USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > Town annual report of Quincy 1850-1864 > Part 29
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Children in Primary Schools require personal and indi- vidual care and instruction from their teachers, far more than those in the Intermediate and Grammar Schools. While a pupil
8
in a Primary School is reciting, very few of his class-mates are so attentive as to derive any material benefit or instruction given to him ; while all the others not in his class reciting are idle, sleeping or playing. It is not so in the higher schools. Instruction to one member of the class is instruction to all other members of that class. And while one class is reciting, the other classes are engaged in preparing for the next recitations.
In a school of forty pupils and less, a teacher has time to hear each one read and spell, to correct his mistakes and faults, to teach him proper habits of study, by devoting to him her un- divided attention ; and besides this, she has time for explanations and illustrations, which serve to awaken an interest in the child concerning the subject studied, and draw out his faculties.
All agree that the time, which is occupied in the manner referred to, is usefully employed. Indeed, we think even more time might be wisely spent in general exercises. In some Primary Schools in the State a recess is given at the expiration of every hour. Any discipline which aims to keep little children still and in rigidly erect postures for any length of time is injurious and hurtful. Exercises combining amusement and instruction should be practiced in the schools. Thus it is, that remarkable progress and improvement have been made by pupils in those schools wherein the little ones have been pro- vided with tablets, and also with slates on the margins of which were imprinted letters, figures and pictures. The attention of children is enlisted and their time taken up in imitating and copying these letters, figures and pictures. It is said that children so instructed easily and early learn to write, which fact of itself commends it to favor and adoption. Sewing has been introduced into schools in Boston with satisfactory results, and its introduction into our schools is recommended by some of their wisest and best friends.
But in addition to such exercises, children require personal attention from their teachers ; five minutes in a day are inade-
9
· quate to their capacities for instruction and growth. We see this verified in the comparatively rapid progress of those children in our schools whose parents instruet them at home, and also of those children who receive the undivided attention of teachers several hours each day.
Under our present system much time is misspent and lost. Time is lost at a period of life when the faculties are flexible and susceptible of improvement beyond any other period of life. Two or three years, it is safe to say, are wasted by many children by this imperfection and defect in our present school system. Of the children who enter the Primary Schools, the greater number drop off, on the way, before completing the course of studies in the public schools. Some quit school forever from the Primary department-more from the Inter- mediate. Comparatively few finish the regular course of studies in the Grammar Schools; and fewer still the studies of the High School.
Loss of time, however, is not the most serious injury to the child. Listless and slothful habits of body and mind are formed. Out of the school-house children indulge their ever active curiosity in a variety of ways of play and sport, but to sit an hour or more at a time, trying to obey their teacher's command to sit still, is unnatural and injurious to the health and mind, and even the morals of the child.
Moreover, it is a mistaken opinion that any one can teach a Primary School. Something more is required than a knowledge of A B C, and a will to subdue children into awe and silenee. Experience does not always make one a good teacher, for its lessons sometimes fall upon stony ground ; neither does the want of experience necessarily disqualify one ; some are endowed by nature with gifts and aptitudes for teaching.
It is through the feelings and imagination that children should be taught, as is made evident by their interest and delight in toys and pictures. Dr. Hill, of Antioch College,
2
10
recommends the study of the elements of geometry as one of the earliest studies, as affording visible and tangible forms for the exercise of the curiosity and imagination of children. It availeth little to a child merely to recite or repeat the letters of the alphabet or other simple lesson to the teacher a minute or two each day ; such recitations make but faint impressions. Teachers should bring from well-stored memories and cultivated and enriched minds, apt and attractive suggestions and illus- trations to excite the curiosity of the pupils. Under such teachings habits of attention and thinking are formed all uncon- sciously to the children, unaccompanied with those painful feelings which wait on efforts made under compulsion.
These things being so, it follows that there is a necessity for reforming our school system, by increasing the number of Primary Schools, and introducing into them all the well-tried methods of instruction. In these schools very many acquire the only school education which they will ever get, and we find in this fact an additional reason for efforts in this matter. We speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. We know men-every one knows such-who often lament that they had no school advantages when young. We know no one who regrets having had such opportunities.
INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS.
The Intermediate Schools are the best graded and most efficient of any class of schools in town. They are in the keeping of diligent and faithful teachers and the progress and improvement of the pupils, in these schools, during the year past, have been manifest and highly gratifying to your Com- mittee.
The mixed schools in the North District, at Germantown and Quincy Neck, notwithstanding the disadvantages arising from inequalities in the ages and attainments of their pupils, which necessitate numerous classes in each school, are in good condition and rank among the most successful schools in town.
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GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
In orthography, penmanship, geography, grammar, and par- ticularly in arithmetic, the Grammar Schools have made marked progress and improvement during the past year, while of reading we cannot speak so favorably. Less attention is given to this subject than its importance demands. The reading is too mechanical. There is a want of life, taste, distinctness of articulation, correctness of pronunciation, and propriety and justness of expression of the thought, passion, or sentiment of the author.
Surely there is no need of any extended argument in favor of good reading. That time is wisely spent in teaching this branch is manifest from a slight consideration of the subject. Efficient instruction in reading requires the application of precise and exact knowledge of the meaning of words and their true pronunciation, of the grammatical structure of lan- guage, some acquaintance with rhetoric and logic to enable the instructor to point out what is vicious or true in style and what is false and weak or strong and conclusive in reasoning. Good reading, as it requires proficiency in all the studies of the schools, is or ought to be the crowning excellence of our Gram- mar Schools.
THE HIGH SCHOOL.
Under the judicious management of the present Principal, sustained and seconded by the faithful assistant teacher, the High School has flourished during the past year and now gives promise of rising to its true place in the regards of our com- munity. Mr. Putnam having graduated from the Normal School in Bridgewater, and also from Amherst College, was deemed, by your Committee, peculiarly fitted for the place. We have found him a man of scholarly tastes, of practical wisdom, efficient as an instructor, impartial in performing his duties, exemplary in his intercourse with his pupils, and entirely devoted to his trust.
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The annual examination of the school, at the close of the school year, was satisfactory to the Committee, evincing thoroughness of instruction and faithful application and study on the part of the pupils. Accuracy and fullness marked all the recitations and performances. Thoroughness is the charac- teristic of the school. The relations existing between the teachers and pupils are respectful and pleasant.
It is a source of regret to us, that the advantages of the High School are not duly appreciated. The number of scholars attending the school during the past year, has been small. Of the causes which operate to deprive the young of the bene- fits of this school, the chief one unquestionably is the defect and inefficiency in the lower schools, on which we have dwelt in this Report. That period of life, which is devoted to ele- mentary education, is and must be very brief in the great majority of cases. If that period is misspent or misdirected, no proper time remains for the prosecution of higher studies, and so it results, that many boys and girls lose the advantages of the High School.
Nothing could be more detrimental to the usefulness of the High School, or to its reputation and character for usefulness, than a general admission of applicants, qualified or not. We have reason to believe the High School has, in past years, been prejudiced in the public mind, as well as impaired in its use- fulness, by the admission of pupils imperfectly qualified. To obviate this evil, the Committee adopted a comparatively high standard of qualifications for admission, the result of which was a majority of the applicants were rejected, but those who were admitted have proved themselves worthy of the distinction. Such a result has been productive of good, we believe, both to those admitted and those rejected ; while it may have disheart- ened some few of those who were rejected, it has stimulated the minds of the larger number to renewed exertions and greater diligence, and through them has exerted a good influence upon
13
those boys and girls who are looking forward to an admis- sion into the High School; and on the other hand, those who passed the ordeal successfully have taken pride in their success, and found therein reasons for continued diligence and higher efforts.
After much consideration of the courses of study pursued in the High Schools of Cambridge, Dorchester, Roxbury, Boston, and other places, your Committee have adopted one which par- takes of the general features of all, but which deviates some- what, in requiring a more thorough review of the elmentary studies during the first year. Hereafter book-keeping will be taught in this school and excluded from the other schools. We propose, also, to introduce the study of some work on Consti- tutional History.
The contemplated course of studies will embrace a period of three years, with the privilege, if desired, of remaining one year more, for pursuing of studies not in the regular course. It is proposed to give a diploma to all who complete the regular course of studies.
SCHOOL TEACHERS.
The schools have not been interrupted or deranged during the year by a change of teachers. None have resigned, and there has been no occasion for the removal of any one. While we are quite clear, that we cannot determine the relative merits of the several teachers in our schools, and therefore decline to make any distinctions which may be regarded as invidious, we cannot help publicly expressing our sense of the obligations our people are under to many of our teachers-especially of our teachers in the Primary Schools-for their patient, pains-taking, conscientious, and untiring labors for the discipline and instruc- tion of those committed to their keeping.
Of course there are different degrees of merit among twenty- one teachers. There is a diversity of gifts. The methods of
14
instruction are unlike. Some are zealous and devoted to their schools, and others give to them a divided attention. Some are enthusiastic in their profession, curious and eager to learn all the new modes and means of improving their own minds and the minds of their pupils, and alive to the manifold revelations of science, literature and art. Others, a few it may be, are content to move on in the ruts of the old ways.
As a general thing, the order maintained in the schools is good. Dr. Arnold, of the Rugby School, rejected with emphasis the opinion, that a boy should never be flogged, from the notion that corporal punishment was creative of a slavish spirit. Obedience must be enforced, and desperate cases require severe remedies.
While not objecting to this opinion, we do not mean to give the slightest encouragement to a constant and indiscriminate use of the rod. Much less would we have any one think, that an outburst of indignation, overflowing the bounds of decency and transporting the teacher into a rage, can have any other influence than to weaken his or her authority, and to disgrace himself or herself in the eyes of the pupils. Such an ebullition of passion is not respectable.
But worse than these things, are dark and frowning looks, accompanied with unintermitting chiding and fault-finding. The homes of many children are places where the voice of kindness and words of encouragement and hope too seldom come. The neglected and abused child ought to be dealt kindly with, and all the more so because of such abuse and neglect. How withering to their troubled spirits and struggling hopes must be the cold, harsh and censorious voice of a teacher !
"To meet a great exigency of civilization," says Horace Mann, " to save a considerable portion of the rising generation from falling back into the condition of half-barbarous or of savage life, what other instrumentality does society afford, than to send, into every obscure and hidden district of the State, a young man or a young woman whose education is sound, whose
15
language is well selected, whose pronunciation and tones of voice are correct and attractive, whose manners are gentle and refined, all whose topics of conversation are elevating and instructive, whose benignity of heart is constantly manifested in acts of civility, courtesy and kindness, and who spreads a nameless charm over whatever circle may be entered. Such a person should the teacher of every Common School be. Such a teacher by associating with the children of the school for a considerable portion of the time each day-by becoming acquainted with their various dispositions-by gaining access to their minds through the delightful medium of instruction ; and finally, by prolonging this relationship through all the susceptive and impressible years of childhood and youth,-such a teacher, so far as it may be in the power of any mental agency to do it, may mould the habits and manners of the rising generation into the pleasing forms of propriety and decorum, and, by laying their foundations in the principles of justice, magnanimity and affection, may give them an ever- during permanence."
PHYSICAL TRAINING.
The subject of physical education occupies a large share of the public attention, and more especially of the friends of the Common Schools. The war has revealed many errors and defects in our civilization, and among them the neglect of this branch of education is deserving our attention. It is deeply felt, that we have been developing the intellectual powers disproportionately to the physical, and that now, in the day of national trial and extremity, it would go far better with our people, if they were well trained in physical and martial exer- cises. Our educational system should aim to achieve, so far as education can achieve, a sound mind in a sound body.
The Committee take pleasure in speaking of this feature in Mr. Sandford's school in the North District. Mr. Sandford has
16
had the spirit and energy to make a beginning in these exercises by introducing them into his school. The expense has been small and the time occupied by them has not been taken from hours of study. It is but the initiatory step, we hope, to their introduction into all the schools. Mr. Sandford's established success will be a standing refutation of the ill-considered objections which are often made against them.
MUSIC.
On all suitable occasions, we have spoken in terms of com- mendation of any proficiency in singing which we have wit- nessed in the schools. We think these teachers worthy of gratitude and special praise whose pupils excel in vocal music ; for we believe this exercise is highly conducive to health, cheer- fulness, and purity of mind and affection, and also to the evolution of the many, varied, and marvellous powers of the human voice. On this subject, however, we beg leave to intro- duce a liberal extract from a report on music in the Public Schools, made to the school committee in Boston, in 1858 :
" Good reading, we all know, is an important object in the present system of instruction in our schools. And on what does it depend ? Apart from emphasis, on two things, mainly : modulation and articula- tion. Now modulation comes from the vowel sounds, and articulation from the consonant sounds of the language chiefly. Dynamics, there- fore, or that part of vocal music which is concerned with the force and delivery of sounds, has a direct rhetorical connection. In fact, the daily sounding of the consonant and vowel sounds, deliberately, distinctly, and by themselves, as the committee have heard them sounded in the music lessons given according to the Pestalozzian system of instruction, would, in their opinion, be as good an exercise in the elements of har- monious and correct speech as could be imagined.
" By the regulations of the school committee, it is provided that in all the Public Schools, the day shall open with becoming exercises of devotion. How naturally and how beautifully vocal music would mingle with these exercises ; and what unity, harmony and meaning might thus be given to that which at present, it is feared, is too often found to be a lifeless or an unfruitful service, need only to be suggested to be understood.
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"Music and the love of it has been and may be perverted ; who knows it not? Guard it, therefore; guide it; lead it into the right channels. But be not guilty of the illogical deduction of arguing from the occasional abuse of one of God's best gifts, to its disuse. No. Let. all parents understand that every pure and refined pleasure, for which a child acquires a relish, is, to that extent, a safe-guard and preservative against a low and debasing one. Music, when kept to its legitimate uses, calls forth none but the better feelings of our nature. In the lan- guage of an illustrious writer of the seventeenth century : 'Music is a thing that delighteth all ages, and becometh all states ; a thing as season- able in grief as joy ; as decent being added to actions of greatest solem- nity as being used when men sequester themselves from action.' If such be the natural effects of music ; if it enliven prosperity or soothe sorrow ; if it quicken the pulses of social happiness ; if it can fill the va- cancy of an hour that would otherwise be listlessly or unprofitably spent; if it gild with a mild light the checkered scenes of daily existence ; why, then, limit its benign and blessed influence? Let it, with healing on its wings, enter through ten thousand avenues the paternal dwelling. Let it mingle with religion, with labor, with the home-bred amusements, and innocent enjoyments of life. Let it no longer be regarded as the orna- ment of the rich. Still let it continue to adorn the abodes of wealth, but let it also light up with gladness the honest hearth of poverty. And so as time passes away, and one race succeeds to another, the true object of our system of education may be realized, and we may, year after year, raise up good citizens to the Commonwealth, by sending forth from our schools happy, useful, well-instructed, contented members of society."
SCHOOL-HOUSES.
There is great need of suitable accommodations for the schools in the Adams, Coddington and Willard Districts. In the Willard District one of the Primary Schools is kept in a private building. Another school is imperatively demanded in that District, which will require another school-room. In the Adams District a room will soon be needed for an additional Primary School.
At present, the basement rooms of the Coddington and Wil- lard School buildings are occupied by two Primary Schools. These rooms are unsuitable for such uses. They are low, dark, damp, and without adequate means of ventilation. To intro-
3
18
duce pure air, the teachers are obliged to open the windows or doors, and thereby the children are exposed to draughts of air -that is, to colds, headaches, fevers, and a variety of disorders. It is far better to let in the air in this manner, however, than to compel the children to breathe the foul and poisonous atmos- phere generated in those low, stifled rooms, by the lungs of some sixty or eighty children. Half that number of men con- fined in those rooms for any length of time, would die. No, no, this is a mistake-they would not submit to such oppression. Little children, however, make no complaints, and therefore it is taken for granted, by parents, it is all right. Sometimes, indeed, they go home pale and sick, and some of their mothers think their children frail and tender, and too delicate to go to school, some think they study too hard; but the seeds of dis- ease and death are oftentimes planted and nurtured, we believe, in our school-rooms.
All which is respectfully submitted.
GEORGE WHITE, Chairman, JAMES A. STETSON, WILLIAM B. DUGGAN, HENRY WALKER, GEORGE H. LOCKE, EDMUND POPE,
School Committee.
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GENERAL TABLE.
SCHOOLS.
Names of Teachers.
Whole No. Sum- mer Term.
Average attend-
No. over 15.
No. under 5.
Whole No. Win-
Average attend-
No. over 15.
No. under 5.
High School,
-
Mr. G. B. Putnam, Prin., Miss N. M. Dow, Ass't,
51
48
-
-
38
35-
-
-
-
Coddington School. Primary, No. 1,
No. 2,
.
Miss J. E. Underwood, .
81
59
76
50
Intermediate,
Miss A. A. Prescott,
54
45
54
43
-
-
Grammar, .
Mr. L. P. Forbush,
54
49-
-
-
60
56-
-
-
Adams School. Primary, No. 1,
Mrs. Francis E. Whicher,
95
57
90
59
-
-
66
No. 2,
Miss V. Richards, .
75
55
65
53
Miss L. M. Jilson, .
80
68
12
63
52
-
or
Intermediate,
.
Miss A. A. Holbrook,
72
62
-
-
71
56
-
-
Grammar, .
.
Mr. Steph. Morse, Jr., Prin., { Miss Sarah V. Wilde, Ass't, S
100
81.5
-
-
97
79.8
-
-
Willard School. Primary, No. 1,
.
Miss E. A. Newcomb, .
60
49
-
54
45
-
-
66
No. 2,
Miss E. F. Nightingale,
62
55
-
-
59
50.5
-
-
66
No. 3, ·
Miss Abbie Davis,
104
76
-
-
-
5
Miss M. T. W. Beal,
53
47
-
-
50
43
-
-
Grammar, .
Mr. Seth Dewing, Jr., .
72
61
14
-
69
60
14
-
Washington School.
Primary, .
Miss C. A. Thomas,
78
62
-
-
78
67
-
-
Intermediate,
Miss Harriet A. Clements,
79
56
-
-
73
44
-
-
Grammar, .
Mr. Caleb Murdock,
58
2
-
60
55
2
-
Quincy Neck School, .
Miss M. A. Holbrook. .
59
41
-
-
-
-
Mr. Austin Sanford.
63
42
-
-
52
40.5
1
Miss Ellaner A. Pope, .
37
30
-
23
17.5
Miss E. D. Drake,
28
22
-
-
28
22
-
-
-
62
53
-
-
Miss M. S. Thayer,
73
61
-
I
-
-
-
·
.
-
-
-
-
-
-
No. 3,
-
101
69
Intermediate, .
.
.
·
55
41
North School, .
·
Germantown School, .
·
ance.
ter Term.
ance.
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NAMES OF PUPILS IN HIGH SCHOOL.
LYDIA AVERILL. MARY A. BAXTER. SUSAN G. BAXTER. LIZZIE BENT.
ETHALINDA A. BRYANT.
ISADORE F. BUNTON.
ELLEN B. CHURCHILL. ESTHER A. CLAPP. ELIZABETH COLE. SUSAN M. CUMMINGS.
MARY E. DUGGAN. IDA EDWARDS. LIZZIE A. FLINT. EMMA A. FRENCH.
EMILY C. GLOVER. SARAH W. GLOVER. MARY E. HARDWICK.
HENRIETTA C. MARSH.
EMILY McDONALD. ANNA J. MERRITT.
MARY MUNDY.
ANTOINETTE NEWCOMB.
BESSIE J. NEWCOMB. ESTHER NEWCOMB. SUSIE . NEWCOMB. EUNICE NUTTING. HATTIE F. PENNIMAN.
HELEN M. PORTER. EMMA F. RUSSELL. MARY E. SARGENT. FRANCES E. SAVILLE. ELIZA C. SHEAHN. SARAH A. SOUTHER. MARIANNA WHITNEY.
WYMAN E. ABERCROMBIE. JOHN COYLE.
CHARLES A. COOLIDGE. JOHN DINEGAN. GEORGE F. EWELL.
DAVID A. JONES.
WILLIAM KELLY. JOHN MUNDY. P. JOHN O'NEIL.
CHARLES A. NEWCOMB. OLIVER T. NEWCOMB. HENRY PERKINS. WILLIAM PRATT. SETH T. PRAY. GEORGE RANDALL.
WALTER S. RANDALL. CHARLES SMALLEY. EDWIN S. WHEELER. ISAAC P. WILLEY.
THE
Auditors' Twenty-fourth Annual Report
OF THE
RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES
OF THE
TOWN OF QUINCY;
BEING ..
GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE FINANCES OF THE TOWN,
FOR THE YEAR ENDING
FEBRUARY 1, 1863.
ALSO, A LIST OF THE DELINQUENT TAX PAYERS, AND A LIST OF ABATEMENT ON TAX OF 1862.
BOSTON : J. E. FARWELL & COMPANY, PRINTERS TO THE CITY, NO. 37 CONGRESS STREET. 1863.
THE
Auditor's Twenty-fourth Annual Report
OF THE
RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES
OF THE
TOWN OF QUINCY;
BEING A
GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE FINANCES OF THE TOWN,
. FOR THE YEAR ENDING
FEBRUARY 1, 1863.
ALSO, A LIST OF THE DELINQUENT TAX PAYERS, AND A LIST OF ABATEMENT ON TAX OF 1862.
BOSTON : J. E. FARWELL & COMPANY, PRINTERS TO THE CITY, NO. 37 CONGRESS STREET.
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