USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 43
USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 43
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 43
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The college has had a world-wide reputation for the best in educa- Plym-67
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tion for young women, and has been an educational inspiration of un- limited influence.
A drive through the grounds of Wellesley College is a delight, dis- closing the numerous buildings of imposing architecture, the drives and walks, shade trees, various elevations and all that goes to make up the outward appearance of an educational institution of rare beauty. The dormitories alone are valued at $255,000 in the town report of Welles- ley for 1926. The same report gives the houses on Washington Street, Weston Road and Dover Road as having a value of $158,000, to say nothing of a club building, plant house, barns, poultry building and other buildings, and one hundred and sixty or more acres of land. More than $15,000,000 worth of property, used for educational purposes alone, are exempt from taxation.
Among the magnificent buildings are Alumna Hall, Art Building, Beebe Hall, Cazenove Hall, Chapel, Claflin Hall, Founders' Hall, Li- brary, Mary Hemmenway Hall, Pomeroy Hall, the Power House, Shafer Hall, Stone Hall, and Tower Court. Each of those mentioned is con- . servatively valued above $100,000, and Founders' Hall and Tower Court nearly $500,000 each. The fraternity, chemistry, botany, music, green- house, hospital buildings, Observatory and Observatory House, Presi- dent's House, Cottage and Barn; Psychology Laboratory, Zoology Building, Shakespeare House, the Lake House, boat houses, bath houses, Page Memorial Kindergarten and two hundred and thirteen or more acres of land help make up the magnificent array of property dedicated to the higher education of women.
Wellesley College was incorporated in 1870. In 1927 the president was Ellen F. Pendleton. The board of trustees was made up of : presi- dent, Edwin Farnham Greene; vice-president, George H. Davenport; secretary, Candace Catherine Stimson; and treasurer, Lewis K. Morse; William F. Warren (emeritus), Lilian Horsford Farlow (emeritus), Louise McCoy North, Andrew Fiske, Caroline Hazard, George Herbert Palmer, Paul Henry Hanus, Alice Upton Pearmain, Belle Sherwin, Grace Goodnow Crocker, Charles Lewis Slattery, William Morton Wheeler, Robert Gray Dodge, Hugh Walker Ogden, Alma Seipp Hay, Sarah Whittelsey Walden, Frederic Haines Curtiss, James Dean, Clif- ton Howard Dwinnell, Dorothy Bridgman Atkinson, Ellen F. Pendle- ton, ex officio; and Lewis Kennedy Morse, ex officio.
Founded By West Point Father-Major-General Charles P. Sum- merall, chief of staff of the United States Army, visited Thayer Acad- emy in Braintree one day in April, 1927, to deliver a patriotic address to the students, faculty and guests. He extended congratulations from West Point to Thayer Academy on the Braintree school's fiftieth an- niversary.
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It was peculiarly fitting that the congratulations of West Point should be received in this way, since the founder of Thayer Academy, Gen- eral Sylvanus Thayer, a native of Braintree, is recognized as "father of the United States Military Academy."
To tell the story from the beginning of Norfolk County's connection with the military academy at West Point, it is necessary to recall that the fortifying of Dorchester Heights and developing the artillery and engineering organizations of the American Army during and after the Revolution received much assistance from Henry Knox, a bookseller in Boston. He observed the lack of military skill of the Continental Army officers and suggested the idea of a military academy for this country.
Colonel Alexander Hamilton seconded the suggestion and General George Washington approved it. Congress was made to see the ad- vantage of Knox's proposal and on October 1, 1776, passed a resolution calling for the appointment of a congressional committee to prepare a plan for the creation of "a military academy of the army."
The West Point Academy as we know it today did not really get started until the Act of Congress of March 16, 1802. On July 4 of that year, it opened with a class of ten students. For ten years the academy functioned inefficiently and in March, 1812, was without an instructor.
It was then that Colonel Sylvanus Thayer of Braintree took hold of the embryonic institution, reorganized and developed it, and guided its destinies sixteen years. He founded the Thayer Engineering School at Dartmouth and a free library and the Thayer Academy at Braintree. He developed the Boston Harbor fortifications previous to the Civil War and retired from the army July 1, 1863.
General Thayer left a fund to establish Thayer Academy, which opened its doors in 1877. It has been conducted under the care of effi- cient teachers, and numerous men and women of note have been among its graduates. The faculty at present includes sixteen men and wom- en. The graduating class in June, 1927, comprised fifty-five members. The student body has increased in recent years. From 1920 to 1927 the number of pupils increased from one hundred to two hundred and twenty-five.
The alumni conducted a campaign the year of its fiftieth anniversary which netted more than $100,000 for a new assembly hall, additional endowment and more scholarships.
Dean Academy in Franklin was established as a denominational school of the Universalists. The Massachusetts Universalist Conven- tion, held in Worcester, October 18 to 20, 1864, considered establish- ing a State denominational school of the highest rank next to a college.
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Miner, at that time president of Tufts College. Rev. A. St. John Chambre of Stoughton was chairman of a committee appointed with power to act.
Dr. Oliver Dean had previously purchased from the estate of Dr. Emmons in Franklin a tract of land consisting of eight or nine acres, and this he offered for the proposed institution. He also offered to contribute $10,000 toward a suitable building and $50,000 as a perman- ent fund. This generous offer was accepted and the new academy took the name of its benefactor.
The cornerstone of the Dean Academy Building was laid with fitting ceremonies May 16, 1867. Later, Dr. Dean increased his donations to nearly $75,000. The school was opened October 1, 1866, in the vestry of the Universalist church and the new edifice was used in the summer of 1868.
The first handsome edifice was destroyed by fire July 31, 1872. The present edifice was completed June 24, 1874. Meantime the school had been kept in the Franklin House.
Need of Normal Schools-During the half century from 1775 to 1825, there was a decline in the free public schools in Massachusetts, in which Norfolk County shared, although the traditional love of learning in the vicinity of Boston saved this county from the unfortunate disintegra- tion common to many other parts of the State. The schools were more in quantity and less in quality. Little pride was taken in making ap- propriations for the schools. There was little encouragement for those who were naturally inclined to be teachers and the instruction of the young many times was entrusted to incompetent teachers.
Each town supported its own schools and conducted them as they saw fit. There were approximately three hundred townships, each with a town school committee, but each town divided into school dis- tricts and each district usually in the hands of some individual who was expected rather to save tax money than produce good schools. The town or private academies came as a better kind of school and those who could afford it and realized the necessity for the better things in education for their children sent them to the private academies, at least a part of the time. Removing a part of the corps of pupils had a tend- The ency to cause the public schools to sink to still lower levels.
Legislature, in a series of laws from 1789 to 1824, lowered the State school requirements below the standard set by the Colonial school law of 1647. It was high time for a State Board of Education, for Normal Schools to instruct ambitious young men and young women how to teach, and to arouse the people to a realizing sense of the alarming decadence.
About this time James G. Carter graduated from Harvard College in
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1820, a natural teacher who had earned his way through academy and college as a schoolmaster of the better sort, suggested by newspaper articles and a pamphlet which he issued, "a thorough radical reform."
The first attempt on the part of the Commonwealth which had in- herited from the Colonial government the duties of a State to collect information regarding educational endeavors in the towns, was in 1827. That year an act was passed requiring towns to send to the Secretary of the Commonwealth annual statistical records, concerning their schools. In 1834 a State School Fund was created, and the towns re- ceived income from its distribution. People were beginning to have less horror of centralization of power in State officials, which had been strong through their dealings with King George III, and their observa- tion of monarchies in general. The Massachusetts Board of Education was created in 1837, and the following year three public normal schools were provided for on three-year experimental terms. They were es- tablished at Lexington, Barre and Bridgewater, to serve the north- eastern, central and southeastern parts of the State.
Birth of A New Idea in Education-There was born at Franklin in Norfolk County, May 4, 1796, one who became an American educator, noted for his reforms in the Massachusetts school system and for set- ting in motion an idea which has circumnavigated the globe. There are State Normal schools or State Teachers' colleges in every State in the Union, thanks to what Rev. Dr. A. E. Winship, editor of the "Jour- nal of Education," calls "the brilliant and noble public service of Amer- ica's greatest educational leader."
In an editorial by Dr. Winship in the Boston "Globe" of February 25, 1928, he recalls the first public address by Horace Mann, at thirty years of age, at Dedham. It was a Fourth of July oration on the fif- tieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That address won him recognition which placed him as a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, in which he served "heroically and grandly for ten years."
At forty years of age he created the Massachusetts State Board of Education and was its leader for twelve years. To quote Dr. Win- ship: "From the first Mr. Mann realized that if public schools were to be supported by public taxes the public must be responsible for the quality of the teaching. The Legislature provided for a State Nor- mal School which was opened at Lexington on July 8, 1839; one at Barre opened on September 4, 1839; and one at Bridgewater September 9, 1840."
There was a bitter controversey between thirty-one Boston school- masters and Mr. Mann over the Normal School plan, originated by Mr. Mann, and he had few peaceful months thereafter in his educational
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career. The controversy won the public but lost the profession. Dr. Winship says: "Mr. Mann sacrificed everything for the State Normal schools, but the controversy really led to their alignment with the teachers where their interests really were."
"The Quincy System" of Education-About 1870 something hap- pened in the school life of Quincy which was of inestimable value and its influence and usefulness spread, as teachers who became imbued with the spirit and proficient in the system took positions all over the country. It was called by some "The New Departure," and by others "The Quincy System." It began when Colonel Francis W. Parker, a student of elementary instruction at home and abroad, was secured as superintendent of schools in Quincy. He introduced something which awakened enthusiasm and is best comprehended by a name given it popularly, "Nature method."
Teachers and pupils were taught to form "mental pictures" and, un- der Colonel Parker's instruction and leadership, there were inspired educators. Among them was Thomas B. Pollard, master of the Wash- ington School from 1887 until his lamented death in 1925. Teachers and specialists in education came from all over the country to observe the "Quincy System" in operation. Colonel Parker was wanted in many places and left Quincy to become a member of the board of su- pervisors in Boston, and later became principal of the Cook County Normal School in Chicago.
But his work was carried on by devoted successors and on the twen- ty-fifth anniversary of Colonel Parker's administration of the Quincy schools, the Quincy Teachers' Association held a fitting celebration, which was attended by noted educators, including Professor Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University ; Dr. William T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education; Dr. G. Stanley Hall of Clark Uni- versity ; Superintendent Orville T. Bright of Chicago; Supervisor R. C. Metcalf of Boston and others equally famous.
"Palladium of Our Rational Joys"-In a previous chapter, Dr. Na- thaniel Ames referred to the printing press as "that soul-improving, genius-polisher, that palladium of all our rational joys." He set down that pæan of appreciation on the opening day of the nineteenth century in his diary. It was the beginning of the century in which the art of printing was destined to reach heights and achieve glories almost akin to the extravagant description given of it by the astronomer, tavern keeper, almanac publisher and physician of the county seat of Norfolk County.
The first printing press was set up in Harvard College, in the first brick building of that institution, intended for the education of Indians.
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Although few Indians could be induced to go to college, the college went to the Indians by means of the John Eliot Bible, translated into the Indian language. The printing press had much to do with the early defense and education of the early comers to Norfolk County and the other counties of Massachusetts.
The first book published in New England was the Bay Psalm Book, printed in Cambridge in 1640. It was used by the churches for more than a century. The book was sung through in courses, from the first to the last, and then beginning over again. There were eight tunes and all the Psalms had to be sung to "Oxford," "Litchfield," "Low Dutch," "York," "Windsor," "Cambridge," "Saint David's" or "Martyrs."
The first professional poet in New England was a woman, Mrs. Simon Bradstreet. She was Anne, daughter of Governor Thomas Dudley. Realizing how poems from the brain of a woman would be received, she wrote in her prologue :
I'am obnoxious to each carping tongue Who says my hand a needle better fitts, A Poet's pen all scorn I thus should wrong, For such despite they cast on Female wits:
If what I do prove well, it wont advance, They'l say it's stoln, or else it was by chance.
Her poems occupied four hundred pages and were a great boon to the people who had been confined to the Bay Psalm Book for their reading.
A little later came Michael Wigglesworth's "Day of Doom," a poem which so pleased Cotton Mather that he predicted it would continue to be read in New England until the day of doom itself should arrive. It didn't leave out a Puritan note of alarm or horrible example, even in- cluding the damnation of infants. The poem pictured the reprobate infants pleading before the bar of Judgment that they should not be punished for Adam's sin, but were informed by the Judge they were of Adam's race, sinners, and must be treated as such :
A crime it is, therefore in bliss you may not hope to dwell? But unto you I shall allow the easiest room in Hell.
It was indeed kind of the Rev. Wigglesworth of Malden to put in that flash of mercy in his poem, which James Russell Lowell says was the solace of every fireside. Children learned the poem by heart down to the time of the Revolutionary War, as it was the representative poem of New England for a century.
Then came Trumbull's "McFingal," a poem greatly contrasting with the "Day of Doom," but one which had a decided influence in England as well as America.
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Rev. Michael Wigglesworth was a physician as well as a poet and a clergyman. There is an inscription on his tombstone in the burial ground in Malden which reads:
Here lyes interd in silent grave below Maulden's Physician of Soul and Body too.
The first lawyer on the Massachusetts coast was Thomas Lechford. He remained three years and had but one case. He then returned to England and wrote a book on New England called "Plain Dealing." The ministers were the most learned men in Colonial days and they were often physicans and counsellors before the General Court, writers and sometimes manufacturers.
Catechisms, Ballads and Broadsides-Previous to the beginning of what we would call the Sunday school or church school of today, chil- dren were required to learn some "shorte orthodox catechisms." Most of the parsons seem to have originated or put together a catechism of their own, although all were more or less faithful to the Shorter West- minster Code. It was considered one of the minister's many duties to go from house to house and catechize women, children, servants in- cluded, and there were fines imposed against those who were unable to repeat the whole duty of man.
These catechisms were included in the things which were carried by the early New England peddlers and at the time the General Court of Massachusetts passed laws restricting peddlers, Rev. Cotton Mather added to his other worries whether such restriction might put out of business those who were to "scatter books of Truth and Goodness in all Corners of the Land." Rev. Cotton Mather's "Life of Sir William Phipps" and his pious writings, as well as Wigglesworth's "Day of Doom," "The New England Primer," "Psalm books," and "New Testa- ments," were included in the peddler's stock, as were broadsides and ballads.
All the early printers produced broadsides and ballads, including James Franklin who turned them out at his Boston print shop and sent Benjamin Franklin, his younger brother, on the streets to sell them. Benjamin Franklin was a writer of ballads as well as a peddler of them. The broadsides were the yellow journal extras of their time. Criminals sentenced to die were encouraged to tell their story to the world through this means and their confessions were eagerly bought and read. Usually they were embellished with pictures of coffins, weeping wil- lows or other grim decorations, supposedly in keeping with the con- tents.
If there are any of the old broadsides in existence, they must touch
.
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the pride of the makers of modern tabloid newspapers. John Davis, who traveled through this country in the early nineteenth century, writes how a peddler came to the door and offered a broadside contain- ing "the whole trial, examination and condemnation of Jason Fair- banks, who was executed at Philadelphia, for cutting off Peggy Plack- et's head under a hedge on the road to Frankford." If this did not create an instant demand, he had "an account of a whale that was cast ashore by the tide on Chesapeake Bay, with a ship of 5,000 tons in its belly, called the 'Merry Dane of Dover'."
"The Fourth Estate"-The oldest paper in Norfolk County is the Quincy "Patriot." It was established in Quincy, January 1, 1837, by Messrs. Green & Osborne. Mr. Osborne retired after three months and John A. Green assumed control and conducted the paper fourteen years with success.
In July, 1851, Gideon F. Thayer and George White purchased the paper from Mr. Green, and it was said at the time that the paper had changed from Green to White. Mr. Thayer retired at the end of nine months and Mr. White continued the venture alone for another year.
The property again became owned by John A. Green and was con- ducted by him until his death in 1861. His widow continued the paper until 1869, when George W. Prescott, her business manager, was taken into partnership. It is now published as the "Patriot-Ledger," by the George W. Prescott Publishing Company, having absorbed the "Ledger," which was a rival sheet for several years.
The Quincy "Telegram" is edited by Frank J. Keefe and published by Mabel L. Sprago. The Quincy "Granite Cutters' Journal," is a la- bor publication which makes its appearance monthly. James Duncan is the editor.
There have been numerous papers appear and continue for a time in Quincy and most of them have been representative sheets at the time of their appearance and have contributed to the general good of the com- munity.
The Quincy "Aurora" was the name of a paper started by Charles Clapp, January 1, 1843, and conducted by him about three years.
The Quincy "Free Press" was established September 7, 1878, by N. T. Merritt, but did not have a long existence.
The Dedham "Transcript" was established April 1, 1870, and for many years was owned by one or more of the original proprietors. They were John Cox, Jr., Samuel H. Cox and Hugh H. McQuillen. Samuel H. Cox bought out his partners at the end of the first year and was sole proprietor until February 26, 1881. On that date he sold out to Hugh H. McQuillen. George W. Nellis, Jr., is the present editor of the "Tran- script."
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Walter H. Wardle & Company started the Dedham "Standard" in September, 1882.
The "Columbian Minerva" was published from 1797 to 1804 by Her- man Mann and in 1805 Mr. Mann began the publication of the Norfolk "Repository." This he continued, with a few lapses, until 1814. The Dedham "Gazette" was launched as a journalistic venture by Jabez Chickering in 1813, with Theron Metcalf as editor. It continued until 1819. In 1820 Asa Gowen started the "Village Register." Successive owners were Jonathan H. Cobb and Barnum Field until 1822 when H. & W. H. Mann became the proprietors and continued it until 1829. In that year the "Norfolk County Republican" made its appearance but continued only one year. The Dedham "Patriot" came along in 1830. It changed names several times, also locations, but in 1844 it appeared bearing the name of Edward L. Keyes, who published it at Roxbury and later at Dedham under the name of Dedham "Gazette." A later owner and editor was Henry O. Hildreth, who moved the plant to Hyde Park.
In 1831 The "Independent Politician and Workingmen's Advocate" ran for a year under that name, and then changed it to "The Norfolk Advertiser and Independent Politician." It bobbed its name to Nor- folk "Advertiser" and later changed it to the Norfolk "Democrat." Un- der the latter name it was published by Elbridge G. Robinson until his death in 1854. It was then merged in the Dedham "Gazette."
Arthur E. Sproul was for a number of years correspondent for the Boston "Herald." On June 5, 1875, he established the "Old Colony Bulletin," which was published in South Braintree by C. Franklin David, about six months. Mr. David then moved to Abington. The "Old Colony Bulletin" was published, during its brief existence, semi- monthly.
The first newspaper published in Franklin was the Franklin "Reg- ister," a weekly which made its first appearance in October, 1872. James M. Stewart was editor and proprietor and it was continued by him until 1881. In 1878 the Franklin "Sentinel" was published by R. E. Capron. In January, 1883, it began to be published by Houston and Lincoln.
Franklin, with its cotton, woolen and straw manufactories and print- ing presses is now represented by the Franklin "Sentinel," edited by A. F. Ralston.
Among the papers which have been published for Foxboro have been the "Salmagundi Journal," edited by J. E. Carpenter and published by Edson Carpenter from November, 1849, to January, 1850. The "Foxboro Reporter" is the present weekly paper, published by the Fox- boro Company.
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The "Country Times" was a weekly paper which had one year of existence, with Henry C. Buffum as editor and publisher, from April 12, 1856, to April 5, 1857. The "Home Library" next took the field, edited by John Littlefield and published by William H. Thomas, from June 13, 1857, to December 12, 1857. William H. Thomas was also publisher of "Eagle and Flag," which was issued from January, 1863, to November, 1863. It was edited by T. E. Grover and Edwin M.
Bacon. Mr. Thomas' next experience as a publisher was with the Norfolk "County Chronicle," edited by E. W. Clarke and E. M. Bacon, from November 14, 1863, to October 1, 1864.
Robert W. Carpenter edited the Foxborough "Journal" from Febru- ary 21, 1873, to September 27, 1878. It was published by James M. Stewart.
The Foxborough "Times," which still holds the fort, began its serv- ice in the interest of the town March 28, 1873. Its editors have been E. W. Clarke, R. W. Carpenter, W. C. Macy, D. L. Lowe and F. H. Williams. It has been published by Pratt & Carpenter, Pratt & Macy, Pratt & Lowe and Pratt & White.
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