History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 17

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 17

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It is said that Mrs Rawson's school was among the first, female seminaries if it was not the very first in the United States. The date of its establishment is put by one author at 1803, by another somewhere after 1804, and by another at 1800, which makes it difficult to decide which should claim seniority and bear the palm for being the first female seminary of the United States, this or the Ipswich Female Academy, founded in 1803.

Mrs. Rawson numbered among her pupils young ladies from far and near. Many a beautiful girl from the West Indies made her home with her, and two young danghters of Governor Claiborne, of South Carolina, graced her fireside. The following an- nouncement of her school appeared in the Columbia Sentinel, April 15, 1807 :

" YOUNG LADIES' ACADEMY, NEWTON.

"Mrs. Rawson and Mrs. Ilaswell beg leave to inform their friends

NEWTON.

that their spring quarter will commence in April, and that every accom- modation is provided for the comfort of their pupils, and every attention will be paid to their manners, morals and improvement. The drawing will be tanght, the ensuing season, in a new and superior style, Mrs. Rawson having received instructions lately for the purpose from a pro- fessed master of the art. Terms as usual. Music by Mr. G. Graupner. Dancing by Mr. G. Shaffer."

After leaving Newton Mrs. Rawson established a similar school in Roxbury.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN SUCCESSFUL OPERATION IN 1890 .- Lasell Seminary for Young Women, Auburn- dale, established in 1851 .- Lasell Seminary was found- ed by Edward Lasell, Professor of Chemistry in Wil- liams College, and incorporated in the same year. It was fortunately placed in Auburndale, a charming and healthful ward of Newton.

Professor Lasell lived only long enough to see his plans for a girls' school of high rank successful. For ten years after his death the work was carried on by his brother Josiah, and his brother-in-law, George W. Briggs.

In 1862 Rev. Charles W. Cushing became principal and proprietor. In 1873 he sold the seminary and grounds to ten prominent men of Boston, who became a body of trustees. They refitted the institution with steam heat, gas, new furniture, pianos, etc., and in 1874 made Mr. Charles C. Bragdon principal. He soon proved to be the right man for the place. Though young, he had had seven years' experience in teaching. Graduated by a university at home, he had entered one abroad, and while continuing his studies gained much from travel and keen observation. Of great energy and perseverance and " extraordinarily independent in mind and character," he takes the broadest views, yet is patient with the smallest detail. He put a determined shoulder to the wheel and the progress, year by year, has been phenomenal.

In 1874 there were twenty pupils ; now there are more than six times as many. The building was doubled in size in 1881 at a cost of over thirty thousand dol- lars, yet every year from thirty to forty applicants are refused for want of room, the persistent policy being in favor of a small school. And while paying off heavy debts the improvements without and within make the old place almost unrecognizable.

Among these improvements are the pictures that turn the beautiful studio into an art gallery, adorn the walls everywhere, and fill the folios and the cabi- net. There are a goodly number in color, oil and water,-a fair number originals,-with many photo- graphs and engravings. In all, the catalogue has nearly nineteen hundred, and additions are frequent. Mainly the collection was made by the principal in Europe, where he takes summer parties of the pupils and their friends.

The library is the nucleus of a fair one for reference. The old dining-room has given way to a large and handsome successor. The old gymnasium is now a well-fitted laboratory for class and individual work. The new gymnasium, built in 1883, an uncommonly

fine one, is in charge of a pupil of Dr. Sargent, of Cambridge, is carried on upon the principles of which he is the chief apostle, and is in some sense still in his care.

The lower story holds a ten-pin alley and natator- ium. The water in the ample tank is heated and changed often. An accomplished instructor in swim- ming is employed.

A resident physician looks after the health, habits of dress, recreation, etc., of the pupils. With the care and regular hours many a weak girl gains strength, and to be " delicate " is no longer in good taste.

One teacher is devoting herself to the training of the nerves, having recently studied the subject in London. The direct object is not health, -- though it must serve it, -- but concentration of the faculties to obtain the highest activity by self-control.

In 1877 Lasell took a new departure. Believing the chief business of women to be home-making, and see- ing that the conflict with the present dire domestic prob- lems is often greater than they can bear, experts and specialists were brought to counsel and instruct. Mrs. Helen Campbell treated of domestic science in gene- ral ; Mrs. Croly (Jennie June), of dress. Miss Mar- ion Talbot, of Boston, gives annually a course of lec- tures upon home sanitation. This, with practical il- lustrations, visiting buildings to examine the plumb- ing, etc., is a feature of the school of much importance -a unique one it is believed.

Miss Parloa began giving demonstrations in cook- ing, and has had several worthy successors, while vol- unteers and advanced pupils cook in small classes, and prizes are given for the best bread. Dress-cutting and making have long proved a success, and one notable class of juniors at their reception wore dresses of their own handiwork, and served the guests with viands of their own cooking.

Millinery is taught, also photography, short-hand and type-writing. Some pupils have found in these lines their natural power, and means of pecuniary profit.

Lasell is a pioneer in another direction. In 1882 Mr. Alfred Hemenway, of Boston, gave a course of lectures explanatory of the principles of common law. This has become a yearly course, but now in 1890 he also sends a lady, a practitioner of Boston, who especially emphasizes the peculiarities of the law as applied to women. The girls receive her simple, untechnical instruction gladly. They begin to understand that women have suffered bitterly from ignorance on these points.

With all the practical work, the standard of the school has constantly risen. Algebra is now a study of the Preparatory year, and the demands for entrance to the Freshman class are on a scale commensurate with this level. The work in history, literature, English and natural sciences is specially ample. Mr. William J. Rolfe has a class in Shakespeare, and

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

eminent specialists in various departments use all the time that can be spared in the most valuable lectures, free to all pupils. The persistent refusal to gratify a natural ambition for a large school bears its fruit in the more careful attention to those who share its many rich opportunities.

The pupils edit and publish a monthly, the profits of which form a loan fund to help girls in education.

The pupils are not required to pass regular or fore- known examinations, nor to recite in pubiic on any occasion. The whole plan shows intelligent and fearless consideration of the serious problems of the education of girls. The overflowing patronage proves the estimate of thoughtful parents of their solution at Lasell.

West Newton English and Classical School was estab- lished 1854. This school is an outgrowth of the Nor- mal School system of the State ; the principal and associate principals having been trained in the Nor- mal School at Bridgewater.

On the removal of the West Newton State Normal School to Framingham the building and grounds which it had hitherto occupied were purchased, and the school was opened under its present title in 1854, by Mr. Nathaniel T. Allen, who had successfully taught the Model School for the six previous years, and Rev. Cyrus Peirce, former principal of the Nor- mal School. Among its early patrons and constant friends were Hon. Horace Mann, Rev. Samuel J. May (second principal of the Normal School,) Dr. Samuel G. Howe (superintendent of the Blind Asylum, Boston.) Hon. Charles Sumner, Hon. George B. Emerson, Rev. Theodore Parker and Dr. Thomas Hill, ex-president of Harvard College.

In 1855, an act of incorporation was secured from the Legislature. The incorporators were Nathaniel T. Allen, George E. Allen and James T. Allen. Mr. George E. Allen died in 1888; the Messrs. Nathaniel T. and James T. Allen are still (1890) at the head of the institution. Mr. Peirce taught in the school but a short time and died in 1860.

Among the former and present teachers of the school may be named many of a world-wide reputa- tion. Dr. William A. Alcott's book on " The Laws of Health" was first delivered in the form of lectures to this school; Dr. Dio Lewis was connected with the school for eight years, and here taught his first class in free gymnastics in Massachusetts; Mr. Joseph Allen, the successful superintendent of the Westboro' State Reform School, was for many years an associate principal in the school ; Rev. T. Prentiss Allen, Mrs. S. R. Urbino, Rev. Joseph H. Allen, professor at Harvard University, William F. Allen, professor in Madison University, and many others might be named.

The instruction is based on the principles of Froebel and Pestalozzi, and aims symmetrically to develop the body, mind and heart. Here the first kindergarten in Massachusetts was established in 1864.

The course of study embraces full English and classical courses for a secondary education ; also pre- paratory studies. The regular academic course occu- pies five years ; the classical course, four years. Throughout the latter, written translations and analyses of the authors studied are required. Pro- vision is made for pupils who require direct personal attention, as in the case of exceptionally backward pupils, or those pursuing an advanced course of study or of foreigners. Among the teachers are those who speak French, German, Spanish and Italian.

The library contains five hundred volumes. The mineralogical cabinet is large; the natural history collection is good; the apparatus is excellent ; the drawing-room is well supplied with casts and models. There is a complete supply of apparatus for heavy and light gymnastics. Instruction is given, and ex- ercise is required of all in the gymnasium. A swim - ming pond at the residence of one of the principals is an added attraction. Music and dancing are taught.

In addition to the instruction given in school- hours, the pupils enjoy the privilege of the School Lyceum and Natural History Society. The weekly meetings of the Lyceum, conducted by officers of their own number, chosen by the members, afford in many ways opportunity for manly development, mental discipline and self-reliance, to which graduates of the school look back in grateful remembrance. One of the principals is present at all the meetings of the Lyceum. With this constant supervision the Lyceum is regarded as among the most valuable advantages offered by the institution.

From the first this has been a family school for both sexes. It is believed by the proprietors of the school that in many ways association of the sexes in the family aud in the school has great advantages, affording a better moral development and a more healthy stimulus than is possible where the sexes are educated separately. Pupils from out of town are grouped in families. This secures a careful oversight of each of the number grouped together and provides for much of family life and of individual study and discipline. It is believed that this school, by rigid discipline, wise training and careful culture of all the powers with reference to individual peculiarities and needs, educates its pupils to useful citizenship, to single-hearted patriotism, and to a noble Christian manhood and womanhood.

Since its organization, up to 1890, over one thou- sand pupils have graduated from the school; more than one hundred have come from foreign countries, be- tween three and four hundred from States outside of Massachusetts, and nine hundred from towns outside of Newton.

Miss Spear's English and Classical School .- This school was established in 1865, on Washington Street, Newton. Its aim is to furnish a through practical English and classical education for girls. To this end the school is divided into three departments, each

NEWTON.

under charge of a special teacher and all under the general supervision of the principal. The work of each department occupies from three to four years. The average number of pupils is fifty; their ages from six to twenty years. There are five regular teachers and three pupil teachers, also special teach- ers in French, German, Music and Elocution.

Riverside Home and Day School for Girls .- This school was established in 1882. Its special design is to prepare girls for Wellesley and other colleges. The resident pupils are limited to twenty, under the care of the principal, Miss Delia T. Smith. The course of study is regular and systematic. Pupils who satisfactorily complete the college preparatory course are received at Wellesley College without further examination. French and German are taught by resident native teachers of successful experience. Lectures and concerts at Wellesley College are open to pupils of this school.

Mr. E. H. Cutler's Preparatory School for Boys and Girls, Newton .- In September, 1887, Mr. E. H. Cutler opened a preparatory school for boys. At the close of the second year seven of the graduates were pre- pared for college. At the commencement of the third year, at the solicitation of some citizens of Newton, a department for girls was established, and up to March, 1890, the total number of pupils was : boys, thirty ; girls, four ; total, thirty-four. By limiting the num- ber of pupils, Mr. Cutler is enabled to give each pupil his personal attention ; and, having had a long and successful experience in preparatory work, is admir- ably fitted to prepare pupils for college or for techni- cal schools.

The Misses Allen's Day and Boarding-School, Vernon Street, Newton, 1888 .- Here girls can be prepared for college with all the advantages of a home life. There are special teachers in the classics, modern languages, music, drawing and painting. Miss Alice Ranlett is the acting principal. Although in the second year only of its existence, the school is pronounced a suc- cess.

[NOTE .- Since the above was written, this school, by reason of the death of one of the proprietors, has been given up.]

CHAPTER IV.

NEWTON-(Continued).

NEWTON THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION.

BY PROF. ALVAH HOVEY.

THIS school was opened at Newton Centre on the 28th of October, 1825, and was incorporated by an act of the General Court of Massachusetts, approved by Governor Levi Lincoln on the 22d of February, 1826. It was the first theological seminary of a high

grade established by Baptists in the United States, and it will therefore be suitable to mention a few things which led more or less directly to its estab- lishment.

At the annual meeting of the Boston Baptist Asso- ciation on September 21 and 22, 1814, the letter of the Second Baptist Church in Boston, written by Dr. Thomas Baldwin, suggested " the propriety and im- portance of forming an education society to afford aid to those of our young brethren who are desirous of engaging in the ministry, in obtaining literary and theological information." This suggestion was re- ceived with favor, and referred to a committee of three, -the Rev. Daniel Merrill, the Rev. Luther Rice and Mr. Ensign Lincoln. The report of this committee recommended the formation of the society proposed, "and presented the draft of a constitution, which was promptly adopted." Thus the Massachusetts Baptist Education Society came into existence. In the eleventh annual report of this society, written by Rev. Ebenezer Nelson, and presented in 1825, cccurs the following paragraph :

" Besides attending to the ordinary duties the past year, your Com- mittes have, in compliance with the recommendation of a large meeting of ministers and other brethren convened in Boston, May 25, 1825, takeu into consideration the establishment of a Theological Seminary in the vicinity of Boston. This measure has for many years been in contem- plation. Your Committee are now convinced that the time has arrived to build this part of the Lord's house. Although attempts have been made to establish Theological departmente io connection with two of onr colleges, and some success has attended them, yet your Committee are of opinion that a Theological Institution established by itself alone, where the combined powers of two or three or more men of experience, and men of God, can be employed in instructiog and forming the man- ners and habits and character of youog men for the work of the minis- try, is greatly to he preferred. They have therefore appointed two sub- committees,-one to draw up a general plan for an Institution and inquire concerning a suitable plans for its location, and the other to solicit donations and subscriptions, both which have made some progress. The Committee are well aware that the step they are about to tako is a very important ons. Tho work before them invalves great responsibil- ities. Whatever is done in relation to this Iostitution will have a bear- iog upon the great interests of the Redeemer's Kingdom, and especially npon the denomination with which we stand connected."

The " two colleges " which had Theological Depart- ments connected with them were located, one in Waterville, Me., and the other in Washington, D. C. -- now Colby University and Columbian University. At the head of the former was Dr. Jeremiah Chaplin, an able scholar and divine, and in the faculty of the latter was Dr. Irah Cha e, afterwards so influential in fixing the character of Newton Theological Insti- tution. But the trustees of Waterville College bad, at length, become satisfied that they could not build up a good seminary and college together with the resources at their command, and about the same time Dr. Chase had reached the conclusion that a satisfac- tory courseof theological instruction conld not be main- tained in Columbian College. The way was therefore open for the establishment of an independent seminary wherever it could be most useful, and providentially there were at that time a number of far-seeing and liberal Baptists in Eastern Massachusetts who were

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

prepared to commence the important work. But they did not expect to finish it in their own day. For it has been truly said : " The denomination was not yet strong enough in men of intelligence and wealth to justify an effort on a large scale. The be- ginning must necessarily be small ; but men of faith and hope felt that the beginning should not longer be delayed. They would do what they could by lay- ing a foundation on which their successors might build, and thus gradnally make the school such as the growing wants of the churches might demand. They had no experience in such au enterprise ; they had no precedent as a guide; but they understood what was needed, and were disposed to do their best towards furnishing a supply."

Although the founders of this institution had no expectation of completing the work which they began or of making a great school at the start, with large applianees in the way of teachers, books and build- ings, they had a very definite grade of instruction in mind, and purposed that it should not be inferior in quality or amount to that furnished by the best theo- logical seminaries of which they had any knowledge. Those seminaries were Andover, founded in 1807, and Princeton, founded in 1812, in both of which a full course occupied three years. It was their purpose to establish a school of equal excellence with those at Andover and Princeton, yet differing from them in the emphasis which should be laid upon biblical study. The following statement was published by the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Bap- tist Edneation Society, November 9, 1825, less than two weeks after the seminary was opened by the Rev. Irah Chase, who had been appointed, for the time being, Professor of Biblical Theology :

" The regular course is to occupy three years, and embrace the Hebrew language and antiquities, with the Chaldee and Greek of the Scriptures, Ecclesiastical History, Biblical Theology, Pastoral Duties, and, iu short, the various etudies and exercisee appropriate to a theological institution designed to assist those who would understand the Bible clearly, and, as faithful ministers of Christ, inculcate its divine lessons the most use. fully." More particularly :

"To the department of Ecclesiastical History will be referred in- struction on the evidences of the Christian religion ; on the formation, preservation, transmission and canonical authority of the sacred vol- ume ; on the history, character, influence, and uses of the ancient ver- sions and manuscripts of the Old Testament and of the New ; on mod- ern translations, especially on the history uf our common English ver- sion ; on the principal editions of the original Scriptures ; on the ancient and the subsequent history of the Hebrewe, and, as far as may be re- quisite, of the nations with whose history that of the Hebrew is con- nected ; on the history of Christianity, and the various opinions and practicee which, uoder ite name, have been supported, with the causes and the consequences ; on the attempte of reformation, and on the pres- ent state ne well as the origin of the different denominations of pro- fessed Christians, and of unbelievers, and the unevangelized throughout the world.

" To the sphere of Biblical Theology it will belong to aid the students in acquiring a knowledge of the sacred Scriptures in the original lan- guages, as well as in the English ; to guide them to correct principles of interpretation, and habituate them to employ, in seeking to understand the various parts of the Biblo, all those helps which may be derived from the different branches of biblical literature ; to analyze, and lend the students to analyze, in the original, the most important portions of the Old Testament, and the whole, if possible, of tho New, exhibiting the scope of the respective parts, and whatever of doctrinal or of prac-

tical import they may contain, and showing how they are applicable at the present day, and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; and having thus surveyed the rich field of Scripture; and viewed the products ae scattered profusely on every side by the bounteous hand of God, the professor is, for the sake of convenient reference, to classify and arrange the particulars, and, for this purpose, to bring the students to the examination of a series of theological subjecte, in such a manner as most to awaken the efforte of the genuine disciple of Christ, and lead him to search the Scripturee.

" Under the head of Pastoral Duties, it will be required to give in - struction in the nature, objects, difficulties, responsibilities and supporte of the pastoral office ; on the great work of preaching the Gospel ; on the various waye and occasione of promoting the welfare of a church, and commiending the Gospel to the consciences of men by private labore as well as by public preaching, exhortation and prayer ; on the dangers of the preacher, and the appropriate guarde ; on hie visite to persons in health atul in sickness, and in other affliction ; and on administering consolation, or reproof, or instruction, or entresty, as different individ- nale may need, and as becomes one who is to watch for soule as they that must give account."

This prospectus establishes two points; first, that students for the ministry were believed, by the found- ers of the seminary, to need a course of instruction more thorough and extended than could be given by any pastor ; for no one can read it without recogniz- ing the importance of nearly every part of the course proposed, and, at the same time, the vast amount of investigation which it presupposes ; and, second, that the range of study thus marked out was pre-eminently Biblical, comprising the history, the criticism, the in- terpretation, the analysis, the application, and the in - fluence of the sacred Seriptures, together with suitable training for the work of preaching and pastoral duty, but assigning a very subordinate place to systematic theology, and avoiding the expression altogether. It may be added that the prospectus quoted above bears internal evidence of having proceeded from the mind and pen of Professor Chase. One of his early pupils, the Rev. William Hagne, D.D., testifies that the par- agraph describing the work to be done in Biblical Theology "was of his own framing," and "was the definition of his own life-work." But that paragraph was of a piece with all the rest, and must have ema- nated from the same souree. And if, as Dr. Hague affirms, " it is radiant with the idea that had been the secret of his strength," an idea "which imparts a liv- ing freshness and energy to every seholar, teacher or preacher that apprehends it, and is yet destined to unfold a hidden power in composing the strifes of Christendom," it is proper to state the fact that this idea of making instruction in theology primarily and chiefly Biblical, instead of systematie or speculative, has been adhered to through all the history of the institution. A committee of which the Rev. Baron Stow, D.D., was chairman, thns refers to the influence of Dr. Chase upon the character of the seminary : " He was the central mover in the enterprise of founding it, and around him the friendly elements crystallized and coaleseed. The plan of the institu- tion was his ; and scarcely a principal feature in its organization has been changed. For twenty years his labors as professor were unwearied and self-deny- ing, and, through all the subsequent years, he never

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 17

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