USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > Town annual report of Quincy 1881 > Part 9
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11. Michael Costello, jr .. of Quincy to Mary A. Hill of Braintree.
12. Patrick McDonnell. 3d. to Mary L. Haggarty. both of Quincy.
13. Wallace H. Butland of Quincy to Jennie L. Mason of Dorchester.
16. James S. Conant of Boston to Jennet Orr Bryant of Quincy.
16. Augustus Vincent to Elizabeth Mattie, both of Quincy.
19. John V. Allen of Braintree to Mary C. Page of Quincy.
20. Marcus M. Berry of Quincy to Sarah Ann Spear of Braintree. .
21. George H. Higgins to Emily A. Bosworth. both of Quincy.
.
181
Oct. 28. George F. Elcock of Quincy to Julia Scannel of Boston.
30. Eward A. Richardson to Josephine M. Haskell. both of Deer Isle, Me.
Nov. 2. Benjamin F. Howe to Louise M. Williams, both of Boston.
2. Harvey Bates of Marshfield to Adeline S. Grout of Worcester.
5. Telles Stone to Mary Marchand, both of Quincy.
7. Joseph Bersig of Quincy to Laura Hock of Boston.
7. Charles F. Rice to Charlotte E. Panton, both of Quincy.
18. Daniel Flowers to Mary Gillis. both of Quincy.
21. Michael F. O'Brien to Catharine F. Larkin, both of Quincy.
21. William F. Winneberger to Sarah Adelaide Pratt, both of Quincy.
21. John A. Bolger of Milton to Elizabeth A. Hurley of Quincy.
23. Patrick J. Cunniff of Quincy to Fannie L. Deane of New Bedford.
23. Gardner S. Prescott to Emma Christian, both of Quincy.
24.
24. John S. Lucas to Josephine G. Webster, both of Quincy. Anson L. Wright of Weymouth to Annie L. Thayer of Quincy.
Dec. 9.
24. James H. Elcock to Margaret J. Kelly, both of Quincy. Daniel McDonald to Annie Beaton, both of Quincy.
11. Sanford Davis to Catharine A. Fihely. both of Quincy.
13. Frank Hersey to Jane Hanson, both of Quincy.
15. William Curtis Pierce of Boston to Anna Moore Lord of Quincy.
23. John Spargo to Mary Allison, both of Quincy.
23. Charles H. Collins of Boston to Edith A. Faxon of Quincy.
24. James A. Ford of Quincy to Mary E. Clark of Wey- mouth.
25. Hobart N. Cutter to Lizzie A. Sias, both of Milton.
1
182
Dec. 28. Edward D. Allen of Quincy to Maggie E. McKenna of Weymouth.
30.
29. Franklin D. Rideout to Anna L. Reed, both of Quincy. George A. Bosworth of Concord, N. H., to Jennie Sampson of Quincy.
SUMMARY.
Number of marriages registered, 100
January,
. 8
February,
2
March,
.
2
April,
9
May,
5
June,
9
July,
10
August, .
8
September,
8
October,
14
November,
14
December,
11
Total, . 100
Number of persons married for the first time,
172
66 66 " second "
24
66 66
"' third
4
66
registered in 1879, 100
183
DEATHS.
Date.
Name.
Age.
January
3
Charles F. Ellis,
19
1
27
3
Mortimer F. V. Brucenahan,
2
4
22
6
Ann Foy,
1
6
9
Richard Larry,
63
16
Sarah Reed,
86
11
26
19
Michael J. Morrisey,
20
6
15
21
Hannah Collins,
1
5
3
22
Lorenzo Crittenden,
42
25
Perris G. Roberts,
77
8
25
Ada Belle Hayden,
3
9
17
27
Ann Sullivan,
78
28
Mary Hartney,
54
30
Ellen Riordan,
78
31
Mary E. Ryan,
26
7
Mary Ames,
17
3
16
7
John Donovan,
1
13
8
Ann E. Long.
74
9
Peter McGovern,
48
9
Theodore E. Perry,
1
3
17
10
Joshua H. Spear,
64
1
13
Lena F. Scannell,
33
6
15
17
Honora Phelan,
1
5
24
Mary Theresa Hayes,
7
8
26
Victoria M. Mabie,
1
27
Charles J. Greany,
68
6
March
-
John Dorrity,
12
3
6
4
Freddie Hamill,
10
6
6
Elizabeth T. Foster,
59
9
13
6
James II. Keenan,
18
6
9
9
John Hill.
54
10
Sarah A. Nash,
35
7
14
Marcia O. Elliot,
53
4
14
15
James A. Stetson,
73
2
16
15
Nellie Dowd,
2
8
21
18
Mary Ellen Delany,
3
7
20
Arthur C. Jones,
1
22
James Glennon,
73
9
12
22
Louis C. Cartier,
34
23
John Dada,
70
25
Margaret E. Flaherty,
18
25
Annie E. McPhee,
7
1
13
27
Margaret Thompson,
64
10
14
13
James Dolan.
14
John A. Melligan,
4
5
12
29
Delpha H. Damon,
3
7
Julia McCoughlin,
1
February
Years.
Months. Days.
23
184
Date.
Name.
Age.
Year- Months. Day ..
March
28
William Milford.
1
5
29
Elizabeth Reynolds.
80
30
Henry 1. Gay.
73
April
1
Brennan,
0
2
John Cunningham,
42
3
Joseph S. Beale,
79
6
14
-
George Curtis.
58
5
4
9
Ann Scannell,
33
12
Mary Ann Forest,
15
5
14
Angie E. Husser,
47
3
14
Robert Thoms.
15
11
6
15
David W. Perry.
75
S
4
16
Mary Callahan,
57
S
1S
Mary Jane Adamıs.
46
9
26
19
Susan W. Dexter.
.3
16
20
McDonald,
0
21
Emily A. Johnson.
45
5
2
21
Freeman Howes,
1
21
22
Ellen E. Totman,
32
9
24
Mehitable L. Lapham,
66
11
14
26
John M. Parlon.
65
3
Mary O Neil.
23
6
6
Margaret Riordon,
10
9
William H. Pratt,
35
16
9
Bernard E. Whalen,
7
22
10
Hannah McDonnell.
56
10
Edmund B. Taylor,
61
11
15
Morrison.
0
17
William Costello,
1
1
18
William Cooper. Sen ..
41
11
S
19
Sophia Newcomb,
S2
5.
27
June
4
Jeremiah W. Corcoran.
62
6
William Cooper, Jr ..
20
1
12
Francis McConarty,
2
6
3
13
Edward A. Bartlett,
39
5
12
24
Lilley Peabody,
91
24
Joseph C. Aulbach,
7
30
Edna D. Reeve.
6
9
30
William Rhines.
61
2
11
-)
Ralph Lowe.
61
3
1
Martha Burr,
61
1
4
1
James Gorham.
SS
1-
Mabel E. Howard.
2
3
10
Ethel F. Ricker.
1
4
12
Harris,
94
3
5
14
Henrietta M. Pitts.
4
19
Maggie Isabel Farrell,
1
20
-
18
Mary A. O'Neil,
2
3 h.
27
John A. McIntyre.
May
18
James W. Donovan.
5
14
5
Anthony Flaherty.
Charles F. Pierce.
45
July
13
Sarah Wood,
3 h.
1
185
Date.
Name.
Age.
Years.
Months. Days.
July
21
Mary Lavers.
33
21
Jonathan Newcomb,
84
22
21
Homer Bigelow,
1
1 21
21
Jolın Pender.
48
2 20
22
Gay,
0
23
James A. McIntire,
26
21
Thomas,
9
11
August
1
John Q. A. Wild,
57
2
25
2
Charles H. Jones,
31
21
4
Patrick Garrity, 2d,
60
20
6
Josephine Hayes,
5
16
9
Bridget O'Nei!,
59
2
10
Brista A. Acheson.
70
3
10
George Paine,
SO
10
Rogers Lewis,
57
5
12
Margaret Ford.
64
14
Ebenezer Cleverly,
63
4
11
19
Richard H. Leighton,
69
8
20
Paul E. Costaine,
3
3
23
Cornelius Lucy,
32
31
Susan E. MeLaughlin,
29
2
Thomas F. Curley,
1
6
18
9
Abram Prescott,
82
6
2
10
Lizzie A. Hall,
39
10
11
Flora McLean,
25
13
Mary B. Ditson,
69
9
13
John Merritt,
50
1
1
14
Lucy Faxon,
S1
9
16
17
Ellen O'Brien,
65
18
Michael F. Conniff.
5
10
20
Michael Walsh,
12
2
13
21
Alice F. Harvey,
32
S
5
30
Dugal A. McPhee,
2
S
1
October
1
Young,
2
11
3
William H. Reed,
52
3
Harry L. Fry:
5
20
10
20
S
Ann Maley,
26
S
Celina F. Holbrook,
55
10
Nellie M. McCarty,
1
2
5
13
Mary Ann Phillips,
1
10
14
Philip Eagan,
78
3
20
14
Hannah G. Williams,
38
4
16
Hugh L. Shearer.
12
18
17
William Ripley,
67
9
9
17
Mary E. Kane,
59
17
21
Belcher,
0
21
Thomas,
0
27
Maurice O. Turner,
31
Charles Ring,
8
8
4
Betsey Shaw Ransom,
September
1
11
26
Emma F. Locke,
0
1
Alice E. Whalan.
Elizabeth Shortle,
186
Date.
Name.
Age.
Years. Months. Days.
October
21
Frederick Ritter.
83
4
25
Hannah E. Pollard,
41
f
25
Mary A. Gavin,
45
6
27
Eugene Hamill,
1
1
S
November
1
Edward McBride,
46
11
5
9
Margaret JJ. Owens,
32
1
3
10
Edward C. Corliss,
23
10
11
Jolin Gordon.
32
7
13
Mary Hayes,
2
6
9
15
Daniel Phelan,
54
19
William Carter,
SI
9
14
28
Annie E. Sullivan,
1
5
1
December
1
Arthur H. Wade,
2
6
7
6
George F. Brickett,
29
9
6
Jolin Keenan,
1
4
9
Mary A. Amesbury,
56
9
Caroline S. A. W. Glover,
33
5
22
11
Ellen Keenan.
1
9
16
Nathaniel Hayward,
82
3
7
1S
Horace Totman,
1
5
23
William C. Ross,
1
6
22
26
William P. Kelliher,
7
27
M. Claudine Vogel,
28
Nettie F. Pope,
31
5
15
4
Joanna Butler,
4
Thomas Costaine,
87
20
Lydia A. Williams,
65
29
Mary Keenan,
10
5
10
3
Michael Cronin,
69
22
David Chubbuck,
Bradbury T. Carr,
1
1
187
REGISTRATION OF DEATHS WHICH OCCURRED IN OTHER PLACES, THE BURIALS BEING IN QUINCY.
Date.
Name.
Age.
Place of Death.
Jan.
4
Eva J. Sowersby,
24
Worcester.
28
Caleb Packard,
58
6 18
Marlborough.
31
Catharine Lucett,
80
South Boston.
Feb.
1
Adelaide E. Manning,
37
25
South Abington.
7
Rachel Nash,
81
Boston.
13
Julia A. Thayer,
46
2
Braintree.
13
Adeline G. Packard,
56
3 22
South Boston.
March
12
William B. Duggan,
78
24
South Boston.
19
Elvira Packard,
54
11
Boston.
23
Ellen Cosgrove,
28
Holyoke.
April
3
Hugh P. Lucas,
55
7
Milton.
18
Caroline K. Rose,
75
Taunton.
19
Amanda M. Johnson,
3
14
Boston.
19
James Gallagher,
43
3 16
East Cambridge.
May
14
Henry Frank,
27
19
Camden, N.J.
June
7
Willie T. Merritt,
4
8 14
South Boston.
9
Maggie Farrell,
27
Milton.
9
Priscilla R. Lawrence,
45
Worcester.
18
Warren E. Packard,
37
S
8
Danvers.
30
Frank Trepanier,
30
Boston.
Aug.
13
Ezra L. Elwell,
39
S 22
Boston.
23
Lucy Ann Fry,
21
11
Cohasset.
26
Fred H. Chapin,
8 13
Newton.
Sept.
7
Elizabeth T. Redman,
3
12
Weymouth.
16
Sevilla M. Holt,
14
4
New York city.
20
Benjamin F. Thayer,
25
Cambridge.
28
William Packard,
53
8 26
. Boston.
Oct.
8
Sarah E. Elwell,
1
15
South Boston.
10
Lucy M. Billings,
74
3
Taunton.
18
John S. Pearce,
44
9
13
Cambridge.
28
Josiah S. Leavitt,
26
21
Kennebunkport, Me. Boston.
Nov.
9
Ann C. Gay,
69
20
Louisa Hobart,
7
South Boston.
28
Frank L. Dealey,
10
13
Cambridge.
Dec.
11
Eddie F. H. Pease,
3
2
24
Boston.
15 Elizabeth Field,
96
South Abington.
21
Carrie A. Arnold,
1
6
21
South Boston.
Henry L. Hayden,
2
10
26
Concord, N. H.
20 6
16
Boston.
22
Abbie F. Rideout,
70
Bridgewater.
25
George A. Mears,
30
Tunstall, Eng.
17
William H. Garvin,
1
55
Ys. Mos. Ds.
73
188
SUMMARY. Total number of deaths registered, 226.
Females. Total.
January,
11
17
February,
12
19
March,
12
11
23
April, .
13
12
25
May,
9 11
4
13
June,
5
16
July,
11
S
19
August,
11
S
19
September, .
9
S
17
October,
12
14
26
November, .
7
S
15
December, .
10
17
118
108
226
Deaths under 1 year of age,
38
66
between 1 and 10 years of age,
66
66
10 " 20
66
.
66
66
20
30
66
66
18
66
60
30
66 40
66
66
66
18
66
.6
50
.. 60
66
66
22
66
66 70
66
66
23
66
66
66
66
18
66
66
66
15
66
66
66
66
2
66
66
66 95 " 100
66
.
1
226
Deaths registered in 1879, 220.
Number.
40
9
22
66
40 " 50
66
6. 60 70 80 90
80 90 95
Males. 6
.
REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
OF THE
TOWN OF QUINCY,
FOR THE
SCHOOL YEAR 1880-81.
School Committee.
JOHN Q. ADAMS, WILLIAM G. SHEEN,
JASON G. WITHAM,
EDWIN W. MARSH, GEORGE L. MILLER, ALFRED SAMPSON.
Superintendent. SYLVESTER BROWN.
BOSTON : H. T. JOHNSON & CO. 25 ARCH STREET. 1881.
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Shortly after the opening of the school year, Mr. Parker, the first Superintendent of Schools appointed in this town, re- signed his office to enter upon a wider field of labor in Boston. He had agreed when he came to give to Quincy five years of his life if the town should wish him to remain so long, and he was as good as his word. For five years the town had the benefit of his faithful, intelligent and enthusiastic ser- vices. In those years he transformed our public schools. He found them machines, he left them living organisms ; drill gave away to growth, and the weary prison became a pleas- ure-house.
He breathed life, growth and happiness into our school- rooms.
Year by year as the change went on the gradual process of transition was reported to the town, and year after year the town, by great majorities, approved the work and sus- tained its author. The Committee have never doubted that he wrought a great gain to education among us, and that our schools have been vastly bettered by the methods he intro- duced, the organization he effected and, the enthusiasm he instilled. It must not therefore be assumed, however, that we ever ignored the dangers which attend any attempt to substitute free development for rigid routine, or under- valued the usefulness of the latter as a means of securing automatic action of a certain value. Emancipation from arbitrary rule can only be maintained by a considerable and persistent and vigilant intellectual exertion. The tempta-
192
tion to lean upon formulas is almost irresistible, and but a short dependence makes them indispensable.
From this peril no " system " can insure, no " method " protect us. It mocks at bans and bars, and creeps into the class-room as fast as it can be turned out. We detect it everywhere ; in the mechanical aping of liberty no less than in servile obedience to forms. Free and spontaneous teaching is very precious, but a copy which lacks nothing of the original but its soul is a very poor thing. There are as dangerous ruts to avoid in our Quincy schools to-day as there were in those of the last decade. The constant oversight of a highly disciplined common sense should never be with- drawn from teachers who are trying to get along without crutches. We had found this in Mr. Parker : where were we to look for it when he should go?
We had long foreseen that in the same proportion that his dominant intelligence as a master, and his pervasive magnet- ism as a man, informed his school work, would be the diffi- culty of replacing him and carrying on his plans without dislocation or rupture. It seemed to be essential that his successor should be familiar with his theories and methods, and favorably disposed to his general system of school management. For while this Committee has never cared to enter the controversy as to "systems," which has . raged about the name of Quincy, it has never faltered in its deter- mination to hold fast the manifest benefit which our schools gained from the work Mr. Parker did in them.
There were results plain to be seen, before the eyes of every one, solid, substantial, unmistakable, and which could not be gainsaid or successfully questioned. These must be saved and secured, and only a sympathetic successor would be likely to save or secure them. Fortunately there was a man attainable who fulfilled this requirement. Moreover, he
193
was well known to the Committee as a successful teacher. Placed by Mr. Parker in charge successively of the two Grammar Schools in town then deemed the most difficult to deal with, he had so acquitted himself of his trust that, under his care, they both in turn became models of docile industry and cheerful progress. The Committee thought themselves fortunate in securing the services of Sylvester Brown to carry on the work of Francis W. Parker, and hoped that in his hands nothing that they valued would be lost. After a year of trial, they can attest from careful observation the wisdom of their choice.
His task, however, was a very difficult one. It was no child's play to make good the place of his predecessor, and to enter into and complete his plans without serious compli- cations and derangements.
But the difficulty was aggravated tenfold by the loss at about the same time of a large part of the staff of able and experienced teachers whom Mr. Parker had selected or formed. No less than thirteen of these trained and efficient assistants, among whom were several of the most valuable of the corps left us during the year, tempted away by the greater inducements which wealthier or more lavish employ- ers were glad to offer. Of course we have neither the right nor the wish to impute to them the slighest blame. Em- ployer and employed had both the right to better themselves if they could at our expense, but their gain was grievous loss to us.
Perhaps only those familiar with schools can quite realize the amount and kind of injury which they suffer from chang- ing teachers. The continuity is broken, and no matter how competent the successor, the scattered threads can only be collected and re-arranged after vexatious waste of time and fruitless toil.
194
Many a school which, but for this hindrance, would, we believe, have worked its way upward this year to a develop- ment hitherto unattainable, has disappointed our expecta- tion, weighed down by the incubus of change. For this evil there is no effectual remedy within our reach. It is out of the question for us to measure purses with Brookline or Boston. Our salaries are as high as we can afford. The rate of ontlay per head with us is as great now as it ought to be. We pay already an enormous sum for public educa- tion ; and even that is a thing for which it is possible to pay too much. We must beware lest we make it so good that no one can afford to live in the town. But, however that may be, it is obviously the duty of your Committee to buy no better teaching than the town thinks itself able to pay for, even if that be less good than a more lavish expenditure might retain or attract.
Steadfastly resisting, then, the temptation to bid against richer competitors in a constantly rising scale of salaries, and guided by this policy, we have tried to palliate what we could not cure, and we have found a partial remedy in an ex- cellent system conceived by Mr. Parker, and assiduously followed by Mr. Brown, of instructing a number of our young townswomen, who incline to the profession, in the theory and practice of teaching. A certain proportion of these students become, in time, proficient instructors ; and although it is true that not a few of them are naturally drawn elsewhere by the flattering offers of largely increased salary, with which the more highly skilled and gifted of them are speedily beset ; yet many are found to prefer a smaller pay at home to a higher pay abroad.
Thanks in great measure to this device, and not a little to the great good sense and good management with which he has handled his training class, the Superintendent has
195
succeeded in facing the large defection of his trusted and valued assistants without irreparable injury. As we have already admitted, our progress has certainly been impeded, and some flattering anticipations postponed ; but, though checked, we have not been stopped ; still less, forced back- ward. On the contrary, we have pressed steadily, though slowly, onward; and in spite of every obstacle, the schools, as a whole, occupy a place to-day decidedly in advance of the point they left one year ago ; they are better than they ever were before. We have no hesitation in assuring the town, that at no period in its history had it so much reason to feel hopeful about its schools. This re-assuring condition of things is due to the industry, skill, tact and intelligence of the Superintendent, supplemented and sustained by the admirable assistance of his band of teachers.
It would be difficult as well as invidious to particularize where almost all are excellent, and we must content our- selves with again impressing upon the people of the town the debt of gratitude which they owe to this class of de- voted public servants.
We have already declared our opinion that the rate of cx- pense for cach pupil should not be increased if it can pos- sibly be avoided, even if by this means we should be forced to put up with comparatively inferior schools; but it must not be inferred from this that we admit any present inferi- ority to exist. On the contrary, it is our confident belief that, far as they are from anything like perfection, the Quincy schools will compare fairly with any of their class in this State, or perhaps in this country.
Actuated by a sense of the duty of economy, and con- vinced of the moral, if not the legal, obligation of confining the outlay for public education strictly within the limits which the public, in town meeting, deems sufficient, we have
*
196
tried to restrict all our expenditure within the amounts ap- propriated. The small excess of outlay which will be no- ticed is a legacy from last year, and was not incurred in this year.
The constantly recurring question in a growing town, re- specting increased accommodation, may, for this year at least, be deferred. Some additional school-room may pos- sibly be required at the Willard school-house ; but a suffi- cient temporary provision can be arranged at a moderate expense in the existing building. For this we have asked a reasonable allowance, to be used, if required, in necessary alterations. The younger classes, too, in both the Adams and the Coddington, tend to overflow the rooms assigned to them. While this is the case in the lower grades, the upper class, în cach school does not half fill its quarters. Indeed, the A grammar classes of the two schools could be as well accommodated and better taught in one room together than apart as now.
One teacher would then suffice for both, and a con- siderable saving in school room could be effected. How far such a plan of gathering all the A Grammar scholars of the South and Centre in one room, either in the Adams or Coddington house, might conflict with the habits or preju- dices of the people, the Committee are unable to judge, and they throw out this suggestion for consideration rather than for immediate action. But it is difficult to see why such a scheme should be more objectionable for pupils of that age than our present High School system, while it would be both an economy and an improvement in organization.
The town at its last annual meeting appropriated for all school purposes inclusive, $33,000.
To this sum the annual rents of the Coddington lands, amounting to $75, and the town's proportion of the Schoo
197
fund, should be added, making the entire amount at our dis- osal $33,241.29.
The total expenditure has been $33,400.57, and is distrib- uted under the following heads : -
For teachers' salaries and truant officers, $23,100 92
Fuel,
1,183 98
Care of rooms,
1,867 76
Incidental outlay,
1,984 89
Transportation,
612 20
Books and stationery,
291 07
Repairs,
2,341 75
Truant officer,
18 00
Superintendent's salary,
2,000 00
$33,400 57
The estimated expense of this department for the ensuing year is as follows ; and the Committee recommend the town to appropriate the sums named for the purpose specified : -
Teachers' salaries, fuel, and care of rooms, $28,400
Incidental expenses and transportation,
2,550
Books and stationery,
800
Repairs of buildings,
2,000
Superintendent's salary,
2,000
Rooms at Willard,
$750
Out-house at High School,
500
$1,250
$35,750
1,250
$37,000
But of this sum $1250 is required for extraordinary re- pairs and alterations, which should not be regarded as a fixed charge. In case new school-rooms are required at the
198
Willard school-house, we may be called on to meet an esti- mated outlay for new work in alteration of about seven hun- dred and fifty dollars. This may not be required at all, or if at all, only a part may be spent. The rest will be repaid into the treasury.
The other large item for new work is $500 for the out- houses at the High School.
This is absolutely necessary, and should not have been postponed so long.
The appropriation for salaries is also larger, but no in- crease in the rate of salaries is contemplated. A new teacher may be needed at West Quincy, which accounts for a part of the excess. The most of the remainder is absorbed by the need of instructing our teachers in drawing, in .. order that they may be able to introduce it as a regular part of our school work as recommended in the Superintendent's report. Such a teacher will cost about five hundred dollars.
It only remams to explain the increase of the charge for books and stationery from three hundred to eight hundred dollars. As the entire sum of three hundred dollars is re- quired for books alone, the Committee has been forced to use a large part of the amount appropriated for incidental charges to pay for paper.
The pressing demand for maps, charts, books of references and other essential teaching tools is so great that this deduc- tion can no longer be permitted without crippling that fund.
It is one of the most valuable and distinctive features of our school work that so large a part of it is performed on paper. We cannot get along without an enormous consump- tion of paper of various qualities. And we can only repeat in regard to it what the Committee said last year, "This is a comparatively new charge upon the common purse, but it has always been a larger expense to individuals. By fur-
199
nishing stationery and books upon the plan now in operation, a real economy of more than one hundred per cent is effected. When parents were yearly called upon for perpetual new readers and copy-books, the constant dribble was not only a great annoyance, but a serious tax."
The number of children has increased considerably during the past three years, as will be noticed by the following figures : -
1878.
1879.
1880.
Adams,
365
402
407
Coddington,
262
277
306
Washington,
245
257
271
Willard,
478
508
550
Wollaston,
133
157
189
Atlantic,
166
191
225
1649
1792
1948
Annexed will be found detailed statements of the compar- ative expenses of six years, from which any person can readily obtain all needful information respecting the ten- dency and scope of the yearly outlay of the town for com- mon schools. Attention is particularly called to the fact that the average amount which it costs for each scholar is but $15.50, as against $16.40 last year.
The Committee can at least claim this credit, that the town, for the same money, gives more children better teach- ing, and cleaner, better ventilated and more decent accom- modations.
The Committee would especially ask the careful attention of every townsman to the Superintendent's report to the Committee which is presented with this our report to the town, as it will be found to contain matter worthy the seri- ous thought of all who feel an interest in, the welfare of the children of the town.
200
No. 1.
YEAR.
Total ordi- nary school expenses .*
Whole number of schol- ars.t
Average amount expended for each scholar.
Average number in schools.t
Amount expended for each scholar of tend'ce the average number in (schol'rs schools.
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