USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Clinton > History of the origin of the town of Clinton, Massachusetts, 1653-1865 > Part 24
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The various kinds of maples predominated among the trees set out inside the Common, but the elm, the ash, the linden and the beech also found a place. On the outside, Chestnut, Church, Walnut and Union Streets were bordered with elms alone. The regular price of labor upon the Com- mon was ninety-two cents per day. The work was done under the superintendence of Jeremiah Barnard. It was three years before the work was finished with an average net expenditure of a little over eleven hundred dollars per year. In June, 1858, a flag-staff was raised in the northeasterly portion.
There was a constant demand made upon the taxpayers during the first years of the existence of the town for new roads. Only three of these, however, were of any great length. Of these, the Berlin Road was built for the most part in 1852. The Sterling Road in 1853 and '54; the Boyl-
292
FIFTEEN YEARS OF MUNICIPAL LIFE.
ston Road in 1860 and '61. The building of short roads like Grove Street, "California Road," "Wilson Hill Road," the construction of culverts and sewers and sidewalks, together with the repairs of roads and bridges used up the rest of the appropriation .* Of course there was no sewer system, and Counterpane Pond and the river received the surface drain- age and whatever else private parties chose to empty there. Frequent complaint was made in the paper about the condi- tion of the sidewalks. Concrete was unknown. There were a few rods of brick sidewalk on High Street, but elsewhere, even if there was any pretention to sidewalks, they were apt to be very muddy in wet weather.
William Stearns was appointed in 1852 the first agent for selling liquors under the "new law." He said that he would never have taken the agency, if he had realized how much sickness there was in town. During most of the time for the next thirteen years, A. A. Burditt was the agent. The story of municipal action in behalf of the nation must be consid- ered elsewhere under the general story of the Civil War.
Few permanent investments were made between 1860 and 1865, and the schedulet of town property, which amounted to
* EXPENDITURES FOR ROADS AND BRIDGES.
1850-51. $603 87
1855-56. . . $2,175 00
1860-61. $2,959 14
1851-52. 1,416 40
1856-57 . . . 1,979 86
1861-62. 850 81
1852-53. 2,947 63
1857-58. . . 1,961 03
1 862-63 3,727 84
1853-54 1,909 61
1858-59. . . 3,370 90
1863-64. 1,773 II
1854-55. 2,539 65
1859-60. . . 6,318 37
1864-65 3,146 85
+Cemetery.
$3,551 30
Hearse and harness
163 00
Town property
472 47
Pound.
66 74
Engine House No. I.
737 68
Engine House No. 2 ..
732 64
Torrent Engine No. I
995 00
Cataract Engine No. 2.
1,259 00
Hook and Ladder House
54 46
Hook and Ladder Wagon.
85 00
293
TOWN PROPERTY.
about thirty-four thousand dollars, not including roads and bridges, at the end of the former year will represent that of the latter year, as well as show how much the town had done in those ten years.
Hose Carriage ..
$131 80
Pauper Establishment
5,006 64
Primary School House No. I
3,489 82
888 81
4
4,062 35
.€
5
2,270 06
Grammar School House
6,250 44
Common
3,369 93
Flag-staff.
387 94
3.
$33,975 08
CHAPTER XIX.
CLINTON SCHOOLS.
WE have seen how the town had its origin from the school district and, ever since its incorporation, the mainte- nance and development of the school system has been recog- nized as its chief municipal function. Even in the midst of the greatest business depression, the school interests have never been allowed to suffer. Over one-third of all the taxes raised by the town during the first fifteen years of its exist- ence was devoted to school purposes. The quality of the schools proved that these large appropriations were well spent.
The town has been peculiarly fortunate in the men* who
*LIST OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE WITH PERIODS OF SERVICE FROM 1850 TO MARCH, 1866.
Rev. Wm. H. Corning, 1850-52. C. W. Blanchard, 1850-51.
Dr. G. W. Burdett, 1850-53.
Rev. C. M. Bowers, 1850-51, 52-56, 58-66.
C. L. Swan, 1850-51. Wm. W. Parker, 1850-51, 52-54. A. J. Sawyer, 1850-52.
Franklin Forbes, 1851-52, 54-55, 56-61.
J. T. Dame, 1851-52, 53-54, 56-57, 62-66.
H. N. Bigelow, 1851-52, 53-55, 56-58, 59-60.
A. S. Carleton, 1851-52, 54-55, 56-57. Rev. Wm. D. Hitchcock, 1852-54. Rev. George Bowler, 1852-53. James Ingalls, 1852-53.
Dr. P. Chamberlain, 1852-53.
Rev. L. J. Livermore, 1853-56, 57-58.
Rev. T. W. Lewis, 1853-54. A. E. Bigelow, 1854-60. Dr. George M. Morse, 1854-55, 56-57. Rev. W. W. Winchester, 1855-56.
Rev. A. F. Bailey, 1855-56.
C. F. W. Parkhurst, 1855-56, 62-66.
295
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
have had direction of its school affairs. Foremost among these may be mentioned Franklin Forbes who served for about half of the first twenty-five years as chairman of the board. His wide culture, his practical experience as a teacher in the best schools of the state, his business ability, his lib- eral and far-seeing policy which came from dealing with large affairs and his freedom from bigotry, combined to make him the ideal man to control the school interests of a new town.
John T. Dame even exceeded Mr. Forbes in the length of his service as a member and chairman of the school board. His administration was characterized by thorough scholarship and scorn of all pretense. Teachers and schol- ars were spurred on to do their best by the assurance that all school affairs were managed by him without the slightest partiality, and that merit would surely secure recognition.
During all the first fifteen years of the history of the town, Rev. C. M. Bowers served on the board with the excep- tion of four years. He, as well as Mr. Forbes and Mr. Dame, was capable of examining any scholar or any teacher on the most advanced work required in the schools of those days. He added to the most conscientious discharge of his official duties, warm sympathies, enthusiasm and a progres- sive spirit.
The work of these men was ably supplemented by that of H. N. Bigelow, C. G. Stevens, Rev. L. J. Livermore, A. E. Bigelow, C. F. W. Parkhurst, Joshua Thissell and many others who recognized that the greatest service they could do for the community was in forwarding the education of the children, and who felt that no personal labors were too great which tended in this direction.
C. G. Stevens, 1856-62. Josiah H. Vose, 1857-62. Henry C. Greeley, 1857-59.
Daniel W. Kilburn, 1859-60. Eneas Morgan, 1860-65.
Dr. George W. Symonds, 1860-63. Joshua Thissell, 1861-66. Rev. Wm. Cushing, 1863-66. Eneas Morgan, 1865-66.
Some account of the lives of each of these men may be found by aid of the index.
296
CLINTON SCHOOLS.
As the schools were already organized and equipped when the town was incorporated, it was not necessary to build up a new system, and the committee of 1850-51 did not see fit to make any radical reforms in the old. The six school-houses, with a seating capacity of three hundred and fourteen, gave, however, a sadly deficient accommodation for an attendance of four hundred and thirty-seven, and we find the committee at once asking for a new building in the center to be used for the High and Second Schools. It was three years before the more pressing needs of the new town allowed this building to be constructed. In 1851-2, Mr. Forbes was chairman of the committee, and his influence was seen in the more liberal expenditures for school pur- poses. The salaries of the teachers were raised and the principle established "that the teachers must perform their duties faithfully; and that for such performance they are entitled to a liberal compensation." A new school-house on Burditt Hill was built during the year, and District No. 5 was established. Another house was built at McCollumville. The amount paid for new school-houses this year was two thousand five hundred and eighty dollars and twenty-nine cents. New and better text-books were introduced. Terms and vacations were arranged on a new basis. Beginning the school year with the first Wednesday in March, there was a term of twenty-two weeks, with a recess of one week be- tween the two equal divisions. Then came a vacation of three weeks, another term of twenty-two weeks, with a week's vacation in the middle and a vacation of three weeks at the end. There were thus forty-four weeks in all. In 1853, the primary school was shortened to forty weeks, with a six weeks' vacation in the summer.
There was a great excitement during this year over the question of the reading of the Bible in the schools. "A child of Catholic parents declined reading the Scriptures at the customary religious exercises of the morning. * * * The teacher did not insist but quietly read such portions of the
297
SECOND AND THIRD SCHOOLS.
Scriptures herself as she thought proper. She continued to do this subsequently. Dr. G. W. Burdett and Franklin Forbes, who were on the sub-committee for the school, sus- tained her in this action and the full School Board voted: that the committee construe the phrase 'reading the Scrip- tures' in the School Regulations, to mean the reading of the Scriptures by the teachers." Strange as it may seem to us to-day, this action of the committee awakened the most bit- ter opposition, and only one member of the old board was reelected for the following year, and this one declined to serve. The reading of the Scriptures by the scholars was resumed, but it was voted that those having religious scru- ples should be excused from taking part if they requested, so that the action of this board cannot be any more condemned for sectarian feeling than that of the previous one.
The union of the Second and Third or High Schools under one principal was recommended. This wise recom- mendation was adopted at the close of the following year, and the school year was again arranged so that now there were three terms of fourteen weeks each in all the schools. We have noted the work of George N. Bigelow in the High School. His brother, Artemas E. Bigelow, was master of the Second School for nearly three years. He acquired here that reputation for thoroughness of work which he after- wards so well maintained in his connection with the various industries of the town. The proportion of male to female teachers is noticeable as there were two of the former to four of the latter. Geo. N. Bigelow having resigned in the summer of 1852, S. W. Boardman, a graduate of Middlebury College, was elected principal of the High School. The committee saw fit to retain his services but a single term. C. W. Walker of Southboro, a teacher of "established repu- tation," was elected to fill the position. He remained until the end of the following year.
It was during the year 1853-54 that the High School building on the corner of Walnut and Church Streets was
298
CLINTON SCHOOLS.
built. The building previously used there was moved between the churches. There was some opposition to this building on account of the expense, since it cost more than all the other school buildings together; but after the plans had once been voted down it was at last decided at a subsequent meet- ing to go ahead. The house, which was completed in the spring of 1854, cost about six thousand dollars. Dr. Geo. M. Morse had special oversight of the building, and the contract was let out to Edward E. Harlow.
The Second and Third Schools having been united under the title of Grammar School were put into this building and under the charge of Josiah S. Phillips, who had two assistants for the lower departments. Mr. Phillips had formerly been the teacher of the Leominster High School. The organization of this Grammar School under the system which it retained for over thirty years was largely due to him. He is spoken of as "laborious, faithful and zealous." "In a situation that requires much more than the mere power of imparting knowledge, he has displayed in a large degree the abilities that insure success." He was especially successful as a teacher of science and much of the physical apparatus now used in the school was bought of and through him. He re- mained with the school about four years and a half. He afterwards became a civil engineer in Lowell, and was then for ten years or more in the employ of Dr. J. C. Ayer. He died April 17, 1879, at the age of sixty-five.
After the resignation of Mr. Phillips in the winter of 1858-9, Henry S. Nourse of Lancaster was secured as princi- pal to complete the unfinished term. The new year of 1859 began with Rev. Frederic A. Fiske in charge of the Gram- mar School. Mr. Fiske was a native of Wrentham and was born April 15, 1816. He graduated at Amherst College in 1836. He had taught in New York City, Norwalk, Ct., and had been principal of the famous Monson Academy and a teacher in Fall River. He had graduated from the Yale Theological School in 1850. He had been ordained and had
Pur Orn Hher Semont
299
GRAMMAR AND HIGH SCHOOLS.
preached as a Congregationalist clergyman in Ashburnham, Mass. He had also preached in East Marshfield. " Mr. Fiske's connection with the school here soon became dis- tasteful to him," since he found that he could not govern the school by " a course of gentle remonstrance," and he resigned after two terms. After leaving Clinton, he was principal of a boys' boarding-school in Newton. He was superintendent of education for North Carolina under the Freedmen's Bureau, 1865-8. Soon after, he entered the Episcopal ministry. Hc preached in various places from 1870 to 1878, when he died December 15. Elizabeth S. Owens was next made principal, but she too found the school somewhat unmanageable and taught only one term. During this year, the "Senior Depart- ment of the Grammar School," which corresponds to the present High School, for the first time had an assistant. Martha A. Stearns filled this position.
In the spring of 1860, Dana I. Jocelyn became the prin- cipal of the Grammar School, with Lucinda Foster as his assistant in the senior department. He was born in Georgia, Vt., December 6, 1830. He graduated at Amherst College in 1855. He had taught in Grafton and Stoneham. There was a most earnest effort during his principalship and that of his successor to establish a regular High School course of study. Up to this time, the work seems to have been left at the option of the scholars and the teachers. As a result of this effort in the summer of 1864, three scholars, Helen F. Mor- gan, Harriet C. Morse and Isadore Parker, received diplomas and thus became the first regular graduates of the school. The course taken by these scholars compares favorably with that of later years. Mr. Jocelyn remained with the school two years. He taught in Malden from 1862 to 1865. He then became a dentist and went to St. Louis, where he lived for many years.
He was followed in 1862 by Rev. Milan C. Stebbins, who was born in Granby, May 16, 1828. He studied at Easthamp- ton. He graduated at Amherst College in 1851. He taught at
300
CLINTON SCHOOLS.
Elmonton Academy, N. H., was principal of Hopkinton Academy, N. H., principal of Nashua High School 1853-58, and established the "Mansion School" at Lancaster, Mass. Under his control, our school reached a much higher level of scholarship than it had ever before attained. The work in English and the classics seemed to the committee especially worthy of commendation. Miss Foster remained with him as an assistant during the first two terms, and then it was decided for economy's sake to have only one teacher in the department. It was found that this was a mistake, however, and at the beginning of the next year Harriet A. Rice was employed. At the end of the first term of his third year, that is, in July, 1864, Rev. M. C. Stebbins resigned his posi- tion. He was principal of the Springfield High School from 1865 to 1874, and from 1874 to 1881 principal of the Springfield Collegiate Institute. He then went into business as a book- seller in the same city.
Josiah H. Hunt was his successor. He was born in Haw- ley, December 26, 1835. He fitted for college at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H. He graduated at Amherst in 1861, and had taught three years before he came to Clin- ton. The story of his nine years of work in our High School belongs for the most part to later history. He was a strict disciplinarian and a most thorough teacher. As an instructor in Latin, he was especially excellent. He became principal of the High School in Gloucester in the spring of 1873. In the eighties, he went to Topeka, Kansas, where he still resides. He is a real estate agent and a dealer in Kansas mortgages. At the end of the first year of his teaching in Clinton, a class of four graduated. These were Cornelia V. Bowers, Henrietta E. Parker, Helen M. Stearns and Abbie E. Dame. It will be noticed that all of the graduates of the first two years are females. Arthur F. Bowers, who received a diploma in 1866, was the first male graduate.
During these first fifteen years of Clinton's history, while
30I
TEACHERS.
the number of children in town within school age had in- creased only about fifty per cent, the average attendance at school had increased some ninety per cent .*
In 1855 and 1856, the school-house on Burditt Hill was moved from its former location on Beacon Street to Main Street. In the following year, the two-roomed brick school- house of No. 4 was built between the Baptist and Orthodox Churches at a cost of four thousand one hundred and twenty- five dollars and thirty-five cents. In 1857-58, the two-roomed school-house for No. I was built near the Lancaster Mills Bridge at a cost of three thousand four hundred and eighty- nine dollars and eighty-two cents, and there the children of Grove and lower Chestnut Streets as well as those from Wil- son Hill and the Acre were accommodated.
During these fifteen years the number of teachers had in- creased from six to eleven. All of the increase in teachers was made before the war, and shortly after another great advance was made in this direction. There was only one year out of the first eight in which the town did not tax
* SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.
No. of Children in Town between 5 and 15.
Total average attendance.
Average attendance at High School or Senior Grammar.
1850-51.
429
257
46
1851-52
495
261
50
1852-53
526
284
46
1853-54
555
294
41
1854-55
. 580
322
36
1855-56
565
342
. .
1856-57
322
31
1857-58
517
428
31
1858-59
.610
435
36
1859-60
620
408
30
1860-61
.675
444
31
1861-62.
756
504
46
1862-63.
736
498
43
1863-64
.674
473
46
1864-65.
643
490
38
1865-96
897
521
40
302
CLINTON SCHOOLS.
itself for new school property. From 1858 to the close of the war there was no building. The general expenses be- came greater year by year and the salaries paid, more and more liberal .* This was true even when the burdens of war times were pressing upon the people most heavily and for- cing them to the utmost economy in every other direction.
Little need be said of the work of the lower grades of schools. As it was laid out in the course of study, it seems very meager compared with the work done in the same grades to-day. There was no "nature work" and no draw- ing prescribed in the course of those days. Little or no writing was done during the first four years of school life, the word method was unheard of, the reading in the school- room was generally confined to a single series of readers. In the grammar schools there has been less change, and no
*TAXATION FOR SCHOOLS.
Total Expense.
New School Property.
General Expense.
1850-51 ...
$5,619 10. Bought District No. Io ... $4,525 43
$1,093 67
5,879 09. 1851-52. . .
No. 3 and No. 5. 2,580 29
3,298 80
1852-53. . .. 2,761 38.
2,761 38
1853-54. 5,958 68.
$ 3,162 93
2,795 75
1854-55 .. . 5,463 52.
( 3,054 33
2,409 19
1855-56. . 3,521 49.
Moving No. 5.
384 43
3,137 06
1856-57 . 7,157 73.
No. 4.
3,506 71
3,651 02
1857-58. 8,297 72.
No. I.
3,489 82
4,391 49
1859-60. 4,584 95.
4,584 95
1860-61.
4,564 31.
1861-62. . 4,846 50.
1862-63. . .. 4,555 27.
No building.
1863-64 . . . 4,895 81.
1864-65 . ... 5,431 50.
1865-66. . .. 6,204 64.
618 64
4,189 26
1858-59. 4,391 49.
Old High
The general expense account of the second year evidently overlaps that of the first year. These accounts do not include some small receipts from property sold or those from the state, neither on the other hand is insurance or interest generally included. These would perhaps nearly balance each other.
303
TEACHERS.
study now required for admission to the High School was then omitted. It is probable that the keener scholars of fifteen at that earlier time would equal in knowledge and mental discipline similar scholars of the same age to-day. There has, however, been a decided advance in the case of the average scholar in breadth of knowledge and some forms of mental power.
The school reports must have proved an ordeal to some of the teachers, for the merits and demerits of each were treated without reserve in public print. What indignation, what tears must have followed the reading of these most unmerciful documents! Yet, harsh as they were, it is possi- ble that they served their purpose and spurred the teachers to more earnest effort than could otherwise have been aroused.
The names of these early teachers* would awaken in
*TEACHERS OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
1850-1865.
The names are put in order of service.
The names of those teaching two years or more before 1866 are itali- cized.
M. A. Price.
Jane A. Daniels.
Ellen A. Wright. Celinda P. Gates.
R. F. Priest.
Elizabeth L. Gibbs.
Sarah A. Colburn.
Louisa M. Swain.
M. A. Boynton.
Sarah W. Baker.
E. M. Lovering.
Maria F. Hills.
Harriet F. Whitcomb.
Frances A. Lovell.
Eliza Crane.
Beulah A. Park.
Emma L. Reeves.
Martha E. Hale.
Urania E. Ingalls.
Lucretia S. Morgan.
Lucy M. Holman.
Mira J. Sawyer.
Sarah C. Miner.
Victoria E. Gates.
Sarah A. Nichols.
Mary F. Stearns.
Mary F. McCollum.
Ellen F. Colburn.
Martha A. Wallace.
Abbie H. Stowe.
Julia J. Haven. S. Angenette King.
P. A. Barnes.
Anna S. Harrington.
304
CLINTON SCHOOLS.
the minds of those who were once their scholars varied memories of dull catechising and wise instruction, of sting- ing rebukes and cheering inspiration, of severe punishments and tender sympathy. As a whole, the work of these teach- ers was most efficient. Many who have done good service in the world have reason to thank them for their discipline, and to them more than any other agents is due the wonder- ful transformation that took place in our immigrant popula- tion in the second generation.
Besides raising the average intelligence of the commu- nity in a remarkable degree, our schools during these early years furnished valuable training to some who were to exert a powerful influence on our town and on the world at large. George W. Weeks, Eli Forbes, James A. Morgan and Charles H. Shedd, Henry N. Bigelow, Charles B. Bigelow and Ed- ward W. Burdett, Herbert J. Brown and William H. Gibbs are representatives whom our schools of this period have
Marietta Jewett. Emma S. Whitcomb.
Mary A. E. Downes. Frances E. Burdett.
Annie B. Cutter.
Mary J. Abbott.
M. T. Bush.
Harriet M. Haskell.
Carrie A. Brigham.
Carrie E. Goodale.
Mary E. Pease.
Susan Hartwell.
Lydia J. Derby.
Lizzie C. Stearns.
Martha A. Stearns.
Sarah A. Fawcett.
E. Frances Campbell.
Celinda M. Copp.
Lydia S. Willard.
Mary H. Stone.
Marietta Jewett.
Mary A. Cameron.
Sara C. Woodbury.
Abbie E. Dame.
Grammar School.
Middle and Junior Departments.
Artemas E. Bigelow.
Sarah A. Cobb.
J. L. Butler.
Ada M. Parkhurst.
Perley B. Davis.
Mary F. Stearns.
Levi S. Burbank.
Elizabeth E. Tidd.
Rev. L. J. Livermore.
Maria F. Hills.
Mrs. C. M. S. Carpenter.
Charlotte H. Munger,
305
THE PRODUCT.
furnished to our manufacturing interests. C. C. Stone, E. A. and G. S. Harris belong to the schools of an earlier date. If we add to these, the men who have taken a leading part in manufacturing elsewhere, we can affirm that our schools have helped to educate men enough of sufficient ability to conduct and thoroughly officer manufacturing interests much larger than our own. The same statement could be made in regard to commerce and the professions. Our educational product for these early years of our municipal life, was such that it may safely be said, that Clinton gave to the world without, more than it received from it. Many of these boys, who were scholars in the Clinton schools in the fifties fought valiantly for the salvation of their country in the early six- ties. Some like Edwin Lassiter Bynner, the author of Agnes Surriage, have won laurels in literature. Some, like Arthur F. Bowers of the New York Tribune, have exerted a great influence through the press. Some, like John B. Cotton, assistant attorney general, U. S. A., and ex-mayor John A. Roche of Chicago, have received well-deserved honors from the hands of their fellow-citizens. No man is better known throughout the state as a jurist and political leader than our own townsman, John W. Corcoran. The greatest moral and social upheaval in America during the past quar- ter of a century was produced by Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst. This list might be much extended, but enough has been said to show that our schools of early years were not lacking in pupils destined to do good service both at home and abroad.
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