USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of Plymouth, MA 1897-1899 > Part 13
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There are in every school, earnest, faithful pupils whose intellectual power is not equal to the effort of keeping pace with the main body of the class. There are others who be- cause of physical disability are not able to fulfil the require- ments of the uniform course, and still others who cannot find time enough to do all the work of the course. All these would be well provided for on the elective plan; and the criticism that the school is conducted mainly in the inter- est of the brighter pupils, or that many are overworked, and the objection of pupils becoming special students-since all would in a way be special students-would lose their force.
It is not hard to see that the plan suggested would be in the interest of better scholarship, and that it would be secur- ing it along the lines of least resistance, since the pupil's in- terest in the work he has elected is rightly assumed. There is no doubt that a diploma obtained under the elective plan means more than the one obtained under the present plan ; that it is a diploma better worth earning. since it implies a better education.
Of course, in a school as small as ours we could not carry out this system widely. We must still have classes and courses of work possessing some uniformity. But we can, perhaps, do more on the elective plan than we have yet done, and what changes are found necessary each year should be
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made to further this plan. It is the direction in which the work of the most successful schools is tending.
The graduating exercises of the class of 1898, Plymouth High School, were held Thursday evening, June 23d, 1898.
CLASS OF '98.
Leella Frances Barnes, May Winthrope Burgess, Jennie Foster Carpenter, Marion Aldrich Collingwood, Amelia Harriette Cook, Mary Ann Curran, Bessie Winslow Davis, Grace Fuller Farrington, Jessie May FitzGerald, Helen Louise Frink, Beatrice Augusta Hill, Mary Crocker Howland,
Sarah Howland Litchfield,
Eleanor Calderwood Saunders, Ida Lewis Sears, Dora Mabelle Sherburne,
Leila Louise Tripp, Percy Smith Bailey, Seneca Porter Brown, Harry Warren Burns, John Joseph Courtney, Edwin Kendall Holmes, William James McHenry, Bartholomew Sullivan.
RECESS.
At the present time the experiment of omitting the morn- ing outdoor recess is being tried in two of the larger build- ings, in schools above the fourth grade, which include seven
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schools having pupils ranging in age from about ten to fourteen years. This is being done at the request of the teachers and most of the pupils in those schools, and at the expressed desire of many parents that their children be re- tained in the school rooms during the recess. The experi- ment seems to be working well;the teachers report a greater degree of orderliness and more time and energy gained for school work without any consequent disadvantages.
Whether or not it secures more time for school work, the plan is certainly in the interest of sound morals and good manners. This is the testimony of the many communities whose schools have no outdoor recess in any of the grades. But it is not thought best to try the experiment here in the primary grades, though many parents of pupils in these grades object to their children going out of doors during the school session.
The arrangement provides for the primary grades about forty minutes each day-about one-eighth of all the time spent at school-to be used for indoor and outdoor recess. About twenty minutes is allotted to the grammar grades for the same purpose. This is ample time for changing thoroughly the air in the school rooms during every school session and for needed relaxation of pupils in physical ex- ercises of some sort. If in any case it is not found sufficient, there is more time at the teacher's disposal, which can be used for the same purpose.
TEACHERS.
In each school report for the past three years urgent request has been made that a larger sum of money be made available for teachers' salaries. Believing that a strong corps of teachers is the prime requisite in making and maintaining good schools, interest in the welfare of the schools urges me to repeat the request this year. Under ordinary circumstances, good teachers
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cannot be obtained or long retained at much less than their market value. The average monthly wages paid women teachers in the pubilc schools of the State the past year was $51.44. The average paid the teachers here was more than twenty per cent. less than the State average, and for the teachers in the primary schools-more than one-half the whole corps-the average was more than thirty per cent. less. These comparisons are not pleasant to make, and attention is called to them only because they explain why it is im- possible for the School Department to retain some good teachers whom it cannot afford to lose, and why it finds so much difficulty in securing such teachers as are needed to fill vacancies. It is sometimes counted a difficult task to build up and maintain good schools when the means at hand are sufficient to equip them with the best talent the market affords. The problem becomes a harder one when schools must offer much less than the market price in securing teachers to fill vacancies. It is not good business practice to give training and experience to teachers at the expense of our schools, and then pass these teachers on to other com- munities just when they have become valuable to us. Our loss is their gain, to be sure; but we do not take kindly to the loss, because the chances are that we must go through the same unsatisfactory experience whenever such loss occurs.
The state law requires that there shall be provided suitable school buildings, approved heating and ventilating appara- tus, an increasingly long school term with compulsory at- tendance, free books and other material,-all necessary to a certain extent; but none of these provisions are at all comparable with the supreme necessity of providing, or demanding that there be provided, sufficient means to place in every school a trained, experienced and successful teacher. Such teachers are worth all they cost, and it is good business policy to sacrifice many other things in order to secure them to fill vacancies as they occur.
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No event of the school year has caused so much genuine and widespread sorrow in the schools as the sudden death of Mr. Fred L. Diman. Mr. Diman had taught music in our schools for over three years, and during that time had won the warm regard of both teachers and pupils. The schools have been fortunate in securing the services of a teacher with the ability, earnestness and enthusiasm which Mr. Diman has displayed in his work. He has done much to elevate the standard of instruction in music and to bring it up to the high place which of right belongs to it as an important ele- ment in school training. The schools appreciate the excellent service Mr. Diman has rendered them, and they will long remember and respect him for his worth as a man and for his ability and enthusiasm as a teacher.
COST OF SCHOOLS.
Year by year the school laws of the state are made more exacting. The state demands that all children within its borders shall have increasingly good opportunity to secure, through the public schools, that larger and higher training which makes for a wiser and better citizenship. It takes the ground that the state has the first and highest interest in the child's proper training; that intelligent citizenship is a vital necessity for its continued well being, and that it is the state's highest duty to secure it at any cost. And the cost is not light. Every year sees an increased percentage of the state's valuation required for schools. The law demands that com- munities shall furnish a longer and better training to their children, and it makes this demand irrespective of the wil- lingness or ability of the communities to supply it. But the state recognizes the close relation of education to moral and material prosperity, and that the surest way to increase the one is to raise the quality of the other,-that wealth spent
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wisely for increasing the efficiency of the school is returned manifold in the enlarged material and moral gain of the com- munity.
Better buildings, better books, better teaching, better and longer opportunities for school training demand more money to supply them, and many places are heavily burdened to se- cure it. This community has in the past, heartily and loy- ally responded to such demands-has, indeed, in some meas- ure been the means of causing and increasing these demands ; since other communities, seeing the standard of school train- ing required here and elsewhere to be an increasingly high one, have required the state to provide by law a like stand- ard for all. This community occupies an honorable place for the generous provision she has made for her schools, for the good reputation the schools have maintained, and for the character of the men and women of large usefulness within and beyond the borders of the state, whose training was be- gun in these schools. The high place she has won and still maintains is both an obligation and an incentive to support not only the present standard of efficiency of her schools, but to make every reasonable effort to enlarge their opportuni- ties and increase their usefulness,-to make any present sac- rifice for a future larger good.
To this end the teachers and school officers ask the people to visit the schools, become intimately acquainted with their spirit and aim, give them their hearty and liberal support, criticise them fairly and generously, encourage all efforts tending to increase their efficiency and to make them more worthy the patronage and confidence of all the people. And the teachers and school officers on their part pledge them- selves to use to the best advantage, according to the meas- ure of their ability, all resources, both moral and financial, placed at their disposal for the welfare of the schools; to use their best endeavors to train those entrusted to them that they may become men and women of high purpose who love truth and honesty, men and women who shall hold sacred as
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a rich heritage, the long line of honored men whom the his- tory of this community recounts, and be inspired by them to become their worthy successors; men and women who shall protect and endeavor to increase the good name and fair fame which this people has won for itself.
In conclusion, I wish to express my appreciation of the conscientious work of the teachers, and to thank both them and the members of the Committee for their uniform support and forbearance during the past year.
Respectfully submitted,
FRANCIS J. HEAVENS, Superintendent of Schools.
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SCHOOL ATTENDANCE : REPORT FOR PERIOD JANUARY 3 TO DECEMBER 23, 1898.
Names of Schools.
Whole Number
for the Year.
Average
Membership.
Average Daily
Attendance.
Per Cent. of
Total Half Days
Number Cases of
Tardiness.
Number Cases of
Dismissal.
by Teachers. Truancy Reported Number Cases of
of Teacher's
Times Teachers
Number Visits to
Schools made by
Superintendent.
Number Visits
made by Parents and Others.
High School
61
84
132.3 238.7
128. 223.8
96.8 93.8
5751
251 770
66 219
0
19
191
142 80
34
North Schools-Primary
160
155
25
50. 162.4
46.3 154.2
92.6 95. 95.2
3177
196 554
32 190
6
2
SINH
119
84
Burton School
86
101
78
157.8
150.3
2854
439
96
14
9
59
71
School District-Primary Schools
125
121
158.1
145.6
92.1
5352
551
96
8
21
73
121
229
Mt. Pleasant School
95
00
178.9
170.
95.
3421
589
553
4
12
3
159
131
Mt. Pleasant District Primary Schools
96
75
132.5
125.2
94.5
3543
527
84
5
37
4
105
240
Chiltonville Schools
51
61
91.1
80.1
87.8
3525
525
71
1
16
or
15
78
Manomet Grammar School
27
=
27.3
23.6
86.5
1079
256
42
0
00
2
13
55
Manomet Primary School
14
18
28.
19.
67.9
998
179
13
0
4
0
9
21
Vallerville-Ungraded
19
7
17.6
15.6
88.6
872
225
61
0
13
8
5
0
6
1
7.9
7.3
92.
286
86
14
2
2
1
5
1
Cedarville-Ungraded
14
11
18.3
16.5
90.2
652
213
70
0
1
2
4
00
Long Pond -Ungraded
or
7
6.5
6.1
94.
173
15
0
2
0
4
6
South Pond-Ungraded
7
8
13.7
12.4
90.5
586
448
os co
0
5
C
6
1
Totals
876
851
1421.1
1324.
93.2
34637
5824
1623
58
209
316
851
1232
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5
15
North Schools-Intermediate
23
9
33
20 3
20
Cornish School
87
Cornish
Boys.
Girls.
Enrolled
Half Days
Absence.
were Tardy.
238
1448
Attendance.
of Absence.
920
Ellisville-Ungraded
LIST OF TEACHERS.
-
HIGH SCHOOL.
Agnes W. Lindsey, Principal, Literature and Mathematics. Grace W. Irwin, Mathematics.
Carrie L. Barker, Classics and French.
Alice B. Cushing, History and English.
Florence L. Adams, German and English.
Helen M. Hanscom, Science.
Bessie A. Roberts, Commercial Studies.
NORTH DISTRICT SCHOOLS.
GRADE.
I-2. Emma A. Stephens. 1-2. Marie L. Gribbin. I. Lizzie W. Sampson.
2. Susan Moorhouse.
3-4. Kate G. Zahn.
3-4. Susan C. Thomas.
5-7. Katherine A. O'Brien.
BURTON SCHOOL.
GRADE.
8-9. Charles F. Cole. 5. Clara M. Diman. 5. Cornelia D. Burbank. 3-4. Alice H. Blackmer.
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CORNISH SCHOOL.
GRADE.
9.
Arthur R. Gledhill.
8. Addie L. Bartlett.
7. Grace D. Chandler.
6.
Lydia E. Holmes.
RUSSELL STREET DISTRICT.
GRADE.
I-2. Bertha M. Briggs.
I-2.
Harriet S. Gooding.
I-2.
Helen A. Dunham.
3-4.
Teresa A. Rogan.
MOUNT PLEASANT SCHOOL.
GRADE.
8-9.
John W. Herrick.
7.
Augusta M. Morton.
5-6.
Mary J. Ellis.
3-4.
Etta M. Wilcox.
MOUNT PLEASANT DISTRICT.
GRADE.
I. Deborah Howland.
2.
Frances E. Weston.
I-2.
Lizzie E. Mitchell.
I-4.
Carrie L. Lanman.
CHILTONVILLE.
GRADE.
6-9. William Keyes.
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GRADE.
I-5. Martha W. Whitmore.
I-5. Kate W. Sampson. I-5. Mary A. Morton.
MANOMET.
GRADE.
6-9. Adeline S. Keith.
1-5. Ella M. Bagnell.
Ungraded.
VALLERVILLE Amelia B. Holmes.
Ungraded.
ELLISVILLE. Winnifred Ryder.
Ungraded.
CEDARVILLE. Alice G. Drew.
Ungraded.
LONG POND. Adeline M. Stevens.
Ungraded.
SOUTH POND. Gertrude C. Bennett.
-
Drawing.
Clara F. Robinson.
Music.
TOWN MEETING.
To either of the Constables in the Town of Plymouth, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:
GREETING :
In the name of the Commonwealth you are hereby directed to notify and warn the inhabitants of Plymouth, qualified to vote in elections and town affairs, to meet in Davis Opera House, in said Plymouth, on Monday, the sixth day of March, 1899, at nine o'clock in the forenoon, and in the Ca- sino, in said Plymouth, on Saturday, the eleventh day of March, 1899, at eight o'clock in the forenoon, to act on the following articles, to wit :
ARTICLE I .- To choose a Moderator to preside at said meeting.
ART 2 .- To hear the reports of the several boards of of- ficers and committees of the Town and act thereon.
ART. 3 .- To revise and accept a list of jurors prepared by the Selectmen.
ART. 4 .- To see if the Town will authorize the Treasurer, under the direction of the Selectmen, to borrow money in an- ticipation of taxes, and for disbursement under the provis- ions of the law relating to State Aid and Military Aid, and to defray the expenses of the Town after January Ist, 1900.
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ART. 5 .- To make the necessary appropriations to defray the expenses of the Town, and for other purposes, and to raise such sums of money as the Town shall deem expedient.
ART. 6 .- To see if the Town will appropriate the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars to pay the expenses of Decoration Day.
ART. 7 .- To take such action as the Town may see fit in aid of the Public Library.
ART. 8 .- To see if the Town will authorize the Selectmen to renew any note or notes heretofore authorized, which are now due or may become due the present year, for such time and on such terms as they may deem expedient for the in- terests of the Town.
ART. 9 .- To see if the Town will authorize the Selectmen to prosecute, compromise or defend any suitor suits within the Commonwealth in the name of the Town.
ART IO .- To see what appropriation the Town will make for the care and improvement of the various public parks and of Training Green.
ART. II .- To hear the report of the Committee on widen- ing Middle street and act thereon.
ART. 12 .- To see if the Town will accept and allow the alterations or widening of Middle street on the south side, as altered or widened by the Selectmen and reported to the Town.
ART. 13 .- To see if the Town will amend the by-laws of the Town in regard to wide tires, adopted June 15, 1895, by inserting the year 1900 in place of the year 1899.
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ART. 14 .- To see what action the Town will take in re- gard to extension of sewer from Howland street along Wa- ter street, and raise and appropriate any money the action of the Town may require.
ART. 15 .- To hear the report of the committee on Stand- ish avenue and act thereon.
ART. 16 .- To see if the Town will accept and allow the layout of Standish Avenue across the Plymouth & Middle- boro Railroad, as laid out by the Selectmen and reported to the Town.
ART. 17 .- To see if the Town will authorize the Select- men to issue bonds or notes of the Town to an amount not exceeding $6,000.00 for a term not exceeding 30 years, to be expended in working Standish Avenue and the payment of land damages on the same.
ART. 18 .- To see what action the Town will take in regard to restoring Eel River to its recent course to the harbor; also in making a new course for the river from the bridge now building, to the sea. (By request).
ART. 19 .- To see if the Town will vote to build a sewer in Nelson street, and make an appropriation for the same (By request).
ART. 20 .- To see if the Town will put in a fire alarm box in Billington street, near Standish Worsted Co., and raise and appropriate any money the action of the Town may re- quire. (By request).
ART. 21 .- To see if the Town will accept and allow the
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layout of Cherry street, from Court street to the woods, as. laid out by the Selectmen, and reported to the Town.
ART. 22 .- To chooseall necessary Town officers. The fol- lowing officers to be voted for all on one ballot, viz., five Se- lectmen, Town Clerk, Town Treasurer, Collector of Taxes, Auditor, five members of a Board of Health, one Assessor for three years, seven Constables, one Overseer of the Poor for three years, one Water Commissioner for three years, one member of the School Committee for three years, one Park Commissioner for three years, and three members of a Committee on Agawam and Half Way Pond Fishery, and to vote by ballot, "Yes," or "No," in answer to the ques- tion, "Shall licenses be granted for the sale of intoxicating liquors in this Town?
The polls for the election of officers and the vote on the license question will be open at the Casino at eight o'clock in the forenoon, on said Saturday, the eleventh day of March, 1899, and may be closed at four o'clock in the after- noon. Both of said days will constitute the Annual Meet- ing, and this call is issued in accordance with the vote of the Town, passed June 5th, 1897.
And you are hereby required to serve this warrant in the manner prescribed by a vote of the Town, by posting notices thereof in three public places in the Town, seven days at least before the meeting, one of which postings shall be in Chiltonville, and one in Manomet Ponds, and also by pub- lishing the warrant in the newspapers published in Plym- outh, and make return thereof with your doings thereon, at the time and place first above mentioned.
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Given under our hands, this 21st day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety- nine.
JAMES MILLAR, HORACE M. SAUNDERS, JAMES D. THURBER, CHARLES P. HATCH, Selectmen of Plymouth.
PLYMOUTH, SS. February 21, 1899.
Pursuant to the foregoing warrant, the inhabitants of the Town of Plymouth, qualified to vote in elections and town affairs, are hereby notified to meet at the time and place, and for the purposes therein mentioned.
BENJ. F. GODDARD, Constable of Plymouth.
TOWN OF
PLYMOUTH
1620.
ESC
CI
PLYMOUTH, MAU-
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE TOWN OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31
1899
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
Town Officers
OF THE
Town of Plymouth
FOR THE YEAR ENDING DEC. 31
1899
1620.
SIGI
E'
O
ST.T
PLYMOUTH THE MEMORIAL PRESS 1900.
PLYMOUTH PUEDE
32
/42-1899
TOWN OFFICERS.
Selectmen-Charles P. Hatch, James D. Thurber, Herbert W. Bartlett, Elkanah Finney, Thomas D. Shumway.
Town Clerk-Edward L. Burgess.
Town Treasurer-Edward L. Burgess.
Auditor-Frank D. Bartlett.
Collector of Taxes-Benjamin F. Ward.
Clerk of Selectmen-Benjamin F. Ward.
Assessors -- George F. Weston, chosen 1899, for three years; Alonzo Warren, chosen 1898, for three years; George Harlow, chosen 1897, for three years.
Overseers of the Poor-Charles P. Hatch, chosen 1899, for three years; Benjamin F. Ward, chosen 1897, for three years; Charles A. Strong, chosen 1898, for three years.
Water Commissioners-Everett F. Sherman and Increase Robinson, chosen 1897, for three years; Horace P. Bailey and George W. Bradford, chosen 1899, for three years; John H. Damon, chosen 1898 for three years.
School Committee-William W. Brewster, chosen 1898, for three years; Elizabeth Thurber, chosen 1899, for three years; Charles A. Strong, chosen 1897, for three years.
Burial Hill Committee-Selectmen.
Agawam Fishery Committee-Martin V. B. Douglass, Frank Harlow, Harrison O. Barnes.
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Park Commissioners-Nathaniel Morton, chosen 1898, for three years; George R. Briggs, chosen 1897, for three years; Walter H. Sears, chosen 1899, for three years.
Surveyors and Measurers of Lumber-Leavitt T. Rob- bins, Edward B. Atwood, Cornelius C. Holmes.
Sealer of Weights and Measures- Christopher T. Harris. Beach Committee-Selectmen.
Superintendent of Streets-Stillman R. Sampson.
Field Drivers and Fence Viewers-Hosea C. Bartlett, Wallace J. Nightingale, Nathan B. Perry, J. F. Turner.
Superintendent of Water Works-Richard W. Bagnell. Collector of Water Rates-N. Reeves Jackson.
Pound Keepers-Joseph F. Towns, Nathan B. Perry, Hosea C. Bartlett.
Committee on Inland Fisheries-Thomas D. Shumway, Charles B. Stoddard, Benjamin A. Hathaway.
Harbor Master-Ellis Whiting Harlow.
Board of Registration-J. T. Collingwood, appointed 1898, for three years; J. C. Cave, appointed 1899, for three years; Nathaniel G. Lanman, appointed 1897, for three years; Edward L. Burgess.
Superintendent of Oak Grove and Vine Hills Cemeteries -Edward F. Stranger.
Sexton-Ozen Bates.
Superintendent of Almshouse-Obed C. Pratt.
Board of Health-Selectmen.
Board of Engineers-Horace P. Bailey, Daniel M. Bos- worth, Frank H. Lanman.
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Superintendent of Manomet Cemetery-Sidney B. Black- mer.
Superintendent of Chiltonville Cemetery-Charles Rogers.
Constables-Michael Casey, Joshua A. Douglass, Joseph® W. Hunting, Benjamin F. Snow, Freeman Manter, Benja- min F. Goddard, Edward Manter.
Committee on Fire in the Woods-Samuel Bradford, Nehemiah L. Savery, Gustavus G. Sampson, Martin V. B. Douglass, Nathan B. Perry, Ziba R. Ellis, Joseph F. Towns, Nathaniel Morton, William F. Doten, Frank B. Holmes, Nathaniel T. Clark, Silas Valler, George R. Briggs, George H. Pierce, James M. Dowsett, Adelbert C. Finney, Herbert Morissey, Charles L. Woodward, Frank L. St. George, B. A. Hathaway, Charles H. Holmes, Benjamin Whiting, A. M. Haskell, A. J. Cahoon, Ulrich Schroeter, Henry L. Cahoon.
Committee on Sewerage-Selectmen.
Chief of Police-Benjamin F. Goddard.
ABSTRACT OF RECORDS OF 1899.
March 6. Voted, That the Town approve of the suggestion of the Water Commissioners to revise the tariff of water rates, with a view of greater equality, and a reduction of income so that the Town shall not make a profit from the same, over and above the expense and interest, and the annual amount to be paid upon the water debt.
March 6. Voted, That the Selectmen are instructed to make provisions for a uniform index of the proceedings of the Town and County Commissioners in laying out streets, ways, highways and roads.
March. 6. Voted, That a committee of three persons be ap- pointed by the Moderator to report a revised list of Town By-Laws with such additions and omis- sions as they may deem proper, for action of the Town at a future meeting.
March 6. Voted, That the Selectmen and police are in- structed to prosecute all persons and corporations who obstruct the streets, illegally by poles, posts, or vehicles of any kind.
March 6. Voted, That all boards, officers and committees of the Town which make annual reports, are in- structed to keep a detailed report at the Town House of their salaries, receipts and disbursements, but not necessarily to be published.
March 6. Voted, That the streets of the town are poorly lighted, and the Selectmen are instructed to take such active measures as may insure a better light.
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March 6. Voted, That the reports of the several boards of officers and committees of the Town be accepted and placed on file.
March 6. Voted, That the names of Alonzo L. Blackmer, William J. Bagen, Walter H. Sears, Richmond Talbot and Thomas C. Ellis be stricken from the list of jurors, and the names Benjamin Whiting, James W. Blackmer and John L. F. Schneider be added.
March 6. Voted, That the jury list revised as above be ac- cepted.
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