USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Acushnet > History of the Town of Acushnet, Bristol County, State of Massachusetts > Part 12
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No. 3. The White district. The house was on west side of the Mill road a few feet north of the head of White's factory road and of the residence of Augustus White. The school was discontinued before 1859.
No. 4. The Village district. The original house here is now the town house and town's library.
No. 5. Long Plain district. The house stood on the Long Plain road in the southeast corner of the next lot north of the Friends' meeting house grounds. Its successor stands in the village on the same side of the road.
No. 6. Hammett district. The house was located on the east side of Long Plain road a few yards south of Middle road in the southwest corner of a large tract.
No. 7. Perry Hill district. The house occupied a position where the present one is at the southwest corner of Perry hill and Mandell roads.
No. 8. Packard district. The first house here was located on the east side of Long Plain road about five hundred feet south of the way leading to Cushman's box factory, opposite Elihu Pope's house. It was moved south to the opposite side of the same road to a location in the southeast corner of the estate then or later of Emery Cushman.
No. 9. Wing district. The building stood on the south side of Mattapoisett road a few rods west of Cornish's corner, southeast of the present residence of Thomas O. Hathaway.
There was no schoolhouse south of Parting Ways, in present Acush- net. The next district south of that point was the Royal Hathaway
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district, No. 10. This was partly in present Acushnet and part in now Fairhaven. The building was located on the west side of the highway. on the south of and close to the line that divides the towns. This was not a "little red schoolhouse" so much written about. It was painted pink and was known then, and is now by the older inhabitants, as the "pink schoolhouse," On the division of the town it was moved to a point almost across the way from the present Oxford schoolhouse. It is now a dwelling house at the south end of what might with propriety be named Flat Iron Green, located at the junction of Main and Adams streets.
An approximate date of the erection of the first school houses in Acushnet could be made if there were records of transfer of land for the building lots, but not one such of Acushnet land is in the registry of deeds. As already stated my belief is that the first schoolhouse on the east side of Acushnet river stood in the highway at the southeast corner of Parting Ways-the Meeting-of-the-Ways from the north, south, east and west extremes of this tract. It was placed in what was then probably near the geographical and numerical centre of the inhabitants who patronized it, for these doubtless included homes west of the bridge. The balance of this "northeast section" was at that period sparsely populated and this was the proper place for the first house to stand.
The old district system as stated above was provided for by the legislature of 1827. The town's committee having oversight of all the schools was chosen by ballot at the annual town meeting. The towns were divided into districts and a Prudential Committee was chosen by either the town, or the district, usually the latter. How school affairs were managed, the condition of the schoolhouses and their surroundings in the days of the district system where the Prudential Committee man was the supreme power, is interestingly, fearlessly and vividly described in the annual report of the schools of old Fairhaven for the years 1843-44, a pamphlet of fifty pages in small type, sixteen of which are devoted to the nine schools of Acushnet. There was a town committee of five persons. The nine schools of the Acushnet section of the town were under the special charge of Jones Robinson and Dr. Samuel Payson, the Acushnet members of this committee, and Mr. Robinson was the chairman. It does not appear who the writer of the report was, but it has the earmark of Mr. Robinson, who was well known to the writer. He used a free lance in his attacks upon committee men, teachers and inhabitants. The following few para- graphs from this unique report will be enjoyed by those who "got their schooling" in one of these shacks. The report says of
District No. 1 .- "It is situated west of the river at the extreme north. Everything in and about the schoolhouse promises a sorry, sorry picture, If you have ever seen an old man, whose manifold vices are written on his every feature, and imprinted on every limb-covered with rags-dragging
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out the few last days of his miserable existence in the poor house or pen- itentiary ;- whose every appearance invites death to rid himself and the world of so loathsome a thing; see him as he stands in relation to man- kind, then, you may form a fair idea of this house and its fixtures, as it stands in relation to education."
The house is unpainted inside and outside but embellished with jack- knife carvings on all sides. Your Committee counted more than thirty cuts and marks of the grossest obscenity, corrupting the morals of children. The school room is about 14x16 feet, and only 7 feet 3 inches high, and there are found thirty children stowed away. There is not a point of the compass that some scholar did not face. All the larger scholars are arranged on the outside of the room; some facing in and some out ; on roosts-for such seats deserve no better name-from 20 to 22 inches high, five inches higher than a common chair made for adults. There is no such thing as sitting on the seat and touching the floor at the same time. The perpendicular side of the house made the backs of all the seats that had any backs at all. There were two seats lower than the rest, but without backs. The room was heated by a close wood stove, without legs, seated very comfortably, flat upon the floor ; the pipe, for a considerable space, was gone, but made "as good as new," by stuffing paper into the cavity. Air at a temperature of 30 degrees was continu- ally blowing through the cracks upon the backs of the scholars who were suffering from a heat of 80 or 90 in front. It is a mystery how the scholars here learned anything."
District No. 2-"The schoolhouse is bad-positively, though not com- paratively. There is no wood house and the fire wood was strewed in every direction, some in the snow and some in the gutter of the road; indications of a shivering School the next morning. The Committee looked in vain for another building-which fact the very ink in our pen blushes to record."
District No. 3-"The committee found the temperature 90 degrees, yet there was no indication that it was hotter than usual. Every boy had his jacket off and they were hung up around the room. We asked one boy if he had a comfortable seat ; he answered : 'No I can't sit on my seat and touch my feet to the floor, and I have nothing to lean against.' The prudential committee man knows that he is bound by law 'to provide every thing comfortable for the scholars,' yet he allows them to be bothered through the whole year in this manner. We pitied the boy but could not relieve him. Does the committee man know the painful effects of sitting, or trying to sit on such seats ? Let him, or any one who is curious to know, go to a pair of bars, take out all the rails but the top one, and sit on that for three hours, and our word for it, he will be able to describe the efforts very nearly; but to experience it in full he must be
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surrounded by a vitiated atmosphere at a temperature of 80 to 90 degrees."
District No. 4-"There was no school in this district during the winter. The fact there is no schoolhouse in this district, and never has been any, is an indication that the state of education there must be at a low ebb. Some years ago the district voted to raise a sum of money sufficient to build a good house, and the taxes were assessed, and a part actually collected; but by some hocus pocus manoeuvre, best known and understood by those who caused it, the whole matter was stopped in transitu, and nothing more has ever been done about it."
District No. 5-"The house is altogether too small, for the number of scholars penned up in it. In the construction of our schoolhouses, it never seems to have been a question, how can we construct the house so'as best to promote the comfort and education of our children ?- but on the contrary, the only question seems to have been, how can we get the greatest possible number into the least possible space ?- and the man who could answer that question, and build the house the cheapest, was of all men, the very man to build it .- Or if a building committee was ap- pointed, instead of putting on the committee men who know the wants of the school, they first put on a house carpenter, because he can tell of what materials, and in what manner the house can be built cheapest; then perhaps a sea captain-he has been accustomed to stowing the hold of' a ship-consequently he can stow children so as to take up the least possible space ; the third is, perhaps, a farmer, who don't pretend to know what is necessary-he thinks it politic to leave the whole matter to these wiseacres. Having settled upon the plan, dimensions, and all, they issuc their manifest, and call for proposals. Well, every mechanic knows that the committee's object is, a cheap house; they look about them to see if they can find materials enough that will do for nothing else, conse- quently very cheap, and he who can furnish the poorest stock generally gets the job. The requisite number (no matter about the quality) of boards and shingles are put together, and they call it a school house, and the committee boast how little it cost, and really wonder how a school house could be built so cheap; and it is a wonder to everybody else, if they haven't seen it. Some of the more judicious may grumble but they are stopped by being told that 'the carpenter had a hard job'- and so he had."
District No. 6-"Besides a lack of other necessities," the committee claims, "there is no ventilator," and ask "What is the conclusion? Why, that the people of this district have more regard for their cattle than they have for their children; no one thinks of keeping a stable that is not ventilated, horses must have pure air to thrive, and is the health of 2 horse of more consequence than the health of your child? Think of it.
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Besides, nobody ever thought of stowing horses so close in a sta as the children are packed in this school-room."
District No. 7-"The people are dead upon the subject of education ; they raise so much money, and choose their committee at the town meet- ing, then elect their Prudential Committee, and he gets somebody to keep the school ; there ends any farther thought upon the subject. And if this report awakens an interest-induces the parents of this town to think upon the subject, it will have fulfilled the purposes for which it was drawn up." Here they found a ventilator-"a broken place of a yard or two in the ceiling overhead. The seats, particularly some of the back ones, are bad enough ; all the seats front the centre; the evil of this is, that the scholars are all facing nothing in particular, except one another. We have no opinion of placing the teacher behind their backs, a scholar may pretend to study, and if the teacher is behind him, he cannot detect the deception, and their very position tempts to such deception; but, if the teacher can see the countenance of the scholar, this cannot be done. Again it brings all the spare room there is just nowhere, just where it ought not to be, and the stove is generally placed in the centre of that, so that no good space is left for recitations, and a school room, without such a space, is like a theatre without a stage, a great deal might be performed, if there was anywhere to do it; all have the spine distorting, perpendic- ular backs. The back seats are two feet high from the floor; by the rem- nants, we suppose that originally there were strips of boards about three inches wide, nailed to the standards of the forms ; upon the edges of which the scholars might rest their feet ; but many of them are among the things that were, and nobody knows when they made their exit; leaving their pendent feet with nothing to rest upon. Deeply did we sympathize with the poor sufferers, particularly some of the girls, as we saw them trying to relieve themselves from their torturing position by curling their feet under then, sitting like a Turk or a tailor, but with this difference, the seat was so narrow that nothing short of long practice, and no little skill, could have enabled them to sit upon them in that position at all. How can parents expect children to love their school when they are compelled to sit in such hateful positions,"
District No. 8-The report of this school has but one bright spot, namely : "It is with pleasure we noticed there were three blackboards." But, alas, they learned later, as stated in a foot note, that these were the personal property of the teacher, Walter A. Davis.
District No. 9-"The Prudential Committee man, in this district, is certainly liable to an indictment : for we presume there is not a single man in that district who will say that the place in which they now hold their school is a suitable one. The schoolhouse (we must use the term, school- house, though it deserves not so high an appellation,) is 16 feet square outside. from the roof to the ground just 8 feet outside : it is clapboarded
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outside, but in such a manner as to be but a slight barrier to the winds and wintry storms of snow and rain. There is no yard room at all but the street, no spot that the children can call their own; not a tree or a shrub around the house, in fine, in this respect, it is like almost all our school- houses, not one cent seems to have been expended on or about it, to make it pleasing, and attractive to the children, around which their affections would cling as to a loving mother, but everything is repulsive."
The school-room is about 141/2 feet by 111/2, and it is 7 feet and 3 inches high, ceiled overhead and the sides with unpainted boards. Who can say that a room of such dimensions is a "suitable place" to confine from 20 to 30 children for six hours every day ? No wood house, or other out building; no ventilator; no blinds or curtains; no blackboard; seats bad, and children's toes can't touch the floor. But they had a library, which evidently delighted the committee, for they add that "for this they deserve credit; but this forms the only bright oasis in this desert of neglect-all else is barren !"
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Courtesy of New Bedford Mercury.
A "LITTLE RED SCHOOL. HOUSE"
When this printed arraignment of district school management in Fairhaven and Acushnet reached the people it created a tremendous furor. Some applauded the daring act of the town committee, declaring it was just and proper. Others were terribly indignant at the publicity given the disgraceful existing conditions. The Prudentials were especi-
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ally indignant and assumed a threatening attitude toward the committee. Chairman Jones Robinson was their chief target. He would listen to them with that self assured, unmoved manner and significant smile some of us at this date recall. The caustic criticisms in the foregoing report resulted in somewhat improved conditions in school accommodations, but very little was accomplished, however, in this matter till Acushnet became a town- ship.
It is evident from the report that the school property and accom- modations within present Fairhaven were in no better condition than those portrayed above. At that time a similar execrable state of school affairs existed everywhere in this commonwealth. Horace Mann, secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, wrote in 1837: "It is no uncom- mon thing to find a hundred children crowded into a room thirty feet square. The internal arrangement made crowding easy." As late as 1840 he described the deplorable condition of the schoolhouses in this commonwealth as follows:
"Respecting the three thousand school houses in this state I am convinced that there is no other class of buildings within our limits, erected either for the permanent or temporary residence of our native population, so inconvenient, so uncomfortable, so dangerous to health by their construction within, or so unsightly and repulsive. A popu- lar design for a schoolhouse a hundred years ago was to have the fireplace and only entrance door occupy one end of the room. In the middle of one side was the teacher's desk. Against the wall on three sides was a slightly sloping shelf, with a horizontal one below, and a bench without back in front: on the bench the older pupils sat. On the sloping shelf they wrote and laid their books when studying, on the one below they kept their books, another lower bench in front served for a seat for the younger pupils who did not write. Thus the school was arranged on three sides of a hollow square in the centre of which the classes stood for recitations. In another plan the seats were arranged in long rows across the school room, in terraces, the back seats only having desks in front. The older scholars thus over- looking the younger ones, the teacher having an elevated platform at the opposite end of the room."
The duties of a graded school teacher of 1906 are arduous to a degree that none can realize who have never engaged in them. But far in excess of these were the perplexing, discouraging, nervewrecking labors of teachers of earlier times in schools composed of all grades, and ages unlimited by law or custom.
From the memorandum kept by a young woman teacher of one of the public schools in the year 1841, it appears that she had 25 pupils, five of whom were at the tender age of three years, while two were aged 18. and the rest were of various ages, indicating that she had all the different grades. The following year in the same district, she had 30 pupils, seven of whom were only four years old and three others only two. An effort was made the following year to have the age limit raised a year, but the
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vote of 1840, "not to exclude children under four years of age," was left unchanged.
Previous to this date most of the winter teachers were men. Some of them unable to teach much more than "Readin, Ritin and Rithmatic," but he must be a fighter. It was thought that few women knew enough to teach, besides, it was claimed they were physically incapable of "flogging the big boys," which was considered a necessary part of the "schoolin' " of many of the scholars. It was then the practice for the town school committee to examine each applicant for the position of teacher for which the sum of one dollar was allowed. The committee was paid a dollar apiece for each of the four business meetings per annum that were held. Each school was visited by one of the committee once a month and one dollar per day was granted them for this work.
Here are five of an interesting set of twenty disciplinary rules a teacher of this period drew up for the government of his school with a self explanatory prelude :
"The following Rules and Regulations are for the purpose of support- ing that harmony which (in and out of School) may be conducive to literary improvement in its several branches which, if pursued, may enable us to become useful members of Society :
1. Therefore it is concluded that no Schollar idle away or waste more than 10 minutes about the School house in the morning after I get to it.
2. That no one wait to be called into School the second time at any time in the course of the day, nor wait after being called to exceed 10 minutes.
3. That every Schollar that comes into School has the privilege of going to the stove to warm without asking liberty if he or she goes before taking his or her seat.
4. That after Schollars have taken their seats they do not leave them on any occasion without liberty.
13. That no one indulge the habit of smiling or laughing in school except some thing should occur that would render it allowable."
The other rules prohibit whispering; marking or cutting the school property ; leaving school without liberty; throwing snow "at any other Schollar, or in the schoolhouse"; quarreling and fighting; taking part in a lottery or gambling; or writing letters or billets in school without per- mission.
The writing of "billets" and love ditties and passing them about the school room was often indulged in without detection unless the teacher had "eyes in the back of his head" as some claimed to have.
The school books were sold to the scholars at the wholesale price. Once in possession of them they felt at liberty to use and abuse them as they pleased.
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The first thing a boy was apt to do after coming into possession of a new book was to write his name on one or more pages like this: "Jim Jenkins, his book." Sometimes the name was placed on the edges of the leaves. On a fly-leaf, or somewhere else, was written one of the following direful warnings :
Steal not this book for if you do Tom Jenkins will be after you Steal not this book for fear of strife For the owner carries a big jack knife.
Steal not this book my honest friend For fear the gallos will be your end, The gallos is high, the rope is strong, To steal this book you know is wrong.
This jingle appears in many school books of those days: "If my name you wish to see look on page 103." On page 103 is found this: "If my name you cannot find look on page 109." The only satisfaction found on page 109 was the following: "If my name you cannot find shut up the book and never mind."
The sentimental productions were voluminous and of various degrees of sweetness. The girls were usually poetic ; the boys less so. Here is a specimen of these sentimental effusions :
"You give your heart to me and I'll give mine to thee; We will lock them up together and throw away the key.
(She) "No siree." (He) "Oh, yes."
"I shall always think of you as a dear friend, S."
"All right, S., only don't tell any one else about it. L."
"The rose is red the violet is blue,
"Sugar is sweet and so are you."
At the date of the publications of this report, 1844, there were 296 scholars enrolled in the public school, on which there was expended $1,109.54. In 1906, sixty-two years later, there was an enrollment of but 211 pupils with an annual expenditure for the support of the schools. exclusive of repairs, of $4,932.61. In 1844 the schools cost per pupil $3.75, and in 1906 $23.33, not including repairs of schoolhouses.
For years before the town of Fairhaven was divided there was more or less sectional dissension in the town school committee, which was a contributing factor in the division of the town. So intensely bitter was the feeling at one time that the two Acushnet members issued a report and the three southenders, as they were called in distinction from the north- enders, printed another. The chief contention appears to have been that both committee men of Acushnet taught school. This practice was con- demned by the Fairhaven members.
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Photo. by Jas. E. Reed, New Bedford
TOWN HOUSE AND LIBRARY Formerly School House No. 4
When Acushnet became an independent corporation, after having been a part of three towns, it inherited the old schoolhouses and the school conditions pictured in the above report. At this date there was only one respectable schoolhouse in town. That was situated in the village, district No. 4, where there was no house when the above report was issued. There was a school there at times, supported in the same manner as the other schools in town. It was held part of the time previous to 1850 in the second story of the second house east of the bridge on the south side of the road. Among those who taught there were Jane Ann Severance, who subsequently married Jireh Gifford and resided in the village, and Betsey, sister of George T. Russell, Sr. With the growth of the village came the need of larger accommodations which resulted in Fairhaven building a schoolhouse which is now the Acushnet town house and library.
It was the purpose of the new town to at once improve these con- ditions but the "impending national crisis" was hanging over the land at the birth of the town and the Civil war opened a year later. The expense and excitement of the four years of internal strife delayed the matter. The town incurred a large debt in paying bounties for soldiers and aid for soldiers' families and the prevailing sentiment was to hire no more money till that debt was liquidated.
The selectmen in their report in the spring of 1874 stated that the last note was paid, and the school committee's report urged a new school- house at Parting Ways to accommodate the consolidated schools of the
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Wing, Packard and Village districts. This proposition met with favor and the construction of the schoolhouse was ordered at the town meeting of that spring. The selectmen, consisting of Benjamin White, Walter Spooner and Pardon Taber, Jr., together with the school committee composed of Edward R. Ashley, Burrage Y. Warner and George P. Morse, were authorized to have charge of the enterprise. They bought an acre of land on which the present house stands of Thomas S. Hath- away for $275. This, with the expense of construction and furnishings, amounted to $4,211.83. The house was formally dedicated in the autumn of 1874 when addresses were made by Rev. Messrs. W. B. Hammond and Charles E. Walker of the Congregational and Methodist churches respec- tively, and others.
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