USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of Plymouth, MA 1894-1896 > Part 11
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Mr. R. W. Bagnell, Superintendent Water Works, Plymouth, Mass.
Dear Sir -- In reply to. your letter with reference to the condition of the Plymouth water supply and requesting information as to measures for improving it, I will say that the Board will advise you in this matter after a visit to the Town has been made by one of its Engineers, which will be in a few days.
The cause of the present trouble with the water is the presence in the water of the pond of a very large number of the organism "Uroglena," which has been present in the pond in previous years, but probably never before in such large numbers. I know of no method of preventing this growth. Flushing pipes has generally been found of no ad- vantage while the organism is present in large numbers in the pond, and it would probably be best to avoid flushing at such times.
Yours truly, X. H. GOODNOUGH,
Acting Chief Engineer.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS-STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.
PLYMOUTH WATER ANALYSIS - (PARTS IN 100,000.)
DATE OF
APPEARANCE.
ODOR.
RESIDUE ON EVAPORA- TION.
AMMONIA.
NITROGEN AS
NUMBER.
Collection.
Examination.
Turbidity
Sediment.
Color.
Cold.
Hot.
Total.
Fixed
Free.
Total .
In Solution ....
In Suspension.
*16,004
3
5
Very Slight,
Slight green,
0.02
Distinct pleasant uroglena,
Decidedly sweet and fragrant,
2.70 1.45 1.25
.0004
.0220
.0162
.0058
.69
.C030
.0000
.2348
0.1
+ 16,00€
3
5
None,
0.02
None.
None,
2.55 1.40 1.15
.0006
.0204
.0174
.0030
.75
.0030
.0000
.1240
0.0
#16,006
3
Very Slight Slight, fibrous,
0.03
None.
Faintly Vegetable.
3.00 1.50 1.50
.0006
.0172
.0162
.0010
.72
.0000
.0000
.1576
0.1
** 16,007
3
5
Very slight
Very Slight, Slight green fibres,
3.30
None,
Faintly Vegetable,
3.05 1.75 1.25
.0056
.0244
.0228
.C016
69
.0050
.0000
.4933
0.0
++16,008
3
5
Dis- tinct,
0.05
None,
Faintly Vegetable,
2.70 1.10|1.60
.0262
0180
0132
.0048
.60
.0050
-0000
.1638
0.1
##16,009
3
5
Very slight,
Very slight
0.25
Faintly Vegetable.
Faintly Vegetable andmouldy
3.85 2.15 1.70
.0004
0134
.0126
COOS
.67
.0070
.0000
.3268
0.1
Iron
Albuminoid.
Chlorine.
Nitrates
Nitrites
Oxygen consumed.
Hardness
Feb 1896
...
Loss on Ignition ..
-
*Little South Pond. tGreat South Pond. #Boot Pond. ** Lout Pond. ttHalfway. ##Billington Sea.
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Very Slight,
SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PARK COMMISSIONERS TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF PLYMOUTH.
MORTON PARK ACCOUNT.
Balance from 1894. $9 33
Appropriation
350 00
Sale of 72 cords of wood
23 25
$382 58
Expended for -
Labor
$362 74
Printing
7 00
Tools and seeds 5 27
375 01
Undrawn. .
$7 57
BATES PARK ACCOUNT.
Balance from 1894 $6 39
Appropriation 50 00
$56 39
Expended for labor
15 17
Undrawn
$41 22
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BURTON PARK ACCOUNT.
Balance from 1884 $3 09
Appropriation 50 00
$53 09
Expended for -
Posts, wire and lumber for fences $39 97
Labor 26 80
66 77
Overdrawn $13 68
BEACH PARK ACCOUNT.
Balance for 1894
$15 04
Appropriation
50 00
$65 04
Expended for
Labor $7 74
Hose
6 00
Lumber and labor for plank walks 23 50
Plymouth Water Works 1 00
38 24
Undrawn $26 80
TRAINING GREEN ACCOUNT.
Balance from 1894 $25 37
Appropriation 150 00
$175 37
Expended for -
Labor on walks and rolling grass $26 37
Removing and replacing board walks 8 63
·Care of grounds by B. E. Blackmer 125 00
160 00
Undrawn $15 37
Te
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BURTON PARK.
The appropriation for Burton Park not being enough to pay for the fences erected on the northeast and northwest sides and around the gully which has been planted with small shrubs and grass seed, the Commissioners have overdrawn the ac- count $13.68 and ask you to approve the same. On the other four accounts there is a total sum undrawn of $90.96.
Burton Park would be much improved by setting out shrubs, for which a small annual appropriation is needed for a few years.
BATES PARK.
On the larger part of Bates Park more depth of soil is needed to ensure the support of a good lawn, but no soil has been offered this year at a price low enough to justify its purchase. There seems nothing more appropriate than grass and a few trees and shrubs for this park. Some increase in the sum to its credit is desired, that soil may be procured whenever it can be done to advantage. It is probable that some fencing may be needed next year.
BEACH PARK.
At Beach Park, a plank walk has been built, extending from the wooden driveway to the shelter Pavilion. The waiting-room and the Pavilion have served their purposes very well.
This fourteen hundred feet of sandy sea-shore is much used by the townspeople and visitors from other places.
MORTON PARK.
Morton Park, after seven years' ownership by the Town, though only a woodland with large ponds, shows prominent marks of difference from any and all other woodlands in the
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Town, by reason of the care that has been used to encourage the growth of the better trees and the removal of the inferior ones, without materially changing the natural woodland aspect of the scenery, and also on account of the improve- ments made in roads and paths. This park has become one of the principal attractions to visitors to the Town. They enjoy its quiet wildness and natural beauty, and contrast it favorably with parks in other places.
The money appropriated this year has been mostly ex- pended in keeping the roads and paths from deteriorating. Some small white pines have been set out at no cost except for labor, and many promising young trees of pine and beach have had room made for them by removing inferior trees which would retard their growth.
The growth of the chestnut and white pine groves is rapid beyond anything that could be anticipated.
There is in this park an abundance of good gravel and some coarse stone. Whenever money is available to pay for the labor of using these materials, it will be easy to make improvements of a more permanent character than has been practicable in the past.
When the road on the west side of Little Pond, called Little Pond Drive, was first marked out by cutting away the trees and bushes, Mr. Harold Whiting volunteered to grade it roughly at his own expense. He did so, and used it one sea- son in driving to and from his summer home at Billington Sea before the Park Commissioners expended any money in grading it. Mr. Benjamin M. Watson has suggested that it would be appropriate to change the name from Little Pond Drive to Harold's Way. The suggestion is gladly received by the Commissioners, and hereafter that route is to be called Harold's Way, in memory of one who, by the upright- ness of his character, the simplicity, sincerity and kindness of
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his intercourse with our people, the refreshing and inexhaus- tible enthusiasm so freely displayed in his love of Plymouth and the region around Billington Sea, endeared himself to all who knew him.
In order to learn how much the beach trees in the park grow yearly, measurements have been taken of the circum- ferences of twenty trees for six years, and of ten other trees for shorter periods. The preferred height for measurement is found to be about the height of the measurer's shoulder, higher or lower if the limbs interfere, the exact spot on each tree being marked, generally by a large-headed tack nail.
The trees selected varied in size from two inches in diam- eter to thirteen inches. The greatest growth for any year of a single tree was one and one-half inches, or about one-half an inch in diameter. The average yearly growth of twenty trees in five years was one-quarter of an inch in diameter.
TRAINING GREEN.
Training Green is a constant reminder of the wisdom of the Town in changing it from a neglected " common " into at- tractive grass plots and useful paths, surrounded by a plain, yet appropriate and secure, stone curbing. It has been neatly kept by Mr. Blackmer.
It has been frequently suggested that our roads would be much, less sandy if a belt of protecting trees was left on each side. This is demonstrated by the fact that most of the very sandy pieces of road are where there is little shade, and also by the rapidity with which a fair piece of road becomes sandy when the wood is cut off from the neighboring lots.
Some owners of woodland show their public spirit by leaving trees uncut along the roadside, and doubtless more would do so if they realized the considerable benefit they would confer on the community by so doing, and the small personal loss they would incur.
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To illustrate these points let us take the case of a wood-lot bordering on a highway on both sides for one quarter of a mile. If the owner, when cutting this lot leaves strips one rod wide uncut, he would probably leave standing eight or ten cords of wood which might have a market value of $5 or $10, according to location. This money would not be lost, as the wood would still be available for use in case of necessity, and these belts would easily supply considerable fire-wood with- out injury to their use for shade; the owner would simply postpone realizing on an acre of his lot.
We ask the Town to appropriate the same amounts for each park and for Training Green as were voted in 1895.
Respectfully submitted,
NATHANIEL MORTON, HENRY O. WHITING, GEORGE R. BRIGGS,
Park Commissioners.
PLYMOUTH, MASS., January, 1896.
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MUNICIPAL LIGHTING.
Understanding that there is to be no formal report of the Committee on Municipal Lighting (appointed at the last an- nual Town meeting), the undersigned, one of the Committee, desires to state briefly to the Town certain facts and recom- mendations relating to the subject.
The writer has given some time to the collecting of reports and to a personal investigation of a number of electric light- ing plants. An increasing number of towns and cities in this Commonwealth, and elsewhere, furnish their own electric light, and at a great saving over what the same would be furnished by private parties. There is no apparent reason why an elec- tric plant should not be managed by the Town as economi- cally and wisely, and for the people's interest, as well as the highways of which the lights would seem to be a part, or as the public water supply; and in this State the private ownership of public water supplies is generally and properly dis- couraged. The City of Boston lately investigated this subject, and October 15, 1895, reported in favor of municipal owner- ship of the public lighting plant. The City of Salem is agi- tating the subject. The Town of Peabody owns its own plant. Wakefield has recently bought out the local company with certain attendant features not necessary to be duplicated. The Town of Wellesley owns its street distribution which it put in at a cost of $13,000, and purchases its current of a company in Natick at $6.00 per light. There are 504. lights.
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Marblehead has a population of between 7,000 and 8,000, and its valuation is nearly the same as that of Plymouth. The electric light plant there is exceedingly well planned and ar- ranged. There are 165 arc and 40 incandescent lights, cover- ing 35 miles of streets. In their forthcoming annual report the cost in detail of running the station for one day (or night) December 21, 1895, will be shown. The lights are run from dark to daylight, or all night, and the cost, after making all deductions, including interest and depreciation charges, was 233 cents per arc light, or $7.50 for 300 nights, or at the rate of about $35.00 per year for half night service, such as Plymouth enjoys for $75.00.
Many other instances might be cited, but perhaps enough has been said to warrant the recommendation that the Town instruct the present Committee, or some other, to investigate. and report on the proper method and probable cost of estab- lising an electric light plant to be owned and operated by the Town.
Respectfully submitted, WALTER H. SEARS.
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S
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
FOR THE YEAR 1895.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
TERM EXPIRES
JAMES MILLAR, 1898
WILLIAM W. BREWSTER, 1898
GIDEON F. HOLMES, 1897
HERVEY N. P. HUBBARD, 1897
ELIZABETH THURBER, 1896
CHARLES E. BARNES, . 1896
Chairman, JAMES MILLAR.
Secretary, ELIZABETH THURBER Superintendent of Schools, FRANCIS J. HEAVENS.
At its next annual meeting, the Town will elect two members to serve on the School Committee for three years.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
The School Committee respectfully submit their annual report for the year ending December 31, 1895, together with the report of the Superintendent of Schools.
The Town made the following appropriations at the annual meeting held in March, 1895 :
Support of schools
$28,000 00
Books and supplies 2,000 00
Credits $ 30,000 00
Expenditures, as shown in statement below 32,284 78.
Balance overdrawn $2,284 78
CLASSIFIED EXPENDITURES.
Salaries of teachers $21,556 70
Salary of Superintendent 1,435 00.
Salary of music teacher 768 75
Books and supplies 1,946 28 Coal 1,616 13. Wood
370 55
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Repairs $1,672 96
Printing 66 25
Rent 54 00
Truant officer 100 00
Flags, poles, etc 152 17
Binding books 69 75
Insurance premiums 226 25
Land at Cedarville . 25 00
Janitors and care of school-houses 1,681 13
Incidentals 543 86
$32,284 78
The cost of maintaining the public schools is a growing burden upon the tax-payer. Our Town has given liberally for the needs of its schools, yet they are not fully met. Each additional requirement coming from the State House, each new building with approv- ed heating and ventilating apparatus, and each new school add permanently to the running expense. Teachers are commanding better salaries, and we are liable at any time to lose some of our best teachers, by reason of better salaries offered from cities or towns that pay more than we. There is not a sufficient sup- ply of well trained and efficient teachers, and it is be- coming more difficult to fill the vacancies without impairing the efficiency of the schools.
Our system of grading the salaries is an unfortunate one, being regulated by the grade of the school, and not by the success of the teacher. This should be
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changed whenever it is possible to do so. Our primary schools require the very best of teachers and under the present system, teachers who are well adapted to the work, and particularly successful in it, are dissatis- fied, and are anxious to go up to another grade, for the increase of pay. We now have many that it would be a misfortune to lose, and we have felt compelled to in- crease some of the salaries, as will be shown by the accompanying statement.
The Town has authorized the construction of two new school buildings, and the abandonment of the building on School Street, also the old one near Cold Spring. The delay in the construction of the new building on Russell Street (which is through no fault of the contractor), has made it impossible to give up the School Street building, but we hope to do so in a few months. Your Committee are reluctant to build a new building at Cold Spring, not only because it is difficult to find a suitable lot, but we believe it to be of great advantage to bring the schools together, and would discourage the construction of isolated, or de- tached, school-houses. We understand that the Town has expressed its approval of this change in policy in authorizing the erection of the new four- room building, rather than a smaller one.
The vacant land in the lot of the Alden Street school was suggested as an available building site, but a careful examination has shown it to be very nearly all bog, and therefore unfit. This lot also presents unusual difficulties in the matter of drainage.
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The Cold Spring Primary School having become too large to remain under one teacher, and no other room being obtainable, the building occupied by the North Grammar School was divided, the grammar school taking the northerly half, and new primary school the southerly. As a temporary expedient this has worked well, and it is hoped that with the comple- tion of the new building on Russell Street, we shall be able to so arrange the schools as to obviate for the present the necessity for another house.
Should it at any time be found necessary to provide additional school-room at the North, it may be done advantageously by building on to the front of the school-house on Court Street, now occupied by the In- termediate School. The location of this building and the size of its lot offer an unusual opportunity for the economical enlargement of the building, and for the improvement of the heating and ventilating of the pre- sent school-room.
Repairs upon the school buildings necessitate the outlay of very considerable sums of money, but only such have been made as, in our judgment, could not wisely have been delayed.
At Cedarville, the building has been replastered, fit- ted with slate black-boards, a new floor laid, and the roof reshingled. The coming year the exterior should receive a coat of paint. The building on Court Street, occupied by Miss O'Brien, has been supplied with new desks and slate black-boards, a new floor was laid, and
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the interior repainted. The division of the larger building at Cold Spring, fitting it for two schools, compelled a rearrangement of the sanitaries, and this has been done in a satisfactory manner, affording a protection which is much needed at some other schools. We have been obliged to protect the High School building by painting the exterior wood work and the tin roofs. The sanitaries in the High School building have been connected with the sewer, and other changes have been made, which will, it is hoped, make the system more satisfactory.
Early in the year it was found necessary to secure the use of the Church building, on Sever Street, and we now have more than fifty scholars in that building. This school will be provided with suitable accom- modations on the completion of the new building.
A larger room in the Town House having been as- signed to the use of the School Department as a Sup- erintendent's office, the necessary furniture was pur- chased, and its cost is included in the items of expen- diture.
The expenditure for insurance was caused by the renewal of policies covering the High School build- ing for the term of five years, for the sum of $22,000.
This is the only insurance carried by the School Department, it having been the policy of the Town to insure its own buildings ; if a change in this policy is desired, the Committee should be so instructed.
In compliance with the vote of the Town, the
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Cedarville School-house lot has been enlarged by the purchase of the triangular piece of land lying on the Southerly side, thus extending it to the new road. The Town having made no provision therefor, pay- ment for the same was made from the regular appro- priation for schools.
In accordance with the requirements of recent legislation, all school buildings, not already supplied, have been furnished with flags and poles. Even with the greatest care on the part of the teachers, the flags are frequently torn, and are liable to suffer great wear by the exposure now required by law. Repairing and replacing these flags and poles will make a consider- able item of expense in each coming year.
Your Committee believe, that if the children now at the out-lying schools, could be brought to the central district, they would profit greatly by the change. With this in view, we have sought to discontinue the small school at South Ponds, but, not having been able to make satisfactory provision in the matter of transportation for the safety and comfort of the chil- dren, we are under the necessity of continuing the present arrangement.
In the past, we have paid but little attention to the provisions of the law requiring all children in the public schools to be vaccinated. By inquiries sent to other towns, we learn that they are very generally complying with the law. We have recently called the attention of parents and guardians to this law, by nc-
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tices in the local papers, that they might have ample time to comply with it. In the Spring, with the com- ing of warmer weather, we shall require all scholars, not exempt by law, to furnish evidence of having been duly vaccinated.
The School Committee are required by law to take, in the month of May, in each year, a census of all children between certain ages, and this matter should no longer be neglected. It will put upon the School Department a very considerable item of expense, un- less we can have the co-operation of the Board of Assessors. In that month the Assessors make a can- vass of the Town, and, apparently, it would be adding but little to their labors, or to the cost of their service, should they procure this information. Otherwise, the Committee must employ, at a considerable expense, some suitable person or persons to go over the same ground, and thus require an additional .appropriation, or lessen the amount applicable to other school pur- poses. The Committee do not feel that they can properly arrange with the Assessors personally to do this work, for they will at that time be receiving pay by the day from the Town, and we therefore ask the Town to instruct the Board of Assessors to give to the School Committee a list of the names, ages, and places of residence of all children in the Town, be- tween the ages of five and fifteen years.
The Town having duly authorized the School Com- mittee to employ a Superintendent of Schools, Mr.
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Francis J. Heavens was selected with entire unan- imity, and has been engaged to serve for one year at a salary of $2,000. We feel that the Town is very for- tunate in having the benefit of his experience, skill and energy, and we desire to call special attention to his able report herewith submitted, heartily endorsing each recommendation therein contained.
Your Committee have not found it possible to con- duct this department in a satisfactory manner with the appropriation as provided by the Town for the last year- We, therefore, ask for an appropriation of $35,000 to meet the expenses of the. School Depart- ment for the present year, including therein the cost of books and supplies usually provided for by a special appropriation.
Respectfully submitted,
JAMES MILLAR, ELIZABETH THURBER,
CHARLES E. BARNES,
GIDEON F. HOLMES,
HERVEY N. P. HUBBARD,
WILLIAM W. BREWSTER, J
PLYMOUTH, Mass., February 6, 1896.
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
To the Members of the School Committee :-
The following is submitted as the report of the Superin- tendent of Schools for the year 1895 :-
My connection with the schools under your charge is too recent to permit my presenting any complete report. I have endeavored, during my stay here, to become acquainted with the methods, character and spirit of your schools, to com- pare their opportunities and results, and to note their weak- nesses and excellencies.
The plan of organization, the arrangement of work and the methods employed in the schools here are, in some respects, peculiar. They present unusual conditions and circumstances. These conditions have not come about by chance, but are the result of a well-defined policy. They bear the stamp of an intelligent purpose. But this policy has not always, perhaps, been corrected by comparison with the methods pursued and results obtained in schools of other intelligent communities, nor always modified by what exper- ience has taught is best for other schools.
However wise and successful the policy pursued here has been, I am strongly of the opinion that the needs of the schools of to-day demand some changes,-not so much, per- haps, in the principles underlying this policy, as in the methods of their application.
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The following suggestions embody a few changes which, if made, will doubtless tend to increase the efficiency of the schools.
TEXT BOOKS.
At the present time, in classes below the eighth year (Grammar School), there are very few text books in the hands of pupils. Indeed, excepting some reading matter and a few well-worn geographies, they have none at all. It is supposed that the teacher will supply the place of books, that she will be text book on the many subjects now required to be taught in the public schools. This method is success- fully employed in the German schools, to be sure; but in adopting the system here, there is no evidence that there ever accompanied it the definite and detailed outline of work, together with the multiplicity of reference books, maps, globes and other school apparatus, that are always found in the German schools. Or if these things were supplied, they have now very effectually disappeared. Nor, I think, would the present corps of teachers claim to possess that skill and training uniformly demanded of teachers in Germany to make this method of work a success.
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