History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 54

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 54

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In 1819 the Divinity School was first constituted a distinct department of the University under the charge and tuition of the Hollis Professor, Rev. Henry Ware, Senior, D.D., the Professor of Hebrew, Sidney Willard, and the Dexter Lecturer, who now received the appointment and title of Dexter Pro- fessor of Sacred Literature, The immediate manage- ment of the Divinity School was placed temporarily under the charge of the Society above named, sub- ject, of course, to the control of the governing Boards of the University. Under the auspices of this Society the present Divinity Hall was erected in 1826. The Society still exists, and is in possession of funds to a considerable amount, the income of which is appropriated in part to the aid of divinity students, in part to other purposes in the interest of the Divinity School.

Since these early endowments of the department of theology, two professorships have been instituted, one dependent for its support on certain property be- queathed to the College by the late Benjamin Bussey, the income of which is, in accordance with his will, divided equally between the Law and the Divinity Schools, and a professorship of Ecclesiastical History, endowed from a fund left by Mr. Winn, of Wo- burn, in trust for the advancement of liberal views in theology.

Divinity Hall contains a chapel and rooms oc- cupied by students. Several apartments were at first used for the library and for class-rooms. But there has been recently erected a library large enough to contain, with its present 22,000 volumes, the accu- mulations of a century to come, and having also apart- ments which are now used as lecture-rooms, and which can be so occupied till the remote time when they shall be required for the reception of books.

The Divinity School has at the present time in- vested funds to the amount of nearly $400,000, and an annual income of not far from $40,000. Its gradn- ates have numbered about 500, and of late years it has had from thirty to forty names of students on the annual catalogue. There are now actively en- gaged in the instruction of the school six professors, -one in the department of Theology, one in Ethics, one in the Interpretation of the New Testament, one in Ecclesiastical History, one in Hebrew and the In- terpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and one in Semitic Languages in general and their literature.

The history of the Divinity School should embrace, chief of all, some notice of the men whose services have given it an honored place among the depart- ments of the University. The Hollis Professor of Divinity, under whose virtual presidency the school was organized, was Rev. Henry Ware, D.D., known to the larger public by his controversy with Dr. Woods,

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of Andover,-to the members of the University, and especially to his pupils in theology, for learning level with the highest standard of his time, for pre- eminent candor in the statement of opinions other than his own, for equal patience and skill as a teacher, and for personal traits which never failed to win ad- miration and love. He resigned his active duties in 1840, and the office remained vacant till 1882, when it was filled by Rev. David G. Lyon, Ph.D., the pres- ent incumbent, who holds the foremost place among Assyriologists in this country, and who also gives in- struction in Hebrew and Arabic. Since Dr. Ware's resignation portions of his work have been performed by the Parkman professors, and more recently by Rev. Charles C. Everett, D.D., and Rev. Francis G. Pea- body, D.D., both too well known to need any added testimony to their surpassing ability and merit.

Sidney Willard, Hancock Professor of Hebrew, re- mained a member of the Theological Faculty till his resignation, in 1831. He was succeeded in 1840 by Rev. George R. Noyes, D.D., the instruction in that department having meanwhile been given by Dr. Pal- frey. Dr. Noyes's translations of large portions of the Hebrew Scriptures and of the entire New Testament are enduring monuments of a broad, deep and con- scientiously faithful scholarship. He held, together with the professorship of Hebrew, the Dexter Lecture- ship, and his services in the criticism of the New Testament were so valuable and so valned that, while he lived, there was no thought of relieving him of the double charge, for neither part of which was it easy to find his equal. He was succeeded in 1869 by Rev. Edward J. Young, D.D., an accomplished Hebrew scholar, and on his resignation the place was filled and is still filled by Rev. Crawford H. Toy, D.D., who in his department has, if equals, no superior.

In the criticism of the New Testiment, Professor Norton left in some respects a unique impression on his pupils and readers. He united to the firmest faith in the genuineness and authenticity of the Gospel the most daring and unscrupulous handling of the contents of the Christian Scriptures, rejecting not only what was made doubtful by documentary evidence, but whatever his critical taste judged to be spurious. His interpretations of the sacred text and his opinions with regard to it were so evidently the result of the maturest thought and were so impressive- ly uttered, that it seemed impossible to dissent from them. His great work in defence of the genuineness of the Gospels is, perhaps, the strongest series of argu- ments ever urged with reference to that subject, and it may be doubted whether more recent discussions have shaken any one of its positions, or impaired the validity of any portion of its reasoning. In his realm he was an autocrat, with willing subjects. Rev. John G. Palfrey, D.D., who succeeded him, differed very widely from him. With equally decided opinions of his own, he was generous and hospitable toward other minds, invited dissent, and encouraged freedom of

thought. His most elaborate works were on the Old Testament,-works which represented the advanced scholarship of their time in a department in which adepts of our day have left those of half a century ago very far behind. He resigned in 1839, and the office was merged in that of the Professor of Hebrew till 1872, when it was again filled by Ezra Abbot, D.D., recog- nized on both sides of the Atlantic as second to no then living scholar in everything appertaining to a scien- tific knowledge of the New Testament in its original tongue. On his death, in 1884, the office passed, we

superseded might say by a necessity which choice, to Rev. Joseph H. Thayer, D.D., who had been Dr. Abbot's most intimate associate in the study of the New Testament, who had recently resigned a similar Professorship at Andover, and who, by works, indispensable for a Biblical scholar, is insuring for himself enduring reputation and the gratitude of coming generations of students and lovers of the New Testament.

The Parkman Professorship was first filled by Henry Ware, Jr., D.D., in 1829, and he assumed his charge under the style of "Professor of Pulpit Eloquence and Pastoral Care,"-a fit title for him, as he had distinguished himself in both those spheres of service during his pastorate, which failing health alone induced him to resign. His most important professional function was the careful and elaborate criticism of the sermons prepared by the students, and beyond this, and far above it, were the effluence and the influence of a soul thoroughly consecrated to Christ and to the ministry of His Gospel. He was succeeded, in 1842, by Rev. Convers Francis, D.D., a man of vast erudition, whose teaching power would have been greater had his learning been less abun- dant and more thoroughly systematized. He had for his successor, in 1863, Rev. Oliver Stearns, D.D., who had been President of the Meadville Theological School, and who brought and maintained a high reputation as a scholar and teacher. Both of these Pro- fessors gave instruction in ethics and in systematic theology. Since Dr. Stearns' resignation, in 1878, the professorship has remained vacant; but its special work has been performed with equal faithfulness and skill, by Professor Francis G. Peabody, for the last two years, with the valuable assistance of Rev. Edward Hale.

In Ecclesiastical History, Rev. Frederic H. Hedge, D.D., filled, with characteristic ability, an unendowed and scantily paid professorship from 1857 to 1876, during the first fifteen years of this period having been pastor of a church in Brookline, and for the last four Professor of German in the College. In 1882 Ephraim Emerton, Ph.D., was appointed Winn Pro- fessor of Ecclesiastical History, and has given ample proof of his fitness, as a scholar and a teacher, for a chair of so high educational importance in the training of Christian ministers.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

CHAPTER VI.

CAMBRIDGE-(Continued.)

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

BY PROF. BENJ. F. TWEED, A. M.

AT a session of the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in New England, commenced on the 14th of June, 1642, the Court, taking into con- sideration the great neglect in many parents and mas- ters in training up their children in learning, ordered and decreed :-

"That in every town the chosen men appointed for managing the prudential affairs of the same, shall henceforth stand charged with the care of the redress of this evil ; and for this end they shall have power to take account from time to time of the parents and masters and of their children, concerning their call- ing and employment of their children, especially of their ability to read and understand the principles of religion and the capital laws of the country, and to impose fines upon all those who refuse to render such account to them when required ; and they shall have power to put forth apprentices, the children of suchi as they shall find not to be able and fit to employ, and bring them up." (Mass. Coll. Record, Vol. ii. 6-9.) This is a plain assumption on the part of the Gene- ral Court of the right and duty of the State to see that every child should receive an elementary educa- tion, three things being specified, ability to read, and understand the principles of religion and the capital laws of the country.

In 1647 an ordinance was passed " that every town- ship in this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty househoulders, shall then forthwith appoint one within their town, to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and reade, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in gen- erall by way of supply, as the major part of those that order the prudentials of the towne shall appoint, Pro- vided, those that send their children be not oppressed by paying much more than they can have them taught in other towns :- and it is further ordered that when any towne shall increase to the number of 100 families or honseholders, they shall set up a Grammar School, the master thereof being able to instruct youth so farr as they may be fitted for the University; Provided, that if any towne neglect the performance thereof above one yeare, every such town shall pay 5s to the next schoole till they shall perform this order." (Mass. Coll. Rec. Vol. ii. 203). It will be seen by these quotations from the Records, that the General Court of the Colony imposed duties upon the several towns regarding the care of children, and especially their training in learning, before any definite ordinance was passed providing for the establishment and mainten- ance of schools. These ordinances of the General

Court may be regarded as indicating the principles upon which our system of public schools has been reared. The same principles, whether as embodied in the legislation or in the measures adopted by the towns, were recognized. For many years there seems to have been no distinct division of the responsibilities of the Colony and of the several towns ; so that we find even the compensation of Grammar School teachers provided for partly by appropriations by the Colony and partly by the towns, and partly by tuition fees. This introduction seems necessary to a perfect under- standing of the town records.

The first notice we have of a school, other than the College in Cambridge, is contained in a Tract pub- lished in London, in 1643, in which the writer says that there is " By the side of the College a faire gram- mar schoole, for the training up of young schollars, and fitting them for Academicall Learning, that still as they are judged ripe, they may be received into the College; of this schoole Master Corlet is the Mr., who has well approved himself for his abilities, dexterity and painfulness in teaching and education of the youth under him." "The precise date," says Dr. Paige, " when the Grammar School in Cambridge was established does not appear; but before 1643 Mr. Corlet had taught sufficiently long to have acquired a high reputation for skill and faithfulness." Dr. Hil- dreth (I know not on what authority) places the es- tablishment of the school probably at 1636-37.

This school, it will be seen, was not established to meet any requirement of the General Court, as it was not till 1647 that the ordinance was passed requiring such schools.

At this date Cambridge probably contained the number of families requisite for the maintenance of a Grammar School, and Mr. Corlet's school seems to have answered the requirement for Cambridge.

In 1648 " It was agreed, at a meeting of the whole Towne that there should be land sold of the Common, for the gratifying of Mr. Corlet for his pains in keeping school in the Towne, the sum of ten pounds, if it can be obtained ; provided it shall not prejudice the Cow-Common."

This may be regarded as a semi-adoption of the school by the town, though in this, as in subsequent grants, it seems rather as a gift than a salary.

Again in 1654, "The Town consented that twenty pounds should be levied upon the several inhabitants, and given to Mr. Corlet for his present encouragement, to continue with us." The General Court, also, in 1659, granted Mr. Corlet 200 acres of land.

In 1662 the town made an order "to grant Mr. Corlet, in consideration of the fewness of his scholars, ten pounds, to be paid to him out of the public stock of the town." Also in 1664,-" Voted that Mr. Elijah Corlet be paid out of the town rate annually twenty pounds so long as he continue to be schoolmaster in this place."

This seems to be a full adoption of the school by

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the town; but yet, "In answer to the petition of Mr. Corlet, the Court having considered of the peti- tion, and being informed the petitioner to be very poor, grant him 500 acres of land where he can find it according to law."

In 1680 an official answer of the town to certain questions proposed by the County Court, says : "Our Latin School Master is Mr. Elijah Corlitt ; his scholars are in number, nine at present." This is the first official recognition of the school. "Under all these discouragements," says Dr. Paige, "the veteran teacher seems to have persevered bravely up to the close of his life, for there is no evidence that a suc- cessor was elected till after his death."

In 1690 "The selection, on behalf of the town, called John Hancock to keep school for the town, to teach both Grammar and English, with writing and cyphering."

In 1691 the salary was fixed at £12, and in 1692 it was raised to £20.

This is the first time that the term salary is used in the records, as applied to the school-master. "Be- sides the Grammar school," says Dr. Paige, "others of a lower grade were established, but their scanty patronage affords slight grounds for boasting. In March, 1680, it was certified that Master Corlett had only nine scholars, and it was added, 'For English our schooldame is goodwife Healy,' at present but nine scholars. Edward Hall, English schoolmaster, at present but three scholars."

In 1692 the town granted to the Menotomie (now Arlington) people a quarter of an acre of land for the accommodation of a school-house, "so long as it was improved for that use and no longer." It does not appear, however, that the town provided for the building of the house or the support of the school.

In 1728 the town granted an allowance of " twenty- four pounds towards the promoting of schools in the Wings of the town," (Arlington and Brighton) ; and the same appropriation was made for several suc- cessive years, the money to be divided equally.

The first . School Committee, consisting of Hon. Francis Foxcroft, Samuel Danforth, Esq., Wm. Brattle, Esq., and Edward Trowbridge, Esq., was elected in 1744, " to inspect the Grammar Schools, and to inquire (at such time as they shall think meet) what proficiency the youth and children make in their learning."

This committee seems to have been elected for an indefinite time, as no other notice of a School Com- mittee is recorded for many years; nor does it seem to have performed other than the specific duties of inspecting the Grammar School. Teachers were still elected by the selectmen.

Again in 1761, "it was voted that Samuel Danforth, John Winthrop, Esq., Dea. Samuel Whittemore, together with the selectmen, be authorized to make such regulations for the ordering and the governing of the Grammar School as they shalljudge expedient

and to cause them to be duly observed and put into execution."

But notwithstanding the previous choice of a School Committee, and the appointment of another committee to make regulations for the ordering and governing of the Grammar School, the selectmen are desired, the next year, to provide a Grammar School master.

In 1766 the inhabitants of the Northwest Precinct, and those on the south side of Charles River (who have up to this time received specific sums voted by the town), are allowed to draw their full and just pro- portion of the money granted for schooling according to their Province tax.

Another advance towards a School Committee with full powers was made in 1770, when "it was voted that a committee of nine persons be and hereby are fully empowered to choose a Grammar School Master : the Hon. Judge Danforth, Judge Lee, Col. Oliver, Judge Sewell, Mr. Abraham Watson, Jr., Mr. Francis Dana, Mayor Vassall, Mr. Samuel Thacher, Jr., Pro- fessor Winthrop ; they, or a major part of the whole, being notified ; and that said committee be a commit- tee of inspection upon the said school master, and that said committee be and hereby are empowered to regulate said school."

This comes the nearest to being a School Committee in the modern sense, but falls short in being the com- mittee on a single school. It was more than twenty years before a committee having charge of the schools was appointed.

In 1794 a committee was " appointed to divide the town into Districts, as the law directs, and to put the schools in operation." The present territory of Cam- bridge was first divided into three districts, afterwards to five.

In 1795 " a committee, consisting of Josiah Morse, Abiel Holmes, Major John Palmer, Wm. Locke, Jonathan Winship, Rev. John Foster and Rev. Thaddeus Fiske, was chosen for the purpose of superintending the schools in this town and carrying into effect the school Act."

This appears to be the first committee charged with the care of all the schools, the others being appointed to inspect, etc., the Grammar School. In 1802 pro- vision was made for schools in the several districts, " to meet the quantity required by law."

Up to this time, for about a hundred and fifty years, the public school system seems to have been in a state of development from principles recognized in the Ordinances of 1642-47.

"The first school-house," says Dr. Paige, " known to have been erected in Cambridge stood on the westerly side of Holyoke Street, about midway be- tween Harvard and Mount Auburn Streets. The lot was owned in 1642 by Henry Dunster, president of the College; it contained a quarter of an acre of land, on which there was then a house that was not his dwelling-house. There are reasons for believing that the 'Fair Grammar School' had been established

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

in that house, and that it remained there five or six years."

In 1647 President Dunster and Edward Goffe con- tracted with Nicholas Withe, Richard Wilson and Daniel Hudson, masons, to build a school-house, probably on that lot, and for the same grammar- school. It does not appear that this school-house was erected by the town, but by certain individuals, of whom President Dunster, and perhaps Mr. Goffe, were the chief.

In 1656, however, President Dunster made a prop- osition to the Townsmen "for the acquitting and discharging of forty pounds upon the account of his outlayings for the school-house." The townsmen did not "yield " to the proposition of Mr. Dunster, but said : " If Mr. Dunster shall please to present any proposition concerning his outlayings for the school- house to the town when met together, they shall be willing to further the same according to justice and equity."

" Perhaps," says Dr. Paige, "in consequence of some such proposition by Mr. Dunster, it is recorded that, at a meeting Nov. 10, 1656, the town do agree and consent that there shall be a, rate made to the value of £108 10s., and levied of the several inhabit- ants, for the payment for the school-house; provided every man be allowed what he hath already freely contributed thereto, in part of his proportion of such rate."

Whatever Mr. Dunster received as his part of this appropriation, nothing further appears till after his death, when, in 1660, his heirs renewed the claim for further remuneration. The town, though denying that in strict justice anything was still due, yet "con- sidering the case as now circumstanced, and espe- cially the condition of his relict widow and children," levied £30 on the inhabitants, and paid it to Mr. Dun- ster's executors,-an absolute deed of sale of the house and land and a clear acquittal for the full pay- ment thereof being given.

From what has been said it appears that the first school-honses (or school-housing, as it is called in the records) were not built by the town alone, although appropriations were made from time to time to aid in their building and repairs.

From 1795 the schools may be regarded as reduced to a system and placed under a School Committee, whose duty it was "to carry into effect the School Act."

The time following the Revolution to about 1830 was shown, by the seventh annual report of the Hon. Horace Mann, secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, to be that at which the schools of Mas- sachusetts were at their lowest ebb.

The grammar schools of the State, where pupils could be fitted for College, required before the Revo- Intion, had, to a great extent, passed away, and their places had been supplied by private schools and academies. Under these circumstances the interest in

the public schools was much less, especially of those who were able to patronize private schools or acade- mies. As an illustration of this, Mr. Mann states that in 1837 twenty-nine of the largest and richest towns in the Commonwealth raised but $2.21 per head for every child of school age, while the average of all the towns of the State, including the smaller and poorer towns, was $2.81.

It seems, however, that in Cambridge a grammar school, in the Euglish sense of the term, existed from the establishment of Master Corlet's " Fair Grammar schoole " to 1838. A portion of the legacy of Ed- ward Hopkins appears to have been expended in sup- port of this grammar school from the time it was first received-about 1713. 1

In 1838 a High School building for the whole town was erected at the corner of Broadway and Winsor Street.

This location seems to have been unsatisfactory to the people of some parts of the town, and " it is very likely," says Mr. Smith, in his History of the High School, "that the removal of the classical school from Old Cambridge, where it had existed from the time of Corlet, was one reason why Josiah Quincy, president of Harvard University, petitioned the Leg- islature in the same year for permission to withdraw the Hopkins Fund from the public school, and by the aid of it establish a private classical school."

In 1839 the Legislature granted the petition, and a private classical school was established. The same act, however, provided that when the school should cease to be supported the trustees should pay over

1 Edward Hopkins, born near Shropshire, in England, ia 1600, early in life became a convert to the religions doctrines of the Puritans, and in 1637 came to America.

After spending a short time at Boston he joined the settlement at Hartford. There he soon became one of the most prominent men, hold- ing many important offices, among others, Governor of the Colony of Connecticut. Ia 1653 he returned to England, where he died in 1657.

By his will, dated London, March 7, 1657, after disposing of much of his property in New England in legacies, and particularly to the family of Rev. Mr. Hooker, his pastor, he makes the following bequests :

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 54

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034