USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > Town annual report of Braintree, Massachusetts for the year 1900 > Part 12
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The elements of the compositions shall be marked on the following basis of perfection: Originality, 30; spelling, 20;
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meatness and penmanship, 15; clearness of thought, 15; gram- matical construction, including also sentences and paragraphs, 10; punctuation, 10.
The author of the composition judged to be the best from each school will be asked to read his or her composition at the exhibition.
A committee of three will be appointed by this committee to mark the declamations and the sight reading, and a second committee of three will be appointed to mark the composi- tions.
Program.
Piano Solo Susie Avery
Address by Chairman Mr. J. W. West
Soprano Solo Mary E. Black
Recitation Cecelia B. McCabe
Recitation George L. Billings
Recitation
Olive S. Horte
Recitation
Ferdon Shaw
Banjo Solo
Carlton Beals
Sight Reading
Mary E. Black
Sight Reading
Donald McClellan
Sight Reading
Margaret Crocker
Sight Reading A. Cleaveland Palmer
Song, "Shepherd Boy," By Pupils
Reading of Prize Composition, "What I Would Do With
Ten Dollars" Mary E. O'Rourke
Reading of Prize Composition, "A Visit to Rome"
Hazel W. Varney
Soprano Solo Mary E. Black
Banjo Solo Carlton Beals
Song, "Spring" By Pupils
Awarding of the Banner by Albert E. Avery, Esq., Chair- man of the Board of Judges.
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The following were the percentages marked in the severai competitions :-
Compositions, - - Jonas Perkins 87-4
Monatiquot 85 %
Spelling, - -
66
66 72-1 10
Declamations,
66
70.4%
6.6 77.2
Sight Reading, -
76-50 80%
Average, - 76%
TO
Committee on Prize Contest: John W. West, President of the Jonas Perkins School Association; Thomas A. Watson, Chairman of the School Committee; and Irving W. Horne, Superintendent of Schools.
Judges on Compositions: Miss Ella' W. Sheppard, Mrs. Atherton H. Hunt and Rev. W. H. Alexander.
Judges on Recitations and Sight Reading: Albert E. Avery, Esq., William C. Harding and Mrs. George W. Stevens.
The spelling tests were given by Dr. John T. Prince, agent of the State Board of Education, and the papers were exam- ined and marked by Mr. George A. Walton.
The banner is 24 by 36 inches, of regulation blue banner silk, handsomely trimmed with gilt lace, fringe, cord and tas- sels, and is mounted in a mahogany case with glass front, and is suspended on the wall of the lower corridor in the Monati- quot school. The banner was presented by the Jonas Perkins School Association. It is inscribed as follows :
"1900.
"Presented by the J. P. S. A. to the Braintree Grammar Schools, for excellence in Declamation, Composition, Sight Reading, Spelling."
Attention is called to the variety of school training in which competition was required; it included what are considered the more substantial subjects, and if the contest is continued an- nually and is entered into in the right spirit by pupils, parents and teachers, it must prove a benefit to the schools.
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Report of Building Committee of Penniman Schoolhouse.
Financial.
Amount of Town's Appropriation ...
$15,000 00
Received of School Dept., special or-
ders, and furniture for Pond school
205 90
$15,205 90
Paid C. L. Mitchell, architect
Mackie Bros., builders
12,531 00
Grand Rapids School Furniture Co., desks, etc.
490 42
N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R. Co., freight
51 38
G. H. Holbrook, inspection
75 00
Orpin Bros., teachers' desks and chairs
62 00
J. A. Glass & Co., window shades, R. A. Gage, carting furniture .. William May, grading
49 73
$13,748 03
Paid Smith & Anthony Co., on con- tract, for heating, ventilating
and sanitary plant
$1,307 70
Due Smith & Anthony Co., on acceptance of plant
145 30
Total bills paid and due . . Less Cr. from School Com.,
$15,201 03
205 90
Actual cost
$14,995 13
Historical.
At the annual Town Meeting, on the 20th of March, 1899, a committee, consisting of Thomas A. Watson, W. H. Shaw, Irving W. Horne, Herbert W. Borden, Geo. H. Holbrook, Caleb Thompson and Geo. H. Arnold, was chosen to consider the matter of location, plans and estimate of cost of a suitable
450 00
33 50
5 00
230
schoolhouse for the Middle street section of the Town and to report at a future meeting.
The committee made its report at a special meeting of the Town, June 15th, 1899. At this meeting the Town voted to accept a lot containing about thirty thousand feet, on the cor- ner of Cleveland and Harrison avenues, which had been of- fered by Mr. N. Eugene Hollis for school purposes.
It was further voted that the sum of $15,000 be appropri- ated for the erection and furnishing of the building. In ac- cordance with the desire of the donor of the land it was voted that the school and house shall be named the Penniman. The same committee was chosen and instructed to carry out the purpose of the Town as expressed by these votes.
From plans submitted by several architects, those of C. L. Mitchell of Brockton were selected and he was chosen archi- tect and prepared the plans and specifications on which were based the estimates and bids of the building contractors. On the 6th of September the contract for erection of building was awarded to Mackie Bros. of Brockton. The contract for in- stalling the heating, ventilating and closet systems was award- ed to the Smith & Anthony Co. of Boston. Messrs. Arnold & Holbrook were made a sub-committee on construction and accounts. Mr. Holbrook acted as inspector. Mr. Horne of- ficiated as clerk of the committee and gave special attention to the heating and ventilation.
The house was completed, furnished, and was opened for school use Sept. 4, 1900. The formal transfer to the Town oc- curred Oct. 5. All contracts have been completed and ac- counts been paid except a guarantee balance to Smith & An- thony Co. which is held pending the final tests and acceptance of the State Inspector.
The duties of the committee have been made very pleasant by the harmony which has existed within itself, by the earnest co-operation of its architect and the faithful compliance with the terms of contracts and instructions on the part of all whose thought or labor has been invested in building the Pen- niman schoolhouse.
Respectfully submitted,
For the Committee:
G. H. ARNOLD, Chairman.
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Opening and Dedication of the Penniman Schoolhouse.
School was opened in the new Penniman schoolhouse, with the classes constituted as shown in the statistical report, on Tuesday, September 4, 1900. On Friday, October 5, 1900, the building was formally dedicated and transferred by the Build- ing Committee to the Selectmen and by them to the School Committee. Two separate exercises were held: one in the afternoon, principally by the pupils of the school, for the pupils of all the schools, the schools being closed for this pur- pose; the second in the evening, by the citizens of the Town,
Afternoon Program.
Mr. George H. Holbrook, Chairman.
Prayer Rev. C. F. Hill Crathern
Address, "Words to the Children" Mrs. Carrie F. Loring
Presentation of Flag Miss Marjery White Acceptance of Flag Mr. W. C. Harding Raising of the Flag By Pupils
Salute to the Flag
By Pupils
Chorus, "Star Spangled Banner" By Pupils
Flag Song Grades A and I Flag Exercise: Mildred Brown, Edith Morrell, Florence Ma- guire, Viola Brown.
Our Flag Lester Fuller
A Flag Day
Edith Clark
Our Flag Gardner Wilson
Quotations: Walter Delory, Warren Wheeler, Henry Dam, George Holmes, George De Young, Arthur Davenport, Maud Barrett, Eva Holmes, Mildred Dam, Grace Wheeler, Effie Roulstone, Sally Perry.
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Arch of success :
Character Arthur Davenport
Cheerfulness
Mila Gage
Industry Clarence Dow
Faith Annie Brown
Sincerity Ibrahim Morrison
Hope Alice Frazier
Courage Walter Delory
Virtue . Elsie Bunker
Perseverance Clifton Neal
Charity Angelena Drinkwater
Aim . Ambrose Frazier
Education Dr. T. H. Dearing
Chorus, "America"
Everybody
Ice cream and cake served by the Committee on Dedication.
Evening Program.
Mr. George H. Holbrook, Chairman.
Music
Cuff's Orchestra
Address of Dedication "Home and School" by Rev. Frank H. Palmer, Associate Editor of "Education."
Vocal Solo
Mrs. Geo. G. Ellsworth
Presentation of Keys to Selectmen by Mr. Geo. Henry Ar- nold, Chairman of the Building Committee.
Reception of Keys and Presentation to the School Committee by Mr. William W. Mayhew, of the Board of Selectmen. Reception of Keys by Mr. William C. Harding, Chairman of the School Committee.
Music
Cuff's Orchestra
Dedication Committee.
Mr. Geo. H. Holbrook, Chairman; Mr. Eben Prescott, Sec- retary; Miss Coralyn Lang, Mrs. G. C. Fuller, Mrs. W. G. Nixon, Mr. W. C. Harding, Mr. Louis T. Morse, Miss L. May Whitney, Miss Harriet C. Taylor, and Miss Mabel T. Knight.
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As will be seen in the floor plan, each of the two floors «contains two class rooms, a recitation room and a spacious corridor in which are located the pupils' wardrobes, boxes for rubber shoes. wash bowls, etc. Toilet rooms open from the recitation room on the second floor.
The building is constructed of bricks, the roof is covered with slate, and the windows of the class rooms are double. While the room on the third floor is unfinished, the roof is so framed as to permit the finishing of a large hall or other rooms, as may be needed.
The basement contains three large Smith and Anthony schoolhouse furnaces; boys' and girls' basements, each con- taining the "sanitas" range automatic flushing water closets; a coal room of forty tons capacity, and bicycle rooms.
The school was named in commemoration of the family of the mother of Mr. N. E. Hollis, the donor of the lot and the cesspool privilege on the edge of the meadow at the foot of the hill.
The classrooms are ventilated by the gravity hot air system.
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HOME AND SCHOOL.
(Address delivered at the dedication of the Penniman School- house, Braintree, Mass., October 5, 1900, by the Rev .. F. H. Palmer.)
HOW THE HOME MAY HELP THE SCHOOL.
The public school is one of the best expressions of our con- sciousness of civic responsibility. We pour out treasure lav -. ishly and ungrudgingly for the construction of schoolhouses,. the purchase of equipments, the hiring of superintendents and teachers, the furnishing of free text-books and for the thou- sand and one other requirements of the modern system of education. For what reason is this? It is because we clearly recognize our duty to make every effort to secure the trans- formation of the raw material placed in our hands in the per- sons of our children, into the finished product of ideal citizen- ship. Added to the natural love which we bear our own, is- the clearly perceived motive of social interest and race evolu- tion. Without education there can be no progress; without progress there is stagnation and death. The betterment of our own condition, the happiness of posterity and the very existence of the State are wrapped up in the germ which blos- soms out in the public school system. There is no more vital concern in our entire social experience than that which inter- ests us tonight as we meet to congratulate one another on the completion and occupancy of this beautiful school building. Here is the culmination of many forces and aspirations hav- ing their birth in the past; here is the witness of our present acceptance of high responsibility; and here is our hope for the future. This commodious and convenient building has been erected to be to this and coming generations what a no- ble fountain is to the thirsty travelers in the arid desert. Here our children may slake their thirst in the life-giving stream.
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of knowledge. Thus health and vigor shall be imparted to the body-politic.
But let us remember that these blessings will not come without strenuous and sustained effort. Building a school- house will never of itself educate and refine a community. Go- ing to college does not necessarily insure a liberal education. A young man may loaf and dawdle through his course and learn little or nothing. To obtain the best results of true cul- ture from school or college, there must be earnest work, seri- ous effort. To make this Penniman school what we hope it will be to Braintree, and especially to this section of the Town, we must have co-operation; the co-operation of teachers and pupils, of course: but more than this,-the co-operation of patrons and parents with pupils and teachers. The home must help the school. The influences thrown around the children outside of school hours, the example set them by their elders in the home circle, the interest taken in their studies, the de- liberate efforts made by parents to help educate them, the sympathy, consideration and support given to the teachers,- all these are absolutely necessary to the highest efficiency of this and every school.
Without this hearty co-operation on the part of all con- cerned we cannot hope to realize the best ideals of culture. With it, there is hardly any limit to the high and noble influ- ences which may flow from this fountain of learning to bless our neighborhood and this whole Town.
Let us, then, enquire earnestly tonight, as a theme appro- priate to this occasion, how the home may be made to help the school?
First, I answer, by appreciating the public school's true aim and purpose. This purpose is far more than merely to impart information. The mission of the school is not simply to stuff the pupil's mind full of facts as a doll is filled with sawdust. It is not primarily to load his memory with dates, and to place on his tongue's end the great events of history in the order of their happening. It is not simply to instruct him in figures so that he can transact business, or to acquaint him with the forms of speech so that he may read and write correctly.
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These things are of great importance. When we reflect on the extreme brevity of the time which alone the great ma- jority of our children can give to preparation in the schools for life's duties, it seems indeed essential that strong empha- sis should be laid upon the good, old-fashioned three R's, --- "Readin', 'Ritin' and 'Rithmetic." It is a shame that a boy should be allowed to pass through our public schools without once grasping with a firm grip the principles that will enable him to lay out a cellar wall correctly,-or to find the cubic feet to be heated or lighted in a hall or room,-or the square feet in a given plot of ground,-or how to compute quickly and accurately the interest on the deferred payments on a note,- or to express himself intelligently in public on a simple ques- tion of state or national policy. But when education is re- garded as of value only as it contributes to commercialism; when no good is seen in it save as it makes toward that which is immediately practical, then we miss its true end, and it falls short of its best usefulness.
We send our children to school not merely that they may be prepared to go out into the world and make a living. We send them here that the latent powers of every kind may be devel- oped within them ;- that the entire child may be enlarged, re- fined and cultivated ;- that the judgment may be corrected, the affections purified, the taste elevated, the ambition stim- ulated, the will set in control of the lower faculties, and the whole outlook of the mind upon the world of men and things broadened and clarified. We want the child to go forth from the school as nearly as possible a perfect man, a perfect woman, embodying the best results of true culture, standing always for what is high, noble and true in the community. That we may make of our children ideal citizens of the king- dom of earth and of the kingdom of heaven, no less than this should be the high aim of our co-operative efforts.
Let me repeat that in thus defining the aim of school life I am not wishing to underrate the value of the practical in edu- cation. On the contrary, I believe that the best practical re- sults will always follow from this broad culture. The more thoroughly the child is educated the better will he be prepared
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for all of life's duties, and the surer will he be to make a suc- cess of living.
The tasks we set our children in the school room have a. two-fold relation, they are partly formal and partly disciplin- ary. A boy studies algebra. He learns in a formal way the rules and performs the problems given him. But by and by he forgets the formal part. I dare say that outside of the. teachers who are present not a half-dozen of us in this audi- ence who once studied algebra, years ago, could now factor x2+2xyFy2. Did the study of algebra, then, do us no good? Yea, verily, it did benefit us. For in studying it our minds were disciplined and developed, so that now our judgment is sounder, and we are in general more self-controlled and level- headed than we otherwise would have been. The disciplinary results of study abide long after the mere forms are forgotten.
A friend of mine told me recently of a thrilling experience of his in crossing the English Channel. He was sitting on the steamer's deck conversing with a fellow-traveler,-an Eng- lishman. The morning was foggy and the engines were at half-speed. Suddenly, out of the fog loomed the hull of an- other steamer, bearing close down upon them. My friend saw instantly that there was to be a collision. In a single sec- ond a whole train of thought rushed through his well-disci- plined mind, though it afterward took him many minutes to recount it. He saw at a glance that the mast of the vessel he was on would be carried away and would fall where he was sitting. He thought of throwing himself overboard as a means of saving his life, but he rejected this plan as dangerous and inconvenient. He might drown, and would surely ruin his clothes,-which he did not care to do as he was just approach- ing London. His next thought was to throw himself over the rail and cling there until the mast fell. This plan he rejected also, on the ground that one of the falling spars might break his arm and thus disable him from swimming. He then no- ticed in a swift glance that on the outside of the rail around the deck was a slight groove with a raised edge. He decided to throw himself over and cling on by his finger-nails to this edge. He did so; the collision took place as he had foreseen ;
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the mast fell crashing upon the deck. As the boat careened he felt his body swing out over the water. In an instant it righted itself and he swung back against the hull of the vessel. Then he pulled himself up over the rail on the deck again.
All that I have related occupied less than a minute in the happening, but in that minute the Englishman with whom he had been talking, had entered eternity; while, by the marvel- ously rapid action of his trained faculties and by his wonderful presence of mind, my friend had saved his own life. This is a true tale.
I believe that as a rule in the exigencies of life the well-edu- cated, highly cultivated, fully disciplined man will show a bal- ance of judgment, a promptness of action, a completeness of self-control that will have a most practical and efficient value.
But perhaps some one will raise the objection to this illus- tration that the education which we want for our children is one which will fit them for their ordinary duties rather than for such exceptional experiences as railroad accidents and shipwrecks. To which I reply again that the best practical re- sult in common things almost invariably follows from a broad culture. There is a right way and a wrong way to wash the dishes and to poke the fire. It takes a trained mind and a dis- ciplined character to sweep a room properly or to make a bed in the best possible manner. Note the way in which your wife goes about the housework in contrast with the untidy ways of your untrained foreign servant. The one has system in all that she does, takes hold at the right end of everything and works according to a plan ;-- in short, puts brains, train- ing and good judgment into all her work. The other goes about it haphazard and helter-skelter; her kitchen is always in disorder and her work never done. The girls need the disci- plinary results of a broad school training as well as the boys.
The same thing holds true of work on the farm, in the shop, in the counting-house, everywhere. The boy or girl who has been carefully brought up and painstakingly trained will suc- ceed at anything that is taken hold of,-where the un- disciplined, untrained, careless, untidy and thriftless boy or girl will make a dead failure of life.
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It is by realizing this at home and co-operating in time in the family life, with the high aims of the school, to give our children a good, solid, all-around training, that the best re- sults are to be secured.
I remark, further, that the intelligent co-operation of home with school will be promoted if parents will bear in mind the three-fold nature of the child. A three-fold direction will then be given to our efforts to educate him.
The child is body, mind, and soul or spirit. He has a physical nature, an intellectual nature and a psychic nature. The home begins his training with the emphasis laid upon the physical. The babe is at first hardly more than a little animal and has to be cared for as such. Yet how soon the tiny brain begins to develop, and then his education proper commences. The school emphasizes the intellectual and its efforts are largely directed to developing and informing the child's mind. In many cases spiritual culture is relegated chiefly to the Sunday school and the church. But all three should be, and increasingly are, attended to by both home and school. The school that neglects the physical welfare of its pupils today is an anomaly and an anachronism, which is a classical way of saying that it is a "back number." Proper sanitation, suitable ventilation, the right methods of heating, lighting and seat- ing,-intelligent forethought for the eyes, the ears, the lungs and the general bodily condition of the pupils, are now legi- timate subjects for the consideration of teachers, school officers and town-fathers. We realize now as was not realized formerly, that a child cannot grasp the subject he is studying, retain it in memory, and develop and strengthen his mental powers when his baek is bent into an unnatural posi- tion, his lungs starved for oxygen, his skin alternately baked and frozen, his eyes strained, and his entire nervous system racked and tortured by an unhygienic environment.
Equally must we realize in the home that the physical con- ditions with which we surround our sons and daughters will largely determine their "smartness," their aptitude, their scholarship in school. We must give them proper food, in quantity and quality. We must see that they secure both
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exercise and rest in suitable proportions; that they are guarded from undue social exactions and distractions; that too great a nervous strain is not put upon them; that they go to bed early and secure plenty of good, health-giving sleep, which they cannot do if they are allowed to eat rich, in- digestible food at night, drink all the tea and coffee they want and attend frequent parties or roam the streets evenings.
A writer in a recent Outlook says that "it is an evidence of the advance of knowledge that the wise parent today studies the child and measures his physical development by the physi- cal standards that science has established. He keeps himself familiar with the best knowledge. Foods are no longer con- sidered merely the natural provision to meet the demands of hunger, but as the remedies, the protection, the substitutes provided to meet the physical needs of each body. This is one of the best results of child-study.
Precociousness and stupidity are regarded as symptoms, and no longer the cause of pride and shame. The physical causes are studied. If the child is stupid, his sight, his hearing, may be at fault. If he does not spell, an effort is made to discover whether he is deaf. If he grows tired quickly, common sense seeks to discover whether his chair and his desk are suited to his height. If he is irritable, it becomes a question of food. If he does not develop physically, it becomes a question of exercise and nutrition. The temple of the Holy Ghost is con- sidered worthy of the best care and intelligence that time and education have developed."
It is equally true that the home must co-operate with the school in that which is distinctively the school's work,- namely-in the development of the mental life of the pupils,- if the best results are to be secured. I wish I had time to develop this part of my theme as it deserves, but I must be brief. I firmly believe that one or both of the parents can do a great deal, with real profit to themselves as well as to their children, in helping, guiding and inspiring the mental life, the intellectual development, of their sons and daughters. This is coming to be recognized as a part of the duty of those who would intelligently accept the great responsibilities of parent-
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hood. It is rendered easier and more possible than it used to be by the multiplication of fascinatingly interesting and easily comprehended books that are published now-a-days, at prices which place them within reach of all. We who live here in the country can easily and happily interest our children in nature-study, for instance. Begin now to read with your chil- dren, this fall and winter, a chapter each day in such a book as "The Nature and Work of Plants," published by the Mac- millans. When springtime comes follow this with some brief walks in our beautiful woods and fields, taking along a book on "How to Know the Wild Flowers," published by Charles Scribner's Sons. Or in a similar way take up the study of birds with your children. This particular section of Braintree is an exceptionally favorable locality for bird-study. You will accomplish a great deal more than you would believe to be possible beforehand, if you will make such an effort even in a very humble way. You will awaken, inform and strengthen your own mind and find great personal satisfaction and pleas- ure in such studies. But far more and better, you will become companions and friends with your children in a new sense. You will help them in new ways in this most impressionable period of their development. You will awaken their minds to new interests and gain for them and with them new informa- tion that will be a lifelong pleasure and profit to them. They will always remember it of you and speak of it to each other gratefully long years after you are gone hence. The intellec- tual stimulus which they will receive will help them to grasp more intelligently all their other studies and will make them good all-round scholars. Their teachers will be quick to feel the impulse of such helpful co-operation, and the whole at- mosphere of the classroom will be improved.
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