Smith, 66
66
10 00
Carrie L. Smith, 66 66
10 00
Barney McHugh,
66
4 00
Mary Bolize, 66
66
2 50
Archie P. Graves, 66 66
4 35
Harry Barnes, 66
3 00
Eugene S. Strong, 66
3 20
Willie Abbott, 66
66
1 25
Lawrence Powers,
66
2 00
Eugene Jubenville, "
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