USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Duxbury > Town annual report for the town of Duxbury for the year ending 1860-1869 > Part 14
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Calvin Shepard
75
$0.11
1 51
Est. Charles Church
80
1 40
Hiram Delano
125
2 33
George H, Church
150
2 80
Olive Churchill
400
7 46
Isaac Sampson
260
4 66
Alden Sampson
70.
1 40
Joseph W. Magoun
4 75
8 85
Martin Bryant
16
.07
51
Horace Hall
300
5 59
Hiram Randall
700
13 05
David H. Foster
16
.07
53
Peleg Barker
1375
25 63
Henry Magoun
150
2 80
Ichabod W. Peterson, Guardian
45
·07
100
Peleg R. Sampson
80
.11
1 51
Calvin Peterson
225
4 19
Est, Elisha K. Josselyn
400
.58
8 :04
Est. William Standish
450
8 40
Est. Alden Loring
300
5
Abijah Sampson
720
13 51
Joseph Ford
32
.07
53
Thomas H. Sampson
94
1 86
Frances Merrett
240
4 66
Warren T. Whiting
510
9 32
William Taylor
300
59
Benjamin Standish, Agent
750
13 98
Est. George M. Witherell ·
50
.07
00
Isaac Curtis
150
2 80
Abel Stetson
130
.18
2 51
Thomas Peterson
40
.07
1 00
Est. Isaac Hatch
160
2 80
Plympton Non Residents.
Isaac Sturtevant
32
11
5.7
Roxbury Non Residents.
1050
19 57
New Bedford Non Residents.
100
1 86
Plymouth Non Residents.
Bradford Barnes
36
14
60
Ezekiel Rider
36
.14
60
Samuel Bradford
48
.18
1 11
Samuel Cole, jr.
24
.07
53
Est, Charles Jackson
300
5 59
Samuel Barnes
32
.Il
57
James and William Hall
20
.07
53
Stafford Sturtevant
32
,11
57
Woburn Non Residents ...
Est. Oliver Bacon
510
.72
10 04
Weymouth Non Residents.'
John O. Foye
150
.22
3 02
Theron Shaw, Guardian
150
.22
3 02
Lydia A. Bates
615
.90
12 55
Est. Henry Peterson
10 59
19 57
Middleborough Non Residents.
Sarah Pratt
550
10 25
.
NAMES. Pembroke Non Residents.
Stephen Faunce
James C. Bradford
ANNUAL REPORT 12
OF THE
SUPERINTENDING
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
OF THE
TOWN OF DUXBURY,
FOR THE YEAR 1865-6.
PLYMOUTH: Memorial and Rock Press. 1866.
REPORT.
To the inhabitants of the town of Duxbury :
In the discharge of their duty, your Superintending Com- mittee would respectfully submit the following report :
All changes are not necessarily improvements, but in order to make improvements there must necessarily be a change. If the rising generation is to be advanced in knowledge and vir- tue, there must be a change from bad to good, or from good to better. If our fathers have done good for us, we must do bet- ter for our children, if we would make improvements on their labors. If the former worshipped God in rough, unpainted and unplastered buildings, is it not an improvement in their de- scendants to be able to worship the Most High in well-finished and comfortable edifices ? Is the well-painted and commodious school-house no improvement on the rough, unfinished shed, or log cabin ? Does not the present generation owe a debt to pos- terity, on the Christian principle "freely ye have received, freely give ?" How can this debt be most justly paid? Let us furnish our children with neat, attractive and commodious school-houses, able, moral, and competent teachers, suitable books and apparatus, and other conveniences for the school- room ; and as the Town furnishes the money for the schools, and a Superintending Committee, let that committee retain the authority which the law gives them. The law gives the Com- mittee now the entire disposal of your portion of the school
4
fund, for school purposes, twenty-five per cent. of which they can apply for the purchase of books of reference, maps and apparatus for the use of the schools, yet they have never exer- cised that authority, because the Town has inadvertantly other- wise expended it for the schools. If the Prudential Committee neglect to procure a' teacher, when authorized by the Town, or to procure a suitable school-room, the law requires the general Committee to perform this duty. If the Committee can law- fully disburse a part of your money for school purposes, why not give them authority to disburse the whole for such pur- poses? If they can contract with the teachers in some cases, why not in all? A divided service lessens responsibility.
There are twelve school districts, and twelve school-houses, Suppose each district raises by tax, once in five years, fifty dollars, to meet all the repairs on their house ; the assessing and collecting that sum costs, say fifteen dollars ; in ten years it would cost thirty dollars, and on twelve school-houses, three hundred and sixty dollars ($360) to raise the twelve hundred ($1,200). Now, what benefit is this $360. to the schools, or the houses ? Is it not nearly a dead loss ? whereas if the same amount was assessed and collected by the Town, the expense would have been nothing, except the Treasurer and Collector's commission ; besides, there would be a more equal distribution of the burden.
If the Town had the building of the school-houses, they would be constructed after the most approved model, with all the necessary conveniences, and located where they would also add beauty to the neighborhood. Now, each district constructs its house according to its real, or supposed ability, and with a view to the least expense consistent with the required necessity. Hence the variety of location, plan and repairs.
If the general Committee had the entire control of the whole subject, together with the apportionment of the school appro- priation, a more equal amount of schooling could be provided to each child in the Town. Now, some districts have five and
5
a half months, others eight and a half. Some teachers with fifty-seven scholars, have twenty-eight dollars per month ; some with sixty-five, have twenty-six dollars ; some with seventeen, have eighteen dollars, some with twenty-four, have twenty dol- lars per month. For these, among other reasons, we recom- mend the abolition of the district system in this town, as we believe it to be a kind of change which will be a great im- provement on the present system.
DISTRICT NO. 1.
This school-house is the largest, and the arrangements for the convenience of the teacher and scholars, are the best of any in the town. It now needs some little repairs, such as painting ing, white-washing, raising up, &c., and raising the earth at the entrance, to keep it in good condition. If a few trees were set out on each side for shade, it would add much to its beauty.
The school has been under the charge of Miss Emily W. Sears for five or more consecutive years, which is proof con- clusive of her appreciation by the Committee and the District. Near the close of the Winter term it was reported to the Com- mittee, that there was a general feeling, on the part of the pa- rents, that a change of teachers would benefit the school; that there was a perceptible change from its former high rank; but your committee had made no such discovery, and were happy to learn that, at their annual meeting, the District voted to re- tain her ; nineteen for, and two against.
DISTRICT NO. 2
This school-house is not so convenient for the teacher and scholars as it should be. There are more children in this Dis-
6
trict that attend school, than in District No. 1, yet the room is about one-half or one-third smaller. There is no unnecessary room in the former school-house. This District, or the Town, would do well to re-model this house after the pattern of Dis- trict No. 1. If this building was designed for graded schools, it can hardly be conceived how a poorer arrangement could be made. In the large room one of the black-boards is so high as not to be conveniently reached from the floor, and the other, where it cannot be well seen from the teacher's desk. No seats or desks should touch the walls. A free passage between the seats and the walls is needed for the teacher and scholars ; black-boards placed between the windows, and opposite the teacher's desk. The small apartment is worse; there are no conveniences for the teacher or pupils. The teacher has no desk deserving the name, and one broken chair,-the children crowded into one end of a narrow room, with one alley to ac- commodate three or four children on a seat on each side of it, when, if one is called out,. the others must remove to give room. The stove is so placed as to overheat many of them, and in summer they are so boxed up, as almost to produce suf- focation. There is bnt one entrance and egress to both apart- ments,- no place for the clothing, except on the wood-pile, in the north end of a narrow entry. We do not wish to exag- gerate, and we appeal to the District if there is not " more truth than poetry " in the statement. If no alteration can be made at present, then the building needs the plane, and the white-wash brush, and chairs, if nothing more.
Miss Mercie J. Packard had charge of all the scholars in this District during the Summer term, and her labors were en- tirely satisfactory. Mr. George T. Chandler taught the larger scholars in the Winter, two and a half months, with good suc- cess. Mrs. Mary J. Simmons had the care of the small chil- dren two and a half months in the Winter, and, we believe, did all she could.
7
DISTRICT NO. 3.
This school-house was modelled after the one in District No. 1 but a few years since, and was put in perfect order. It is now almost a complete wreck. Blame must be attached somewhere. It has not all been done this Winter. When a building begins to go to decay, and no pains are taken to re- pair it, it soon goes to ruin. We are happy to learn that the District has voted to restore it to its former beauty this Spring. Would it not be good economy to employ some suitable person in the vicinity of the school-house, to have the care of it, in the absence of the teacher, and when the school is in operation hold him or her accountable ? Much of the injury is done dur- ing the intermission. When the teacher boards at a distance, or out of sight of the building, we advise that the teacher stop with the children in the school-room, at noon, and shorten the intermission to one-half the usual time. She then can see to the house, and who does the mischief.
Miss Elizabeth R. Paulding, a beginner, had charge of the school during both Summer and Winter terms. She had fifty- six scholars in the Summer, and we were agreeably disappoint- ed at her success. She was self-relying and persevering, and the school appeared very well at our visitations, and at its close. The Winter school was not so successful. A class of larger boys attended, some of whom were disinclined to yield a willing acquiescence to her rules. Mostly in her absence, windows were broken, and other damage done to the building. After a while she was enabled to find out who had done. the mischief, but the Prudential Committee had gone to sea, and the windows were not repaired as soon as they should have been. Directly the scholars began to leave the school, and your Committee thought it best, after consulting with a num- ber of the parents, to close it. . If this had been the first time there had been trouble in this school during the Winter term, some blame might attach to this teacher ; but as it has been of
8
so frequent occurrence heretofore, it would be hardly just to lay too much upon her. She has many qualifications for a good teacher. A little more experience will enable her to become a more successful one.
DISTRICT NO. 4.
This school-house is tolerably convenient, yet it is suscepti- ble of great improvement. There are as many scholars as in District No. 1, and not so much room. This building needs thorough repairs. The painter, carpenter and mason, could make this building an ornament to the neighborhood, and a credit to the District. No modest person should enter it, until after the carpenter has been there. Mrs. Mary R. Crocker taught the Summer School, profitably for the District, and creditably to herself. She ranks well among our good teach- ers.
Miss Alice J. Hatch, from District No. 6, had charge of the Winter term. This school was shortened two weeks, as half of the scholars left school. A disease, believed to be conta- gious, had been in the school some time, before it became known to the Committee. The school closed with 22; the whole number was 48. But little progress was to be expected as a whole, yet in a number of cases there was good evidence of improvement.
DISTRICT NO. 5.
The school-house in this District needs re-modelling after the plan of Nos. 1 and 3. No convenient accommodations for the teacher, and very poor ones for the children, and none for spectators, or the Committee. It is not strange that the pa- rents and friends do not frequent our schools oftener than they do. The very best furnish but poor accommodations for them, and many provide none at all. Let our school-houses be large
9
and commodious, with suitable chairs, or seats, for half a dozen spectators, and let the room be kept clean, and the benches and walls free from vulgar knives and obscene chalk, so that deli- cacy and refinement can enter without offence, and no doubt your schools will be more frequented, and the character of your children more pure and chaste. These suggestions are not ap- plicable to this District particularly ; but to nearly every one in the town. .
Miss Bethia H. Cobb taught the Summer school. The Winter term was taught by Miss Mercie J. Packard, from D'is- trict No. 2, whose labors were very acceptable to the parents, and were duly appreciated by the Committee.
,
DISTRICT NO. 6.
This school-house is a disgrace to a civilized and respectable community, (as it is well known this District is). It is not worth repairing. The general plan is well enough, except it ' wants side aisles, and a place for the black-board in front of the teacher's desk. The whole building, including the entry, is none too large for even the small number of scholars who at- tend school. As it is, and has been for years past, it is a mere mosquito trap in summer, and a most convenient fever trap in winter. It is remarkable that half the children have not died of colds and fevers, from exposure. It is not strange that this school is so backward. The best thing to be done, is to abol- ish the District. In Summer, the school was under the tuition of Miss Alice J. Hatch, and was continued until the money was expended. No complaint has been made that her labors were not acceptable to the District.
DISTRICT NO. 7.
This school-house should be reconstructed in its internal ar- rangements, after the model of Districts Nos. 1 and 3. Side
2
10
aisles, black-boards in'sight of the desk,&c., and if nothing more is done, decency and neatness require the plane, paint and white-wash.
Miss Jane M. Pierce has taught the Summer and Winter schools, and ranks high among our successful teachers.
DISTRICT NO. 8.
This school-house is not well located. It is too nearly sur- rounded by water and salt marsh, too much exposed to cold and storms in winter, and greatly annoyed with meadow flies in the Fall, with a very contracted play-ground, unless the highway is included. Standing partly over the water or marsh, it is not favorable to health.' This building requires alterations to correspond to the plan of District No, 1. The carpenter, mason, and painter can make the improvements, without a very great expense, and all will be better satisfied when it is done.
Mr. Nathan T. Soule has faithfully and well taught the school Summer and Winter. No complaint or dissatisfaction has come to the knowledge of your Committee. The Winter school was prolonged four weeks by the voluntary contributions of the friends in the district, and the teacher gave one week in addition.
DISTRICT NO. 9.
This school-house is pretty well arranged for so small a school. The average number of scholars for both terms, is but thirteen, still it would be more convenient if the aisles were altered, as suggested in some of the other Districts, and some other repairs made, such as white-washing, repairing the paper &c. before it becomes worse. This is the only school-house that is suitably provided with chairs for visitors. It would be good economy for the Towu to abolish this district ; they would
11
save much more than the appropriation. The Tremont and Mill Brook schools united, would make a school about as large as Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4, and could be taught by one teacher as well.
The Summer and Winter terms were taught by Miss Georgie M. Loudon. No teacher can accomplish much in so small a school. In one of forty or fifty scholars, properly classed, there is some ambition to excel ; but where there is but one or two in a class, there is little effort put forth, and little progress made.
The teacher has been faithful and kind, and has the good will of the parents and children ; but the improvement is not so apparent as is desirable, except in a few cases.
DISTRICT NO. 10.
The school-house is comparatively new; its arrangements were after the model of Districts 1 and 3; it was well painted and the desks stained, and the children were delighted with their new and clean accommodations, and have taken very good care of it up to this time. Much interest was manifested in securing the services of the best of teachers, and they have been generally very successful. The children have advanced from an ordinary to a high rank.
Mrs. Abbie F. Blackman, an energetic, prompt and ready teacher, had the care of the Summer school, and good order and good proficiency were apparent.
The Winter school was taught by Miss Mary Abbio Tilton. She was presented for examination on Saturday evening. The school was to commence the following Monday. There was but little time for examination. It would not do to disappoint the whole District. All the best teachers had been taken up, and the Prudential Committee might not succeed in securing another, so that it was thought best to give her a certificate, This school was not quite up to the rank it had held, and the school-room was less clean and neat than it had usually been.
12
DISTRICT NO. 11.
Miss Mercy M. Delano taught the Summer term, who we re- gret to say, was obliged to leave at the close of the Summer school, on account of her failing health. For many years she has had the care of this school, and has ranked among the first. Her large experience, her lady-like deportment, her quiet self- possession, mildness of manner, tact in teaching, and ease and gentleness in maintaining good discipline, together with her general care of the morals of her pupils, their books, and the school-room, entitle her to the high rank assigned her.
Mrs. Mary A. Crocker, from District No. 4, taught the Win- ter school. She has the ambition, fidelity and perseverence to equal the success of her predecessor.
This school-house is in need of re-modelling after the plan of Districts Nos. 1, 3 and 10. The plane, paint and white-wash will improve this building greatly, and give the children a new impulse in learning; and, no doubt, awaken in them a pride to keep it uninjured from the knife for many years.
DISTRICT NO. 12.
This school-house has recently been much improved, and is now in good condition and convenient for the children, except it wants the side aisles and a better accommodation for clothes and hate. Miss Anna T. Keen commenced the Summer school, She was a promising teacher, but after a few weeks her health began to fail, and she was obliged to relinquish it to Miss Georgie M. Loudon, from District No. 9. Miss Loudon kept the term out, and gave as good satisfaction as could be expect- ed under the circumstances. '
The Winter term was under the care of Miss Abbie P. Jos- selyn. This school is too small (average 16) for a smart, act- ive teacher. Give her forty scholars, so that all her time will be required to attend to them, and her school will exhibit much
13
greater progress. Miss Josselyn will take a very respectable rank. after a little more experience.
If this District and No. 5 could be united, they would form a school about as large as Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, and one teacher could as easily govern them; and what would be saved in expense would prolong the school some months.
It sometimes happens that contagious disorders get into a school. · No teacher, knowing of such a disease, should allow a child so af- flicted to remain in the school an hour ; and it is the duty of those who have an interest in the school, to give notice to the Commit- tee at once, and especially is it the duty of the prudential commit- tee. Gen. Stat. chap. xli, sec. 8. says the School Committee shall not allow any child to be admitted to or connected with the public schools who has not been duly vaccinated ; and it is urgently re- commended to those whose children are liable to be excluded from school, to neglect the matter no longer.
You may now ask how have the children of the Town pro- gressed in their studies during the past year ? Can you discover any improvement in their manners or morals ? It is no easy mat- ter to discriminate so as to answer with certainty. If a general attendance at school, good recitations, and good behavior, and the cards kept by some of the teachers, and the rolls of honor are any criterion, we believe you will agree with us that the answer to both enquiries must be in the affirmative.
The Committee, at their visitations, have found much to com- mend, and but little to censure. But little corporal punishment has been found necessary.
A neat, commodious and well-painted school-house has great in- fluence in forming the character of youth to habits of neatness. They take much pride in keeping it clean and inviting, more care is taken of their desks and books ; also of their persons and ap- parel. Besides, the moral effect of a newly prepared house is almost as great on the parents as on their children. It would be natural for them to say : "My children, you are now going to school, in a nice, new school-house, you must try to keep it so ;
14
wash your face and hands, comb your hair, brush your clothes and take good care of them and your books. Don't play in the dirt and carry it into the school-house ; " thus inculcating good habits in the minds of their children at a tender and impressible age.
On the other hand, when the house becomes old, the walls smoky and battered, paper torn off, floor worn through, desks cut, and the building, outside as well as in, defaced by vulgar and ob- scene knives, is it strange if children become slovenly in their dress and vulgar in speech, and also in other respects become as- similated in their habits to the place they occupy ?
Early impressions, life-lasting, should be good.
The law makes it the duty of the prudential committee to keep the school-house in good repair at the expense of the District, and this does not require a previous vote of the District, directing him to do so; neither can he apply any portion of the school money for the purpose.
The Hon. Horace Mann, the first Secretary of the Board of Education, in his tenth Annual Report, page 52, says : " If a window frame is broken, if a blind loses a hinge, or a fastening ; or a door is without a latch, or the plastering has fallen from the walls, or the room needs whitewashing, or is tight and without a ventilator, or the seats need repairs to make them comfortable, or if the windows have neither blinds nor curtains ; in all of these, and all similar cases, it is the duty of the prudential committee to repair the injury or supply the defect. So in regard to chairs, shovel and tongs, andirons, brooms, mats, door-scrapers, sink, wa- ter pails, dippers or tumblers, &c. Emphatically, if the school- ' house be without an appendage which modesty and decency re- quires, and which may prevent unchaste thoughts, and indecent exposures from maturing into unchaste life, it is believed to be the immediate duty of the prudential committee to supply it."
Now how many of our school-houses are furnished with these conveniences? Let each district examine its house and answer the question.
T
15
Among the duties of the prudential committee, Mr. Mann says, page 55, he is bound, when authorized by the Town to contract with the teacher, " to give the Superintending Committee due no- tice of the time when the school will begin, and also of the time when it will close, so that they may visit it according to law." This is seldom done. This notice is usually obtained from the teachers, and it often puts the Committee to much embarassment, to so ar- range the day of closing the school as to prevent two or more schools closing on the same afternoon. Again, "he shall give the Superintending Committee the earliest information of any dan- ger from any cause, within his jurisdiction, which may impend over the school, and threaten its usefulness," It is undoubtedly his duty, if the windows, blinds, doors or benches, on the outside or inside of the building are broken or injured, to see to it at once, and have it repaired. On hearing of any disturbance in or about the house, if of a serious nature, he should give immediate notice to the general committee, that the difficulty may be re- moved without delay.
It is sometimes the case that parents or guardians feel ag- grieved at the punishment their children have received, at the manner the school is governed, or at the kind of books furnished. In either of these, or similar cases it is better to make the com- plaint to the general committee, than to have an angry controver- sy with the teacher. She cannot settle the matter, and oftentimes it would impair her efficiency in managing her school. Whoever seeks to influence the minds of children, in the school-room or out of it, against the teacher, or the prescribed order of the school, embarasses the teacher, impairs its usefulness, and prevents in any measure its success. Our statutes hold such persons liable to prosecution, and if found guilty subjects them to fine or impris- onment.
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