USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1868-1871 > Part 31
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS.
BUILDING ENGINE HOUSE.
Plans for a new Engine House have been drawn by S S. Woodcock of this town, and adopted by the Selectmen
A contract has been made with R. T. Glidden for it: erection, on the town land, on Central Hill, at a cost o fifteen thousand nine hundred dollars.
The work is progressing as fast as circumstances wil allow; the foundation has been laid, the walls constructed the roof covered, and it is expected that the building will be finished, ready for occupancy, early in the spring.
ALEWIFE BROOK BRIDGE.
At the April town meeting, an appropriation of twenty- five hundred dollars was made for rebuilding this bridge, and for widening and grading the street in connection with the town of Arlington, according to a plan drawn by A. F. and N. N. Sargent.
A contract was made with Bernard McCarroll to build, of granite, an arched bridge forty-three feet in width ; also to build side-walls against the embankments, cap them with granite, and set a railing on the cap stones, fill and grade the street according to plan, for the sum of six thousand dollars, The town of Somerville to pay
39
twenty-two hundred and eight dollars, as per agreement with the town of Arlington.
This work has been completed, except setting the rail- ng, stoning and gravelling the travelled way between the side-walls. It will be finished this winter, and ac- cepted when it is made satisfactory to the towns of Ar- ington and Somerville.
SUMMER STREET EXTENSION.
The East end of Summer street has been built by Ber- nard McCarroll as laid out by the County Commissioners, at a cost of four thousand seven hundred ninety-four dollars, (4,794.00,) according to the plan drawn by A. F. and N. N. Sargent. This portion of the street has been accepted by the Selectmen, and opened to public travel.
The West end is now under contract to build at a cost of four thousand seven hundred ninety-five dollars (4,795.00.) This portion of the street will, undoubtedly, be finished during the winter. When it is completed to the satisfaction of the Selectmen, it will be opened to the public.
HIGHLAND AVENUE.
The subject of widening and extending Highland Ave- nue is in the hands of a Special Committee, and a report, with plans, will be submitted at the next town meeting, agreeably to a vote of the town.
CORPORATE SEAL.
The subject of procuring a design for a Corporate Seal is in the hands of a Special Committee; and a design will be submitted to the town, for its consideration, at the March meeting.
40
CLOSING REMARKS.
We congratulate the inhabitants of the town upon its rapid growth in wealth and population ; upon the general good health that has prevailed in all parts of the town ; upon its freedom from fires, and upon the promptness and efficiency of its Fire Department ; upon the security of persons and property, naturally resulting from the in- fluence of a quiet, industrious, and law abiding people, and from the united and untiring efforts of an ever watch- ful Police ; and upon the progress, thus far made, in pub- lic improvements essential to the present and future pros- perity of the town.
The laying of gas pipes, the introduction of pure water, the system of sewerage, and the general improvement of the streets and sidewalks, combined with its beautiful scenery, its pure and invigorating atmosphere, its fertile soil, its numerous churches, and its excellent school sys- tem, are all so many inducements to men desirous of en- joying such comforts and advantages to select homes in our beautiful town.
The growth of the town, thus far, has been healthy and legitimate ; and there is no good reason why it will not continue, if a judicious system of public improvments shall be carried out, so as to keep pace with those in other towns in the vicinity, having the same number of inhabitants.
AUSTIN BELKNAP, FRANCIS HOUGHTON, JACOB T. GLINES, CHARLES S. LINCOLN, HORACE HASKINS, JOHN G. HALL, ROBERT A. VINAL, NELSON HOWE, CYRUS F. CROSBY.
Selectmen of Somerville.
REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
SAMUEL A. CARLTON,
Term Expires. April 1871.
ENOCH R. MORSE,
66
HENRY F. SPENCER,
JOHN P. MARSHALL,. 66
1872.
GEORGE W. DURELL,
6.
OREN S. KNAPP, .
1873.
HORACE P. HEMENWAY,
EDWIN MILLS, 66
66
ORGANIZATION.
Chairman.
OREN S. KNAPP.
Secretary and Superintendent. JOSHUA H. DAVIS.
SUB-COMMITTEES.
ON EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS, . . Messrs. KNAPP, DURELL, MARSHALL. ON BOOKS,
DURELL, MARSHALL, HEMENWAY.
ON FUEL, . CARLTON, SPENCER, MILLS.
ON REPAIRS, . 66 MORSE, MILLS.
ON SCHOOL FURNITURE, KNAPP, SPENCER.
Ox MUSIC,
DURELL, MORSE, CARLTON.
ON HEATING APPARATUS, 66 CARLTON, MORSE, HEMENWAY.
ON FINANCE AND INSURANCE,. Mr. J. H. DAVIS.
The Superintendent is ex-officio a member of all the Committees.
At a meeting of the School Committee, held Dec. 31, 1870, it was voted, " That the Committee adopt the report submitted by the Superintendent of the public schools, and present it to their fellow citizens as the Report of this Committee."
JOSHUA H. DAVIS,.
42
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
GENTLEMEN OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE :
IN compliance with your instructions, the following Annual Report for the year 1870, is respectfully sub- mitted.
The year just closing has been one of uninterrupted prosperity. Nothing has transpired to affect materially the harmony and efficiency of the schools.
Teachers have prosecuted their work with commenda- ble zeal and enthusiasm. Pupils, in the various depart- ments, have made satisfactory advancement in their stud- ies, and have manifested their accustomed willingness to submit to all the restraints and requirements essential to the maintenance of good order, and the successful accom- plishment of school work.
We can look with complacency upon the results of the year when we compare them with those of former years. But we would aim at a still higher degree of excellence.
The limits of this report must necessarily restrict us to a brief exhibit of the work of the schools, and the labor requisite to sustain their former reputation, and to render them still more meritorious.
The wants of the school are ever recurring wants. The earnest, faithful labors of any one day must be re- peated with renewed zeal on each succeeding day. Now as ever, knowledge and culture are the reward of labor. They come of careful observation, patient reflection, per- sistent and laborious study. "There is no royal road to learning." The student of to-day must ascend by the
43
same rugged way that was traversed by scholars of for- mer ages.
The wisdom of the present develops but little that is new in principle. But, profiting by the mistakes no less than by the wisdom of the past, we possess more perfect systems of instruction, and may be more skilful in the application of principles long established, and should ex- hibit a higher type of whatever tends to elevate and im- prove.
The number of persons in Somerville between the ages of five and fifteen years, on the first day of May last, as ascertained by the Assessors, was 2570.
The number of pupils belonging to all the public schools in January last, was 2465, and at the beginning of the school year in September last, it was 2739, as fol- lows :
In the High School, 165 or 6.02 per cent of the whole.
Grammar Schools, 666 or 24.315 per cent of the whole.
66 Sub-Gram. Schools, 682 or 24.899 per cent of the whole.
Primary Schools, 1226 or 44.76 per cent of the whole.
To provide for this increase, four new schools have been organized within the year, as follows :
In the Prospect Hill School House, . 1
Jackson School House, 1
Lincoln School House, . 1
66 Forster School House, 1
For the relief of Prospect Hill School, a Hall in its im- mediate vicinity, well adapted to school purposes, has been rented and furnished; and is now occupied by the Prospect Hill Primary School. This arrangement post- pones the necessity for the construction of a new school building in that locality.
At the present time there are 52 Schools. High 1, Grammar 15, Sub-Grammar 15, Primary 21.
44
Twenty-five per cent of these schools have been organ- ized within the last three years.
The average annual increase of pupils for the last fif- teen years, has been 100.
SCHOOL HOUSES.
There are 16 school buildings, containing in all 56 school rooms, as follows :
High School House situated on Highland Avenue contains 1 School-room.
Prescott
Pearl Street
66
10
Forster
Sycamore Street
8
Prospect Hill «
Washington St.
66
6
Bennett
Joy Street
66
4
Jackson 60
Maple Street
60
4
66
Franklin 66
66
Milk Street
66
4
66
Morse
Summer Street
66
4 66
Lincoln
66
66
Medford Street
66
4
66
Union
Harvard
66
Beacon Street
1
66
Bell
66
Milk Street
66
1
66
Spring Hill 66
66
Spring Hill
66
1
66
Cedar Street "
Cedar nr. Broadway 66
1
66
There are five vacant school-rooms, as follows :
In the Forster School House,
1
Lincoln 66
1
66 Webster 66
1
Bell
1
" Jackson 66
1
Estimated value of School Property, $218,085.00
High School House, land, furniture, &c., . 15,500.00
Forster
66
66
45,000.00
Prescott
66
. 45,000.00
Morse 66
66
66
29,935.00
Prosp. Hill 66
66 . · 14,250.00
Webster 66 66
66
66 12,500.00
Amount carried forward,
.
$162,185.00
2
Webster
6.
66
Elm Street
4
Brastow
Webster Avenue
Prospect Street
1
45
Amount brought forward
$162,185.00
Bennett School House, land, furniture, &c., $12,500.00
Lincoln
66
12,500.00
·Franklin 66
66
66
. 12,500.00
Brastow
66
66
6,500.00
Jackson
66
66
66
5,000.00
Union
66
66
. 2,000.00
Harvard
66
1,500.00
Spring Hill
66
66
. 1,400.00
Bell
1,000.00
Cedar St.
66
. 1,000.00
Total,
$218,085.00
Six of these buildings, viz .: the Forster, Prescott, Lin- coln, Bennett, Webster, and Morse, valued, with the land and furniture at $157,500 have been constructed within the last five years.
Mr. Phipps, the State Agent, reports, that in 1838, the entire valuation of the 3000 school-houses in Massachu- setts, the number then reported, was only $550,000.
MORSE SCHOOL HOUSE.
Cost of lot, 32,320 feet,
$2,500 00
building, including outhouses,
. 24,409 85
grading,
335 25
fence,
712 71
furnaces,
670 00
66 school furniture,
973 32
66 settees for the hall,
218 40
6. gas fixtures,
116 36
Total,
$29,935 89
HIGH SCHOOL HOUSE.
At a meeting of the town held on the 12th of Novem- ber last, the School Committee were authorized to furnish further High School accommodations by the erection of
46
a new High School Building on such portion of the " town land " on Highland Avenue, as may be deemed expe- dient by the School Board and Selectmen in joint con- . vention, at a cost not exceeding $60,000.
At their next regular meeting, the Board elected from their number, the following named gentlemen as a Build- ing Committee : SAMUEL A. CARLTON, JOSHUA H. DAVIS, JOHN P. MARSHALL.
At a subsequent meeting, Prof. Marshall declined serv- ing on the Building Committee, in consequence of con- templated absence, and Oren S. Knapp, Esq., was chosen in his place.
In accordance with the instructions of the town, the Selectmen and School Committee met in convention at the High School House, Monday evening, December 5th, and decided to locate the new building on the highest land next south of the Unitarian Church. The distance of the north end of the building not to exceed 100 feet, from the southerly boundary of the church lot.
PROSPECTIVE WANTS.
Prescott School House, with ten school rooms, contains 600 pupils. Within the limits of Prescott District there are 48 dwelling-houses in process of construction, or just completed and ready for occupying.
Prescott School cannot be relieved by a transfer of pupils to Forster School, as was proposed in our last Re- port, since all the school-rooms but one in Forster School House are occupied, and more than 30 dwelling-houses are being constructed in Forster District.
The demand for additional accommodations is impera- tive. We would therefore recommend the construction of a wooden building, containing four school-rooms, for pupils of the primary and sub-grammar grades ; in the neighborhood of Cross Street, and between Pearl Street and Broadway.
47
TEACHERS.
The following changes have taken place in the corps of teachers, within the year.
RESIGNED.
Chas. G. Pope, Esq., for six years Principal of Forster School, resigned in September to accept the situation of Principal of Bunker Hill School, Charlestown.
Mr. Pope is highly esteemed by the Committee, and carries with him to his new sphere of labor their kindest regards.
Miss Emily M. Warren, first assistant in Forster Gram- mar School, a teacher of rare abilities, resigned in Octo -. ber.
Miss Susan M. Priest, for thirteen years, a teacher in Prescott Primary School, and Miss Ida F. Paul, teacher in Franklin Primary School, resigned at the close of the summer term.
TRANSFERRED.
Miss Caroline S. Plimpton, from Brastow primary to Prospect Hill grammar school.
Miss Anna M. Snow, from Prospect Hill grammar school to Forster grammar school.
P Miss Rebecca A. Fillebrown, from Union primary school to Prospect Hill grammar school.
Miss Frances M. Guptill, from Forster sub-grammar school to Forster grammar school.
Mis's Ella L. Burbank, from Lincoln primary school to Lincoln sub-grammar school.
Miss Edith C. Long, from Forster primary school to Forster sub-grammar school.
Miss Helen E. Magoun, from Cedar Street primary school to Forster primary school.
Miss Lizzie C. Howe, from Webster primary school to Franklin primary school.
48
ELECTED.
Miss Alida C. Willis, Teacher in Forster Sub-Grammar School.
" Maria Miller, 66
" Jackson ..
Anna L. Lovett, 66
" Prescott Primary
" Beulah A. Hill, 66 " Brastow 66
" Fannie W. Kaan, 66
" Union 66
" Webster
" Lincoln 66 ..
" Cedar St.
" Frances P. Hudson, assistant in Prosp. Hill Primary 66
" Charlotte R. Cutter,
6 Gram.
George R. Bradford, Esq., Principal of Forster
Mr. Bradford is a teacher of long and successful expe- rience. He served the town with great acceptance as Principal of Prospect Hill School from March 1864, to May 1866. Also as Principal of Franklin School from September 1867, to February 1868.
Miss Esther S. Ross, Principal of Franklin School, died on the tenth day of November last, after a short and se- vere sickness .:
Miss Ross commenced teaching, December 1866, in the Harvard Primary School. In September 1868, she was transferred to the Franklin Sub-Grammar School. When the Grammar School was removed from the Franklin to the Morse School House, she was appointed Principal of the Franklin School. She was ever faithful, kind and judicious ; and entirely devoted to her calling. She was highly esteemed by the Committee, and greatly beloved by her pupils, and associate teachers.
-
66
" Ella F. Leland, 66
" P. Jenette Teele,
" Eva M. Edmunds, "
49
A TABULAR STATEMENT OF THE SEVERAL SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS.
District.
School.
Principal.
Assistants.
High .
George L. Baxter,
Sarah L. Graves. -
Sarah W. Fox. Mary E. Davis. Annette E. Long.
-
George R. Bradford,
§ Anna M. Snow. Frances M. Guptill.
FORSTER, .
Forster
Alida C. Willis, Edith C. Long, Ellen P. Shute, Helen E. Magoun,
John Wilson,
Isabel S. Horne. Harriet N. Sands. Mary E. Eddy.
PRESCOTT,
Prescott
Anna A. Hall,
Nancy W. Procter, M. Ellen Eddy, Augusta M. Čowles, Harriet A. Adams, Anna L. Lovett,
Samuel C. Hunt,
Prospect Hill
Lydia L. Gorden, Anna M. Leland, Irene E. Locke,
Brastow .
Ella M. Gooding, Beulah A. Hill,
PROSPECT HILL,
Bennett .
Augusta A. Roberts, Catharine T. Brown, Harriet A. Locke, Mary E. Hartshorn, Lizzie W. Shelton, Maria Miller, Rebecca F. Woodberry Lydia J. Page,
Webster
Ada L. Sanborn,
Ella F. Leland,
Union
Fannie W. Kaan,
Morse
Wm B. Allen,
Mary E. Sargent,
Spring Hill .
Caroline A. Osborne,
MORSE,
Nettie Howard,
Franklin . Mary A. Haley,
Harvard
Emma F. Merritt,
Lincoln
Horace P. Makechnie, Ella L. Burbank, P. Jenette Teele,
LINCOLN, .
Cedar Street .
Eva. M. Edmands.
S. Henry O. Hadley, Helen J. Woodward, Lizzie J. Woodward, O. H. Bowler, 4
MUSIC TEACHER.
TEACHERS OF DRAWING.
TEACHER OF PENMANSHIP.
Frances L. Childs. R. A. Fillebrown. C S. Plimpton. Charlotte R. Cutter.
Frances P. Hudson.
Jackson
Sue L. Lathe,
§ Amy C. Hudson. Sue S. Stetson.
Lizzie C. Howe,
50
EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL EXHIBITION
OF THE
SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL, Friday, July 15th, 1870, at 9 o'clock, A. M., at the Town Hall.
ORDER OF EXERCISES.
MUSIC . . EDMANDS' BAND.
1. SINGING. " Im Walde."
" Sabbath Bells." "Bring Flowers."
2. SALUTATORY IN LATIN. William Staples Marston.
3. DECLAMATION. "The Brigade of Fontenoy." Irving Gilmore Hall.
4. ESSAYS. " Nothing but Leaves." Clara Taylor.
" A White day."
Martha Jane H. Ireland.
Anna Daphne Watson. Glover.
5. SINGING. " Peaceful Nights."
" Call of the Fairies," (Trio.) Brinley Richards.
6. ESSAYS. " Woman's Suffrage," (Affirmative.) Sarah Elizabeth Pennock. " Woman's Suffrage," (Negative.) Louis Person Davis.
MUSIC.
7. ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS, (By the School.)
8. GREEK DIALOGUE.
Josiah Q. Bennett. Edward P. Elliott. Frederic W. Stone.
9. SINGING. (Three National Songs.) "Entflieth mit mir," "Es fiel ein
Reif," " Auf ihrem Grab."
" Soft Fell the Dews of the Summer Night." (Duet.)
10. ESSAYS. " We must creep before we walk." Lydia Hopkinson Straw. Orra Bliss Hersey.
" Old and New," (Poetry.) " Luck."
Mary Louisa Schroeder. Louis Person Davis. Sarah Elizabeth Pennock.
11. DECLAMATION. " Shamus O'Brien."
12. READING, (French.)
13. FROM " THE RIVALS." Sir Anthony Absolute, Mrs. Malaprop, Lydia,
William Staples Marston. Frances Pierce Hudson. Clara Taylor.
MUSIC.
RECESS.
14. MEDLEY.
Austin Holden.
15. ESSAYS. " Fashionable Amusements."
Harriet Howard Weld.
" We live in deeds not years." Anne Josephine Whitcomb. (Prophecies.) Frances Pierce Hudson.
Bishop. Mendelssohn.
16. SINGING. " Tramp Chorus," (With Orchestra.)
" Home Far away."
17. ESSAYS. " Annexation of Territory to the United States."
(Affirmative,) Nathaniel J. Knight Davis. (Negative,) Edward Payson Heald.
-
Mendelssohn.
" My Pets."
Mendelssohn.
Glover.
51
18. SPEECH OF JOAB WHITTLE. 19. VALEDICTORY.
20. PRESENTATION OF DIPLOMAS. 21. PARTING HYMN.
Josiah Q. Bennett. Jennie Maria Belknap.
MUSIC.
MEMBERS OF THE GRADUATING CLASS.
JENNIE MARIA BELKNAP,
ORRA BLISS HERSEY,
FRANCES PIERCE HUDSON,
MARTHA JANE H. IRELAND,
LOUIS PERSON DAVIS,
SARAH ELIZABETH PENNOCK,
NATHANIEL J. KNIGHT DAVIS,
MARY LOUISA SCHROEDER,
IRVING GILMORE HALL,
LYDIA HOPKINSON STRAW,
EDWARD PAYSON HEALD,
CLARA TAYLOR.
WILLIAM STAPLES MARSTON.
The following are the names of pupils who passed a satisfactory examination for admission to the High School.
PRESCOTT SCHOOL.
Frank A. Houston,
Jennie A. Lothrop,
Lewis L. Sellew,
Helen K. Bowers,
Henry A. Shepard,
Lizzie W. Tyler,
Charles F. Hoyt,
Lilla L. Robbins,
Herbert F. Stevens,
Ida M. Cook,
Wm. C. Stevens, Edmund Cowles,
Lizzie A. Coffin,
Chas. E. Nickerson,
Flora Curtis,
Oscar G. Higgins,
Anna S. Gage,
Daniel W. Pratt,
Anna J. Farnsworth,
Willard D. Lombard,
Lucy A. Runey.
Carrie E. Conant,
Average age, 14 yrs. 6 mos.
Emma A. Stearns, and Ella F. Stearns, formerly members of Prescott School, but graduates of Wells School, Boston.
ANNA DAPHNE WATSON, HARRIET HOWARD WELD, ANNE JOSEPHINE WHITCOMB,
52
FORSTER SCHOOL.
Charles W. Colman,
Lucia A. Manning,
Edward F. Winslow,
Annie T. Pennock,
Geo. B. King,
Florence O. Gaut,
Wm. Woodbury,
Lottie M. Glines,
Wm. F. Wiggin,
Nannie Berry,
Rufus H. Stickney,
Hattie M. Willoughby,
Chas. S. Poor,
Mary C. Downey,
Chas. F. Washburn,
Lizzie D. Harding.
Average age, 15 years, 1 month.
PROSPECT HILL.
F. Howard Gilson, Jabez L. Robinson,
Alonzo P. Henderson,
Wm. H. Daggett,
G. Franklin Mead,
Nellie F. Thompson,
Francis L. Burrows,
Carrie L. Wood,
Edward H. Bradshaw,
Carrie L. Merrill.
Average age, 15 years, 8 months.
MORSE SCHOOL.
Jas. P. F. Kelly,
Josephine A. Hamblen,
Jas. E. Damon,
Sarah W. Bird,
Frank H. Robinson,
Mary V. B. Chase,
Annie R. Kirkpatrick, Lucy Park,
Annette E. Locke.
Average age, 14 years, 5 months.
LINCOLN SCHOOL.
Woodman W. Teele,
Emma E. Thrasher,
John M. Fiske, Fannie E. Demmon, Lizzie P. Brown,
Chas. H. Davis,
Ellen E. Davis.
Average age, 14 years, 11 months.
Average per cent of correct answers by all the pupils, 84.43.
53
HIGH SCHOOL.
Whole number of different pupils during the year, . 216
Greatest number at one time, 165
Number admitted during the year,
66
Number of Graduates, 16
Whole number at the present time,
161
Number in course preparatory for College, over 15 years, ·
141
Average per cent of attendance,
98
No. of 1st Class on entering the School, 52; present No. 33
66
2d 66
66
55; 66 66 23
3d 66
66
59;
66 66 44
66
4th 66 66
66
65;
66
61
For a series of years, this school has maintained a high rank among similar institutions in the Commonwealth. Its benefits to our community are beyond computation. Already many of those who have enjoyed its advantages are occupying prominent positions, and are adorning the various walks of life.
The high estimation in which it is held by the com- munity is manifest from its constantly increasing num- bers, and the liberal appropriations furnished for its main- tenance, and to increase its facilities.
The influence of a well-regulated High School is not confined to those only who become members of it; but, standing as it does at the head of our Public School Sys- tem, it reaches out and elevates the various schools in the lower grades, and extends to every pupil composing them.
Heretofore the opinion has prevailed that our High School with all its excellencies, was not fully meeting the demands of the community. The records of the school show that a large proportion of the pupils who enter it do not complete the course of study and gradu- ate. This applies more especially to the boys.
Various causes contribute to this result.
22
54
Our near proximity to the city, and the inducements constantly presented for young men and lads to enter upon some active occupation, induce many of them to leave prematurely. Some, Laving a fondness for study, and an ardent desire to pursue it, are compelled by circumstances beyond their control to enter early' upon some remu- nerative employment. Others, who may possess good abilities for acquiring knowledge, have not a taste for study and fondness for books, and are wanting in the needful application. Consequently the restraints of the school, and close and continuous study are exceedingly irksome to them.
Coercion, in their case, beyond certain limits, may be regarded as unwise. To compel such pupils to remain for a long period in the High School, may prove alike in- jurious to them and detrimental to the school. Society has a niche for such as these. They may become happy and useful citizens in the pursuit of employments adapt- ed to their capacity, and congenial to their inclinations. Parents, doubtless, act wisely when they yield to their importunities and furnish them with employment more in harmony with their desires.
It would give us great pleasure, if all of our pupils could pursue to the end, the entire course of study pre- scribed for the school, and avail themselves of all the ad- vantages furnished by our system of public instruction. Since, however, this desirable result cannot be obtained, and all cannot be induced to pursue to its completion one uniform course of instruction, we deem it wise to make such an arrangement of the studies of the school as will meet the manifest wants of the community, and secure the highest good of the greatest number. " If the moun- tain will not come to the Prophet, he must go to it." The High School being a public institution, supported by general taxation, should be adapted as far as practicable to the public necessities.
55
To meet, as far as possible, the wants of all, and to en- courage a still larger number of the graduates of the Grammar Schools to avail themselves of the advantages of the High School, even though it be for a brief period only, we introduced at the commencement of the present school year, an
ENGLISH AND MERCANTILE COURSE OF STUDY.
The entire course embraces a period of four years, and those who complete it, will receive Diplomas. But, with proper restrictions, the studies of this course will be elec- tive, and so arranged that those pupils who do not wish to complete the course, can pursue those branches which will be of the greatest practical utility to them.
All persons, whatever may be their pursuit in life, should possess a knowledge of all the branches taught in the Grammar Schools. Hence the studies of those schools should not be elective. But there comes a period when young persons exhibit a preference for some particular calling or profession, and generally their preferences are in the direction of their capabilities. These tendencies are developed earlier in some than in others, but usually they are manifest when pupils arrive at an age to enter the High School.
The ancient Philosopher, who was asked what a boy should learn when young, answered discreetly, we think, when he replied, " What he will wish to practice when he becomes a man." Therefore when the pupil enters the High School, or as soon, certainly, as his tendencies are manifest, his studies, to a certain extent, should be elec- tive, and especially adapted to his contemplated profession or pursuit; and this adaptation should gradually become more direct as he approaches the end of his school course.
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