USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lincoln > Town Report on Lincoln 1898-1902 > Part 25
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There is no disposition on the part of the schools to evade this responsibility. They have assumed it and assumed it willingly, as an important and necessary part of the work of the schools ; but from the nature of the case it must be a divided responsibility, shared by the home. The pupils' character will be shaped, not solely by his home training nor by his school training, but by their combined influence ; and each can strongly aid the other. Since the object of both home and school training is the formation of character, the development of manly men and womanly women, intelligent, upright citizens ; it is of the utmost importance that teachers and parents should work in harmony and with a clear under- standing of each other's purposes and methods. To this end, parents should see their children in the schoolroom and
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teachers should see their pupils at their homes ; and parents and teachers should work together for the children's good. Working together they can accomplish far more than their independent efforts can bring about.
May we not have this cooperation to a greater extent than we have had it in the past? It will improve the attendance, the discipline and the general work of the schools at every point.
The attendance for the past year has been reasonably good, yet not so good as to indicate that the school attendance laws have been strictly enforced. The State recognizes the im- portance of regular attendance at school and the laws in re- gard to that matter are definite and explicit and provided that --
1. Every child between the ages of seven and fourteen years shall attend school the entire time that the public schools are in session if his physical and mental condition are such as to render attendance practicable.
2. Every person having under his control a child between the ages of seven and fourteen, shall cause such child to at- tend school as provided in the previous section. For failure to do so for a period of five day sessions in any period of six . months he shall be subject to a fine of not more than twenty dollars.
3. Any person who induces or attempts to induce any child to absent himself unlawfully from school, or employs, or harbors while school is in session any child absent unlaw- fully from school, shall forfeit and pay a fine of not more than fifty dollars.
The enforcement of these laws will give us a sufficiently good school attendance. It is the duty of the truant officer to see that these laws are enforced, and it is the duty of every good citizen to lend his moral support.
No important changes have been attempted in the work of the schools this year. The work which I found them doing commended itself to me as being in accord with the best edu-
184
cational practice of other communities and it has seemed best to me that we should continue along the same lines, strength- ening our work at every point and improving it wherever we see the need of improvement. The work of our highest grammar grade is determined to a certain extent by the re- quirements for admission to the Concord High School. The record of the Lincoln pupils now in that school indicates that their grammar school course has given them a good prepara- tion for high school work and that they are improving the advantages that are now offered them. While we shall en- deavor to prepare our pupils to undertake successfully the work of that school, yet the important business of the ele- mentary schools is not preparing pupils for the high school, but preparing them for the every-day duties of life, and our course of study and general practice should be shaped with that end in view.
The question of educational values is perhaps too large a one to discuss in a brief school report, but it is nevertheless one that we must have in mind to some extent in order to determine what our work should be. The State require- ments determine what subjects we must teach in the common schools, leaving us the option of teaching other subjects or not as we think best.
The required subjects are all of generally-recognized value and it is difficult to say what ones are of most importance, what ones we should emphasize most in our teaching. Per- haps we should not emphasize any, were it not for the fact that we have to deal with many pupils who will not complete even the common school course of study but will leave school just as soon as the law will permit them, and to whom we can expect to give only the mere elements of an education. It becomes important therefore to determine what we can give these pupils in the few years that they remain with us that will be of most service to them and when we consider that, we are driven back, as it seems to me, to the three R's of our fathers.
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The ability to read, a legible handwriting. some facility in the use of numbers. Under the conditions that I have named, are not these the essentials of the new education as well as of the old?
At any rate I believe that whatever we teach, these sub- jects should not be neglected. The work in reading has been the least satisfactory of any that I have found in the schools of Lincoln. It has seemed to me that the pupils do not read with the freedom and expression that they ought. That the mechanical difficulties of the subject have never been fully mastered.
In the hope and with the expectation of securing better re- sults in this subject a new method of teaching reading has been introduced into the schools this year. The purpose of this method is to give the pupil, by teaching him the sound- elements of the words, the ability to help himself ; to meet , and overcome the mechanical difficulties of reading early in the school course, so that we may employ the later years in the cultivation of good expression and literary taste.
The Rational System which we have adopted, has found favor in many communities, and if well taught, I believe that it will give us better reading in our own schools. Sev- eral new and attractive books have been added to our list of supplementary reading in the lower grades, and the Frye's Primary Geography has been displaced by the Frye's Ele- mentary, a far better and more satisfactory book. With these exceptions, no changes in text-books have been made during the year. I believe, however, that a change might profitably be made in the arithmetic now in use. It does not commend itself to me as a clear book, and it presents many unneces- sary difficulties to the pupil. I feel sure that a better book can be found. While it is doubtless true that any text-book in the hands of a good teacher will produce good results, yet it is also true that a good book is an aid to good teaching, while a poor book is not ; and for this reason our text-book list should be modified from time to time so that it may con-
186
tain the best books obtainable upon the various subjects that we teach.
The work in music and drawing has progressed satisfacto- rily during the year ; of course I cannot compare it with the work of previous years, but it is in a satisfactory condition now. The resignation of Mr. Archibald last June left us without a supervisor of music, but the vacancy was accept- ably filled by the election of Miss Annie M. Barnes ; and the pupils are making good progress under her instruction.
The work in drawing has been conducted by Miss Hill as in previous years, and few towns secure better results in this subject than Lincoln. The work is of a character to reflect great credit upon both teacher and pupils. Special reports from Miss Barnes and Miss Hill regarding the work in their respective departments, are appended.
The town is fortunate in being able to retain the same corps of teachers for another year; for after all that may be said of text-books, grading, courses of study, and school regulations, it is the teacher, ultimately, who determines the character of the school; and while we are able to retain our present efficient, concientious corps of teachers we have every assurance that the schools will continue to prosper and deserve well of the community which maintains them.
The usual statistics are appended. Following the suggest- tion of Sec'y Hill in his last report, I have made up the at- tendance record for the school year ending in June instead of December, as has been the custom.
This change makes the returns of this town uniform with those of a majority of the cities and towns of the State, which are made for the natural school year ending in June.
Respectfully submitted, W. N. CRAGIN, Superintendent of Schools.
Lincoln, Mass., Feb. 1, 1901.
187
Report of the Supervisor of Drawing.
MR. W. N. CRAGIN,
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
In compliance with your request for a report on Drawing in the public schools I submit the following :
In my two previous reports I have tried to show what are some of our aims in the work. It is difficult to state exactly what the result of our efforts has been. We are able to see definite progress in certain directions, and but little improvement in others. There are so many depart- ments included in Art Instruction that it is impossible in the sixty hours which is our yearly allowance of time to ac- complish much in many directions. So our only advisable course is to emphasize those things most important to our every day life, and most useful to the child who should be instructed not only "so that he may get a living but so that he may know how to live."
The term "Drawing" generally suggests the representa- tion of something with a lead pencil. Representation surely demands a part of our attention, but there is nothing more true than that representation may be very excellent without attaining to art, and that art may exist quite apart from representation. In the Turkish rug, and the decora- tion of certain primitive potteries we find the latter condi- tion. In the study of design, and composition, comes the opportunity to think of beauty almost entirely apart from any outside construction. The majority of Art Instructors agree that in the education and refinement of the tastes, the study and product of design is our most important depart- ment. For these reasons we shall this year give to design the greater part of our attention.
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A member of a large American carpet manufacturing company, when asked why he did not employ good designers in his factory replied : "We design and manufacture just that for which there is the most demand, and those people who have had such advantages that they can appreciate really beautiful textiles usually prefer and are able to provide them- selves with 'imported' oriental carpets, although the Ameri- can manufacturers are capable of producing just as beautiful results, were they salable here."
A Massachusetts manufacturer of sofa pillows said the other day that he had once tried to place upon our markets some really artistic pillows. "But," said he, "I shall never do it again, for the retailers could not sell them." The moral re- sponsibility of design rests with the people. The market is a question of supply and demand because selection in- fluences the supply toward the good or the bad.
The Japanese people are without doubt, as a class, the most artistic people in the world, and the reason is not far to seek. Every article of household ornament or utility is a thing of beauty. Their children grow up in this atmosphere, and an environment of this kind could not fail to result in a national artistic feeling. They look upon the Americans as barbarians in taste, because they manufacture for the Ameri- can markets things which they could not possibly tolerate in a Japanese home. There are strong evidences that the tastes of the American people, which for the last seventy-five years have, for well understood reasons, been very crude in art, are rapidly improving, and chiefly to this end the public art instructors bend their energies.
All that has been said above is intended to emphasize what follows.
Not withstanding our most careful efforts to cause the children to create beautiful things, we are continually disap- pointed and discouraged by obtaining results which are bar- baric in color, without character in form and line, and seemingly without any dominant motive. Without doubt
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the reason for this is, that the children do not know beauty, and that they have few opportunities of seeing and studying excellent examples of things which are refined in color and form. It is as simple to produce a superb lily from a barren soil as to obtain good designs from those who rarely see them and who never recognize beauty.
Every town where there is Art Instruction should have besides its books and supplies some examples of beautiful manufactured articles for study. Many towns are already spending large sums in this direction.
I most earnestly recommend that a sum of money be made available for expenditure in examples of good design and color, in textiles, ceramics and utensils. It is not necessary that these should be very expensive. We already have a beginning in a few vase forms, but aside from these up to the present time the only things in this line that we have had to use, have been a small collection, the property of an indi- vidual. So far as it went this was helpful, but it was en- tirely inadequate for the use of the large number of chil- dren who needed it.
Reproductions of the best works of great masters and also their works similar in execution to those the children are doing, should be placed where they can be seen constantly. A good reproduction of one of Millet's drawings made with the end of a burnt match for his grandchildren, cut from the pages of a magazine, may do the children nearly as much good as if it were an " original " and had cost thousands of francs. It is not enough that pictures and textiles be shown to the children. They must be placed where they may be studied so that their good qualities can be understood and appreciated.
In this connection another need that is very urgent is that a something in the nature of a bulletin board be provided for every school room, whereon may be placed such things as are to find but a temporary place in the school room. At present we are obliged to hang our subjects for study, upon
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a line, like clothes hung out to dry, and too high for the children to see well. Such an arrangement is not consistent with the principles which we try to teach, and of course things pinned around upon the walls, doors and blinds de- tract very much from the appearance of any room. Of all places, our school rooms should be the most carefully ar- ranged.
Beside our work in design, the study of the history of art will be continued. We shall also take up the study of the works of the modern illustrators in order that the pictures with which our many periodicals are so profusely illustrated may be better understood. This work would be greatly aided by gifts or loans of current or old numbers of such publications as Harper's, Century, Scribner's, &c., &c. Any of these magazines published within the last ten or fifteen years would be very useful in more ways than one in school libraries.
The work of the teachers is without exception painstaking and faithful, and to a high degree satisfactory. The atmos- phere of the whole school system of Lincoln is pleasant and is one in which I enjoy working.
Very respectfully, MARGARET E. HILL.
191
Report of the Director of Music. TOWN OF LINCOLN.
The work this year has been conducted along the same general lines as prescribed in the Normal Course and as presented in the Holt Books. I have found the scholars most responsive and the teachers ever ready to carry out any suggestions, and know that the schools stand well up with those of other localities.
Where there is more than one grade in a room, the work cannot be carried on in quite so systematic a way as if but one were receiving the teacher's attention ; but there are always advantages and disadvantages under such conditions, and I feel that your teachers have realized the advantages and made the most of them.
Speaking in general terms, could the teacher present the music lesson as she does the language or number work, re- quiring more the personal response, I think the average pu- pil would absorb the fundamentals better, and therefore show a greater interest and really have a greater love for the study ; and the music work would receive an impetus that it does not have today.
In any concerted work there is a great chance for the conscientious ones to do all the work; but if each child were made personally responsible, I think the concerted work would not be obstructed. We must not let the non- musical ones suffer. In many cases it is only an arrested development.
Music has a value all its own. It also has great value along many lines of school work. Especially is this true in the primary and lower grammar grades. Music can be
192
made a means of discipline, a factor in developing the sense of hearing, and aid in creating enthusiasm and awakening the spirit of patriotism.
Today much is being said by students of child life in re- gard to the educational value of developing the emotional side of the child. No study has such power along this line as music, and its tendency is always to elevate.
The nature song has found a permanent and warm wel- come in all grades, and the nature work is well supple- mented by its use.
As soon as communities awaken to the realization of the uplifting power of music, its actual application along many lines, and its developing and refining power, then will it be placed upon the same financial basis as the other require- ments, and so rise to the same importance in the eyes of the public.
No study has greater power of giving the child an idea of the "Good, the True and the Beautiful," and so has established its right to be.
Respectfully submitted, ANNA M. BARNES,
Director of Music.
193
Roll of Honor,
PUPILS NEITHER ABSENT NOR TARDY FOR FOUR YEARS AND TWO TERMS. Sumner Smith.
FOR TWO YEARS AND ONE TERM.
Warren K. Blodgett, Edwin S. Blodgett.
FOR ONE YEAR AND TWO TERMS. Emmons S. Cook.
FOR ONE YEAR.
Denis Dougherty, Arthur F. Chapin.
FOR TWO TERMS.
Bridgett Lennon,
*Hermon Wheeler,
Emma Dutcher,
Mary Dougherty,
Ida Tyler,
John Lahey,
*Edwin B. Stone,
Geneva Jurada,
Murray Farnsworth.
FOR ONE TERM.
Roderick D. Laird,
Elizabeth Jurada,
Edith Stone,
Winburn Beals,
Ula Hapgood,
Francis Moynahan,
Emma Conant,
Elizabeth Dutcher,
Agnes Coan, James Boyce,
*Francis Sargent,
Ethel Miner, 1
Francis Dempsey,
Manley Boyce,
Josephine Dempsey, Blanch Tyler, 1
Margaret Dempsey, Russell Davis.
*Tardy once.
Mathew Dougherty,
194
School Calendar for 1901.
Winter term opened December 31, 1900, closes March 22; 12 weeks.
Spring term opens April 1, closes June 14; 11 weeks.
Fall term opens September 9, closes December 20; 15 weeks.
Recess from Wednesday following Thanksgiving to follow- ing Monday.
Winter term opens December 30, 1901.
STATISTICS.
Number of pupils in town between the ages of five and
fifteen years, (census of September, 1900) . 153
Number of pupils in town between the ages of seven and fourteen years 101
Number of pupils enrolled in public schools, Septem- ber, 1900 . ·
123
Number attending Concord high school
19
Number attending private schools 4
Total enrollment of pupils for the year ending June 15,1900 . 152
Number of pupils under five years of age . ·
0
Number of pupils over fifteen years of age ·
8
Number of pupils between five and fifteen years of age 144
Number of pupils between seven and fourteen years of age 109
Number of regular teachers employed 5 .
Number of special teachers employed ·
2
TABLE,
SCHOOL.
Total
Enrollment.
Average
Membership.
Attendance.
Attendance.
Tardiness.
Visitors.
Length of
School
Salaries of
Centre Grammar School
31
30.69
28.41
9257
33
31
39
$550
Centre Sub-Grammar
29
25.75
23.06
.8955
25
25
38
500
Centre Primary
·
.
·
31
27.04
24.4
.9024
39
20
39
500
South Sub Grammar
27
22.82
19.14
.8387
15
20
34
525
South Primary
·
.
.
31
27.43
24.34
.8874
57
36
39
500
Totals
152
133.73
122 35
.9149
169
132
189
12,575
195
.
.
·
in weeks.
Teachers.
Average
Per cent. of
1
196
WARRANT.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
MIDDLESEX, SS.
To Lorenzo E. Brooks, or any other Constable in the Town of Lincoln, in said County :
GREETING :
In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachu- setts, you are hereby required to notify and warn the inhabitants of the Town of Lincoln, duly qualified to vote in the Town Affairs, to assemble in Bemis Hall, on Monday, March 4, at 1 o'clock P. M., to act on the following articles, viz. :
ARTICLE 1. To choose a moderator.
ARTICLE 2. To hear and act upon the reports of Town Officers, Committees, Commissioners, and Trus- tees.
ARTICLE 3. To choose all necessary Town Officers, Committees, Commissioners and Trustees for the ensu- ing year.
ARTICLE 4. To act upon the jury list presented by the Selectmen.
ARTICLE 5. To appropriate money for necessary and expedient purposes of the Town, and enact any- thing in relation thereto.
ARTICLE 6. To give in their votes by ballot in an- swer to the question : "Shall licenses be granted for the sale of intoxicating liquors in this Town?" The
197
check list shall be used as provided by Section 5, Chap- ter 100 of the Public Statutes.
ARTICLE 7. To determine the manner of collecting taxes the ensuing year.
ARTICLE S. To determine the compensation of. the Collector of Taxes for the ensuing year.
ARTICLE 9. To see if the Town will authorize its Treasurer, under the direction of the Selectmen, to borrow money in anticipation of taxes of the current year, and to be paid therefrom.
ARTICLE 10. To see if the Town will choose a Com- mittee on Claims under the provision of Section 3 of Article 6 of the By-Laws.
ARTICLE 11. To see if the Town will borrow any money by an issue of bonds, under Chapter 341, of the Acts of 1897, for the purpose of providing money heretofor appropriated, or heretofor expended and to be refunded to the treasury, under the vote of the Town April 12, 1900.
ARTICLE 12. To see if the Town will authorize the Selectmen to provide electric lights for the use of the Town, by contract with any electric light company, or otherwise, or take any other action in relation to the matter.
ARTICLE 13. To see if the Town will make an ap- propriation for grading and fencing the Pumping . Station lot.
ARTICLE 14. To see if the Town will appropriate the sum of six hundred dollars for the widening, grad- ing and general repairing of the road leading from the junction of the Virginia and Bedford Roads, near the house of Trogott Conant, to the State Road, near the
198
house of Mr. Wilson, or take any action in relation to the same.
ARTICLE 15. To see if the Town will dispose of the North School House, either by auction or private sale, or take any action in the matter.
ARTICLE 16. To see if the Town will establish pub- lic scales in the centre of the Town.
ARTICLE 17. To see what disposition the Town will make of the Underwriter Fire Pump, which has been in use in the old Pumping Station.
ARTICLE 18. To see if the Town will extend the water pipes from Farnsworth Corner, to a point op- posite the land of W. H. Sherman.
ARTICLE 19. To see if the Town will appropriate the sum of $250. to establish a free bed at the Wal- tham Hospital.
And you are directed to serve this Warrant by post- ing an attested copy thereof at each of the Post Offices, and in one of the Churches, or one other public place within the Town, not less than seven days before the day appointed for such meeting, and to make season- able return thereof, with your doings thereon, to the Town Clerk. Hereof fail not.
Dated at Lincoln, this fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord, nineteen hundred and one.
JOHN F. FARRAR,
CHARLES S. SMITH,
EDWARD F. FLINT,
Selectmen of Lincoln.
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By- Laws of the Town of Lincoln.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
MIDDLESEX, SS.
At the Superior Court, within and for the County of Middlesex, Anno Domini, 1897,
The following By-Laws of the Town of Lincoln, in said County, are presented to this Court for approval, to wit :-
"ARTICLE I.
TOWN MEETINGS.
Section 1. The annual town meeting shall be held on the first Monday of March in each year.
Sect. 2. Notice of every town meeting shall be given by posting copies of the warrant calling the same, attested by the officer making service thereof, in each of the post-offices within the town, and in one of the churches, or one other public place, within the town, not less than seven days be- fore the day appointed for such meeting. But when, in the judgment of the selectmen, the interests of the town require a meeting to be held without giving so long a notice, a meeting may be called by posting attested copies of the warrant in the places above mentioned, and by leaving a printed copy thereof at each dwelling-house within the town, at least three days before the time appointed for the meeting; provided that in such cases the selectmen shall certify that, in their opinion. the interests of the town re- quire that a town meeting be called upon a notice of less than seven days, which certificate shall be made upon, or at- tached to, the original warrant, and shall be served as a part thereof.
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