USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > Inaugural address of the mayor, with the annual report of the officers of the city of Quincy for the year 1899 > Part 17
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John W. Nash, supplies, . 18 03
Ginn & Co., books, 66 84
D. C. Heath & Co., books, 34 75
New York & Boston Despatch Express Co., 2 35
Paine Furniture Co., . 20 00
Butler, Sheldon & Co., books, 1 62
L. E. Knott & Co., chemicals,
38 62
N. J. Bartlett & Co., reference books 35 99
Pay roll, teachers, 862 77
Geo. W. Prescott & Son, .
3 25
Wadsworth, Howland & Co., art. supplies,
14 16
J. F. Sheppard & Sons,
408 82
Hickox Shorthand School, 3 00
Smith Premier Typewriter Co., 7 32
American Book Co., books,
6 08
T. H. Castor & Co., books,
48
Citizens Gas Light Co.,
1 60
Horace Partridge, gymnastic supplies,
1 50
Edward E. Babb & Co., supplies, 17 34
New York & Boston Despatch Express Co., 1 90
.E. O. Vaile, " The Weeks Current,"
45 60
Huey Bros., supplies,
9 25
S. W. Fiske, extra labor, .
15 00
Pay roll, teachers,
862 77
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., books,
6 80
Horace Partridge & Co., gymnasium sup- plies, . 2 67
D. C. Heath & Co., books,
9 80
George D. Langley, supplies,
4 77
Georgiana C. Lane, art supplies,
5 05
W. T. Arnold, art supplies,
2 10
Wyckoff, Seamans & writer, Benedict, type-
74 00
Pay roll, teachers,
862 77
C. W. Wilder, .
1 92
City of Quincy, water,
15 00
William L. Chase, art supplies,
1 85
J. F. Sheppard & Sons,
9 75
317
Edward E. Babb & Co., book supplies, $8 65
L. E. Knott Apparatus Co., 11 84
Citizens' Gas Light Co.,
5 00
B. Johnson, lumber, .
7 64
John W. Nash, supplies,
80
E. S. Beckford,
9 87
George D. Langley, supplies,
9 78
Austin & Winslow-Gallagher Express Co.,
1 10
Jordan, Marsh & Co., books,
2 80
New York and Boston Despatch Ex. Co., 2 15
Carrie E. Small, sundries,
37 33
$10,819 79
Less amount received from sale of books,
361 49
$10,458 30
Statement of Fund January 1, 1900.
Personal property received from estate of
Dr. Ebenezer Woodward, . · $30,089 83
Personal property received from executors of the will of Mrs. Mary A. W. Woodward, . 51,556 78
Land sold, .
. 81,715 16
Pews sold,
120 00
One-third interest in store No. 32 Faneuil
Hall Square, Boston, . . 12,000 00
Income account,
. 144,038 68
Unexpended income, . 9,259 76
Premium account,
.
1,172 25
$329,952 46
INVESTED AS FOLLOWS :
$10,800 Central Vermont railroad 4's, re- organization 9 shares of stock, . . $9,460 00
318
$7,500 Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad 4's, . $8,758 65 $4,000 Philadelphia, Wilmington and Bal- timore railroad 5's, . 4,200 00 $10,000 New York and New England rail- railroad 6's, . 10,103 75
$4,000 Vermont and Massachusetts railroad 5's, . 4,440 00
$5,000 Union Pacific railroad 4's, 45
shares preferred stock, 30 shares com- mon stock, 10,593 75
$4,600 Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western railroad 4's 5,328 52
$9,000 Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad 5's, 9,762 50
$5,000 City of Cleveland 4's, . 5,262 50
$5,000 City of Mineapolis 4's, 5,125 00
$3,000 City of Sheboygan 4Į 's 3,120 00
25 shares Mount Wollaston Bank, 3,695 00
27 shares Boston & Albany railroad, . 4,900 00
148 shares Old Colony railroad, . 26,640 00
66 shares Fitchburg railroad, Pref. 7,260 00 10 shares Consolidated Vermont railroad, 500 00 13 interest store Faneuil hall square, Boston, . 12,999 00 .
5 bonds Michigan telephone 5's, .
5,100 00
Sheen property, Greenleaf street, . .
7,247 36 Peabody property, Norfolk Downs, . 2,500 00
Farnum property, West Quincy, 4,317 83 .
Loans secured by mortgage, . . 121,700 00
Grading seminary lot, 6,780 62
Institute building, . . 47,134 15
Cash on hand December 31, 1899, .
.
3,023 83
$329,952 46
319
COST OF INSTITUTE DEDUCTED.
Amount of Fund, as per statement,
$329,952 46 Institute building, $47,134 15
Grading lot, .
6,780 62
$53,914 77
Net Fund, January 1, 1900, .
$276,037 69
Respectfully submitted,
JAMES F. BURKE,
Treasurer of the Fund.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
164(
: 17
MA
16
NETA
.9
11.1
QUINCY
-1898
CITY OF QUINCY,
MASSACHUSETTS,
-
For the Year 1899.
QUINCY : GEO. W. PRESCOTT & SON, 115 Hancock Street. 1900.
School Committee
For 1899.
At Large.
MR. FRANK A. PAGE,
Term expires 1899 66
DR. HENRY C. HALLOWELL,
1900
DR. NATHANIEL S. HUNTING,
66 1901
By Wards.
Ward 1. HON. CHARLES H. PORTER,
Term expires 1900
66 1901
Ward 3. MISS MABEL E. ADAMS,
1901
Ward 4. DR. JOHN H. ASH,
·
1899
Ward 5. DR. WELLINGTON RECORD,
66 1900
Ward 6. DR. FREDERICK J. PEIRCE,
66
1899
Chairman of the School Board, HON. CHARLES H. PORTER.
Secretary of the Board and Superintendent of Schools, HERBERT WARREN LULL. Office, No. 1. Faxon Block, Hancock Street.
Office Open : - Monday, 8 to 12 A. M., 2 to 5, and 7.30 to 8.30 P. M. Tuesday, 8 to 12 A. M., 2 to 5 P. M. Wednesday, 8 to 12 A. M., 2 to 5 P. M. Thursday, 8 to 12 A. M., 2 to 5 P. M. Friday, 8 A. M. to 1 P. M., 2 to 5 P. M. Saturday, 8 to 12 A. M.
Regular Hours of Superintendent :- Monday, 7.30 to 8.30 P. M. Tuesday, 4 to 5 P. M. Thursday, 4 to 5 P. M. Friday, 12 to 1 P. M.
The regular meetings of the School Board are held at eight o'clock P. M. the last Tuesday in each month.
Ward 2. MR. FREDERICK H. SMITH,
STANDING SUB-COMMITTEES FOR 1899.
FOR THE DIFFERENT SCHOOLS :
HIGH
ADAMS
CODDINGTON
GRIDLEY BRYANT
JOHN HANCOCK
LINCOLN MASSACHUSETTS FIELDS
QUINCY
WASHINGTON
WILLARD
WOLLASTON
Messrs. Porter, Hallowell, Miss Adams Miss Adams, Messrs. Hunting, Smith Messrs. Hallowell, Porter, Peirce Messrs. Porter, Ash, Smith Messrs. Hallowell, Ash, Miss Adams Messrs. Hunting, Ash, Miss Adams Messrs. Page, Record, Peirce Messrs. Peirce, Record, Page Messrs. Smith, Record, Hunting Messrs. Ash, Hallowell, Page Messrs. Record, Page, Peirce
Finance and Salaries, Messrs. Porter, Page, Hallowell.
Books, Supplies and Sundries, Miss Adams, Messrs. Record, Smith.
Transportation, Messrs. Record, Ash, Hunting.
Evening Schools, Messrs. Peirce, Porter, Hunting.
Text Books, Messrs. Page, Peirce, Hallowell.
Special Subjects, Messrs. Ash, Smith, Miss Adams.
Report of School Committee.
To the Citizens of Quincy : -
The City of Quincy entrusts to its School Committee, an elected unpaid Board, the care of its schools. The City bestows and the School Committee assumes a heavy responsibility. It is no light matter to order the formal education of four thousand eight hundred children ; it is no light matter to select a proper head for the school system and bear him out in his policy ; it is no light matter to calculate expenses down to the fraction of a dollar, striving to keep a just balance between the actual needs of the schools on the one hand and proper economy on the other, but all this and much more the School Committee must do merely to keep the schools in running order. The framers of our City Charter evidently realized the responsibility which the Committee must bear, and endeavored to give to it commensu- rate power. Twice does the charter explicitly state that "the management and control of the schools shall be vested in a School Committee." In an amendment there is a provision that the School Committee must furnish a detailed estimate of the ensuing year's expenses, but nowhere does it appear that the framers of the charter contemplated giving to the City Council a veto power on any detail of management. This statement of the legal status of the Committee is hereby given for the infor- mation of the citizens.
The trend of educational thought today is distinctly in the direction of fitting the pupil for participation in the affairs of life itself rather than giving to him more or less varied book
6
knowledge. While teachers and school-officers join in disclaim- ing the possibility of furnishing the entire social training in the schools it is nevertheless desirable that no efforts should be spared to help forward every pupil toward self-reliant, thrifty, law-abiding manhood and womanhood.
Two plans, both tending toward character building, are being tried in various sections of our country ; perhaps a mention of them is not out of place in any educational report.
The first is what is known as the "school bank " plan or the " penny savings " plan. In a good many cities and towns in the United States the school children have been encouraged to save their money, putting it into the care of the teacher or of some duly appointed person until the sum amounts to enough to be placed in a savings bank. The actual sums saved even in very poor districts are surprising. Children's savings have been known to relieve the family stress in many cases in cities where the plan has been tried. But it is for the sake of the valuable habits acquired that school authorities have come to value the plan, the habit of saving on the one hand, and the habit of self denial on the other, the learning of the lesson that the posses- sion of money does not necessarily entail its immediate disburse- ment when no need for the money's worth exists.
The second plan is that known as the "self-government scheme," which has been tried with various results both east and west. Various critics of our schools assert that although we live in a republic we send our children to school under a despotism, a wise and paternal despotism, no- doubt, and one which is grow- ing wiser every day, but still a despotism, in which there is one law, the teacher's, and in which the government does not derive its just powers from the consent of the governed for the simple reason that the governed have no voice in the matter. These critics do not deny that young children are unfit to govern themselves, but they assert that older children and the young men and young women of the high schools ought to be given an opportunity to learn to govern themselves by exercising their judgment concerning their own affairs within reasonable limits before they are thrown entirely upon their own resources either in the world of work or the world of college. Conservative
7
teachers feel that experiments along this line would only end in anarchy and even progressive teachers look with doubt upon them, but there is no gainsaying the fact that practice generates power; and practice in self-government ought to be an aid to young people nearing the duties of citizenship. Both these matters are now under consideration by this Board.
In the former report the formation of an Education Society which might co-operate with teachers and the School Board in furthering the educational interests of the city, was urged. A distinct need for such an organization exists. It could aid directly and indirectly in many ways, especially in the upholding of right standards, and the cultivating of public interest in matters educational.
Your Committee has no radical changes in its policy to re- port. The internal organization of the High School has under- gone some changes which are fully explained elsewhere by Principal Harper.
Last September a master's assistant was hired, who divides her day between the John Hancock and the Adams, thus giving the principals of both districts an opportunity for supervision. Five districts in the city now enjoy this privilege,-the Wol- laston and Massachusetts Fields, which together have one principal, the Willard on account of its size, and the Coddington on account of its two buildings. The Committee believes this plan to be compatible with the strictest economy, inasmuch as by it the time and the influence of a principal who is paid fourteen hundred dollars is given to the children of a whole dis- trict instead of to the children of one grade.
The Committee is desirous of availing itself of the services of the electric car lines for the transportation to and from school of pupils resident in Germantown, Houghs Neck and Squantum. It is thought that for the sums now expended for this purpose these pupils might be allowed to go home at noon and return in time for the afternoon session, a plan the advantages of which are too obvious to need enumeration. An all-winter service on the lines mentioned would render this undertaking quite feasible.
The condition of the schools in detail will be found in the report of Mr. Lull, the Superintendent, in whose policy and
8
work the members of this Committee here take occasion to express their confidence.
At the regular meeting held Tuesday, December 26, it was voted to accept the report presented by Miss Mabel E. Adams, as the annual report of the School Board for 1899.
H. W. LULL, Secretary.
A LIBERAL EDUCATION.
That man I think has had a liberal education who has been so trained in his youth that his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with ease and pleasure all the work that, as a mechan- ism, it is capable of; whose intellect is a clear, cold, logic engine, with all its parts of equal strength, and in smooth working order; ready, like a steam engine, to be turned to any kind of work, and spin the gossamers as well as forge the anchors of the wind; whose mind is stored with a knowledge of the great and fundamental truths of Nature and of the laws of her operations; one who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will, the servant of a tender conscience; who has learned to love all beauty, whether of nature or of art, to hate all vileness and to respect others as himself-Huxley.
Report of the Superintendent.
" The commonwealth requires the education of the people as the safeguard of order and liberty."
To the School Committee of Quincy :
This eighth report of the present Superintendent is the twenty-fifth of the series written by your Superintendents, and the fiftieth of the printed reports of the Quincy School Board. The present report, as has been the case in past years, will so deal with the events of 1899 that they may have some histori- cal value when they are consulted by future Boards or by in- quiring citizens.
When we consider material gains we can generally trace them back to a definite date on which they had their origin. Rarely is this definiteness possible in case of moral or educa- tional growth. To some men, however, is given the supreme satisfaction of saying :- " Here began the good work."
On Friday, April 20, 1900, a quarter century will have passed since Colonel Francis W. Parker, your first Superintendent, be- gan his work in Quincy. His administration of the schools marked so distinctly an epoch in the educational history of Massachusetts that even to this day the name of this city is known far and wide, as well for its educational, as for its his- torical interests.
10
The Quincy Teachers' Association is considering a proper observance of this anniversary, and it will endeavor to do the affair full justice.
The four reports, 1850, 1875, 1889 and 1899, furnish the following interesting data :-
1850.
1875 *.
1889.
1899.
Valuation,
$912,105 $7,203,329 $12,319,245 $19,684,119
Population,
5,017
9,155
Census,
1,079
1,727
14,600} 3,495
25,000± 4,999 |
Whole number of
different pupils, 1,044
1,544
3,287
5,024
Average number belonging,
1,363
2,619
4,405
Average daily at- tendance,
775§
1,301
2,516
4,138
Per cent. of at- tendance,
.95
.96
93.9
Per cent. of tar- diness,
2.81
.36
0.32
Teachers,
13T
36
68
118
-
*Col. Parker's first report.
"The estimate in the report of 1889 for the first year of the city.
#The State Board of Health's estimate is 25,653.
|September. In other years the census has been taken in May. §Winter term.
TIn the winter, six were men.
The Outlook.
So great has been the demand on the finances of the Board to provide every child who is five years of age, or older, with desk, chair, books, and all other things absolutely necessary for his school work, that no growth in curriculum or in greater op- portunities can be recorded this year. Although the ambitious citizen would gladly offer his child all that his neighbors in other cities and towns give their pupils, yet a rapidly maturing debt, the needs of other city departments, and the absolute necessity of providing for an annual increase of more than two hundred pupils, have prevented his desires from becoming realities.
11
As Quincy does not build for the future, but only for the conditions that exist and compel, the accommodations provided are, to a considerable extent, a series of makeshifts. One un- fortunate result is the crowding forward of unprepared children into higher grades so that their chairs may be given to the new pupils. In September there was a marked decrease in the aver- age stature of the pupils in some rooms. Misfit desks and chairs, however, are not the worst evil. Sixty children, and often more, confined in a room built for forty or fifty, are breath- ing foul air. This unsanitary condition, to say nothing of the inability of any teacher to do justice to large numbers, is a serious matter. The probabilities are that your Superintendents for many years will be obliged to record such statements as the following which are now true : - ten rooms contain sixty or more pupils, seventeen rooms contain fifty to sixty, and only forty- five contain forty to fifty.
Next to his home; the schoolroom should be the brightest, cheeriest, happiest place known to the average child. Of course, this room means more than walls and furniture. They are essential, but they do not make a school home. It is a pleasure to record the fact that there are rooms in Quincy which are very attractive and which suggest the ideal. To pass his school days in airy, sunny, inviting rooms, is the child's birthright; for in them, to a great extent, his future is being determined. The state recognizes this high moral obligation, and so, besides com- pelling attendance, it regulates the time, manner and place of the child's education. Quincy fails in many respects to meet these requirements, not only in these physical respects but in the curriculum. For a time no ill effect may be seen; but sooner or later, the children of this city must come into compe- tition with the boys and girls from the other suburbs of Boston. Massachusetts is a manufacturing state and it must have, in order to hold its rank, trained hands guided by equally well developed brains. From her schools must go forth not only those who perform the manual work, but those who supervise it. It is needless to say that several years of careful education of the hand, a training which our neighbors offer, will be of great service to the men and women of the new generation. Why, citizen of Quincy, should not your child have it ?
12
Furthermore, Quincy offers only a twelve-year course in- stead of a thirteen, she has not enriched her grammar course, she has no kindergarten, and practically she stands at the foot in the salary lists of the neighboring cities and towns, large or small. The good things of this life cost money; but what is life without them ? Money well spent is a good investment for the future. It is beyond all question that an up-to-date and well developed school system, is the best advertisement for any city ; and that the money spent is an investment which becomes a wealth producing factor.
School Property.
" The American common school is the half-way house between the American family and American citizenship, in which a dozen generations of American children, in succession, have each been fashioned in a wiser and nobler way for the peculiar life awaiting it in the years of responsible citizenship."
In the usual condensed schedule of school property are two changes. The assessors of 1899 have increased the valuation of the Massachusetts Fields $500 and decreased that of the Wol- laston $9,000.
School Property.
SCHOOLS.
EN- BUILT. LARGED.
*VALUE.
+CA- ROOMS. PACITY. +SEATS.
MATE- RIAL.
HEAT- ING.
VENTI- LATION.
SANITARY .
High,
1894
$75,000
12
400
411
Brick
Hot-air
Good
Dry closet
·
Adams,
1855
1879
15,000
10
466
467
Wood
Hot-air
Good
Dry closet
Coddington,
1855
1876
20,000
91
390
448
Wood
Stoves
None
Waters
Gridley Bryant,
1896
37,000
9
426
426
Brick
Steam
Good
Dry closet
John Hancock,
1886
45,000
9
450
490 .
Brick
Steam
Fair
Lincoln,
1892
28,500
8
396
427
Brick
Steam
Good
Dry closet
Massachusetts Fields,
1896
38,000
9
426
426
Brick
Steam
Good .
Dry closet
Quincy,
1873
19,700
8
288
342
Wood
Steam
None Dry closet
Washington,
1858
1874
11,000
8
304
332
Wood
Hot-air
None
§
Willard,
1891
117,500
182
891
900
Brick
Hot-air
Good
Dry closet
Wollaston,
1873
1890
27,000
83
330
360
Wood
Hot-air
Water5
Old High,
1852
9,000
3
1004
Wood
Hot-air
None
S
Land, Germantown,
100
Land, Quincy Neck,
100
Furniture, books, apparatus, etc.,
17,000
Grand Total,
$459,900
4,867 5,029
*Assessors' valuation 1899. ""Capacity" means the proper limit, and "Seats" the actual number. 1. Two build- ings in one school yard (6 and 3 rooms). 2. Third floor unfinished. 3. In addition a small hall poorly lighted. 4. As it now stands. 5. Connected with the sewer. ¿ Four rooms, none; four rooms, good. § Old-fashioned out-buildings. || Closets in an adjoining out-building that are " flushed " into a cesspool.
13
14
New Accommodations.
The newest school buildings were occupied for the first time in January, 1897. In December of the present year the Council voted an appropriation for a new nine-room brick building at the junction of Glendale road with Whitwell street in the Cranch hill district. This action confirms again the general statement that at least two years must elapse between the re- quest of the Board for new accommodations and the realization of the request; for not before September, 1900, can the rooms be ready for use.
This Cranch hill building is not what the Board asked for, although it will be very acceptable. The Lincoln district needed relief most. By the new house it will be helped in- directly; that is, its pupils, now out of the district, will still remain outside; but they will be better accommodated in the John Hancock, which will send to the new house 170 pupils. The probabilities are, then, that the parents in the Lincoln district will still have the extraordinary privilege of sending their children away from the very doors of their own school building. The basement must be used as a recitation room. The average number of pupils per room is 51. In April of 1898, 22, and in April of 1899, 23 "five-year-olds" entered. What shall be done with the new ones next April ?
As the children of the Lincoln must go to the John Han- cock, a route more direct than Centre street or Brook road should be made. The Ward III playground extends from Water to Gilbert street. If a path were built over this low land, the distance would be reduced to at least one-third, and the 54 children living north of the Lincoln building would have a direct route to Gordon street.
The Quincy school stands almost on the southern bound of its district. Therefore it is far from the centre of its popula- tion. The rent and cost of running one overflow room are equal to the interest at three per cent. on $9,000. This amount would build and furnish an addition of two rooms to the present building. There would also be a saving of coal and the expense of janitorship.
Average of pupils per room :- Adams, 42; Coddington, 46
15
(including basement ) ; Gridley Bryant, 43 ( one unoccupied room ) ; John Hancock, 54; Lincoln, 51; Massachusetts Fields, 39 ( one unoccupied room ) ; Quincy, 43 ( including overflow room ) ; Washington, 39; Willard, 44 ( including unfurnished room on third floor ); Wollaston, 40 ( including overflow in the hall ).
The Washington school is in no better condition than in 1896 when the Council decided to expend on it no more money for repairs.
Principal Charles F. Harper will speak for the needs of the High school in his report to the Superintendent.
Pupils in the Eight Grades.
School.
Grade I.
II.
III.
IV.
v.
VI.
VII. VIII.
Adams,
36
37
44
51
51
41
44
39
37
43
Coddington,
46
58
61
46
50
49
48
46
50
28*
Gridley Bryant,
56
48
48
41
42
43
42
25
John Hancock,
57
59
69
57
55
44
44
29
62
Lincoln,
71
47
61
48
45
31
28
281
Massachusetts Fields, 62
55
46
40
37
40
29
30
Quincy,
61
47
50
52
45
45
36
31
24±
Washington,
54
44
46
43
35
34
31
24
Willard,
65
48
33
51
40
50
45
48
61
46
45
52
43
40
49
45
49
45
31
Wollaston,
63
56
45
46
42
32
39
33
Totals,
826
709
593
527
544
449
435
333
Basement.
¡ Same room.
# Harmon Block.
16
Teachers.
" The ideal teacher is both born and made- born sound in body, clear in intellect, quick in sympathies, vigorous in will; made sound in char- acter, broad and accurate in scholarship, neat in person, the possessor of professional knowledge, ideals and skill."
At the close of schools in December there were in ser- vice :
High School.
MEN.
WOMEN.
TOTAL.
Principal
1
Other teachers,
3
8
1 11*
Grammar and Primary.
Principals,
8
1
9
Other teachers, Grade VIII,
5
Grade VII,
11
Grade VI,
11
Grade V,
13
Grade IV,
11
Grade III,
12
Grade II,
15
Grade I,
15
93
Assistants,
18
Specials,
1
5
Total,
137
* This does not include the services of the special teachers of drawing, science and cooking. The three special teachers who give the whole or a part of their time to the High school are equivalent in days of service to one teacher all of the time and the proper fraction of their salaries is charged to the High.
SPECIALS:
Drawing: Teaches two days per week grades IX-XII and three days per week grades I-VIII.
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