Official reports of the town of Wayland 1876-1883, Part 18

Author: Wayland (Mass.)
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Printed at the Middlesex Freeman Office
Number of Pages: 434


USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wayland > Official reports of the town of Wayland 1876-1883 > Part 18


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Amount brought forward, $4,225 52 April 13. Appropriation for hydrants 348 00


June 27. Wm. H. Bent, Treas., appro- priation, 1881 348 00


Aug. 9. Wm. H. Bent, Treas., water- rates 502 83


Dec. 4. Wm. H. Bent, Treas., from M. H. Simpson 651 81


1883.


Jan. 19. Wm. H. Bent, Treas., water- rates 752 50


Feb.


9. Wm. H. Bent, Treas., balance of water-rates 147 00


9. Wm. H. Bent, Treas., service- pipe 87 29


$7,062 95


1882.


Feb. 25. A. H. Bryant . $39 59


Mar. 15. W. H. Bent, Treas.


348 00


Aug. 8. 66 146 00


66


8. Ralph Bent


135 69


66 26. W. H. Bent, Treas.


1,579 41


Oct. 5. B. S. Hodges


150 00


Nov. 2. 66 396 72


53 02


66 23. W. H. Bent, Treas.


2,924 59


Interest on Water Bonds 1,250 00


Feb. 20. Walworth M'f'g Co. 39 93 .


$7,062 95


CORPORATION TAX - 1881.


1882.


Dec. 4. Paid to State Treasurer .


$85 89


TABLE OF UNEXPENDED APPROPRIATIONS.


Note, dated Jan. 23, 1882 . $37 95


Collector's fees, 1882 .


250 00


Firemen's pay . · 224 00


Prosecution of illegal sale of liquors .


200 00


$711 95


66 23. Ralph Bent


56


TABLE OF UNEXPENDED BALANCES.


Schools


. $1,765 11


Support of poor .


93 33


Blackstone Bank note


20 00


Salaries


341 50


Widening road near W. R. Dudley's


13 88


Incidentals


244 87


Highways and bridges


49 36


Overpaid interest


1 20


Abatements


162 29


Library


260 90


Interest on Town debt


1,187 49 ·


Contingent Fund


4,176 79


Credit bills


63 10


$8,379 82


ORDERS ON THE TREASURY ISSUED, BUT NOT PAID.


E. H. Atwood, incidentals . $1 10


P. A. Leary 1 00 .


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OUTSTANDING CLAIMS AGAINST THE TOWN.


Interest per annum.


April 27, 1863. Treasurer of Donation Fund .


$411 66


6 per ct.


Nov. 3, 1863. Library Fund .


500 00 6


Jan.


1, 1875.


Allen Fund


.


Jan. 1,1881. L. M. Child's Fund to Library


Nov. 8, 1875. Salem Savings-Bank


10,100 00 6


Interest semi-annually.


April 23, 1881. H. Heard, Treasurer, payable in two years from date .


3,000 00 4} per ct.


Interest annually.


May 3, 1881. Treasurer of Water-Works, payable in one year from date .


1,200 00


5 per ct. 206 00 5


May 2,1882. Treasurer of Water-Works


June 27, 1882. Treasurer of Water-Works


390 82 5 66 May 1, 1878. Plymouth Savings-Bank .


10,000 00 5 66


Interest semi-annually.


Aug. 1, 1878. Water Bonds issued


25,000 00 5 per ct.


Oct. 1, 1878. Town Bonds .


44,500 00 5 66 Oct. 1,1882. Water Bonds issued


4,000 00 4


66


Jan. 23, 1882. Temporary loan


37 95


Nov. 29, 1882. Temporary loan


1,000 00


Interest annually. 6 per ct. 5 66


Amount of indebtedness .


$100,408 48


Amount of temporary loans


1,037 95


Total


$101,446 43


JAMES H. ROTHWELL, Auditor.


WAYLAND, February 1, 1883.


1,000 00 6 66


100 00 6 66


REPORT


OF THE


SCHOOL COMMITTEE


OF THE


TOWN OF WAYLAND,


FROM


FEB. 1, 1882, TO FEB. 1, 1883.


RATED


N


Y LA


ND."


1635.


EAST


FOUNDED


SUDBURY


08 21


1835


1883.


ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE, For the School Year 1882-83.


To the Citizens of Waylund : -


The School Committee submit the following report : -


While the year has not been characterized by any marked feat- ures, there has been a fair degree of prosperity. In some in- stances, and some schools, the progress has been all the committee could ask, and more than we expected. In other instances we are forced to hope and wait for better things to come. Perhaps the schools will average as well as in any past year, while one or two schools have advanced beyond anything the present committee have seen in those schools.


SOME CHANGES


it has been necessary to make. Miss Clara Gates, who taught the Center Grammar School for the spring and fall terms, resigned, and the committee were so very fortunate as to secure Mr. Charles S. Stroud for the winter term. Mr. Stroud has had a better school in this term than we have ever seen in that building. Mr. Geo. M. Stroud resigned the Grammar School of the North Village, and Miss L. A. Dean was transferred from the Intermediate grade to this school, and has succeeded admirably. Miss Julia Stearns was hired to take the Intermediate.


THE ATTENDANCE


in the schools has been in most cases very fair. It is worthy of notice that the Primary School of the the South Village ranks highest in the matter of attendance. When we remember that this school has about forty scholars, in age from six to nine, and then have the best-looking register in town, it is something to be proud of. Probably the Grammar School of the Center will take the banner for bad attendance during the spring and fall terms. It


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was a little better during the winter ; but not then what it ought to have been. The value to the pupil, as well as to the whole school, of an uninterrupted and punctual attendance is not always appre- ciated by parents. Irregular attendance is largely a matter of thoughtlessness and habit in the parents, and, to a great degree, unnecessary. Of course, children will want, for one and another frivolous reason, to stay away from school ; but the parents ought, for their children's good, to see that only for good excuse is there any absence from school.


There has been very little of


TARDINESS


on the whole, perhaps as little as in any year; but there ought to be none, or nearly none. Whatever excuse there may be for irregular attendance, there is almost none for tardiness. It is noticeable, in any school, that the tardy marks are nearly always against one or two names, and sometimes against these names the record is bad. The value of punctuality and promptness in life is everywhere recognized. It should be the definite aim of our schools' training to cultivate such habits in all pupils.


READING.


The importance of this branch of study is becoming more gener- ally acknowledged and its possibilities better appreciated. We have introduced the Appleton Readers, as supplementary text- books, and find their use has had an excellent effect. When the scholars have read a book through several times they become so familiar with the selections that they lose all interest, and derive hardly any good from the recitation. It becomes merely a mechani- cal repetition. Loss of interest is fatal to progress. To maintain and stimulate a healthy interest is one of the most essential things in successful teaching, and it is also one of the most difficult tasks the teacher meets with under the most favorable circumstances. The teacher's ingenuity and resources are often taxed to their utmost. In the ordinary method of teaching reading the teacher and pupil labor under circumstances most adverse. The few selec- tions one reader affords are soon exhausted, and the scholar loses all interest in their dreary, monotonous repetition. Sometimes, to


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escape this, the pupil is hurried on into the next book in the series before he is prepared to understand and appreciate it. He labors to pronounce the new and difficult words, while the meaning of the words, and the thought in the sentences, are something he knows about as much concerning as he would if it were Latin ; and that which should be a pleasant and delightful exercise be- comes to him a lifeless drudgery. Beyond this, too, the teacher must be impressed, more than we fear is always the case, that even a correct pronunciation of the words is not always good read- ing. The selections should be of a character that the child can understand and appreciate; and the teacher should find out whether this is done by talking over the lesson together. There- fore we have introduced two series of readers, that the pupil shall not leave one grade before prepared for the next. But this is only a temporary expedient. Constant use will rob these new books of their freshness. There is needed something more than a change of text-books every few years. Every school ought to be supplied with a variety of cheap books of reading for use of the pupils at the expense of the town. The different sets of readers could be passed from one school to another, and thus constantly fresh reading- matter would be supplied, and at a trifling cost. In many towns a large number of such books are used with advantage. The results in one town, where the experiment has been tried, of which the committee has had information, were such that the testimony was unqualifiedly in its favor. It seems, also, that much might be done by such supplementary reading-matter to cultivate a taste for whole- some reading, and to form habits which shall be life-long, - pro- ducing noble results in character. Any one with any knowledge of the reading-matter of the young people of this town would certainly feel that all possible effort should be made to improve the taste.


The statute that requires that reading be taught in all public schools of the State is a broad one. In its fullest signification it includes more than is frequently aimed at in our schools. Reading means more than an ability to pronounce the words of the school- reader with more or less fluency. It means more than rendering the meaning of the text-book with commendable accuracy of ex- pression. For reading, as are all other branches, is taught for its effect upon the character of the pupils. It is the aim of public


64


instruction to promote intelligence, morality, patriotism, and what- ever goes to make a good citizenship. Reading should be, preëmi- nently, taught with this end in view. Beyond the ability to read with ease ordinary literature, - though even this is not acquired by too many, - it should be the distinctive aim of our school- teaching to form habits of reading, inspire a love for good books, to awaken the appetite and foster a taste. for that which is healthy and pure. The furnishing of supplemental reading is the first step, and therefore a most important one in this direction. This plan ought to be followed out ; but can be done only by the town giving the committee money for all necessary work of this kind. The committee, of course, can do as they choose in expending money ; but they are servants of the town, and do not feel like going be- yond what the citizens will favor. In the meantime with the more advanced scholars the teachers might do a little in this direction by making use of our excellent town library. Parents and teachers should feel more interest in this matter of what our children are reading out of school. Are we aware that the class of reading- matter our young people devour affects intellect, character, and largely their ability and position in the world ?


TWENTY WEEKS OF SCHOOL.


There is a great evil affecting some scholars, - an evil which we know is not appreciated at all by those affected by it. Many boys and girls are removed from school just as soon as the law allows it, and, in some instances, before ; defying the law and the truant officer .. Perhaps the boy or girl may, in twenty weeks of a year, learn to read in easy reading, and write his or her name so it could be read ; but do these parents realize that the great influence be- longing to manhood and womanhood comes from intellectual vigor ? Intellectual power cannot be had except by discipline. A parent commits a crime against the child where there is withheld from the child all the intellectual training possible to be had from our public schools before fifteen years old. This putting children of twelve, and under, into our shops, or out on the farm, because, forsooth, they can earn a few dollars, is an outrage of the child's sacred rights. Fathers, will you hearken to a word of exhortation? The power


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of thought which your boy will have will decide his place, and work, and influence in the world.


It is not necessary to argue that the power to speak and write the English language correctly is what every boy and girl ought to acquire. The proper use of language is of the highest importance. Unless the child learns to spell, writing is impossible ; and how is he to read with any pleasure, or at all, if every other word in a daily newspaper is an unknown quantity, and as formidable as a black bear in a wilderness. Intelligence is dependent on right thinking. Wide reading is a food for thought. It is a self-evident fact that the quick, keen, intelligent minds are the ones who are to advance. The ignorant and the stupid will be soon left behind. Oliver Wendell Holmes says that "the D.D.'s of most weight in the world are D-Dollars and D-Dimes." I surmise he is right. But, my friend, consider whether the "dimes" that the boy can earn now are equal to the " dollars" he will be able to earn when a man, if now he be properly educated. The town has furnished but thirty-three weeks of schooling this year to any of her scholars, and it would seem as if no parent would be so mean as to deprive his children of this morsel of a privilege.


PARENTS AS VISITORS.


The registers show that about three hundred and thirty persons have visited the schools during the year. Of these visitors only seventy have had children in the schools, and during the three terms the names of the same parents occur as a rule ; therefore it remains that only about twenty-five of the parents of the scholars have been interested enough to see for themselves what the children were doing. One of the committee has a girl in the schools, and aside from him not a man who has a child in school has visited the schools of the town. The committee have talked occasionally at the close of the schools, but it has apparently had no effect. Now we state the case for you to read. Does it read well? We have about three hundred and fifty scholars in town. There must be something like three hundred families represented in the schools. Twenty-five out of three hundred took an hour to see what " my boy " or " my girl" is doing at school. You take interest to scold and criticise a good deal, and sometimes about


5w


66


matters you don't know anything about, because you did not go and inquire where truth might be had. Now, my good friend, visit the schools at least once during each term.


THIRTY-THREE WEEKS OF SCHOOL.


The committee have not felt like exercising their power to ex- pend more money than was appropriated ; so the terms have been shortened down to eleven weeks each. We would ask the tax- payers if it is wise to keep the school fund so small for the sake sim- ply of lower taxes. Without doubt, low taxes are to be greatly desired, and should be wisely sought ; but when the boys and girls are cut short in their schooling to make low taxes, any wise man, it would seem, would see the folly of it. But the critic says, " You pay too high salaries to the teachers." Let us see. We pay an average of $9.50 a week, or about $313.50 a year. Nine and a half dollars a week would seem good wages, and so it would be if the teacher had it every week in the year ; but what they actually get is $6.07 a week, and to pay $3.50 to $4.00 a week for board leaves them less than a smart servant girl gets in the kitchen. Governor Butler says in his message that " the female teachers of the State average $367.08 a year," - not so much as a third-rate cook receives in a merchant's kitchen. Then is it thought that good teachers are not to be had without good pay? We can better afford $15.00 a week for some teachers than that some others should teach for nothing.


No ; let us have no thought of going backward. Let us inquire rather how we can best improve our schools, and make them powers for good. We want teachers who will impart not only instruction from the text-books, but also teachers whose daily life before the pupils will be such as to inspire love of truth, goodness, and honor. It would not take a great deal of money to cram a few elementary facts into the minds of children. Men and women of small brains could do that. But manhood and womanhood and intellectual power are not got for the asking. It is the influence of the teacher over the thoughts and purposes of the pupil that should be measured. And the value of that influence no rubies can buy. The town that treats its teachers most generously will, in the end,


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have the ablest teachers and the best system of instruction. A good, generous salary for a large-minded, strong-charactered teacher is not money squandered.


The committee recommend that the sum of $4,500 be appro- priated for the support of the schools the present year.


Respectfully submitted,


FAYETTE NICHOLS, Chairman, CHAS. H. BOODEY, BENJA. M. FOLSOM, Secretary, School Committee of Wayland.


-


Nov30 65


JE 1 2 '48





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