USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lexington > History of the town of Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1868, Volume I > Part 41
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The law of 1827, requiring a Town Committee, was the first step in the improvement of our schools. But the meas- ure which has done more for the cause of common-school education than any other was the creation of a State Board of Education in 1837. Three years previous, a school fund was created; and although the sum to be divided among the schools was a mere pittance, the subsequent laws made it a condition precedent to receiving its share of this fund that the Town Committees should make a return to the Secretary of State of the number of scholars in their respective towns,
388
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON
the number attending school, the amount of money raised, and the general condition of the schools.
It was the first time in the history of the Commonwealth that the true condition of the schools was known to the pub- lic. After the Board of Education was created, the Secre- tary, by carefully prepared tables, presented to every town in the State the condition of the schools in every other town, so that all could see the standing of his own town as compared with every other. The abstract of the reports of different Committees showed the improvements that were adopted in different parts of the State; and the reports of the Secretary of the Board soon excited a general interest throughout the Commonwealth; and the creation of normal schools for the education of teachers gave an impulse to the cause of com- mon-school education which has placed Massachusetts ahead of any of her sister States. In this general improvement Lexington has participated. We have seen that in 1837, her school appropriation was carried from one thousand up to fourteen hundred dollars, and that two new school-houses were erected and so constructed as to admit of a grading of the schools.
Soon after the Board was established, Hon. Edmund Dwight, of Boston, generously offered the sum of ten thou- sand dollars, on condition that the Commonwealth would ap- propriate the same amount, to be expended under the direc- tion of the Board in qualifying teachers for common schools. The Board resolved to establish two normal schools, one in the easterly and the other in the westerly part of the State; and to enable them to continue these schools for the period of three years, so that the experiment might be fully tried, they required the people of the place where the schools should be located to furnish the necessary buildings and a certain amount of funds, to procure a library and apparatus. And though the applications for the school were numerous, Lex- ington was deemed by the Board to be the most favorable place, and one of the schools was here established.1 This was the first normal school in the country. The school was put in operation under the care of Mr. Cyrus Pierce,2 an able and
1 See the interesting volume, Records of the First Class of the First State Normal School in America. Privately printed; 1903. Also Lexington Normal School, by Miss Rebecca Viles. Proc. Lex. Hist. Soc., Vol. I, p. 95. Ed.
2 See Memoir of Cyrus Pierce, First Principal of First State Normal School in the
REV. SAMUEL J. MAY HOSEA E. HOLT
DR. DIO LEWIS
CYRUS PIERCE CHARLES TIDD
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EDUCATION
experienced teacher, who continued his connection with the school three years, when he retired, and was succeeded by Rev. S. J. May. Shortly after, the school was removed to Newton - simply on local and sectarian grounds. The school was a decided success, and the experiment tried here has given rise to four normal schools, which send out annu- ally several hundred teachers, well qualified to instruct in all the rudiments of a good English education.
The effect of these schools and the other measures of the Board of Education has been felt in every part of the State. In Lexington, from 1837 to 1846, the appropriation remained at fourteen hundred dollars. In the year following, one hun- dred dollars was added, and in 1848 it was increased to twenty- five hundred dollars. In 1851, after a considerable effort, the town voted to build two new school-houses on the most im- proved plan; one in the centre and the other in the south dis-
United States, by Rev. Samuel J. May, from which the following extracts are taken: -
"On the 3d of July, 1839, he entered upon his labors at Lexington, as principal of the first Normal School on this continent. .
"At the opening of the school, only three offered themselves to become his pupils. The contrast between the full, flourishing establishment he had just left at Nantucket, and the 'beg- garly account of empty boxes,' which were daily before him for the first three months, was very disheartening. . . . However, he had put his hand to the plough, and of course the furrow must be driven through, aye, and the whole field turned over, before he would relinquish his effort. . .. He soon made his three pupils conscious that there was more to be known about even the primary branches of education than they had dreamed of; and better methods of teaching reading, spelling, grammar, arithmetic, and geography than were practised in the schools. Their reports of the searching thoroughness and other excellent peculiarities of the Normal Teacher attracted others to him. The number of his pupils steadily increased from term to term, until, at the expiration of his first three years of service, there were forty-two. In the course of those years, more than fifty went out from under his training, to teach, with certificates of his approbation; and the obvious improvement in their methods of governing children, and giving them instruction, demonstrated the utility of Normal Schools. .
"As soon as practicable, after opening the Normal School at Lexington, Mr. Pierce instituted the Model Department, - a school composed of the children of the neighborhood, just such as would be found in most of our country district schools. In that he led his normal pupils, seriatim, by turns, to apply and test for themselves, the correctness, the excellence of the principles of teaching, which he was laboring to instil into them. This was the most peculiar part of the institution. In the management of it, he evinced great adroitness as well as indomitable perse- verance, and untiring patience. .
"In 1842, at the end of three years, he was obliged to resign his charge. 'It was,' we quote from the Sixth Annual Report of the Board of Education, 'the ardent desire of the Board to secure the further services of that gentleman in a place which he has filled with such honor to himself and such usefulness to the community; but owing to the state of his health and to other circumstances, he felt obliged to tender his resignation, which the Board most reluctantly accepted. Never, perhaps, have greater assiduity and fidelity distinguished and rewarded the labors of any instructor. Mr. Pierce has retired from the employment of teaching; but the models of instruc- tion which he has left, and his power of exciting an enthusiasm in the noble cause of education, will long remain as a blessing to the young.'
. He resumed the charge of the Normal School in August, 1844; - not, however, in Lexington. The number of pupils had so greatly increased that much larger accommodations were needed than could be furnished in Lexington. A building of suitable dimensions, but erected for another purpose, had just then been purchased in West Newton. All arrangements necessary for the school were to be made in it. The devising and superintending of these de- volved upon Mr. Pierce; and he soon showed, so far as the limits within which he was required to work would permit, that he knew how a school-room ought to be constructed, arranged, fur- nished, warmed and ventilated, as well as how those who should be gathered into it, ought to be instructed."
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON
trict. This was the signal for new and improved houses in every section of the town; so that we have now1 in each dis- trict good and commodious houses, with the modern improve- ments.
Feeling that the district schools did not fully meet the wants of the rising generation, in 1854, the subject of a high school2 was brought before the town, and a Committee, con- sisting of Ira Leland, Charles Hudson, Jonas Gammell, Andrew Wellington, Samuel A. Houghton, Charles Tidd, and Hugh Graham, was chosen to consider the subject, and report at the next meeting. The Committee recommended that a high school be established and that five hundred dol- lars be added to the school appropriation, carrying it up to three thousand dollars. This report being accepted by the town and the addition to the appropriation made, the School Committee put the school in operation. The next year the appropriation was raised from three thousand dollars to thirty-seven hundred dollars, devoting one thousand dollars to the support of the high school.
There was considerable opposition to the high school when it was first established; but it has so commended itself to the good sense of the people and its effects upon the district schools have been such that the people generally now regard this school not only as a permanent institution, but one which has proved a blessing to the community. It has afforded an op- portunity to every parent to give his children a good educa- tion at a much less expense than it could have been obtained in any other way; and what is more and better, some parents of limited means have been enabled to give their children such an education as has fitted them for teachers or quali- fied them for other positions in life, which they never could have given them if this high school had not been established. As an economical arrangement, such a school should be con- tinued. Besides, the maintenance of a high school redounds to the honor of a town and tends to increase the value of prop- erty. The town of Lexington has no manufactures to draw population within her borders. Her growth must, to all ap- pearances, depend upon those who are seeking pleasant coun- try residences, and the first question asked by that class more
1 1867. Ed.
2 See Early Days of the Lexington High School, by Miss M. E. Hudson. Proc. Lex. Hist. Soc., Vol. III, p. 117. Ed.
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especially is, "What is the condition of your schools?" If they find that our schools are poor, they will look elsewhere for a residence; but if they find that we have good schools, they might be induced to settle among us.
Fears were entertained by some that the establishment of a high school would operate to the injury of the district schools. But it has been found to produce the opposite effect. A new incentive to effort is thrown into the districts, to qualify their pupils for the high school. A high school also enables the Committee to make a more perfect classification of the pupils and so affords another great advantage to the cause of education.
The time has arrived when the people demand greater op- portunities for an education than the common primary or grammar schools afford, and every statesman and philan- thropist must see the wisdom and benevolence of supplying this want by the maintenance of schools of a higher grade, open alike to the rich and the poor, where all the youth can meet on one common level, and where there is no distinction but that which merit originates. Our colleges are institu- tions which should be highly prized -institutions which are demanded by the wants of the community. But at the same time, we know that they are beyond the reach of a vast majority of the young. Not one in a thousand of our popu- lation ever enters a college as a student. But a high school meets the wants of the whole people, and the children in a town may enter within its walls and enjoy its privileges, without money and without price. Nowhere, no, not even in the house of worship, is there such perfect equality, such an elevation of the poor to an equal level with the rich, as in the free schools. And the farther this can be extended, the higher in the walks of science this equality can be carried, the better for the community at large and for all classes which compose it.
To indicate the growth of interest felt in the public schools, the following statement of the annual appropriations for schools from 1830 to 1867 is given: -
1830
$1,000
1836
$1,000
1842 $1,400
1831.
1,000
1837.
1,400
1843.
1,400
1832
1,000
1838.
1,400
1844. 1,400
1833
1,000
1839.
1,400
1845.
1,400
1834
1,000
1840.
1,400
1846. 1,600
1835.
1,000
1841.
1,400
1847. 1,600
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON
1848.
$2,500
1855.
$3,700
1862
$3,400
1849.
1,600
1856.
.3,700
1863.
.3,400
1850
2,400
1857.
3,800
1864
4,400
1851
2,500
1858
.3,700
1865
4,200
1852
2,500
1859
.3,700
1866.
4,700
1853
2,500
1860.
3,400
1867
5,000
1854.
3,000
1861.
3,400
The above table shows a commendable increase in the appro- priations for schools. And by the graduated tables furnished by the Secretary of the Board of Education, it will be seen that Lexington takes a high rank among her sister towns. In the Report of the Secretary of the Board for 1865, showing the amount expended per head upon all the scholars between the ages of five and fifteen years, it is seen that Lexington stands number 17, in a list of three hundred and thirty-four cities and towns, and that she actually expends $8.49 on each scholar; while more than half of the towns in the State expended less than half of that sum. The same Report shows that in the County, consisting of fifty-two cities and towns, Lexington stands number 7. In the Report of the Board for 1866, Lexington stands number 11 in the list, having expended $10.88 upon each scholar, and in the County of Middlesex, she stands number 5.
From the above exhibit, it appears that Lexington will com- pare favorably with the towns around her.1
In connection with the subject of education in Lexington, the school for young ladies, established by Dr. Dio Lewis, merits a brief notice.2 This school has some characteristics
1 For the subsequent history of the Lexington public schools see Chap. XVIII, infra. Ed.
2 See illustrations. Following is a list of the teachers during the second year of the school (Ed.): -
Dio Lewis, A.M., M.D., Physical Culture, Anatomy, Physiology, Hygiene, and Chemistry. Mrs. Helen C. Lewis, Dress, and the Duties of School-mother. Theodore D. Weld, Mental and Moral Science, Composition, Recitation, the Critical Reading of English Classics, Logic and Rhetoric. Bradford M. Fullerton, A.M., Ancient Classics, Natural Science, English Philology, and Christian Evidences. Mrs. Angelina G. Weld, History. Mrs. Julia M. Fullerton, French, Zoology, and Geometry. Miss Martha A. Dudley, Mathematics and English Grammar. (Rev.) E. W. Morley, A.M., Classics and Natural Science. Mrs. E. J. Cogswell, Mathematics and French. M'lle Adelin Valentin, French and German. Prof. J. B. Torricelli, Italian and Spanish. Prof. James C. Sharp, Chemistry. Prof. W. H. Niles, Zoology and Geology. Miss Julia Lazarus, French. Miss Carrie A. Ingols, English Studies. Miss Belle L. Cooley, English Studies. Prof. Thomas F. Leonard, Elocu- tion. Prof. B. J. Lang, Piano. Prof. E. Zerdahelyi, Piano and Vocal Music. Miss Estelle Wood- ward, Piano and Drawing. Miss Mary Semple, Vocal Music. Miss Adela Chadbourne, Piano. Prof. J. A. Hills, Piano. Miss Anna C. Nowell, Painting in Water Colors. Rev. B. G. Northrop, Lecturer on Methods of Study. Rev. L. J. Livermore, Natural Theology. Hon. Charles Hudson, Local History. James W. Cheeney, Piano. Mrs. C. M. Severance, Practical Ethics. Miss Augusta H. Haskell, Gymnastics. Miss Lizzie Greeley, Gymnastics. Miss Catharine E. Beecher, Domestic Economy and the Laws of Health.
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EDUCATION
which distinguish it from the ordinary female seminaries. Physical development receives a large share of attention. In addition to the usual branches taught in schools for young ladies, the new system of gymnastics, of which Dr. Lewis is the author, is here introduced and made a part of the daily routine. These gymnastic exercises are so adapted to the anatomy or physical structure of the human frame, and are so various in their kinds, that every limb and every muscle is brought into exercise - giving strength and tone to the
The following extracts from the catalogue are of interest: -
"The design of this School is to secure a symmetrical development of body, mind, and heart; to give due attention to physical and social culture, while providing thorough instruction in Literature, Art, Science, and Morals. The studies are so arranged that all the members of the School are the pupils of each instructor. By this constant contact with the different teachers, a great variety and extent of mental discipline and culture will accrue to each scholar.
"After years of anxious thought and preparation, this School was opened on the first of Octo- ber, 1864. The ages of the young ladies ranged from twelve to twenty-three years, seventeen years being the average. The families represented in the School were among the most intelligent in New England. Intellectually and morally, our pupils were all we could ask; physically, they were much below the average.
"Accustomed to teach gymnastics among those who (living at home) had indulged the fashion- able errors of dress, diet, sleep, bathing, etc., Dr. Lewis had hitherto imperfectly realized the possibilities of physical culture. Retiring at an early hour; sleeping in large, well-ventilated rooms; visiting a plain, nutritious table, at proper intervals; bathing frequently under the guid- ance of intelligent assistants; wearing a physiological dress; and spending several hours a day in the open air, - these concomitants added far more than had been anticipated to the results of the gymnastic training. The general development may be inferred when it is stated that, about the upper part of the chest, the average enlargement was two and three-quarter inches. In the physical training of this School, lean girls increased in flesh, while the fleshy ones became thinner and more active.
"We are well satisfied that the common opinion concerning excessive brain-work in our schools is an error; that our girls, even, may double their intellectual acquisitions, provided their exercise, bathing, diet, sleep, and other hygienic conditions, be rightly managed.
"During the last year, the School Building has been occupied by more than one hundred pupils, with their teachers, besides thirty or more patients and boys. Hereafter, the entire School Building will be given up to one hundred young ladies, with their teachers.
"The quiet of the village in which the School is located, consequent upon the almost exclu- sive devotion of the inhabitants to agricultural pursuits, and the absence of manufactories all sanc- tion the choice of this place for our purpose. The streets are free from the confusion and noise al- ways found in large manufacturing towns, and the dissipation of the city is not felt among us. The stillness favors undisturbed walks, and is conducive to mental application.
"Suggestions to Parents.
"Dress. - Neatness, good taste, and simplicity - the natural expression of good sense, mod- esty, and refinement - eminently befit school-days; while ambition of fashionable display - the erethism of a mind weak, ill-balanced, and essentially vulgar - disturbs education, and re- presses higher aspirations.
"Pocket-money. - Significant words! rife with temptations to omnivorous repletion between meals, and painfully suggestive of its inevitable effects, - acidity, sallowness, pimples, disturbed sleep, and bad breath. Pandora's box! full of headaches and other aches, nauseas and vertigoes; necessitating the excuse, 'not well,' when called for the morning walk; rife with artificial wants, unscholarly ways, late rising, tardiness, absence, discreditable recitations, and imperilled char- acter. Few attain honorable distinction at school, who have not been withheld by thoughtful parents from the manifold temptations of pocket-money.
"Visiting. - Visits to friends, during term-time, unsettle the mind, break in upon habits of study, the regularity of lessons, and general school order; multiply the burdens of teachers; ex- cite the discontent of classes whose members are absent; lower their tone, and impede their prog- ress. They generally disqualify for earnest study and often necessitate imperfect lessons for days after resuming the school routine. For these reasons, leave of absence should never be asked except in emergencies that cannot be provided against; and then not through the pupils, but directly of the Principal. A little forecast during vacation will obviate the necessity of calling pu- pils away from school to replenish their wardrobe, or to visit the family dentist."
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON
whole body. The effect of this training is obvious in the fact that many a young lady, of slender frame and delicate com- plexion when she enters the school, leaves, at the close of the year, with that physical development and glow of health so essential in those who are to become the mothers of the next generation.
The same general principle is recognized in all the instruc- tion of the school, by so distributing the branches and exer- cises as to bring out the latent and neglected powers of each pupil. For instance, in the dramatic exercises, which are made somewhat prominent, the self-reliant young lady is to personate the mild and gentle character, and the bashful and timid girl to represent a character more bold and daring. In this way a full and properly developed character is aimed at in all the instruction, and flattering results have been at- tained. The discipline of the school is paternal, and great care and watchfulness are extended over the morals and health of the pupils. By such a system of training and dis- cipline, the school has acquired a high reputation and is favorably known through the country. This is apparent from the fact that its increasing patrons are distributed, not only over New England, but throughout the Middle and Western States.
In the spring of 1864, Dr. Lewis, well and extensively known as a physical educator, purchased the Lexington House, which was erected for a hotel, and fitted it up for a school for young ladies. Having engaged Theodore D. Weld, for many years Principal of the Eagleswood School in New Jersey, and other experienced teachers, he opened his school with twenty pupils. During the term it was increased to thirty-two. During the next year the number increased to one hundred and two, and the third year the number reached one hundred and forty-four.
On the 7th of September, 1867, when the house had been refitted and important improvements made, to receive a larger number of pupils, the building took fire and was en- tirely consumed. The loss of this noble edifice was deeply felt, not only by the citizens of Lexington, who regarded it as a great calamity, but by the friends of physical education in distant parts of the country. It is gratifying to learn that Dr. Lewis intends to erect a building, on or near the same site, which will accommodate an equal number of scholars
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111
OLD ADAMS SCHOOL OLD TOWN HALL
LEXINGTON NORMAL SCHOOL DR. DIO LEWIS' SCHOOL
395
EDUCATION
and be better adapted to the purposes of the school than the former building.1
Dr. Lewis is justly entitled to the gratitude of the com- munity for his new system of gymnastics, - a system which has been introduced into many schools in this country and in Europe and has called public attention to the subject of physical training, and so laid a foundation for the education of the whole man.
It may also be said, in this connection, that Dr. Lewis has established a hospital or "movement cure" in the village, where he has a considerable number of patients under his peculiar mode of treatment, which, it is believed, has proved quite successful.
1 This plan was not carried out. Ed.
CHAPTER XVIII
EDUCATION (continued)
School Development from 1867 to 1912 - Committee on the New Hancock School - Centralization - New High School - Munroe School - New Adams School - Administration - Cary Memorial Library-Holt Normal School of Music.
IN the preceding chapter Mr. Hudson states that "in 1851, after a considerable effort, the town voted to build two new school-houses, on the most improved plan; one in the centre and the other in the south district. This was the signal for new and improved houses in every section of the town; so that we have now [1867] in each district, good and com- modious houses, with the modern improvements." In forty- five years, however, not only do school buildings deteriorate, but in this particular period since 1867, the views of the American people, both as to education and as to what con- stitute "modern improvements," have experienced a very far-reaching change. Consequently, in 1912, only one of the seven buildings occupied in 1867 for school purposes con- tinues to be so used, and that is to be superseded, during the coming year, by a modern edifice.
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