History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 16

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III > Part 16

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In 1873 art rooms were fitted up in the High School building, and furnished at considerable expense with an imported set of casts, models and flat examples, pronounced by Mr. Walter Smith, State Supervisor of Art, to be unsurpassed by any collection in the State. A carefully arranged course of study by Mr. Smith was adopted, and evening schools for industrial and mechanical drawing established in three of the villages-Newton proper, and the Upper and Lower Falls. For some years after, evening drawing schools continued to be taught, and were often quite fully attended. Drawing continues to be a regular study in the schools with a special supervisor for the pri- mary and grammar grades.

INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION-SEWING .- In 1881 the attention of the West Newton Women's Educational Club was turned to the needs of young girls who were growing up ignorant of the common rudiments of sewing. By permission of the School Committee, one of their number, as an experiment, gratuitously taught a class in the Franklin School without detriment to the regular studies and with much benefit to the chil- dren. From six or eight who commenced with her the number soon grew to thirty.

The next year the question of making sewing a regular study was referred to a sub-committee consist- ing of the two lady members of the School Board with one gentleman, who reported strongly urging its adoption. The entire committee favored the plan ; two ladies were engaged as special teachers, a specific and graded plan for teaching was adopted and sewing has since been one of the regular studies of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh grades in the grammar schools.

EVENING SCHOOLS FOR COMMON BRANCHES .- As early as 1853-54 an evening school for common branches was established in West Newton of about forty scholars, chiefly children of foreign parents, with some adults, whose circumstances forbade their at- tendance on the public schools. This was started and sustained by a few benevolent individuals, among whom was Rev. Charles Barnard, of Warren Street Chapel. They were assisted by senior pupils from other schools. It was open two evenings in the week and continued through the winter "with increasing interest and growing numbers." No pupils in town with the same amount of instruction profited more.

By a vote of the town, in the winter of 1859-60, an evening school was taught in District No. 2, and con- tinued three months, but without the eminent success

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which attended the private effort in West Newton, and it was not thought best to make these schools a permanent institution.

In 1870-71 an evening school was taught in West Newton with good results; in 1871-72 one was taught in the North Village with flattering success, attended by fifty-eight adults and ninety children; the average attendance of the former being forty-three and of the latter fifty-seven. Progress in the studies was good. Evening schools continued to be taught for some years in the village, and since then evening schools have generally been taught in some village accessi- ble to the others. Sometimes they have been tanght for men and boys only, but latterly for both sexes. They have been most successful when under the supervision of one of the principals of the grammar schools.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS, ACADEMIES AND SOME OTHER INSTITUTIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION .- Of many of the early private schools and institutions for higher education little is now known ; a brief sketch of some of them will be attempted. In West Newton may be named

The Fuller Academy, 1832-34 .- In the year 1794, by the death of Judge Abraham Fuller (who had suc- cessfully taught a private school previous to 1760), a legacy of £300 was left for the purpose of laying the foundation of an academy in Newton. But the payment of the legacy was delayed and it was not till 1832 that the building was erected. It stood in West Newton, on the corner of Washington and Highland Streets. The academy was incorporated in 1833 and the school opened in the spring of that year, and was taught for the next two years by Master Perkins. The town then decided to abandon the enterprise and the building was sold for $1600.

Mr. Seth Davis' Private School, 1817-39 .- In 1817 Mr. Seth Davis established a private academy on Waltham Street for boys and girls. The best teachers are not always the greatest scholars. Mr. Davis never claimed great scholarship, yet many of his pupils, who have attained the highest culture, admit he was a rare teacher, much in advance of his times. He had knowledge enough to answer all the requirements of his pupils and the power to impart by happy illustra- tions, no matter how difficult the subject might be. The school was small and he gave personal attention to his pupils with regard to their endowments and tastes, and endeavored to kindle enthusiasm and de- velop thought. The school-house was unique as the teacher, and apparently designed to secure good order without much trouble. The school-room is thus de- scribed by Hon. Alexander HI. Rice, who was one of his pupils :

"The centre of the room was a clear space, and around the room ran a series of stalls, each separated from the next by a high partition, after the fashion seen in some eating-houses now, and in each stall was a short and narrow seat, so that its occupant could 5-iii

see no fellow-pupil except on the opposite side of the rcom, or at least beyond speaking distance, while each and every one was visible to the master. I say that each one was visible to the master, though it is mani- fest that when seated in his chair in the centre of the room, the master's back must be towards some of the stalls on one or more of the four sides of the room. But while the fact is recognized as a physical neces- sity, it seemed then of no practical importance, for any mischievous vibration behind him, though as del- icate as the step of a velvet-footed mouse, seemed to reverberate npon his sensitive and expectant tympan- um as the summons to an instantaneous and whirling jump that brought him, chair and all, face to face with the entrapped offender. The rebuke of those piercing grey eyes, fixed and imperturbable, was worse than the soundest flogging."

While engaged in teaching, Mr. Davis devoted his evenings to study and giving scientific lectures in Newton and adjoining towns. The study of astron- omy was a strong passion with him, and he con- structed an orrery designed to illustrate the solar sys- tem ; this be used in school and in the lecture-room.

The teaching of arithmetic was a problem he could not solve with the facilities offered him, and he com- piled an arithmetic which he used in school and which was adopted by the town some years later.

Many eminent persons were once his pupils; among them may be named Hon. Alexander H. Rice and Prof. Daniel B. Hagar, who fitted for college un- der his tuition.

Miss Harriet L. Davis, a daughter of Seth Davis, was a pupil and an assistant to her father. She was a gifted woman, studious and helpful to all, ever stimulating others to better efforts. Her gentleness and tact enabled her to adjust misunderstandings and promote harmony when necessary. She had a thor- ough knowledge of the classics and higher mathe- matics, and was prepared to teach the necessary studies to fit for college when she established her school, after her father retired from his profession, in 1839.

Miss Davis' school was successful .- Her health being impaired from close application, her father assumed the responsibilities of her school and added fresh laurels to his fame as a teacher. Soon after the death of his daughter he gave up teaching, but not his in- terest in education. He was progressive, public- spirited and far-sighted, and aided in many ways the improvement of the town. He died June 25, 1888, at the great age of 100 years, nine months and twenty- two days.

The State Normal School, 1844-53 .- In 1844 the Lexington State Normal School, for women, having outgrown its quarters, it became necessary to seek for better accommodations. The Fuller Academy build- ing, in West Newton, offered more ample room, and was very favorably located on the line of the Boston and Albany Railroad. It was not in use and could be had for $1500.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

But in those days Normal Schools were regarded by many as merely an experiment at best; the State was very chary in its appropriations, and the Board of Education had no means at hand with which to purchase the building. In this dilemma, Hon. Hor- ace Mann, then secretary of the Board, went into the office of his friend, Hon. Josiah Quincy, Jr., and in an emphatic, semi-humorous manner, said : "Quincy, if you know any man who wants the highest seat in the kingdom of Heaven, it can be had for $1500." An explanation followed, and Mr. Quincy immediately gave his check for the amount to Mr. Mann, direct- ing him to take the deed in his own name, and if the building was ever sold, to apply the proceeds to any purpose that he thought would best promote the in- terests of popular education.

The citizens of West Newton contributed $600 to- wards fitting up the building ; $1300 were also given jointly by Mr. Mann and Rev. Cyrus Peirce, the prin- cipal of the school, and the building was properly furnished and ready for occupancy in the summer of 1844. The citizens welcomed the normal pupils to their homes and the school was opened in the early fall under very favorable anspices. The seats were rapidly filled by intelligent and earnest pupils, some of them residents of the town, and the graduates were sought for to teach in responsible and Incrative places. Its proximity to Boston made it easy of ac- cess to visitors, and it soon became widely and favor- ably known. Scarce a day passed but distinguished and interested visitors were seen either seated on the platform or following the various class exercises.

The leading characteristics of the school were per- fect sincerity and entire fearlessness in the search of truth, wherever it might lead; the methods inculcated, both of research and for teaching, were natural and objective. All sham of every kind was despised, and for even their public days there was little of what might be called "fixing up ;" it was the aim of the teachers then, as on other days, to show things just as they were.

The Normal School and the model department con- nected with it drew many families from Boston and its vicinity to make West Newton their home, that they might avail themselves of the facilities for edu- cation they offered, not only to their daughters, but to their younger children. Among others thus at- tracted was Hon. Horace Mann, whose presence in the village proved a great uplift not only to the school, but to the entire community.

In April, 1849, Mr. Peirce was compelled by failing health, incident upon overwork and care, to resign the charge of the school to whose welfare he had devoted every power of his body and mind for eight years, three in Lexington and five in Newton. To him more than to any other of the Normal teachers is due the continued existence of our present Normal School system. Hon. Henry Barnard but echoed the senti- ments of many distinguished educators when he once

said : " Hlad it not been for him (Mr. Peirce), I con- sider the cause of Normal Schools would have failed or have been postponed an indefinite period." In the next annual report of the Board of Education the visiting committee of the Board, in alluding to Mr. Peirce's Normal School work, stated that " Never was a success more signal ; never was it more clearly pur- chased by the sacrifice of health and almost of life."

In September, 1849, Rev. Eben S. Stearns, of New Bedford, took charge of the school. In the interval between the administrations of Mr. Peirce and Mr. Stearns, Miss Electa N. Lincoln, the first assistant, took charge of the school and carried it on success- fully. Under the administration of Mr. Stearns it increased in popularity till it became overcrowded, when more rigid examinations were adopted ; but it soon became evident that some further measures must be taken to accommodate the school, and in 1853 it was removed to a larger building in Framingham Centre.

On the first establishment of Normal Schools in Mas- sachusetts, determined opposition was manifested by many conservative educators, and efforts were made in the Legislature of 1840 not only to abolish the school, but the Board of Education also. This opposition be- came gradually less active, but while the school was located in West Newton, the pent-up bitterness of its opponents broke out with renewed virulence, and hap- pily, for the last time. The circumstances of the on- slaught are of historical value as bearing upon the progress of education, and will be of interest in this connection.

In 1844 Mr. Mann's celebrated "Seventh Annual Report " appeared, in which he eulogized the schools of Germany to the implied disparagement of the schools in America. This so exasperated the " Thir- ty-one Boston Schoolmasters " and others, that a whirl- wind of opposition was raised, not only against Mr. Mann, but against the measures he advocated. Old teachers set themselves once more against the school because it taught methods which interfered with their ways of doing things, and was a standing declaration that there was something in the art of teaching which experience alone did not give. Re- ligious fanaticism, at first busy against the school and only quieted because it had nothing to fight against, was again roused. "The school was opposed to the Bible " because it discouraged the use of Solomon's sovereign remedy ; "it was irreligious " because it did not teach the dogmas of " their " church, or en- courage exclusive attendance on "their" places of worship. These and many more charges were mali- ciously circulated. The attacks final'y culmin- ated in a disgraceful article which appeared in the Boston Recorder of June 3, 1847, maligning the morality and even decency of the school, and which so aroused the indignation of the students, more than half of whom were of that religious faith against which the principal was represented as plying his se-

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ductions, that, without any communication with the principal, they unanimously adopted and published a series of resolutions in which the charges were, with- out any qualification, forcibly denied. (These may be seen in the Report of the Board of Education for the year 1889-90, article " Historical Sketch of the Lex- ington-Framingham Normal School," and in the Bos- ton Courier of June 10, 1847.)

The principal himself challenged his enemies to prove their charges, but no proof appeared, and in their next report the visitors of the school declared them to be groundless, and the board added that " the charges referred to could only be attributed to a cul- pable ignorance or perversion of facts." Thus ended one of the stormiest epochs in the history of the uew education.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS AT NEWTON CENTRE .- The Boarding-School of Marshall S. Rice, 1825-47 .- This school was opened in Newton Centre, on the first Monday of May, 1825, and was continued until No- vember, 1847, a period of twenty-two years and a half. The location was selected because it was healthful, without tavern or grog-shop, and in daily communi- cation by stage with Boston. The homestead of Mr. Obadiah Thayer, nearly opposite the Congregational meeting-house, and often called the "Gibbs Place," was first reated for a year and then purchased by Mr. Rice, as well suited to the needs of such a school as he wished to establish, the purpose of which, as de- fined hy himself, was to " train up young men and wo- men to be teachers in common schools, and to fill important places in business." The school year was divided into four quarters of twelve weeks each, and the tuition of day scholars was fixed at $5.00 a quarter, while the boarding scholars were charged $24.00 a quarter, unless they were children of widows, in which case the usual charge was diminished one- fourth. Yet during the last few years of the school $30.00 a quarter appears to have been the customary price for boarders. Thirty hoarding scholars and ten day scholars were considered a full school, though more than forty scholars were often in attendance. The whole number of pupils from first to last was not less than a thousand. Some of these, after further study, entered the Christian ministry, several became pro- fessors in colleges, the legal profession was chosen by some, and the medical by others ; but a large part of the pupils engaged in business, and many of them with marked success. The names that appear on the school catalogues are generally household words with the people of Newton, though many pupils came from Boston, and some from distant places.

The eminent success of this school was due in great measure to the energy, decision, promptness and sterling character of Mr. Rice, seconded by the moth- erly care of his excellent wife. By their earnest co- operation it was made one of the best schools in New England. Mr. Rice had remarkable tact in the man- agement of boys; his methods of discipline were

various and often original. For example : an offender was sometimes tried by a court and jury of fellow- students, and their decision as to his guilt or inno- cence, and the extent and quality of punishment of the guilty, was respected by Mr. Rice. The severest punishment imposed upon the offender by the court was confinement at meal times and during play hours for one, two or three days, according to the gravity of the offence, in " the dungeon," a dark closet under the front stairs. A jailor was appointed to carry bread and water to the culprit.

It is said that among the pupils were sometimes boys who preferred to stay from church on Sunday, and who would complain of illness as meeting-time approached. Master Rice always respected their ex- cuses, kindly put them to bed for the day, and fed them on gruel. It may be superfluous to say that this treatment not only cured the disease, but gen- erally prevented any recurrence.

Mr. Rice was also ingenious in methods of awaken- ing interest in study, and in testing the self-control of his pupils. He would occasionally give them a difficult example in arithmetic, and while they were doing it, tell a most interesting story. His un- swerving integrity and religious life were also sources of power, and it would be difficult to estimate more highly than we ought, their effect on the characters of the young people under bis charge.

Mr. Rice became interested in temperance and joined the Friendly Society, a temperance organiza- tion, about the year 1830, at which time he had in his cellar a quantity of cherry bounce and other home-made liquors, closely sealed in kegs, and the question rose : " What shall be done with it?" It stayed in the cellar two winters, but the following spring Mr. Rice had made up his mind as to its dis- position, and, calling his boys together, he directed them to take the kegs to an adjacent hill-side, out with the bungs, and let it run down the water-courses, thus effectually giving them an object lesson on the best use of intoxicants.

He was very successful in interesting his pupils in gardening, giving each ayplot of ground which he could plant with vegetables or flowers, and tend at his pleasure. If any of his pupils have failed to be good citizens or capable men of business, or sincere Chris- tians, it is not for want of wise counsel and worthy example on the part of their teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Rice.

Mr. Moses Burbank's School .- The next year after Mr. Rice closed his school, Mr. Moses Burbank opened a private school for boys in the basement of the old Baptist Church, and kept it till 1852.

The Academy at Newton Centre, 1831-60 .- In Sep- tember, 1830, several persons who realized the poverty of the public schools, and desired to furnish for their girls an opportunity for higher and better education, met and took measures to establish a female academy in the village. Mr. Rice's school was mostly for boys,

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

and he heartily entered into the project, and sold to the Building Committee land for a site, for the small sum of fifty dollars. The academy was incorporated March 5, 1831, under the name of " The Newton Fe- male Academy." Miss Leach was appointed its precep- tress March 9th, with a salary of $250 for six months, or, if she should remain a year, $350 for the year. Tuition was fixed at $5 per term, the year to contain four terms. A boarding-house was erected in 1831, and provision made the next year for furnishing din- ner to outside pupils, if they desired, at ten cents a day.

In 1832 the preceptress was changed, and again changed in 1833. In 1834 Mr. Elbridge Hosmer took both the academy and boarding-house; these he bought in 1836 for $3500, and sold the same in 1837 to Mr. Ebenezer Woodward, who kept a very successful school for six and a half years, when he sold to Mr. Wood, who resold the property in 1848 to Rev. John B. Hague. Under Mr. Hague the school took high rank. During the year ending April 9, 1850, it num- bered fifty pupils, with special teachers in Latin, Ger- man, French and Italian, also in music and drawing ; Dr. Alvah Hovey, afterwards president of the Newton Theological Seminary, instructing in Latin and Ger- man. Attention was paid to the higher mathematics, rhetoric and belles-lettres, intellectual and moral science, the natural sciences and history. The school year was divided into three terms; price of board and tuition, fifty dollars a term.

The academy seems to have been very unfortunate in the frequent changes of teachers. Mr. Ilague sold his interest in 1851 to Mr. E. H. Barstow, who changed it into a school for boys and young men, receiving many of Mr. Burbank's pupils (Mr. Burbank having closed his school about this time). Mr. Barstow taught about nine years, when his health failed and the school was abandoned, the building being sold and changed into a boarding-house.

OTHER PRIVATE SCHOOLS .- Many other private schools might be named in this and the other vil- lages, but of which little is known. There was Dr. Charles Siedhof's fine classical school, kept for some years in Newton Centre, on the German system ; here half a dozen boarding pupils and a dozen day pupils were ably instructed in ancient and modern lan- guages ; an excellent boys' school, opened by Mr. Hunt when " his occupation was gone," on the closing of the High School department in the Centre Public School. There was a good girls' school in the same village, established about 1860, and kept for some years by a Miss Cornelius, daughter of the Mrs. Cor- nelius whose cook-books have added much since their publication to the health of our tables and the comfort of our homes.

The Preston Cottage and Hillside School, near Newton proper, and Mr. Weld's school in Auburn- dale, about 1850, should be named. Undoubtedly, many more might be numbered and teachers might

be named who labored faithfully and well, but who cannot now be singled out from the shades of the past.

Young Ladies' Academy, Newton .- But there was one famous school and one famous teacher in Newton in the very earliest part of this century, of whom much can be gleaned-the private school for girls commenced some time previous to 1807, and taught for about twelve years in the brick part of the Nonantum House by Mrs. Rawson, who, with her husband and son, resided in the building. Mrs. Rawson was a noted woman in her day, brilliant and versatile, "an authoress, poet and editor." "Charlotte Temple," the well-known novel, was from her pen. She wrote several other novels and some popular songs; among them, "America, Commerce and Freedom," and "When Rising from Ocean." Her father, who had been retired from the British navy, was a Tory, and lived in Revolutionary times in Hull, Mass., till he was banished from thence in 1778, when he went to England, and there his daughter Susanna married William Rawson, a trumpeter of the Royal Horse Guards.

Mr. Rawson was a famous trumpeter, and after coming to this country he used to play the trumpet for the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston. It is said that when his trumpet sounded in the "Messiah," at the passage, "The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised," one could almost see the graves opening and the dead quickening into life.

While in Newton, caring for her sixty young lady pupils, whom she instructed in manners and in morals as well, she published a volume entitled “Miscellan- eous Poems," by Susanna Rawson, Preceptress of the Ladies' Academy, Newtoo, Mass., a volume of 227 pages with 245 subscribers, whose names were printed in the book. She also prepared and published many other books while teaching. Her adopted daughter, Miss Frances M. Mills, assisted and succeeded her, and afterwards became the mother of Mrs, Georgianna Hall, the authoress, and by a second marriage, of Richard S. Spofford, the Essex County statesman.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 16

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278