USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > North Reading > History of North Reading > Part 4
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This decentralization of the schools of the town was not altogether a good thing. In the smaller units it was impossible to concentrate on the Latin and the advanced mathematics taught in the old Grammar School. The new schools were more after the order of the English Schools started a few years previous. In other words there was nowhere in town where the aspiring youth could go in order to prepare for college, which college, by the way, still insisted on a knowledge of Latin and Greek. This was what started the age of the Academies. In North Reading Col. Daniel Flint sensed this need and in 1825, bought the tavern that had been built in 1818 by Jerry Nichols, now called the Campbell Building, and started an Academy. Here all those desiring more than the rudiments of an edu- cation attended. The first Master was a Mr. Gregg. He was followed by a Mr. Webster and a Mr. Coffin. For fifteen years this new venture in edu- cation continued, and then there was no higher education in North Reading until the coming of the High School in 1868.
In the meantime Horace Mann had stimulated a new interest in education and had succeeded in influencing the General Court to pass a law providing for a State Department of Education. Under the impetus of this law it was not long before the local schools were under the super- vision of the state. This undoubtedly heightened the interest in general education. One can notice this increased interest in reading the reports
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given by the school committees from time to time. In the North Reading report for 1862-63, the School Committee was quite enthusiastic. In the school kept at the Back Row there had been a class in botany. At the Franklin School, (the one previously designated the Neck) there had been much time spent in teaching the English language. The pupils, under the guidance of the teacher, had even published a school paper. At the Center School the interest had gone to music and the pupils had given an excel- lent Christmas concert. It was this interest which led to the establishment of the High School five years later.
The old Methodist Church, which was located back of the Putnam House, was moved to the corner of Bow and Willow Streets and fitted out for school purposes. Miss M. D. Chapman was engaged as principal of this new High School. From then on there was a succession of teachers and principals. The year was divided into three terms and sometimes a teacher would teach one term and then secure a higher paid situation elsewhere. As a result there could not have been much effective teaching done, although the School Committee usually had an enthusiastic report. The discipline, however, must have been bad, for in 1876 the Committee prefaced its re- port with these words: "The reports which were circulated at the beginning of the year concerning the school were such as to lead the Committee to suppose it to be a difficult school to deal with." Whenever school discipline is bad enough to come to the attention of the School Committee it is rather bad.
From the beginning this North Reading High School must have been greatly limited in its capacity. In the curriculum for the year 1892 there is listed such subjects as physics and chemistry. With the limited space available there could not have been much laboratory work, which is a prime requisite for teaching these subjects. In mathematics the pupils were not taken beyond Plane Geometry, and as for language, that subject is settled by a note at the bottom of the page saying, "Latin may be taken during the second and third years." It would seem from this that the standards had been lowered during the course of the years. The old fashioned Grammar School, while not paying much attention to such things as Physiology, Botany, Government, etc., did lay emphasis on Latin and Greek. By so doing the foundation was laid for individual efforts in the direction of natural inclination.
By the turn of the century this venture in higher education came to an end. The state requirements for a recognized High School were such that it was no longer feasible to carry on. At the present time North Reading only attempts to give the first year of High School, as for the remainder the pupils have been going, first to Lowell and Salem, but more recently they have been transported to Reading. Now that the school population has increased there is afoot a movement for the erection of a High School
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building adequate to accommodate all our young people desiring such an education.
The schools of North Reading continued on the even tenor of their ways. Reading the reports made by the School Committee one gathers that irregular attendance and lax discipline were the bane of the teacher and the Committee as well. In 1872 the report was that there had been no failures but a great deal of absenteeism, which has slowed up considerably the brighter pupils. The great day of the year was "examination day" when, at the close of the year, the parents and the Committee came to both hear and ask questions. If the pupils did not tremble in their shoes it is a safe bet the teacher did, for this was the day on which she was "on the carpet."
In 1882 there was a new law governing the schools of the Common- wealth. The old district system was abolished and there was a superin- tendent provided for. Julius K. Knowlton was one of those early superin- tendents. In 1893 the town decided to give up the old districts and have but one central school to which the pupils from the outlying districts were
THE LELAND D. BACHELDER SCHOOL
to be transported at town expense. To this end two rooms were fitted up in the basement of what had been the Third Church building, but then was, known as the Old Town Hall. Later when this proved inadequate the old' Academy building was secured for school purposes. Then as the
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school population increased it was necessary to make other provisions. In 1917 the town was bonded and the new Leland D. Batchelder Building, named in honor of a long-time member of the School Committee, was erected. By 1930 even this was inadequate to accommodate the new needs, so a couple of wings were added to this building. And now with a school population of 519, North Reading is compelled to look forward to other provisions.
Because of the growth of the town in valuation and in population it has been able to throw off the part-time superintendency of a few years ago and have a full-time superintendent. From 1935 to 1942 John B. Hender- shot ably carried forward the school program. Since 1942 Ralph C. Sturke has been doing good work. In the meantime there has been added a school nurse, a supervisor of music, and there has also been some instruction in art. All in all, the North Reading school system could be duplicated in many of our New England towns.
We are no better nor no worse than hundreds of other towns. But recently there has been much severe criticism leveled against our American school. Perhaps it is a part of the war-time spirit, and again perhaps it is justified. Recently one of our newspaper columnists has been presenting such items as these-Admiral Nimitz wrote that "it was found necessary at one of the training stations to lower the standards in fifty percent of the admissions." "Not half of the graduates of the elementary schools of Ten- nesee can read and write well." "It is impossible to teach the products of lax elementary schools a foreign language," and finally, "I know a fine city superintendent who was ousted because he stood for the old-fashioned type of schooling." "The leading educators," says the President of the Georgia Military College, "are interested in enrollments, surveys, teachers' credits, new fangled subjects and textbooks-to the neglect of sound discipline and moral training."
According to this source the main reason for all this laxity is due to the Columbia Teachers' College group which seems, for the time being, to have the upper hand in all educational circles. The general method em- ployed has been, "take it easy, children," "don't work too hard." "we will make education interesting for you." Then this system goes on to state that corporal punishment is antedated, and any lack of discipline is due to the fact that the teacher has not made the subject matter sufficiently interesting. Add to this the fact that our school system has got into politics and you can sense the situation.
This little digression is given in order that the future reader may understand that we still have our educational problems in North Reading as well as elsewhere. We have gone a long way from the horn-book and the New England Primer, but the old days had their good points.
During the last seventy years the progress of education in North
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Reading has been aided and abetted by the Flint Memorial Library. Be- ginning in 1873, Harriet N. Flint, to whom the town owes much, made a beginning by donating 419 volumes as a nucleus of a library. To show her good will she added to this $500.00 to be used in the purchase of books and $2,000.00 as an endowment fund. Later another thousand was added to this fund. Then when the Memorial Hall was built a room was set aside for library purposes and the books were moved from the Campbell Building where the library had been housed. As more volumes were added it became necessary to add to the space at first allotted. Now the southern half of the first floor is utilized as a combined stack and reading room.
The librarians have been a courteous and long-serving group of women. The first two, Ella Chapman Foster and Frances Howard Mus- grave did not serve the reading public as long as the others, but they are remembered as kindly spirits. Beginning in 1881, Sarah H. Whitcomb labored for a term of seventeen years checking and handing out books. Then came Addie Gowing, who served for forty-two years. Mary Bailey Bartlett, an efficient and hard-working young woman, served for a time and then went to a larger field of labor. The present incumbent of the office is Mrs. Frances M. Foster.
From time to time the number of volumes are increased, and the sub- scription list to the current magazines is lengthened. In the town report for 1943 the librarian reported 9310 volumes, and the number of books loaned during the year was 12,714. Thus it would seem that education in the town does not cease with graduation from the Public Schools, but is continued even to old age.
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CHAPTER IV
RELIGION AND THE CHURCHES
Outside of the business of making a living, the church for many years was the chief interest of the inhabitants of the North Parish of ancient Reading. The first meeting house as noted above was started before the
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A PART OF THE OLD FIRST MEETING HOUSE, STARTED BEFORE 1713
parish was set off, accepted and completed in 1718. There are no photo- graphs of this first building, but it evidently was small and proved inade- quate for a growing population. Tradition says that the carpenter shop of Arthur Eaton, on Central Street was the original church. The chance references made to the church in the old parish records would not, how- ever, justify one in saying that this humble shop was the main part of the original building. It may have been a vestibule or some part added later to accommodate a growing constituency.
Here are some excerpts from the old records which will give some idea as to its size and, at the same time, a clue as to the part of the building Mr. Eaton's carpenter shop may have been: In 1735 it was voted to repair the gallery. Then in 1743 liberty was granted to Thomas Flint, Amos
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Upton, Ebenezer Bickford, Samuel Hartshorn and Amos Flint "to build a porch, at the fore side of the meeting house against the forehead, or as wide as the posts that stay on each side of said doors, for their own use, leaving an alley through said porch, to the south end, as wide as the fore door is." Then in that same year Kendell Parker, James Flint, Ezra Damon, John Mackentire and William Ballu were given "liberty to build two seets between the two beams at the side of the meeting house, not to damnify the seets under them, at the discression of the committee." A building with galleries could not have been so small as the carpenter shop. The probabilities are that it was "the porch at the fore side of the meeting house."
Even though the original building had porches and galleries it was manifestly inadequate for the religious needs of the parish. And yet the voters were loth to undertake a new building. So, as has been just noted, the progressive ones made provision for their own families and patiently waited for the voters to make up their minds. As early as 1740 a com- mittee was appointed to decide where the new building was to be placed. Then a year later the Parish voted "to build a meeting house, forty-six by thirty-six, on land that was given for that use, and furnish it as decently as a meeting house ought to be for the public worship of God. With what speed our necessity requireth, or its ability will admit of, by a proportion- ate rate of what shall remain after what is subscribed is paid." There must have been a great deal of opposition to this vote. Apparently it was rescinded, for two months later at a special parish meeting in May, it was voted to shingle the old meeting house. Then a few years later it was voted to add to the south side, and later still to add to each end of the old building.
Reading over the actions of the parish the votes for additions and then the rescinding of the votes, when the opposition was able to marshal its forces, leads one to surmise that there was a great deal of individualism in those early days. There was not much more of a united spirit then than there is today when great issues are at stake. Doubtless in this case the situation was saved by the coming of the Great New England Revival, started by Jonathin Edwards in Northampton. In 1742 it struck the North Parish of Reading. In 1743 the Rev. Mr. Putnam wrote to the Assembly of Pastors in Boston, as follows: "I have had the opportunity to see much of the gracious work of God, in the revival of decayed religion among people committed to my pastoral care. And this without such dis- orders and extremes, that are so much complained of in many places. The revival began in March of 1742 with fasting and prayer, and lasted for some six weeks. Every day except Sunday people came to my house greatly concerned and crying, 'Oh Sir, what shall I do! What shall I do to get rid of my sins.'" The influence of this revival continued on, and
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out of it grew the first confession of faith written for the North Parish in 1761. And this, by the way, became a model for other churches.
With a revived and more united spirit the parish was ready by 1751, to begin in earnest on the new church. One hundred pounds, lawful money, was appropriated and a committee consisting of Lieut. Ebenezer Flint, Capt. Ebenezer Damon, Lieut. Robert Russell and Mr. Ebenezer Upton, was appointed to manage the enterprise. Later another twenty pounds was appropriated for the foundation and by 1752 the building was well under way. The next word that the records give us is that "it was voted to have a 'lunching time' at the raising of the above said meeting house." So on July 23, 1752, old style, the raising took place and it goes without saying that it was a happy occasion. And it is not apparent that there were any liquid refreshments as there had been earlier in the South Parish, when their meeting house was raised. The spirit of the revival was still alive and people filled with the divine spirit need no artificial stimulants.
A REMNANT OF THE SECOND MEETING HOUSE, BUILT IN 1752
The new place of worship was gradually brought to completion. It had a gallery back and along the sides. Anyone who will take the trouble to look over the old barn, to the right of the Middleton highway can see that, for the time it was a pretentious church. The pews were rented rather than sold as was the custom in many places. The best seats went to the highest taxpayers, although the committee was instructed to have regard to age and seniority. The pulpit was not pretentious, but it had a sounding
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board over head. All in all considered, it looked as though Mr. Putnam was scheduled for a long and prosperous ministry in the North Parish.
But alas, man proposes and God disposes. Scarcely had the building been completed and the work reorganized when Mr. Putnam took sick. At first it was not regarded as serious. A substitute was hired to supply the pulpit and then after a year of illness Mr. Putnam died. On one of the pages of the old book there is scribbled this note, "Mr. Putnam died, at one of ye clock in ye morning, in the 63rd year of his age, 1759." There was much sorrow in the parish, for Mr. Putnam had become a real part of the life of the town. There has been opposition and he had not always been able to persuade everyone to his own way of thinking, but all re- spected him and mourned his passing. One can sense the spirit of the Parish when reading this notation of July 23, 1759. "It was voted that Thursday the 9th day of August, next, be kept as a day of fasting and prayer, in the Parish, in order for a resettlement of a gospel minister amongst us."
It was not altogether an easy task to find some one to take the place of the beloved pastor who had died. For some time candidates were heard. There was a Mr. Jackson, a Mr. Dix, a Mr. Rice and a Mr. Noyce. The last of these seems to have been quite acceptable to the church and a call was extended to him. But for some reason Mr. Noyce did not choose to accept. So the church heard another candidate and there appeared on the warrant for a special parish meeting called for December 6, 1760, this item: "to see whether the parish will concur with the church vote, in mak- ing choice of Mr. Eliab Stone, to be our minister." It was so voted and as a settlement he was to receive one hundred and sixty pounds, and an annual salary of seventy-three pounds, six shillings, eight pence. It was further voted that May 20, 1761 should be a fast day for the ordination of the new minister.
Pastor Stone was an efficient minister, faithfully looking after the spiritual needs of his parish. In his long period of service he married some of the great grandchildren of those married at the beginning of his ministry. Although he lived to be eighty-five years of age he seems to have aged comparatively early in life. That bold stroke of the pen which was characteristic of his signature at the beginning, at the age of sixty began to waver, and by the end the hand was so palsied that the writing is hard to read. In theology Pastor Stone was more of a Calvinist than an Arme- nian. To him Christianity was more a matter of rigid discipline than it was an affair of the heart. Of course he could be and was full of sympathy for the unfortunate and the needy, but he also believed that his parishion- ers should conform to rules. "Voted, that the reasons assigned by Eliab Parker (a member of this church) for his long absence from the Lord's table are insufficient. Voted, that, said Parker be suspended from com-
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munion at the table of the Lord, till he manifest his repentance for his neglect." This is a sample of the records jotted down in the old church book, in the hand writing of this old puritan.
There are other incidents which go to show that Pastor Stone was more of a disciplinarian than he was a pastor who loved men and women into the Kingdom of God. On one occasion when, in those trying days of the Revolution, the alarm sounded, the pastor of the Second Parish in Reading donned his ministerial wig, shouldered his gun and marched with the Min- ute Men. And this apparently was not the only time when he appeared with the army. Sometimes these disciplinarians do not do so well in rear- ing a family, but Pastor Stone seems to have succeeded quite well. One son became a local farmer, another a minister of some repute, and a third one lived in Salem, Mass., and became a deacon in one of the churches there. Albeit, the old account says, he was also noted for the good whiskey which he distilled.
It is also to be noted in a sermon of 1811 that Pastor Stone was a real scholar. His "M.A." degree, which he had from Harvard College, was not equivalent to the same degree from that institution at the present time, but the sermons preached and published bear evidence of being the product of a scholarly mind. The one preached in honor of fifty years of service in the parish, not only bears evidence of thought, but it is also a model for the organization of material. In it there is an interesting review of his years of service up to that time. There had been, he says, 476 funerals, 380 mar- riages, 876 baptisms, and there had been 303 new members added to the church. Then there is this further addition. There were at the time ninety- two members, fifty-nine of whom were women.
It was impossible to ignore all the tendencies towards liberalism which came after the Revolution. From France there came whispers of atheism and in America Tom Payne was abroad writing his Common Sense and his Appeal to Reason. This liberalizing tendency undoubtedly found its way to the North Parish and it was necessary to make some concessions. As an indication of this, note this item in the old church book under the date line of November 7, 1798. "After lecture the church met at Deacon H. Putnam's and voted unanimously, when persons are to be received into this church, we will not insist upon their making confession of any par- ticular crime of which they may have been guilty, but a general confes- sion of all their faults as expressed in the church covenant will be satis- factory to us." There was still, however, much of the old spirit left, for there were many excommunications. One William Whittredge seems to have caused a great deal of trouble. A committee appointed to labor with him came back with the report that "brother Whittredge manifested no repentance." Later he was found guilty of profanity and unseemly con-
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duct so he was excommunicated. But all the while, it seems that Brother Whittredge was interested in the Baptist movement which was just get- ting under way in North Parish.
In the early days the music in the church service consisted of singing one or two psalms unaccompanied by any musical instrument. The trans- lation used was not exactly adapted to "ye tunes" with which the congre- gation was familiar. To remedy this situation Isaac Watts, an English divine, had made a more singable translation. So in 1774 the church voted to use this version. This seems to have been the beginning of the desire for better music in the church service. From time to time there were attempts, not always successful, to improve the singing. In the call for the Parish meeting of 1780 there appeared this article: "To see whether the Parish will vote to those who have learnt the rules of singing and those that are learning, the one half of the fore seat in the front gallery, the Easterly half, together with as many of the back seats as will conveniently hold the singers, with women's front gallery likewise, and what they will do in that affair." The motion passed in the negative. The church had to wait three more years before there was sentiment enough to grant such permission, but at any rate changes were in the making.
The next step in this liberalizing tendency is indicated by the following item from the meeting of 1789. "To see whether the Parish will vote that part of the public worship that is called singing shall be carried on with reading the Psalm as it formerly was, or what they will do in that affair." This, too, was passed in the negative, but the more liberal element was gaining ground. It was not too many years after this that a cello or bass viol was introduced into the service as an aid to the singing of the Psalms. In a note appended to one of Rev. Stone's sermons, preached in memory of George Washington, February 22, 1800, it is stated that "the following hymn was performed on the occasion with vocal and instrumental music." The old cello, in the possession of Arthur Eaton, bears on the inside the date of 1811, which must have been about the time when this innovation was introduced. But be ye well assured, it was not without protest. Ac- cording to Rev. James Flint, in the address given at the time of the bi- centennial celebration of the founding of Reading, Captain John Flint was unalterably opposed to that which he considered a profanation of the Lord's House. "I well remember," he says, "to have seen this white-haired man, with his long cane, walk doggedly the whole length of the broad aisle, out of the house while the hymn was reading, and taking his stand during the singing at a sufficient distance to be out of hearing of the profane viol."
Still another evidence of the changing times is the vote of 1815. Voted to purchase a hearse for the use of the parish and that the assessors be a committee for the same. It was also decided to erect a hearse house, which was located on the Common near the meeting house. This was quite an
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