USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > Town annual report of Quincy 1873 > Part 7
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The novelty of the library has now passed by ; and it may be said to have entered into its regular work as part and parcel of the every-day life of the town. Its circulation during the year has been 44,755 volumes ; making an average per day of 146 issues. Of this distribution, 48 per cent was of fiction, 31 per cent of instructive and other tales written for young people, and 21 per cent of history, science, theology, biography, travels, and other works of the solid class. Attention has been given by the Trustees, in the purchase of new books, to obtain the fewest possible of that negative class of which it is said, that, if they do no special good, they do no moral harm; and, so far as practicable, to purchase those having some positive merit. In adapting the library, however, to the wants of its
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patrons, it has been found that many books asked for were below the level which the Trustees had ventured to adopt; and of these, sparing selections were made.
The largest number of volumes issued on any one day during the year was on Saturday, Feb. 10, 1872, amounting to 410; the smallest on the 22d of August, counting 46 only.
During the year the reading-room has been used by 9,995 visitors, of whom 47 per cent were adults, and 38 per cent females.
The number of new applicants to borrow books from the library has been 882. These, added to the 1,320 previously registered, give a total of 2,202 residents of the town who have manifested a desire to avail them- selves of its privileges by signing the regulations for its use. Of these regulations it may be briefly said, that a year's further experience in their working has developed no reason for any change, except in the particular before mentioned, - of hours open in the evening.
The library now comprises 7,312 volumes, of which 2,705 have been added during the past year. Of this latter number, 417 were given by various public-spirited inhabitants of the town. The library also possesses 203 pamphlets, which, when increased to a sufficient extent to allow of classification, will from time to time be gathered in volumes.
From 51,805 books, the whole number circulated since the library was first opened, but two are at present known to be missing. Their loss was due to accidental circumstances, and was not in any degree attributable to dishonest intention on the part of the borrowers. In this connection, it is also most gratifying to state that the Librarian reports no books to have been wilfully or wantonly injured.
The list of books printed at the time of the opening of the library, in consequence of the large additions sinc », is now entirely inadequate to its purpose. The present pressing need is of a good catalogue. The Trus- tees propose during the present ye ir to issue such a work, and by means of its classifications to render the books more accessible. It will be vastly more convenient to the reader to find the desired book under its subject, if the author and title are unknown to him. The catalogue, properly con- structed, is the library key.
Of the collection of books forming the Public Library of the town, and with the further additions now to be made, it may justly be said that it will compare favorably with other similar collections in the vicinity and State, which do not largely exceed it in numbers. It has been formed upon the principle mentioned in the last Report, - that of obtaining the classes of
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books useful to the largest number of people. These will naturally con- sist of the past standard works of the language, of the most desirable of the books published during the past twenty-five years, and of the important issues of to-day. For the future, to supply the wants of all classes, pro- vision should not only be made to add moderately to the older books, but also to keep fully up to the demands of modern knowledge and civilization.
The Trustees take much pleasure in publicly commending the Librarian, Miss Hails, and her Assistant, Miss Bumpas, for their patient and assidu- ous attention to the duties of their positions.
In conclusion, for the expense of care and maintenance of the library, and for the purchase of books during the coming year, the Trustees would recommend an appropriation by the town of two thousand dollars ($2,000).
Respectfully submitted, WILLIAM W. GREENOUGH,
For the Trustees.
PUBLIC LIBRARY, Feb. 5, 1873.
Account of the Treasurer of the Public Library.
RECEIPTS.
To cash in treasury, Feb. 6, 1872,
$3,809 81
66
balance of town appropriation of 1871, 627 73
town appropriation,
2,500 00
of the town, amount of dog licenses, 624 19
66
for lamp,
12 00
from fines, 194 72
$7,768 45
DISBURSEMENTS.
For books,
$2,990 50
stationery,
55 49
66 binding,
233 30
printing,
300 34
expressage,
23 35
66 fuel,
208 21
gas,
253 00
salaries,
1,180 03
66 furniture and fixtures,
241 78
postage,
12 39
66 sundries,
101 32
Balance in treasury,
2,168 74
$7,768 45
HENRY BARKER, Treasurer.
QUINCY, Feb. 6, 1873.
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REPORT OF THE MANAGERS OF THE ADAMS ACADEMY.
IN accordance with the provisions of the bequests of President John Adams, made at different times to the town of Quincy, and accepted by the inhabitants thereof, the Adams Academy has been opened, and placed under the charge of Mr. W. R. Dimmock, LL.D., and has completed the first half of its first academical year.
The purpose of the school is to furnish a strictly classical course of edu- cation for the fitting of young men for the pursuit of a higher education. It was from the testimony of President Eliot of Harvard College, Rev. Thomas Hill, and many others, together with the fact that it seemed to be the plan of the illustrious donor, that the managers of the academy were led to adopt the plan upon which the school has thus far been conducted. The academy was opened on the first Monday in September last, with an attendance of twenty-three (23) pupils, six (6) of whom were from Quincy. The number has since increased to twenty-eight (28), seven (7) being from Quincy.
The large number of scholars who began with us exceeded the most sanguine expectations of the managers, and in our opinion has at once put the school on a comparatively sound basis. The progress has been very satisfactory thus far. Prof. Dimmock, who, as before mentioned, was selected for the position of master, has been very successful. The man- agers feel that the success attained, the pleasant relations between teacher and pupil, are in a great measure due to his untiring efforts.
The building has proved to be in every particular admirably adapted to its uses. The large number of pupils thus far makes it apparent that the entire building will soon be wanted for the school. Every convenience that modern times deem necessary is to be found in the rooms. The ven- tilation is excellent. In the cellar is a well arranged gymnasium for the use of the scholars.
In presenting this the first Report, the managers congratulate the citizens of the town upon the success of the academy, and our good fortune in hav- ing it in our community, believing that the best of results will follow from its establishment.
C. F. ADAMS, Chairman. L. W. ANDERSON, HENRY BARKER, J. P. QUINCY, E. H. DEWSON, CHAS. H. PORTER, Secretary.
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
OF THE
TOWN OF QUINCY,
FOR THE
SCHOOL YEAR 1872-73.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE FOR 18:2-3.
JOHN Q. ADAMS, CHAIRMAN.
HENRY LUNT.
ASA WELLINGTON, SECRETARY. CHARLES F. ADAMS, JR. CHARLES L. BADGER.
H. FARNAM SMITH.
BOSTON : PRESS OF RAND, AVERY, & COMPANY. 1873.
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
THE inhabitants of Quincy at their annual meeting in March, 1872, de- cided to build schoolhouses at Wollaston Heights and at North Quincy. This duty was imposed upon a committee composed of the School Commit- tee, the Selectmen, and Messrs. Pinkham and Perkins. It was found, however, to be very difficult to obtain suitable lots of land for this purpose at any reasonable price. The sites at North Quincy which were especially desirable in respect to aspect and accessibility were held at prices which placed them beyond the reach of the Committee. After considerable delay arising from this cause, it was found to be possible to obtain an elevated and very ample tract of land for the purpose, situated upon Squantum Street, at some distance north of the existing schoolhouse. The position is not so near to the river as the present distribution of population would render advisable ; but at the same time it will be sufficiently near to the Atlantic settlement as soon as Pitt Street is finished across to Squantum Street. This improvement, which has been in contemplation for some time, should now be immediately completed in order to afford a short and direct access to the new schoolhouse from the north. If it is further considered that the Old Colony Railroad is about to establish a station at its intersection with Squantum Street, and that the plain to the east and south of that street is likely to be occupied, in part, by dwellings in no very distant future, it may turn out, perhaps, that a sufficiently convenient position for the common benefit has been chosen. A fine lot of more than an acre was secured at a fair price ; and immediate steps were then taken to obtain the most approved plans for a building. Again, some delay was caused by unforeseen contingencies ; the fire in Boston having consumed the office of the architect whose plans had been accepted. It was also found to be no easy task to satisfy the requirements of the Committee for the sum which the town had voted for the building. But at last a contract was entered
4
into with Mr. William Parker of this town to erect a sufficient house for the sum of fifteen thousand dollars stipulated by the town. But it is proper to add, that it was found to be impossible, without too great a cur- tailment in accommodation, to purchase the school-furniture also with that appropriation. This will require a further outlay, which, with the com- pensation to be paid to the architect for his plans and supervision, and the cost of a fence around the land, will probably involve an expenditure of five thousand dollars, for which a further appropriation is asked. Ground has been broken already under the contract, and the building will be prosecuted to completion with all possible diligence.
The schoolhouse to be built at Wollaston Heights was not of such im- mediate and pressing necessity as that at North Quincy ; for the temporary accommodation provided in this place is by no means so inadequate and unfit as that extemporized for the infant school in the Quincy Schoolhouse. Indeed, the children at Wollaston Heights have at present more commo- modious appliances, in many respects, than the average pupils of the town. But the steady increase of the number of dwelling-houses in this part of the town seems to require preparation for a much larger number of school children. The Committee therefore procceded to secure a suitable and convenient parcel of land; and, in the execution of this duty, they were very greatly aided by the courtesy and liberality of Mr. N. F. Safford of Milton. This gentleman being the owner of a tract of land lying at the point se- lected by the Committee as best fitted for their purpose, he very generously conveyed the portion selected to the inhabitants of Quincy, in trust, for edu- cational purposes ; and the people of Quincy are indebted to his munificence for an excellent and valuable school-location. It will require some very considerable grading, however, to fit it for its new use. A plan for a school- house for this situation has also been determined on; and proposals for building it have been received and considered ; and it is probable that its erection will take place during the coming summer.
The fast and thrifty growth of the westerly village of Quincy has also engaged the anxious attention of the Committee ; and the needs of that pop- ulation have been attentively considered. Early in the year, they accord- ingly directed Mr. Badger to prepare plans of an addition to the Willard Schoolhouse sufficient to meet the immediate as well as prospective wants of that part of the town. His plan having been subsequently approved by the Committee, four spacious and airy rooms have been annexed to the schoolhouse in that district, which will doubtless render it ample for all re- quirements for many years. This expense was approved and provided for
5
by a vote of the town at a special town meeting held during the past sum- mer ; and the amount then appropriated is believed to be sufficient to com- plete and equip the supplementary building.
When further school facilities are next required in this part of the town, it will probably be deemed judicious to establish a new centre of education sufficient to justify a full gradation in all the common school classes, rather than to scatter mixed schools here and there without system, except mere local convenience. The point at which such a new schoolhouse should be fixed may not be far from the junction of Willard and Robinson Streets ; but, when it is decided to build here, the house should be of a size and arrange- ment for a grammar school, with at least three preparatory schools ; and until the population at or about the point indicated is nearly sufficient to fill, in good part at least, these schools, it is better to remain as at present, rather than to waste money in inadequate buildings.
And in this connection the Committee recommend the adoption now of some consistent policy which shall govern all future cases of increased school room as they arise. Some action looking to an ampler accommoda, tion both in the centre and in the south parts of the town cannot be long delayed. The Adams and the Coddington Schoolhouses must each be enlarged much in the same way as the Willard has been, or a large and complete new house, fitted for a full complement of graded schools, must be built upon or near Edwards's Hill. Either of these plans the town may pursue : but there is one plan which it ought never again to pursue ; and that is, to fix small mixed schools in isolated positions, merely for the sake of some local convenience. Such schools are never satisfactory ; and it is far better to allow the Committee to transport a few of the most remote and youngest pupils in bad weather to a really efficient school than to let them dawdle near home in the sluggish atmosphere of a school in the woods. Experience fastens no conviction upon members of this Com- mittee so forcibly as the abiding faith, that, to have first-rate common schools, you must collect your pupils in a few centres, and then classify them as thoroughly as possible. Speaking generally, we find that suc- cess follows in a direct ratio any improvement in grading. It will, then, be advisable to increase the size of our present houses up to a capacity of at least five hundred pupils each, as the occasion may require, adopting at the same time such improvements as may from time to time approve them- selves by experience. By this course, our old buildings, with a compara- tively moderate outlay, may serve all our reasonable demands for many . years. Our schools will become the more serviceable as they grow larger,
6
and the best results will be obtained at the least expense ; for, in such a system, one competent man has the whole general direction and supervision of the entire school of five hundred pupils, and with him are employed such a number of efficient female assistants as the work may require. These teachers will receive salaries proportioned to the responsibility, re- quirements, and toil of their several posts. We find that females are not only adapted, but carefully trained, to fill such positions, as well, or better, than men, excepting in the master's place, which sometimes requires a man's force ; and the competition is so great, that their services com- mand less than one-half of the wages of male teachers. We can, there- fore, with the employment of the same number of head masters at high salaries that we now have, with an efficient corps of female assistants at moderate wages, accomplish a better work than by the more costly process of new grammar schools. This is the method adopted in the cities ; and its efficiency and economy point it out as the best way whenever the density of population is sufficient to permit it. And, in accordance with these views, we recommend that the lot of land in front of the Coddington School, belonging to the estate of our late esteemed townsman William S. Morton, Esq., be purchased by the town for the use of that school.
GENERAL SURVEY.
It is not easy, in a survey so diversified and extensive, to be quite sure of the accuracy of a sweeping judgment upon the general condition of the public schools of this town. But with some allowance for the generality of the decision, and after averaging the results of many and various obser- vations, it is not thought that any marked or considerable alteration has taken place in the average condition of our schools during the past year. Indeed, the quality which has impressed itself especially upon the Com- mittee has rather been the stability and permanence of their tone and attainments from year to year. They vary slightly from time to time, and greatly under exceptional circumstances ; but the standard of education has not been notably advanced during some years, so far as the Committee can judge.
But, while this is substantially true, it is also true, that the standard has neither been lowered nor drawn back ; and it is possible that an eagerness for exceptional excellence may have blinded us to a steady and substantial, · though slow advance. To those who can recall the situation twenty years since, this may appear to be considerable; but a retrospect
7
of ten years will discover no very remarkable net results. Ten years ago, so far as we remember, the children read and wrote and spelled about as well as they do to-day ; and the fundamental rules of arithmetic were as thoroughly taught then as now. And at present, as in the past, most of the pupils who have finished the grammar course neither speak nor spell their own language very perfectly, nor read and write it with that ease and elegance which is desirable.
This immobility seems to show that a point has been reached which is near the natural term of such force as our present system of schooling is calculated to exert. The Committee has not thought it worth while to waste energy upon fresh fields of exertion : they have been contented with using every effort to perfect and assure thoroughness and clear comprehension in that which has been Heretofore attempted. The annual examination-papers at the high school, and careful observation, sat- isfied the Committee that a vast deal of patient effort is yet needed to in- sure greater proficiency in writing, spelling, and the elementary principles of arithmetic. Until these foundations are more securely laid, it is not worth while to attempt higher flights. An attempt has, therefore, been made, during the past year, to attain clearer and more accurate ideas of the real efficiency of our common schools in the first principles of an education, by subjecting each branch of ordinary study to a minute and special inspec- tion. For this purpose, a single department, such as arithmetic or writing, has been assigned to each member of the Committee ; and upon him has been enjoined the strictest scrutiny into its condition in each one of the schools throughout the town. The result has been to furnish the Commit- tee with a somewhat more specific and reliable detail of the standing of our pupils in the essential rudiments of learning than has been hitherto attainable; and the conclusion which has been reached is a determination to insist, with a renewed and increased pertinacity, upon an unwearied attention to elementary principles.
Greater interest and a sharper criticism must be engaged to improve our handwriting; incessant practice and a keener emulation must give greater accuracy to our spelling ; and patient and intelligent labor must gradually instil a clear and accurate perception of the reason and method of numerical computation. Until these things are more perfectly under- stood and performed, it is better to hasten very slowly.
It has been said that a point has been reached in our schools which seems to be near the goal at which common schools aim; and this is substantially true, taking into consideration the average age and average
8
attendance of the pupils. It must be remembered, that, in many of our schools, the attendance is irregular, and often intermittent, and ceases before a fair result can be expected. Oftentimes poverty compels, or greed seduces parents to withdraw their children for months at a time, or for good, from their hardly commenced studies. The result is disastrous to the child ; but it is also disastrous to the school. Every irregular or intermittent or abortive career in a school reduces the average product of that school and of all the schools. Now, it is of average results that we are speaking. The common-school system, therefore, can hardly be expected, under such circumstances, to do more than establish schol- ars solidly in the fundamental parts of knowledge. But it is not in- tended to say that greater results in this their proper field of effort may not be attained by a further modification of our machinery. There are at least two alterations which would probably increase considerably the net results of each year's endeavor. The first of these is the employment of a thoroughly competent and energetic superintendent of schools, at a salary which will permit us to insist that his whole time and thought shall be devoted to no other end than their improvement; the second is the establishment of a truant school.
In regard to the former topic : it is not intended by this recommenda- tion to urge immediate action, still less to impugn in the least the value of the exertions of a school committee. These committees are very useful in giving an education in many things to the members of the committee, as well as in securing a faithful general supervision for the children in the schools. It is, upon the whole, a truly admirable and democratic method of adjusting the action and re-action of the public and the private interest in education ; but at the same time, the intermittent and relaxed attention of gentlemen engaged in other engrossing pursuits, who can give but occasional careful scrutiny to any considerable portion of their charge, can never secure the exact and smooth perfection in every quarter which a really able man who is singly devoted to that duty can insure.
A small town can hardly afford such an expense ; but, as Quincy be- comes yearly a larger and larger town, it cannot be very long before the expediency, and even the economy, of an efficient superintendent, will be manifest. The vast interests involved, and the large sums of money to be expended in the discipline of two or three thousand children, will soon demonstrate the wisdom of expressly devolving this duty upon a separate bureau.
The other suggestion, as to truant schools, is now receiving the attention
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of the legislature. The evils of truancy are well known and obvious : its cure has long been sought. The presence in a school district of two or three idle and vicious children is not infrequently the cause of the utmost annoyance and anxiety to both teachers and parents. Necessarily brought into immediate contact with all other children at the most impressionable period of their lives, their example and influence is most demoralizing. To punish and reform them is to deal with the criminal class in its in- fancy. The truant school is, therefore, an essential part of any good com- mon-school system. Without such schools, teachers and committees are practically powerless : the mere knowledge of their existence, however, renders it almost unnecessary to use them. Excellent truant schools now exist in most of the counties of the State, which, though established in particular towns, can be made use of by all other towns in the county. In these the candidates for a future admission to our jails are taken away from evil influences, and, while they are unable to injure others, are themselves reformed. No such school, however, exists in Norfolk County. It is confidently believed that this want will be remedied in the course of the present year. Should this be the case, it is very desirable that the school committee should be clothed with adequate power to act, which can be conferred on it only through a by-law of the town, which is subject to the approval of at least two justices of the Supreme Judicial Court. The first of the two following articles is the form of by-law which has been adopted in Woburn, and in several other towns, to meet the need, and has been found to work well. The committee would recommend the adoption of both of these articles into the by-laws of this town.
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