USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Ashfield > History of the town of Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts from its settlement in 1742 to 1910 > Part 15
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Due for School wood to Esqr Phillips half Cord 0- 2-0
Due to Levi Steal for 1 Cord and 23 0- 7-0
Dr to Ensign Andros 1 Cord 1/3 0- 5-0
Dr to Elijah Phillips for half Cord of wood 0- 2-0
Dr to Silas Lille Juner for half Cord of wood 0- 2-0
Dr to Jonathan Yemans for 8 Cords of wood 1-12-0
Dr more for thee use of his house two months
and two thirds of a month for School house 0-10-0
3- 0-0
to Doct Phineas Bartlet town treasurer pleas to pay the several sums above as car- ryed out against their names
School Committee
Jonathan Yemans Davis Butler
Ashfield May the 16 A D 1792
The school was kept in the house where Joseph Tatro now lives, probably then just built. It will be scen that 1212 cords of wood were used in the old fashioned fireplace. Barnabas Anable was paid £7-4s for teaching the two and two-thirds months. From the following notice it appears that a school- house was built the next season.
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to Jonathan Yemans Clerk of the Schol Destrict Called Esqr Phillipses or the north middle Destrict you are Directed to warn Said Destrict that they meet at the house Built by Simeon Crittenden for a School house on Tuesday the 10 Day of De- cember furstly to chose a moderator to manage Said meeting 2ly to Se If the proprietors will Except of Said house and 3ly to Do aney other Bisness that Shall Be thot proper to be dun on Said Day
Ashfield Desember the Sixth AD 1793
Levi Steel Davis Butler commitè Jonathan Yemans
the within Naned have Bin warned to meet at the time and place within mentioned
by me Jonathan Yemans Clerk
It looks as if the business was faithfully and systematically done, even if the spelling, capitals, and so on werc somewhat at fault.
In 1810 the Chapel district was formed from a part of Briar Hill, and in 1813 Beldenville was formed by taking portions of Baptist Corner and Wardville. Schools were kept in private houses in New Boston soon after this, but no schoolhouse was built there until 1823, when it was built on its present location.
In 1815, South Ashfield district was formed, the schoolhouse standing near where Clarence Guilford now lives.
In 1845, the Apple Valley district appears as the fourteenth, with the "little red schoolhouse" on the corner of the Apple Valley road.
In 1782, the first school in Steady Lane was kept in a house which stood on the corner where the Orville Hall house, occupied by Clarence E. Hall, now stands, with Miss Keziah Taylor as teacher. Afterwards the school was moved to a house on the corner near the creamery, then it was moved again to the corner just below Allison Howes' house, where it burned down. Another was built in the same place which stood until 1851, when a new one was built which stood there till 1883, when this and the Cape Street schools having united, it was moved to its present location.
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HISTORY OF ASHFIELD
The dwelling house of Ezekiel Howes, which stood opposite the barn of Henry and Abbott Howes, harbored the first school in the Northwest. Then a schoolhouse was built at the foot of the hill below John W. Howes' near the house of Danicl Forbes. About 1837, it was moved to the top of the hill about forty rods east of the Henry Howes place. Some twenty years later, it was moved fifty rods to the west, where it remained until 1886, when "Northwest" and "Apple Valley" having united, it made another migration and now rests peacefully in Apple Valley.
The schoolhouse on Briar Hill first stood on the old road west of the house of Alvan Cross, and when the new road was built in 1827, it was moved to its present location.
The schoolhouse in Chapel district formerly stood on the old road running past the C. F. Howes house, now owned by Professor Cockaday, to the Blood, now the Miss Collis place, and was afterwards built on the corner below the Hitchcock -- Mrs. Marshall-place. It was built to serve also as a Methodist Chapel.
The Round schoolhouse was a part of the house in which Frank Hillman now lives. It was, as its name indicates, per- fectly round, built of brick and considered in its time a model schoolhouse. Eugene C. Gardner, now the well-known Spring- field architect, and an Ashfield boy of sixty years ago, thus describes it :
The old round schoolhouse, "The Round" as we always called it for short, was undoubtedly sui generis. I do not believe there ever was another schoolhouse like it in this world. I doubt if there will be in the next. Yes, I went to school there, when the scholars sat on a plank bench with their backs against the edge of the continuous counter that hung against the outer wall, part of the time and "whopped around" for writing, ciphering, or any work involving the use of large books. I doubt if any other plan was ever contrived for putting a greater number of children into a similar space and so groupcd that each one could facc the music, that is to say the teacher. One winter, I think about 1848, there were between sixty and seventy on the record, eight from the Leonard family alone, (no twins), and I should guess that the list of absentees was a small one.
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Several years ago I had memorandums of the exact dimensions of the building but am not sure that I can find them. I also have a small photograph. It is my impression that the outside measurement was twenty-one or twenty-two feet in diameter, but would not be sure, without verification.
Extending around the inside of the outer wall except where it is cut off by the door, was a raised platform perhaps one foot in height and four or five feet wide. Attached to the wall under the windows was a sloping shelf, perhaps one and a half feet in width and in front of that shelf, a wooden bench of plank. The front edge of this platform constituted the seat for the younger pupils, and there was a sort of railing about one foot high and perhaps one foot from the edge, which made a back for the inner circle of seats, serving at the same time as a foot rest for the older scholars behind them. Whether the heads of the young- sters or the feet of the older ones had the right of way was not always clear. It is my impression that when the big boys stood up on the platform there was not a great deal of room to spare between their heads and the ceiling.
There were three windows,-one north, one south, and one east. On the west side, protected by a small outside porch possibly six feet square was the entrance door. In this porch at each side were shelves where the boys and girls were expected to pile their caps and mufflers, hoods and shawls. Overcoats and overshoes for children had not then been invented. In this little lobby was a small window toward the north with a wooden shutter, which had a round hole in it about as big as a bung hole, and when both doors were shut, we had a most fascinating cam- era obscura. The spectators sat on the top shelf at the north side, the performers performed with colored shawls and other stage properties on the bank outside the building, the moving picture appearing on the under side of the sloping ceiling. Ad- jacent to this porch and extending west was the small woodshed which was open toward the south. I cannot recall any other out buildings except the back side of the woodshed.
The teacher's headquarters were at the left side of the door on entering; his furniture being the end of the sloping shelf, under which was a small drawer. The inner circle or pit, which corresponded to the arena in the Roman amphitheatre, must have been as much as ten feet in diameter, possibly twelve: At the very centre was a stove for burning wood, mostly green, and it is my impression that the stove pipe ran straight up through the ceiling, a small, round, iron pipe through a big, square, wooden hole. The round pipe carried the smoke, or a part of
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it, out of doors, the square hole allowed the bad air of the school to rise into the attic, from which, after getting eooled off, it eamc down again. It seems unlikely that the chimney could have stood on the apex of the cone of the roof, and it may be that the pipes ran horizontally to one side, either under or over the sheathing.
As I remember the windows (there may have been four in- stead of three), they eould not have been over two and one-half feet wide by four or four and one-half feet high. Probably one or more was left unchanged when the addition was made.
The teacher's corner, if a cirele ean be said to have a corner, was not only the source of knowledge but it was the seat of justice and the court of execution. The good old-fashioned ferrule was the familiar instrument of discipline. In faet, when there was a full house, there was hardly room to swing the bireh effectively without endangering the occupants of the orehestra chairs. Although I remember one occasion on which the school master found it necessary in modern slang, to "wipe up the floor" with one of the big boys, in which performance the stove pipe was knocked down and a reign of terror inaugurated with plenty of vocal musie from the front row. About a square yard of the floor at the right of the teacher was the rostrum where we stood to read our eompositions and "speak our pieces."
Surely it was an interesting building and the center of a cul- ture the circumference of which is not yet determined.
This house was built by Mr. Gardner's grandfather, Jacob Gardner. Fifty, sixty, or seventy scholars were not unusual numbers for a winter school eighty years ago. Mr. Henry Taylor says that seventy-eight was the largest number that he remembers packed in the little Cape Street schoolhouse in one winter. We have no record of the whole number of seholars in town until 1833, when in the first returns made to the state there were 635 between 4 and 21 years of age; in 1840, 494; 1845, 464; 1850, 380; 1855, 348; 1860, 253; 1865, 232; 1870, 233. In 1837, 546 scholars are reported as attending the thirteen schools in winter. These were kept an aggregate of 82 months in a year, or about an average of 613 months each. $600 was raised for schools, and $550 contributed in board, wood, and so forth. The valuation of the town was ealled $280,808. Wages of female teachers was reckoned $5.50 a month and board the
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same. The following sums of money have been voted for sup- port of schools:
1766, £4; 1769, £9; 1773, £15; 1779, £500; 1788, £100; 1789. £40; 1790, £80; 1791 to 1794 inc., £100; 1796, £150; 1797, £125; 1798 to 1801 inc., $400; 1802 to 1807 inc., $450; 1808. $400; 1809, 1810, $450; 1811, 1812, $500; 1813, $550; 1814 to 1839 inc., $600; 1840, $800; 1841 to 1843 inc., $600; 1844 to 1849 inc., $700; 1850, $850; 1851, $800; 1852 to 1854 inc., $850; 1855 to 1863 inc., $1,000; 1864, 1865, $1,500; 1866, $1,250; 1867 to 1869 inc., $1,500; 1870, $2,000; from 1870 to 1876, $1,500; 1876, 1877, 1878, $1,750; from 1878 to 1886, $1,600; 1886, $1,475 for schools and $200 for text books; 1887 to 1890, $1,500 for schools and $100 for supplies; 1890 to 1893, $1,400 for schools, $500 for high school; 1893 to raise $2,000 for school purposes and that the school committee be author- ized and instructed to use an additional sum not to exceed $250 for the support of the high school; 1894, $1,750, $500 of which must be for high school; 1895, $2,000 for school purposes and to continue high school; 1896 and 1897, $1,500 for schools and $750 for high school; 1898, $1,800 for schools, $750 for high school; 1899, $1,650 for schools, $750 for high school; 1900 to 1904, $1,500 for common schools with $300 in 1901 for super- intendent and $750 for high school annually to present time. In 1904-5-6-7, $1,700 raised for common schools and in 1907 committee instructed to pay the teachers monthly. In 1908 and 1909, $1,850 was raised.
This money which was raised at first was probably expended by the selectmen or committee chosen by the town, upon each district at their discretion, but in 1788, it was "Voted, that the money be distributed in the several school districts according to the number of scholars from 4 years of age to 21 years of age." This method was continued until 1841, when it was voted to divide two-thirds of the money on the scholars and one-third on the districts. Not long after, a vote was taken to divide one-half on the scholars and one-half on the districts. In 1882, it was "Voted to place the school money in the hands of the school committee to be expended by them at their dis- cretion. "
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An old provincial law, and an act of 1789, made it the duty of the selectmen and ministers of the gospel to care for and visit the schools, but the records are silent as to any supervision being exercised until March, 1816, when it was
"Voted, That Elijah Paine, Esq., Joshua Howes, Jr., Joseph Barber, Alvan Clark, Peter Sears, Ahira Sears, Daniel Williams, Henry Bassett, Ebenezer Furbush, David Lyon, John Alden, Bethuel Lilly and, Samuel Shepherd be a committee to visit the schools the year ensuing, and to request the said committee to invite the clergy to visit the schools with them."
In 1818 it was "Voted that the school committee do visit the schools twice this season."
In 1819, March Ist, it was "Voted that Elijah Paine, Henry Bassett and James McFarland be a committee to report to the town the best method of visiting schools and examining teachers."
The votes which were taken in the early part of the century show a deep and progressive interest in the schools. Towns were not required by law to choose a school committee until 1826, so that these votes were in anticipation of the law. In 1827 it was voted "to take the Journal of Education, published at Boston, for the use of the School Committee." The town was also one of the earliest pioneers in the matter of choosing women upon the school board. In 1855, nineteen years before the state passed the act making women eligible to the office, two women were elected on the school board.
From 1830 to 1836, there seems to have been considerable discussion as to whether the School Committee should receive compensation for their services.
In 1835, it was voted to accept the report of a committee chosen to investigate the matter, which report was "that no compensation be allowed them, except to their Clerk, who shall receive $2.00 per year." Since 1838, the statutes have fixed the salary of the committee.
The following persons have served as School Committee for the number of years indicated, their names following in the order of their first election, beginning with the year 1816:
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Elijah Paine, Esq., 5; Joshua Howes, Jr., 1; Joseph Barber, 3; Alvan Clark, 3; Peter Sears, 1; Ahira Sears, 1; Daniel Williams, 7; Henry Bassett, Esq., 9; Ebenezer Furbush, 1; David Lyon, 2; John Alden, 1; Samuel Shepherd, 1; Capt. Bethuel Lilly, 4; Dr. Enos Smith, 2; Dorus Graves, 1; Reuben Bement. 1; Lemuel Sears, 1; Dimmick Ellis, 3; Enos Harvey, 3; Charles Williams, 2; Roswell Williams, 1; Capt. James McFarland, 7; Dr. Atherton Clark, 6; Samuel Bement, 5; Sanford Boice, 4; Anson Bement, 1; Elias Gray, 1; Anson Goodwin, 1; Israel Williams, 1; Cyrus Alden, 5; Russell Phillips. 1; Elisha Wing, 1; Rufus Bement, 1; Rev. Orra Mar- tin, 8; Rev. Lot Jones, 1; John Pease, 1; Walter Guilford, 1; Jasper Bement, 1; John C. Baldwin, 2; Charles Adams, 1; Horace Cole, 4; Jonathan Yeamans, 1; Rev. Mr. Withington, 1; Rev. Thomas Shepard, 4; Wait Bement, 17; Robert A. Coffin, 1; Dr. Jared Bement, 3; Alvan Perry, 15; Rev. Silas Blaisdale, 1; Hiram Belding, 3; Daniel Forbes, 1; William Bassett, 1; Sumner Bement, 1; Manly Guilford, 4; Samuel Bassett, 6; Earl J. Merriam, 1; Rev. Burr Baldwin, 2; Rev. Jacob Pierson, 2; Rev. S. D. Clark, 2; Rev. Earl Guilford, 2; Rev. William Norris, 2; Frederic Forbes, 13; Granville B. Hall, 6; Dr. Sidney Brooks, 4; Silas Blake, 12; Rev. J. A. Stone, 2; Nathan Knowlton, 4; Joshua Knowlton, 4; F. G. Howes, 42; Miss Lydia Hall, 4; Miss Marietta Patrick, 1; William F. Bassett, 1; Rev. Edward Clark, 1; Rev. Willard Brigham, 2; L. C. Sanderson, 1; Levant F. Gray, 2; Francis E. Elmer, 3; Dr. J. R. Fairbanks, 1; Charles A. Hall, 10; Rev. Lewis Green, 5; Rev. George Willard, 3; John M. Sears, 4; Mrs. Amelia S. Ford, 15; Charles Fisk, 2; George B. Church, 10; Rev. William Libby, 3; Dr. J. E. Urquhart, 15; Mrs. Effie G. Gardner, 8; Mrs. May G. Boice, 4; Charles Howes, 2.
Among the early teachers employed were: Dimick Ellis; Daniel Forbes, who taught ninety-nine terms, including writing and singing schools; Nancy Alden; Mary Lyon; Electa Lyon; Betsey Smith; Lydia Bassett Smith; Hiram Belding, father of Belding Brothers, silk manufacturers; Alvan Perry; Samuel Bassett; Manly Guilford; Wait Bement; P. Emory Aldrich, afterwards Judge Aldrich of Worcester; H. L. Dawes, after- wards United States senator; Granville B. Hall, father of President G. Stanley Hall of Clark University; and later, Misses Lydia and Clarissa Hall; Miss Marietta P. Patrick,
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afterwards Mrs. Harris; Miss Mchitable Bassett, afterwards Mrs. Chauncey Bryant of Greenfield; Miss Eliza Packard, afterwards Mrs. L. E. Coleman.
Miss Lydia Hall, afterwards Mrs. Miles, probably had the longest experience of any Ashfield teacher and most strongly impressed her individuality upon her pupils. One of the leading men of our town who died a few years since said, "I got more from Miss Hall than from all my other teachers in the common school" Her old pupils living and many others will be glad to see her "Reminiscences," written in her ninctieth year, quoted here so freely. Since 1875, Mrs. Amelia Ford has been largely employed as teacher in our common and high schools.
Many of the teachers mentioned in the early years were men and women of character and ability, and afterwards made their mark as useful citizens of this and other states. Sometimes an odd genius for a teacher would drift in from other parts. Mrs. Miles tells of hearing in her young days the older people talk of old Master Cole who was at one time a teacher in the Steady Lane school. He was an Englishman and claimed to have been an officer in the army. It was said he made his morning prayer with one eye open and if any sly urchin saw fit to try to "cut up" he was liable to get a thump from the master's cane with- out seeming to disturb the thread of his devotions. Once during school hours in a fit of impatience he rushed upon the scholars in a certain part of the room with such fury that the seats were quickly emptied through doors and windows, to escape the blows of his descending cane. He always sent word to his boarding places that he wanted "boiled victuals" for supper and woolen shcets on his bed. In a sketch of early Conway is mentioned an old Master Cole, cvidently thc samc, who used to wear his uniform and sword into the schoolroom, which inspired the pupils with fear lest at some time in a fit of his impatience they might find themselves headless.
The literary qualifications of the teacher were not always of the highest order. Since the middle of the last century, a teacher (from another county) imparted the astounding geo- graphical information that from the meetinghouse on Peru
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(Mass.) hill the water from the east side ran into the Atlantic Ocean, and from the west side into the Pacific Ocean.
The teachers of the olden time with seventy-five or eighty pupils ranging from five to twenty-one years crowded into a small schoolroom had no enviable task. If the teacher had tact and was popular with the pupils, his path might be compara- tively smooth, but woe unto him if he lacked "government," or by his course incurred the enmity of those under him. Then there might be incipient mutiny and talk of carrying out the master and pitching him into a snowdrift, which was sometimes actually done. Hence committees, when in search of a teacher for a "hard school," took in the physical, as well as the mental and moral status of the candidate.
Notwithstanding all the criticism and ridicule that has been made of the old district system, there were many good features about it. Each district was a little republic in itself. At the annual and other meetings the moderator, clerk, prudential committees and other special committees were chosen so that the humblest citizen at some time in his life would have a chance to serve the public in some office, however small it might be. The general good of the district and the qualifications of the teachers were discussed, and frequently prudential committees were instructed by vote to hire certain teachers, so that every man felt he had a voice in the direction of the school. When the teacher was hired and the time came for the summer term, the teacher "boarded around," cheerfully walking a mile or a mile and a half to her boarding place, reserving the ncarer places for the rainy nights. When winter came and the large boys flocked in, a "man teacher" was usually employed. He, too, "boarded around" and after the pork and beef were slaughtered, the sausages and mince pies made, he was welcome to the full larder.
Many a pleasant evening was spent in chats with the old people, and in helping the children with their "sums" around the table, lighted by a tallow candle. And when the retiring hour came, what though the air and sheets in that northeast square room were of zero temperature, the hot bricks gave him
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a warmth like that of the hearts of the parents who wished him the kindly "good night" and pleasant dreams. These frequent visits of the teachers to the parental roof gave them an insight into the home life of their pupils, their government there, and much else that widened their views and gave them preparation for better influence in their work. It established also a close bond of sympathy between parent and teacher. The good dames of the district made frequent visits of an afternoon with their knitting into the school, while on the closing or "examina- tion day" half the women of the district with a good sprinkling of the men were often present. The people of the district boarded the teacher and furnished the fuel, the boys "took turns" at building the fires, and the girls the same also in the care of the schoolroom. Not infrequently, when it was thought they were having a good school, money was raised by sub- scription for an extension or poll sehool. The early returns to the Board of Education show that as mueh was given in volun- tary contributions by the distriets, as was furnished by the town.
The spelling schools were interesting occasions. They chose sides and spelled down, there being a great strife on each side to get the best spellers. Sometimes the old folks spelled against the young folks with the understanding that only Webster's spelling book should be used.
Sometimes the school in one district would ehallenge another to a spelling match and the little sehoolhouse would be packed with contestants and spectators.
Old fashioned lyceums were held in most of the distriets in the winter. Outside talent was sometimes imported as a stimu- lus to the native element. Lot Bassett of Spruce Corner, Bela Gardner and Elijah Field of South Ashfield, Mareus T. Parker of Cape Street and Manly Guilford, were considered the star debaters of the town and were often called in to enliven the debates in the different districts. A paper and a critique were read and the questions were vigorously and intelligently dis- cussed, the village library being frequently drawn upon for sources of information. All, both old and young, were en-
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couraged to take a part. "Ought American Slavery to be Abolished?" was a question much discussed. It is related of a lyceum in New Boston that a citizen of that locality desiring to contribute his share to the support of the lyceum, made his maiden effort on this question thus: "Mr. President, regarding this question before the house, I believe that slavery is-I believe sir, that slavery is-that slavery is-that slavery is- is-a cussed thing," and took his seat. Before the winter was over, however, he became a substantial and helpful debater. Some of the graduates of these district lyceums from the "back towns" have sometimes well held their own in the state legisla- ture against some of their fellow members supposed to have received much better educational advantages. Although without the state paternalism of the present day, there was a kind of self educational, intellectual and social life and vigor in these old-fashioned school districts that should have due commendation.
In the Easy Chair of Harper's Monthly for October, 1867, Mr. Curtis writes of a visit to the Steady Lane school which was then on the corner below where Allison Howes now lives.
And certainly there is no more striking and interesting sight than the common school in a remote country district. Let it be a summer afternoon, bright and not too warm. The school house, cheerfully painted white, stands upon a pleasant green where roads meet at the foot of a high green hill. There is nothing squalid or repulsive about the house, although it is very plain and the neighborhood is not rich. There is no "yard" for the green roads and the fields and hillsides are sufficient playground. It is the last day of the summer term, and the parents of the children and the friends of the children are in- vited and expected to come. The door and windows are all open, and the summer air plays as it will throughout the room. There are twenty scholars, the largest part girls, and the oldest of all about fifteen, the youngest six years old. They sit at separate solid wooden desks, and against the wall in front of them sit fathers and mothers, and in the teacher's desk the "school committee man," with a winning smile and kind voice which should be enough to take all the sting out of "school."
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