USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1858-1867 > Part 38
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4 60
Russell, Leonard W.
74 75
John, heirs of.
34 50
Aaron. W.
31 05
Rugg, Erastus.
11 50
Rand, Benj., heirs of.
126 50
Samuel ..
121 90
James, heirs of.
28 75
Rice, Samuel ..
17 25
S.
Squires, John P.
120 75
Snaith, Mrs.
11 50
Sleeper, Jacob.
138 00
South Down Co
92 00
Stetson, Joshua.
9 20
Smith, Jonas G.
23 00
Sullivan, Richard
483 00
Sweeney, Patrick
4 60
Smith, Edwin P.
4 60
Stevens, James M
20 70
Skinner & Sweet.
9 20
Stearns, Wm ..
132 25
Smith, T. P., heirs of.
9 20
Siders, Miss Maria ..
1 15
57
Shapleigh, Miss Hannah
5 75
Stearns, Joshua B
65 55
Stone, Thaddeus
3 45
Scrowl, Leopold
13 80
Spring, Isaac H.
115 00
Stockbridge, L. N
6 90
.
94
Tax Payers.
Assessed.
Abatem't.
Interest.
Uncollected.
Spear, Albert.
$69 00
$5 75
Stevens, John A.
17 25
Saunders, Wm. A.
5 75
Stimson, Herbert.
32 20
Sinclair, Samuel ..
6 90
Smith, Stephen.
3 45
Sauren, Edwin.
6 90
Sumner, Mrs. Amelia B
11 50
Stevens, Richard.
9 20
Stetson, Charles P.
5 75
Sanborn, Christopher P
17 25
Simonds, Washington.
11 50
Stone, Calvin.
23 00
Stearns, Jas. W., trustee of.
79 35
Sullivan, John.
4 60
$4 60
Sprague, Joseph E., heirs of.
96 60
Stearns, Wm.
79 35
Silver, Mrs. Eliza.
90 85
Stearns, Miss Harriet, exet'x.
102 35
Miss Harriet.
102 35
66
Wm. S. and sisters
85 10
Stratton, Ira.
172 50
T.
Twombly & Lamson.
195 50
Topliff, Benj.
23 00
Trull, Millard ...
11 50
Thompson & Abbott.
13 80
2 30
Thompson, Joshua P.
4 60
Tube Works, Amer
805 0
Tufts, Arthur.
23 00
Daniel.
201 25
66 Gilbert ..
75 90
Teasdale, Mason W
57 50
Thomas, Geo. A.
23 00
Tufts, Jas. W.
14 95
Thompson, Peter
17 25
17 25
/
Tufts, Ephraim
345 00
39 25
Trull, Samuel C.
11 50
$14 25
Tyler, Joseph H.
6 90
Tapley, Lydia, heirs
5 75
5 75
Teel, Amasa
46 00
Tilton, Benj.
86 25
·
Thompson, Wm. V., heirs of.
5 75
Tamplin, James B. .
2 30
12
U.
Upham, Asa.
20 70
Ursuline Community.
977 50
W.
Worthen, Daniel.
51 75
Wellington, Chas. W
3 45
Weston & Mason
17 25
3 45
95
Tax Payers.
Assessed.
Abatem't.
Interest.
Uncollected.
White, Daniel, heirs of.
$17 25
Willis, David C.
11 50
Warren, Geo. W
28 75
Wyman, Wm ..
34 50
$3 45
Wild, Chas. D.
86 25
Welch, Samuel
34 50
Wright, Benj. S.
28 75
Whitaker, Wm. H
42 55
Waters, Chas
11 50
Ware, John S ..
40 25
Woodworth, Horatio C.
8 05
Whitton & Raymond
57 50
$57 50
Whipple, John A.
3 45
Ward, Artemas, heirs of.
241 50
Whitcomb, Lorenzo K.
17 25
17 25
Waldron, B. F.
28 75
Waters, Wm ..
11 50
Whittemore, C. J., Trustee.
23 00
Whitman, Wm. D. A.
6 90
Wyman, J. C.
3 45
Wood, Chas. et al.
57 50
5 75
Woodbridge, Francis.
9 20
Welch, Benj.
57 50
Woodward, Geo. M.
28 75
Weeks, Asa
23 00
Wilson, Joseph
23 00
Wyeth, Noah
34 50
Wells, Geo
5 75
Wait, Chas.
5 75
Williams, Oliver
5 75
Williams, Tillson.
11 50
Whitney, Lydia, Mrs
5 75
Wheeler, Increase S.
437 00
Whitmore, N. M.
28 75
Wason, Mrs. Francis
11 50
Y.
Young, J. H.
28 75
Z.
Zane, Joseph.
5 75
Single Polls
1,868 00
242 00
726 00
$70,951 50
$777 47
$103 55
$5,483 60
Cr.
Dr. TOWN OF SOMERVILLE IN ACCOUNT WITH WILLIAM BONNER, COLLECTOR OF TAXES.
1865. March 1. To cash paid at sundry times to Town Treasurer. $70,083 28
1865.
March 1. By amount of uncollected taxes, as per account current, March 1, 1864. .. .$6,038 22 Less abatements. 998 60
$5,039 62
By amount of taxes assessed in 1864.$70,951 50 Less abatements . $777 47 uncollected. 5,483 60
6,261 -07
64,690 43
Received for interest ..
.
353 23
$70,083 28
$70,083 28
WILLIAM BONNER, Collector of Taxes.
The undersigned, having examined the accounts of the Collector of Taxes, hereby certify that the above account current is correct.
JAMES N. CLARK, OREN S. KNAPP, Auditing Committee. ROBERT W. STIMPSON,
SOMERVILLE, March 6, 1865.
96
.
97
TOWN DEBT.
Date.
Rate Int.
To Whom Payable.
Am't.
When Pay'ble
Int. Paid to.
July 29, 18595% per cent
George Bell
$5,454 July 29, 1879 Jan.
29,1865
Oct. 1,1859 5}
66
Safety Fund Bank .
14,400 Oct.
1, 1879 Oct.
1,1864
March 16, 1861 6
Warren Inst. for Savings. .
5,500 March 16, 1866 Sept. 16, 1864
Dec. 5,1861 6
Lucius R. Paige . .
1,500 Jan.
10, 1872 Jan
10, 1865
Jan. 10, 1862 6
66 66
4,500 Jan.
10, 1872 Jan.
10, 1865
March 16, 1862 53
66
Cambridgeport Savings B'k Warren Inst. for Savings. . 66
7,495 May
16, 1872 Nov.
16, 1864
Aug. 25, 1862 52
66
12,000 Aug.
25, 1867 Feb.
25,1865
Nov. 10, 1862 5}
66
60
66
20,875 Nov.
10, 1869 Nov.
10,1864
Nov. 25, 1862 6
66
John Peabody.
2,500 Nov.
28, 1868 Nov.
28,1864
June 27, 1864 5}
66
Margaret Crudden
20,000 June 27, 1884 Dec.
27,1864
Sept. 23, 1864 6
66
66
Bunker Hill Fire Ins. Co. .
6,000 Sept. 23, 1884 None yet due.
Sept.
23, 1864 6
66
5,000 Sept. 23, 1884
5,000 Sept.
23, 1884
66
Sept. 23, 1864 6
66
66
5,000 Sept. 23, 1884
Dec.
1, 1864 6
66
5,000 Dec.
1,1884
66
16
$131,224
SCHEDULE OF TOWN PROPERTY. With location, valuation, and amount of insurance.
Property and Location.
Value.
Insurance.
High School-house and land on Highland Avenue
$9,500
$6,000
Piano in do ...
Franklin School-house and land on Milk street.
Harvard
66
Beacon street
1 400
500
Walnut Hill
61
Broadway
800
500
Prospect Hill
66
Washington street.
7,500
3,500
Brastow
6
Medford street.
5,000
2,500
Bell
66
Cherry street.
1,400
600
Foster
66
Sycamore street.
5.800
3,500
Jackson
66
Maple street.
4,000
2,800
Prescott
66
6.
Pearl street. .
18,500
10,000
Union
Prospect street.
1,800
500
Land on Broadway (Town Farm) ...
4,000
Engine house, armory, stable, &c., on the above
5,600
3,000
Stable ..
300
Land on corner of Prospect and Milk streets .. .
1,000
Buildings on do ..
800
800
Ledge on Milk street.
2,000
Ledge on Bond street ..
1,000
Gravel land in Winchester.
700
Fire Engine, Somerville No. 1, and apparatus
1,200
Horses, carts, harnesses, tools, &c., for highways
1,310
900
Town Pond on Town Farm
100
Hearse and hearse-house
100
Safe in Town Hall ..
175
Safes for use of Town Clerk and Treasurer.
140
$85,495
66
Levi Jones
5,000 Nov.
25, 1872 Nov.
25,1864
Nov. 28,1862 6
Sept. 23, 1864'6
66
Warren Inst. for Savings. . Cambridge National Bank .
6,000 On Demand.
Feb. 21, 1865 6
66
Spring Hill 6.
Spring Hill.
1,300
600
Philosophical Apparatus in do ..
400
250
9,000
4,000
Land corner Prospect and Washington streets
720
66
66
66
13
REPORTS
OF THE
School Committee, Selectmen, Treasurer,
AND
COLLECTOR OF TAXES,
OF THE
TOWN OF SOMERVILLE,
For the Year Ending March 1, 1866.
BOSTON : A. B. MORSS, PRINTER, 109 WASHINGTON STREET. 1866.
2型紅春り河合
REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
OF THE
TOWN OF SOMERVILLE,
FOR THE SCHOOL-YEAR 1865-6.
IN compliance with the laws of the Commonwealth, the School Committee of Somerville herewith present the following Re- port :
At the annual meeting of the town, held in March, 1865, Messrs. E. P. Djer, E. R. Morse, S. C. Whitcher and O. S. Knapp were chosen to fill the vacancies then existing in their Board. Mr. Whitcher, soon after his election, resigned his office, and by a joint vote of the School Committee and Select- men, Benj. Woodward, Esq., was chosen to fill the vacancy.
Prof. Dearborn resigned the January following, and no one has been elected to supply his place.
Rev. George H. Emerson, who had held the position of Su- perintendent of the Somerville schools for eight years, resigned his office in April, and O. S. Knapp was elected his successor.
Your Committee found the interest intrusted to their charge at the commencement of the school year, in a very satis- factory condition, and have not deemed it necessary to make any radical change. A system of individual promotions had already been inaugurated, and was in partial operation.
4
The teachers were generally active, faithful, efficient, and con- scientious in the discharge of their duties, and enjoyed, for the most part, the confidence of parents and pupils.
The evils which we found common to our schools, were the result of the system - a system common to all our large towns and cities, and which has come about as a matter of course with an increased population, and a desire to economize labor and expense.
The old fashioned district school-house and the district school system were the natural outgrowth of a thinly settled country. Improvements in school buildings have been, for the most part, the result of a necessity for enlarged school accommodations, consequent upon an increased population.
The centralization of pupils, with graded schools, with annual classification and annual promotions and divided labor on the part of the instructors followed as a matter of course, not so much as the result of an effort to improve the system of instruc- tion with reference to the pupil's interest as a learner, as with reference to the economy of his instruction.
It is obvious that it is less work and of course cheaper to assign the same lesson at one and the same time to a class of fifty than it is to assign a different lesson to each of the fifty, and that it is less work and cheaper to hear fifty pupils recite the same lesson in a class, than it is to hear the same number separately. These class lessons and recitations would perhaps serve their purpose, provided the pupils composing the class have the same mental and physical powers. Not till we can find a class of pupils precisely alike in every particular can their teacher assign a lesson that shall be equally adapted to each.
Individual instruction is the only kind that fully meets the wants of each individual pupil, but this would be very expensive ; besides, it would be attended with the loss of a very powerful stimulant -a spirit of emulation that is obtained through a
5
system ' of classification - the loss of which would more than counterbalance the advantage of individual instruction.
A system that shall as nearly as possible combine the advan- tages of individual instruction with the benefits and economy of class instruction is the one your Committee are undertaking to introduce into our schools.
We think this system is found in graded schools, if not graded too fine, with individual promotions aided by the repeated reviews which this system of promotions makes neces- sary.
To make this system any way popular with teachers, who regard their reputation higher than the pupils' interest, the excellence of a school should be based, to a considerable degree, upon the per cent. of promotions made, not upon the brilliancy of the school merely. Under the ordinary system of class promotions, and the usual basis of Committees' commen- dations, viz., the appearance of the school, it is made the teach- er's interest to promote the dullest and retain charge of the brightest; and this is to some extent practised under the class system, when teachers are not conscientious, and Committees are unsuspecting.
Graded schools with annual class promotions, are a popular institution, and have become the established hobby of public school educators, and while we do not mean to do too great violence to the spirit of the times, we are free to say that although we regard them very excellent labor saving machines for teachers, they are not altogether adapted to the numberless grades of intellect, physical strength and ambition, found in the various pupils.
In schools said to be well graded, a single class are in one room under one teacher ; so that pupils going through the several rooms never have an opportunity to learn from hearing advanced classes recite, subjecting them to a constant change of teachers, which has long since been regarded as a most serious evil.
The classes too are very large, so that their members are
6
kept a long while in the class exercises, recite but little each, become inattentive, restless, sometimes noisy, and often get very weary of the recitation long before it is concluded.
To avoid the mischiefs growing out of schools graded to the extent we found them in some instances, we have adopted a system of parallel divisions.
In the Jackson District we found the Primary School divided into three grades, and each grade containing about four sub- divisions ; so that pupils, to get through the Primary School course in that district, were obliged to go through some twelve classes, and change teachers twice. If a pupil was promoted as often as once in six months, it would take him even then six years to get through the Primary School.
We have now established three parallel primaries in this district; and have so classified them, that pupils now pass through three classes instead of twelve, and are under the tuition of the same teacher during the entire Primary School course.
We have also established parallel divisions in other parts of the town.
This system of parallel divisions which we have adopted, gives us every possible advantage of the graded system, while it serves to reduce the size of the classes, and saves too great frequency in change of teachers.
PROSPECT HILL SCHOOL-HOUSE.
At the town meeting held in April last, it was voted to appro- priate $7,000 for enlarging and altering the Prospect Hill School Building. The old house was insufficient in size, and the lower part of the building was divided into two rocms, both of them dark, damp, and defective in means of ventilation.
The building, as it is now arranged, contains six rooms of ample dimensions, each of them well lighted, all of them having
7
windows facing the south, and is the best ventilated school building in town.
It has accommodations for about three hundred and sixty pupils, and is provided with numerous appliances that contrib- ute to the comfort, convenience and health of the teachers and pupils. The cost of the alteration, exclusive of school furni- ture, is fifteen dollars less than the appropriation.
BELL PRIMARY.
Parents residing in the vicinity of the Dry Clay Brick Yard, petitioned the School Committee last fall for more convenient school accommodations : whereupon at a Town Meeting held in November last, it was voted to authorize the Selectmen under the direction of the School Committee, to sell the lot of land on Cherry Street, occupied by the Bell Primary, and with the proceeds thereof, purchase another lot more conveniently located, and remove the school building thereon.
The vote authorizing the sale was passed with the express understanding that the change of location could be made with- out expense to the town.
The Committee have not as yet received any offer for the lot sufficient to meet the expenses of the proposed removal, and hence no change of location has been made.
THE FORSTER SCHOOL BUILDING.
This structure was destroyed by fire on the 18th of last February; supposed to be the work of an incendiary. A part of the schools are kept for the present in the Town Hall.
It is highly important that a new building for the Forster School should be erected as early as possible.
Your Committee are of the opinion that a building should be erected that shall be durable, ornamental, and sufficient in size
8
to provide, to some extent, for the anticipated growth of the district.
A building of such a character, built of brick, will probably cost about $25,000; of wood, about $15,000.
PETITION OF S. C. WHITCHER AND OTHERS.
On the petition of S. C. Whitcher and others, a hearing was had at the State House some time in January last, before the Committee on Towns, on the subject of setting off that portion of the town in the immediate vicinity of the Grammar School in North Cambridge, to Cambridge. The principal reason given in support of the petition was the lack of Grammar School accommodations in that part of Somerville in which the petitioners resided.
The Committee have for a long time had under considera- tion the subject of erecting a Grammar School Building in that locality, but from weighty and imperative causes have refrained from providing those conveniences which ought to be afforded to all the citizens of the town. In consequence of which, many of the residents in that locality sought to avail themselves of the schools in Cambridge. The Selectmen and School Com- mittee and other citizens of the town were present at the hear- ing, and in reply to the petitioners, stated that the town of Somerville contemplated erecting a Grammar School Building and establishing a school somewhere in the vicinity of Beach Street.
Justice to the residents of that locality and the interests of the town require that some immediate action should be taken in this matter.
In the territory sought to be set off there is taxable property to the value of some $100,000; and there are resident there some of our most esteemed fellow-townsmen; and your Com- mittee would earnestly request the town to take measures to provide them with such school accommodations as they require.
.
9
A piece of land, containing about four thousand feet, contigu- ous to the southeast side of Prescott School-House, is liable to be used for purposes that would greatly injure the schools in that building.
The land is sought by a builder, who wishes to erect upon it a row of cheap tenements, which would obstruct the light and vitiate the air of the rooms situated on that side of the building, greatly to the injury and discomfort of some two hundred and fifty pupils occupying those rooms.
It is earnestly desired that the town would make an appro- priation sufficient to purchase the land and enclose it for a play-ground, before it is otherwise disposed of.
The Reports of the several sub-committees are herewith appended.
THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
The whole number of pupils belonging to this grade of schools is 983, divided by 14 the number of Primary Schools in town, gives an average number belonging to each of about 70. The daily average attendance is 736, making the average for each about 53. The usefulness of many of these schools is hindered by their size,-the Jackson, Union, Prospect Hill, Brastow, Harvard and Spring Hill Primaries, are all much too large, and the population in these localities is fast increasing, and your Committee are of the opinion that two additional Primaries are needed to relieve these schools, one in the vicinity of the Union, and another somewhere between the Spring Hill and Harvard.
While we do not expect that degree of order and quiet in these schools that we look for in those of a higher grade, we feel that in view of the fact that very many avail themselves only of these schools, and that the rudiments of our course of study are supposed to be learned here, too much care cannot be taken that they are not embarrassed with too great numbers, or
2
10
any unnecssary hindrances resulting from want of rooms suffi- cient in size, properly ventilated and suitably furnished.
One year ago the Prospect Hill Primary was kept in a dark, long, narrow room, almost wholly deficient in ventilation, and supplied with chairs crowded close together, without desks, and the school was reported year after year in an unsatisfactory condition -the room itself was cheerless, the scholars noisy and restless. In the enlargement of the building, this school is furnished with a large well ventilated, sun-lit, cheerful room, the pupils are supplied with desks and chairs, situated a generous distance apart, and with the same teacher, and substantially the same pupils, in less than one year, though the number of pupils is not less than formerly, the order of the school is good, and its general appearance in the main highly satisfactory.
The very great improvement which has been brought about in this school as the result of better accommodations, suggests to your Committee the propriety of furnishing other schools as fast as circumstances will warrant, with such material wants as our experience has shown to contribute to their success.
Our recent private examinations of these schools show that spelling has been well taught in almost every instance. We do not expect to find accomplished readers in these schools, and indeed in this particular, our anticipations have not been often exceeded ; the most we look for is correctness of pronunciation, distinctness of articulation, though it be labored. The inflection, unless the teacher exercises great diligence, is almost always upward, and the pupils read and recite with a tone that is by no means desirable or melodious. Some teachers have succeeded in breaking up this peculiarity of inflection and tone; yet many become so accustomed to it that they do not observe it, and their pupils acquire a certain school tone that teachers in the higher grades find great difficulty in overcoming. It is expect- ed that in addition to the prescribed course of study in read- ing, spelling, and arithmetic for these schools, pupils will be instructed in the punctuation marks, Roman numerals, and the
-
11
abbreviations; yet in scarce any of them were pupils taught in all these essential particulars, while in a few we found no attention was paid to either of them.
O. S. KNAPP.
E. R. MORSE.
L. ARNOLD.
SUB-GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
At the annual examination of these schools, it was apparent that salutary discipline has been maintained, and that the pupils generally have made very commendable progress in the various branches in which they have been taught. It would hardly be just to say that all the schools appeared equally well in every particular.
Aside from diversity of talents in pupils, there is something in the size of a school, something in local surroundings, and very much in the home influences to which children are sub- jected, which often have a very important bearing on the welfare of a school. Teachers have diversities of tastes and manners, gifts of various kinds whose influence on the minds and habits of pupils is often quite marked. Some teachers ex- cel in teaching one branch, and some in teaching some other favorite branch; and some excel in all. In some schools it was apparent that geography, in others that arithmetic had been the favorite study. In some, special attention had been paid, and with very gratifying success, to distinct articulation, clear enun- ciation. The Committee were particularly gratified with every evidence of special attention having been paid to the develop- ment of the vocal organs. In some of the schools of this grade the reading was excellent, the singing delightful.
The Committee expect schools of this grade to give attention to the development of the voice, and to become somewhat versed in the knowledge of punctuation-marks, and also of abbreviations. We are aware that teachers may plead want
12
of time in the larger schools, to attend to minor matters, but these are not minor matters; they are of practical utility and of primary importance.
On the whole, we are prepared to congratulate the town on the pleasant and very gratifying results of the examination of these schools; and we earnestly desire that parents who send their children to them, will contribute all in their power, both by home influence and by visitation, to cooperate with teachers and the Committee in their endeavors to make the Sub-Grammar Schools of Somerville, as they may be made, second to none of similar grade in the Commonwealth.
E. P. DYER.
J. L. LOMBARD.
C. S. LINCOLN.
.
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
Our Grammar Schools are under the direction of earnest, faithful, competent teachers; and their condition is in a high degree satisfactory.
The instruction given is thorough and accurate.
The order is excellent. In their discipline, mildness and firmness are happily combined.
Harmony and mutual good feeling, so essential to the com- fort of both teachers and pupils, and so conducive to prosperity and success, prevail, with rare exceptions.
There is great uniformity in the methods of instruction. The amount studied is substantially the same in each school. Should a pupil be transferred from any class in either school to a simi- lar class in any other school, he would scarcely realize the change.
The habits of order, industry, and punctuality acquired by the discipline of these schools, and the methods and system of instruction, are well adapted to prepare pupils to pursue with profit and advantage the course of study in the High School,
13
the excellence of which must ever largely depend upon the character of the discipline and instruction of the Grammar Schools.
But with all their excellences, they have not yet attained to the desired standard of perfection.
· Pupils, from their admission to the Primary Schools to their graduation from the High School, pass through twelve separate classes, - four in preparing for the Grammar School, four in the Grammar School, and four in the High School.
It is desired that the gradation of these several classes should be so easy that pupils may pass from one class to another, and from one department to another, with the same ease that they pass from the lessons of any day to those of the next succeeding day.
This desired result has been attained, with, perhaps, one ex- ception. The experience of former years has shown too large a percentage of graduates from the Grammar Schools who failed to pass the requisite examination for admission to the High School.
Hence we infer the necessity of bringing these two depart- ments of our school system nearer together ; - not by reducing the requirements of the High School, but by elevating the char- acter of the Grammar Schools.
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