USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of Saugus 1864-1888 > Part 5
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9 00
J.Whitehead, supplies to Roswell Hitchings, Jr. 24 44
Geo. G. Spurr, supplies to M. O. Connell . . 44 91
Wm. Twiss, funeral expenses of Mrs. O'Conner 21 00
Overseers, traveling expenses, stationery, etc. . 45 17
Hiram Raddin, supplies to Mrs. Moulton . . 104 00
Evans & Mugridge, supplies to Wm. Peirce . 4 75
W. H. Twiss, funeral expenses of Mrs. Peirce . 20 00
Overseers' salary .
200 00
Wood from Town Farm to Mrs. Davis . 3 75
Wood from Town Farm to Miss E. Boardman 16 00
$1,921 06
Orders of Overseers
$1,921 06
ALMSHOUSE ACCOUNT.
LUCIAN WILLIAMS, Keeper.
RECEIPTS.
Cow
$11 00
Wood
18 00
Milk
100 40
Bull .
2 00
Hay .
25 75
Potatoes, produce, etc.
23 85
Overseers' orders
349 55
$530 55
14
REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE.
EXPENDITURES.
Medicine .
$1 50
Sundries
5 30
Tin ware
5 47
Milk
12 47
Coal
18 00
Labor
21 55
Groceries
66 15
Meat
27 56
Grain
172 17
Dry goods
84 67
Salary .
39 58
Cash paid Lewis Brown
76 13
-
$530 55
LEWIS BROWN, Keeper.
RECEIPTS.
Milk
$1,445 87
Hay .
200 73
Horse labor
235 55
Ox labor .
61 70
Vegetables
86 43
Cattle
580 00
Calves .
38 25
Board and lodging
60 00
Grain
85 66
Manure
31 50
Wood .
130 20
Poultry
3 00
Barrels
4 65
Meat
75
Pork
43 93
Use of stock
11 00
Cash of L. Williams, balance due
76 76
$3,095 98
2,885 23
Orders of Overseers
$5,981 21
15
REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE.
EXPENDITURES.
Flour
$120 20
Molasses
23 00
Crackers
40 70
Spices .
12 93
Apples
24 42
Oil
16 23
Coffee
46 84
Tea
18 88
Medicine
17 14
Beans
19 58
Fish
41 56
Soap
14 74
Glass and crockery ware
40 16
Cheese.
15 49
Nails
6 25
Grain
1,192 45
Tobacco
17 65
Matches
6 60
Boots and shoes
28 71
Clothing
88 59
Butter
113 27
Farming Tools
53 87
Sugar
98 73
Lard
32 06
Raisins
13 47
Groceries
115 62
Seed
78 81
Oil cloth
2 76
Wooden ware .
15 89
Hay, rope and bed cord
4 35
Labor
438 25
Ice .
18 00.
Horse hire
15 00
Legal advice
4 65
Meat
240 03
House paper
7 00
Cash to inmates .
2 25
Amount carried forward,
$3,046 13
16
REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE.
Amount brought forward, $3,046 13
Cash to W. Noble and expenses on team
104 30
W. H. Davis, labor 37 77
A. G. Waldron, labor
6 59
Horse-rake and tedder 82 00
Mowing machine 100 00
Berries
7 00
Bedstead .
8 75
Grindstone
19 25
Salt grass
20 00
Geo. H. Davis, labor
10 50
Samuel A. Parker, labor
40 50
Express fees
2 55
Blacksmith and wheelwright
159 85
Bed bug poison
3 00
Expenses out of town
8 90
Cows .
530 75
Hardware
13 48
Stove and tin ware
47 28
Oxen
265 90
Repairs on pump
14 75
Coal
110 23
Manure
215 00
Harnesses
99 10
Ox cart
41 00
C. Merritt, hay and manure
371 50
Whitewashing
15 00
Towels
6 75
Ox labor
27 50
Horse blankets
6 25
Celery .
50
Milk trough.
11 00
Cradle .
2 00
Sundries
46 13
Keeper's salary
500 00
$5,981 21
REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE. 17
Wm. P. Copp, Tax Collector, in Account with Town of Saugus.
DR.
Due on tax list of 1872 . $41 37
Due on tax list of 1873. 1,219 54
$1,260 91
, CR.
Paid Town Treasurer on tax list of 1872. $41 37
Paid Town Treasurer on tax list of 1873. 640 06
Balance due on tax list of 1873
579 48
-- $1,260 91
Chas. A, Newhall, Tax Collector, in Account with Town of Saugus
DR.
Uncollected tax list of 1874 $5,899 67
CR.
Paid Town Treasurer $1,854 59
Balance due on tax list of 1874 .
4,045 08
$5,899 67
Wm. H. Newhall, Tax Collector, in Account with Town of Saugus,
DR.
Amount of tax list of 1875 $34,334 77
CR.
Paid Town Treasurer $23,281 00
Paid County Tax . 1,428 90
Balance due on tax list of 1875
9,624 87
-- $34,334 77
3
18
REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE.
Joseph Whitehead, Treasurer, in Account with Town of Saugus.
DR.
To cash on hand . $9,809 39
Cash North Andover 146 56
Allowance on Salem Turnpike 1,000 00
Dog licenses, 1874
84 11
City of Boston .
109 18
Martha Dana, rent of land, 1874-75 . 10 00
City of Lynn 196 77
Five Cents Saving Bank of Lynn . 20,000 00
Warren P. Copp, tax list of 1873 640 06
Warren P. Copp, tax list of 1872 41 37
C. A. Newhall, tax list of 1874
1,854 59
W. H. Newhall, tax list of 1875 23,281 00
Estate of Warren Mansfield, tax list of 1873 . 100 00
Roswell Hitchings 1,300 00
Grass at auction
65 00
Atwood & Bacon, rent of land
30 00
First National Bank of Lynn
10,000 00
Cyrus Cheever. 5,000 00
Mrs. Nancy Snow 3,200 00
Robert Harrison, rent of house 61 84
John E. Stocker, for school-books . 245 72
Wm. H. Newhall, wood sold . 300 00
Lucretia Floyd
2,500 00
Elizabeth L. Tewksbury
2,500 00
Commonwealth School Fund . 252 46
David Williams, use of pasture
10 00
Corporation Tax .
77 35
State Aid allowed
1,326 56
National Bank Tax
486 06
Wm. H. Twiss, Cemetery lots sold
223 00
Edmand Ward . 500 00
Interest from bank deposits 201 00
Allowance on Salem Turnpike, 1875
938 47
Dog licenses, 1875 . 97 00
Mrs. M. B. Hawkes, school-books. 206 98
- $86,794 47
19
REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE.
CR.
By Cyrus Cheever's note
$2,000 00
First National Bank of Lynn, note .
. 10,000 00
Selectmen's orders
. 56,745 68
Overseers' orders
5,155 84
State Tax
2,080 00
Interest
5,758 33
Cash on hand
5,054 62
- $86,794 47
POOR DEPARTMENT.
DR.
Rent of House, value $1,750, at 8 per cent. . $140 00
Rent of barn and shed, value $950, at 8 per ct. 76 00
Rent of 362 acres tillage, $6,350, at 6 per ct. 381 00 Rent of personal property, $3,543, at 6 per ct. 212 58
Wood used
18 00
Doctor's salary
15 00
Decrease of personal property
867 89
Overseers' orders for supplies
$2,885 23
$4,595 70
CR.
By cutting and teaming 35 cords of wood $70 00
By improved condition of real estate 150 00
By 965 meals for tramps, at 25 cents
241 25
By 401 lodgings for tramps, at 25 cents
100 25
Eleven paupers, 482 weeks, at $8.39
$4,034 20
$4,595 70
20
REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE.
Condition and Liabilities of the Town.
LIABILITIES.
Notes of Cyrus Cheever $5,000 00
Lucretia Floyd
2,500 00
Elizabeth L. Tewksbury
2,500 00
Edmund Ward
500 00
Roswell Hitchings
1,300 00
Lynn Five Cents Savings Bank 20,000 00
Nancy Shaw
3,200 00
George R. Stetson 5,000 00
Caleb Stetson . 2,000 00
H. N. Flint 4,000 00
Charles W. Raddin, guardian
5,000 00
Mary S. Wilson
1,600 00
Isaac Guilford
1,000 00
Sarah Raddin .
6,000 00
Lynn Institution for Savings
5,000 00
Heirs of George Smith .
10,000 00
George Pranker .
18,000 00
B. W. Westermann
10,000 00
Gilbert Waldron
1,000 00
Interest accrued .
2,313 00
$105,913 00
ASSETS.
Cash in hands of Treasurer
$5,054 62
Due on tax list, 1873 .
579 48
Due on tax list, 1874 .
4,045 08
Due on tax list, 1875 .
9,624 87
Due for State aid
1,734 62
Due for school books, with stock on hand
354 00
Due from other towns
130 00
Due from est. of W. Mansfield, tax of '73
27 78
Balance due for wood
145 00
Deficiency
84,217 55
-$105.913 00
Cost of New Town Hall to date.
Amount paid last year $14,947 29
Amount paid this year 29,095 90
$44,043 19
21
REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE.
Inventory of Real and Personal Property at the Town Farm, Feb. 24, 1876.
REAL ESTATE.
House and outbuildings $1,750 00
Barn and carriage-house. 950 00
162 acres land, at $250 3,350 00
20 acres land, at $150 . 3,000 00
$9,050 00
PERSONAL PROPERTY.
12 cows, at $44 each, 1 bull, at $20 $548 00
1 black horse, $166, 1 bay horse, $150 316 00
5 pigs, 600 lbs. . 60 00
45 fowls, at 75 cents each 31 75
1 ox wagon, $36, 1 ox wagon, $10 . 46 00
1 ox cart, $52, 1 ox sled, $60 . 112 00
2 ox yokes, $3.50, 1 ox bogy, $15, 1 drag, $7 25 50
1 two-horse wagon 142 00
1 express wagon, $12.50, 1 pung, $3 . 15 50
1 horse cart, $53, 1 horse roller, $8 61 00
1 horse shovel, $5, 1 road scraper, $5 . 10 00
1 hay-rick and marsh wheels 50 00
1 set rackets, $4, 1 mowing-machine, $75 79 00
1 mowing-machine, $2, 1 hay tedder, $70 . 72 00
1 horse-rake, $6, 1 drag, $2 8 00
5 scythes and snaths, $2, 2 hay-ropes, $4.50 . 6 50
8 hay-forks, $5, 3 hay-rakes, 50 cts. 5 50
1 cultivator, $7, 5 plows, $46 53 00
2 harrows, $14, 1 set double harness, $70 . 84 00
1 cart harness, $30. 1 light harness, $13.50 43 50
2 sets brace chains and harness
3 00
8 binding chains, $3, 1 wheel-jack, $2
5 00
5 wrenches, $3, 4 horse blankets, $7.50 . 10 50
3 horse brushes and currycomb 1 00
3 barn buckets, 75 cents, 15 feed boxes, $2.50 3 25
2 feed baskets, $2, 1 grain chest, $5 7 00
Amounts carried forward,
$1,799 00 $9,050 00
22
REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE.
Amounts brought forward, $1,799 00 $9,050 00
1 grindstone, $11, 1 grindstone, 3 . 14 00
3 ladders, $3, 1 wheelbarrow, 50 cents 3 50
3 iron bars, $5, 2 blocks and rope, $3 8 00
3 wedges, beetle and adze . 2 00
1 saw, 50 cents, 3 augers, 50 cents 1 00
3 axes, $2, 1 stone-hammer, $3 . 5 00
1 bush hook, $1, 2 manure hooks, $2 3 00
6 manure forks, $4, 9 shovels, $5 .
9 00
2 pickaxes, $2, 75 F. F. sacks, $11.25 .
13 25
25 meal bags, $6, 65 cords manure, $455 . 461 00 13} tons English hay . 305 50
6 tons salt hay, $90, 1 ton rye straw, $20 . . 110 00 600 lbs. meal, $8.10, 4,200 lbs. shorts, $52.50 60 60
5 bushels oats, $2.50, 2 bushels rye, 2 . 4 50
36 00
3 tons coal, $25.50, 7 cords wood, $35
125 bushels potatoes 62 50
1 bushel apples, $1.50, 3} bush. beans, $8.75
10 25
1 peck cranberries, $1, 100 cabbages, $8 . . 9 00
1 bbl. pickles, $2, ¿ bbl. soft soap, $2 . 4 00
2 bbls. salt pork, $60, 1 bbl. flour, $8.50 . 68 50
40 lbs. lard and can 8 00
40 lbs. brown sugar
3 60
200 lbs. granulated sugar 22 00
15 lbs. butter, $5.70, 7 lbs. cheese, $1.05 . 6 75
35 lbs. crackers, $3.50, 4 lbs. tea, $2.60 . 6 10
40
2 lbs. coffee, 20 cents, 10 lbs. salt, 20 cts .. . 15 lbs. salt fish, $1.05, 6 dozen eggs, $1.50 . 2 55
Spices, $1, molasses kegs and contents, $5 . 6 00
4 pork bbls., $3, 2 cider bbls., $1 . 4 00
1 k. oil bbl. and faucet 2 50
25 flour barrels 3 00
1 cooking range, $55, 1 cooking stove, $5 60 00
1 parlor stove, $20, 1 do. $15, 1 do. $14 . 49 00
6 flatirons, $3, 1 porcelain kettle, $1 . 4 00
1 dinner bell, 50 cents, 1 clock, $5 5 50
3 bureaus, $5, 25 common chairs, $6 25 11 25
Amounts carried forward,
$3,244 75 $9,050 00
6 tons mangel wurtzel beets . 60 50
23
REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE.
Amounts brought forward, $3,244 75 $9,050 00
4 dining chairs, $6, 4 side tables, $2 . 8 00
1 centre table, $3, 1 long table, $8 11 00
3 kitchen tables, $5, 1 sofa, $8, 1 mirror, $3 16 00
3 mirrors, $1.50, 1 ice-chest, $5 6 50
1 washing-machine, $10, 1 wringer, $4 14 00
1 meat bench, $2, 1 cradle, $3 . 5 00
11 bedsteads, $12, 12 feather beds, $60
72 00
11 straw beds, $11, 20 prs. sheets, $20 31 00
9 prs. pillow slips 4 75
15 pillows, $11.25, 15 comforters, $22.50 33 75
2 quilts, $2, 12 curtains and fixtures, $6 8 00
4 table covers, $4, towels, $3.50 7 50
4 wash tubs, $2, 2 wash boards, 50 cts. 2 50
Clothes-horses, baskets and lines 2 25
Water pails and firkins 1 50
Rolling pin and board, $1, brooms, $1 .
2 00
Brushes and baskets
3 00
Spice boxes and knife tray 50
Pails, $3, pans, 80 cents 3 80
3 coffee pots, $2, teapot, 50 cts. . 2 50
Coal hods, wash boilers and wash bowls 4 25
12 tumblers, 2 dishes, 12 fruit jars, 2 salts 5 20
8 lamps, 2 lanterns . 5 50
2 bread pans, 1 pudding pan, 4 milk pans . 1 00
2 bean pots, 3 pail pots, 3 stone pots, 3 jugs . 5 40
24 dinner plates, 24 tea plates . 4 50
12 soup plates, 12 common plates, 4 platters . 5 50
7 vegetable dishes, 2 potato dishes . 3 50
2 gravy dishes, 2 sugar bowls, 10 bowls 2 10
1 water pitcher, 2 cream pitchers
1 00
3 doz. cups and saucers, 11 chambers
6 50
3₺ dozen knives and forks 14 00
I carver and fork, 6 spoons 1 25
$3,541 00
$12,591 00
WM. T. ASH, T. O. W. HOUGHTON, GILBERT WALDRON, Appraising Committee.
24
REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE.
TOWN CLERK'S REPORT.
The Town Clerk respectfully submits the following report, viz : MARRIAGES.
Number of Marriages recorded in 1875, 11.
First marriage of 7 males. Second marriage of 4 males. First marriage of 10 females. Second marriage of 1 female.
Certificates of marriage were issued to 9 couples,- 15 less than in 1874.
BIRTHS.
The census of Births, in 1875, gives 61. Males, 29 ; females, 32. 14 more than in 1874.
DEATHS.
Whole number of deaths in 1875, 37. Males, 19 ; females 18. Five less than in 1874.
POPULATION.
According to census of 1875, 2579.
STATISTICS OF THE TOWN OF SAUGUS.
Real Estate. Personal Property. Total Valuation.
Debt.
Rate Taxes per $1000.
1875
$1,289,433
$448,825
$1,738,258
$52,676 73
$19 00
1874
1,253,233
543,000
1,796,233
36,832 18
18 50
1873
1,165,474
541,710
1,707,184
36,142 44
13 50
1872
1,110,125
492,225
1,602,350
35,730 42
12 50
1871
1,048,908
451,937
1,500,845
37,709 40
18 00
1870
1,004,929
457,160
1,462,089
12,769 89
15 00
1869
973,342
469,629
1,442,971
14,900 87
13 33
1868
914,214
396,558
1,310,772
16,143 62
14 50
1867
906,464
385,429
1,291,893
18,103 84
18 00
1866
895,312
453,366
1,348,678
20,201 36
15 00
1865
904,544
444,973
1,349,517
22,749 58
17 00
1864
909,646
397,400
1,307,046
20,080 86
12 50
1863
880,314
324,490
1,204,804
30,235 16
13 33
1862
876,690
270,005
1,146,695
18,407 98
8 00
1861
889,693
286,189
1,175,882
16,580 17
7 80
1860
877,605
301,987
1,179,592
16,601 33
6 80
WILLIAM H. NEWHALL, Town Clerk.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
OF THE
TOWN OF SAUGUS,
FOR THE YEAR ENDING MARCH 1, 1877.
LYNN : THOS, P. NICHOLS, PRINTER, No. 24 MARKET STREET. 1877.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
OF THE
TOWN OF SAUGUS,
FOR THE YEAR ENDING MARCH 1, 1877.
LYNN : THOS. P. NICHOLS, PRINTER. No. 24 MARKET STREET. 1877.
SCHOOL REPORT.
EDUCATION, in its widest meaning, is a word of very extensive application. It denotes whatever calls into ac- tivity powers before lying dormant, or gives greater scope and efficiency to power already called into some degree of activity. It includes all that development which extends from our earliest childhood to mature manhood, and even to the end of life,- for we are always learning something, and either forming. or strengthening habits. But, as we commonly use the word, it refers not only to such develop- ment, but also to the result of that process. We are accus- tomed to speak of education as a source of blessing to the individual and the community in which he dwells ; but it is evident that training and discipline, as mere processes, may be employed to produce evil or good results. Good and bad education are relative terms. They refer to the good or bad results to which a course of culture tends. By education, however, we generally mean such a course of development as enables a man to enjoy the fullest use of all his powers, and builds up in him such a character as secures the use of these powers for good purposes.
It should not be forgotten that education is merely a process of development. It is evolution, not involution. It unfolds powers potentially present. It does not create new powers. The province of education is not to change the natural constitution, but to mould and fashion it. What a man may become by education is necessarily limited by what he is by natural constitution. Nature has distributed her gifts to each one as she saw fit. Our duty is to make
1
SCHOOL REPORT.
the most of these gifts. Education is the process of bring- ing these into full activity ; and that, therefore, is the true education which takes the given nature under the given circumstances, and gives it the widest and noblest sphere of exercise.
Again, education has to do with all the sides of our nature. The constitution of a human being is exceedingly complex. Its truest state is one of harmonious develop- ment. Every element should receive its just proportion of culture. To neglect any is to mar the perfection of the whole. If the physical, or the intellectual, or the æsthetic, or the moral, or the religious department of our nature is allowed to remain in a dwarfed and imperfectly developed condition, the harmony of the whole is destroyed, and the others are deprived of the widest range of exercise which is possible for them. Like a complicated piece of mechan- ism, the ease, grace and power of the whole is dependent upon the free and ready working of every constituent part.
But under the present system of common school educa- tion some of the most important departments of our nature receive little or no culture.
The physical training of the young, for example, which formed so important a part of education among the Greeks, and which contributed so much to the high physical devel- opment and beauty of that race, is entirely neglected. We know the importance of well developed physical powers, but the care of producing them is left to the care of parents, who often bestow little attention upon the subject, or to the accidental education of the play-ground and the street. It may not be advisable to include physical training in the work of public schools. But, if this be so, care at least should be taken that positive injury be not done to the health of scholars. Yet the ventilation of the great ma- jority of school-rooms is so very imperfect, that the air which is breathed by the pupils is so impure that it must
5
SCHOOL REPORT.
be injurious to their health. It is a suggestive comment on the wisdom of a period which boasts of its .scientific advances, and of its superiority over past ages in ingenious and beneficial inventions, that, in most cases, ventilation is feasible only by opening windows, thus creating currents of air, which are apt to be as injurious as the impure air displaced. It would seem one of the first dictates of sound wisdom that pure air, indispensable not only for perfect health, but also for the most efficient exercise of the mind, should be introduced into our public schools.
Again, in our present system, very little if any attention is given to the culture of the æsthetic element of our nature. It is not possible, of course, to do much in this direction, but that should make it all the more important for us to secure as much as is possible, consistently with other demands. The culture of this element of our nature is largely the result of association. Much would, therefore, be accomplished, if care were taken to provide pleasant, attractive and tasteful school-houses and recitation rooms. The exhibition of taste in all the surroundings of the school would tend, by its silent influence, to develop taste among those brought into almost daily contact with it. The intro- duction of drawing is an influence which tends in the same direction. In the higher grades, especially in the High School, considerable culture might be obtained by furnish- ing the room with some works of art, of various descriptions. The elevating and refining influence of such surroundings could be obtained without an extravagant expenditure. By adding articles from time to time, perhaps not more than one each year, collections would in course of time be made, which would make the rooms attractive, and induce an appreciation for a higher style of ornament and decoration than is now common. Persons interested in the prosperity of the school, if they saw that such objects were appreci- ated, might manifest their interest by the donation of objects of permanent usefulness ; while graduates, who had them-
6
SCHOOL REPORT.
selves learned in the school-room a love for the beautiful in art, might be inclined to manifest their gratitude by offering wider opportunities to their successors.
The complete severance of the Church and State is one of the fundamental principles of our government. Re- ligious instruction, therefore, has been left to the care of the home or the church, which may be safely allowed to train their children in the way best suited to their feelings. It is only necessary for the community to be assured that only persons of high moral character, reverent also towards the great fundamental truths of religion, are allowed to occupy positions of so great influence in character as those held by teachers in public schools.
These departments of education not being included, or only slightly included, in the work of the common school, there remains to them, as their peculiar province, the training of the intellectual faculties, the teaching of useful knowledge, and the formation of habits which may con- tribute to a beneficial exercise of those faculties and the acquired knowledge. We are inclined to think that the last of these does not receive a sufficiently high place in the common estimate of benefits of an education. The success of schools is too much measured by the knowledge imparted. Yet habits of industry, perseverance, self- reliance, respect for constituted authority and allegiance to duty are the foundations of all valuable character and of all desirable success in life. Without these habits all other acquisitions are apt to be more than useless. The cultiva- tion of these habits, however, does not devolve upon the school alone. The home circle especially has a work to do here. But it often happens that the indifference or ignorance of parents leads them to neglect this important part of a child's training. The influence of the school becomes doubly important in such cases. It may be that the school-room is the only place where a child may be obliged to form habits without which he cannot be a valua-
7
SCHOOL REPORT.
ble member of society. The formation of these habits constitute what is known as the discipline of the school. The maintenance of discipline, in every case, will sooner or later resolve itself into an attempt to produce in scholars one or more of these important habits. The discipline of a school, therefore, becomes of primary importance. If this be at all defective, one of the most important purposes of a school is unfulfilled. Whatever, therefore, tends in any way to injure or destroy discipline, in so far hinders the usefulness of the school. Whatever creates an impression that discipline will not be enforced, or that in efforts to subvert it scholars will receive the sympathy of any part of the community, is extremely detrimental to the success of a school. Committees and teachers should be able to feel that. in all cases, they have the hearty support of parents, guardians and friends in all reasonable attempts to secure obedience and the formation of habits of industry, perse- verance and courtesy.
In the more obvious provinces of our public schools, the cultivation of the mental faculties, and the teaching of use . ful knowledge, disappointment is often expressed at the result obtained. This disappointment is not unnatural, but we think there are explanations of the facts which give rise to it, in the hindrance to securing the greatest results of education.
The most perfect system of education is that in which the methods are adapted to the peculiar demands of each case. No two persons being constituted exactly alike, the processes by which their powers should be developed ought not to be exactly similar. Differences of mental character, of disposition, or even of physical constitution, demand variations in ways of treatment. Some minds develop more easily in one direction, other minds in some other direction. Some faculty may exist in an unusual degree, through which the education of the whole mind may be the more readily approached, or some radical defect may de-
8
SCHOOL REPORT.
mand for the removal unusual attention and care. It is evident that the greatest results can be obtained only when the peculiarities of each case is allowed to modify the pro- cesses of development. But, under our modern system of education, it is clearly impossible to do this. The num- ber of scholars under each teacher is so large as to render it impossible for him to become acquainted with the pecu- liar character of each mind, much less to vary his methods for its special demands. One uniform course of study, and one unvaried method of instruction, is an absolute necessity under the present system. Scholars with keen, active minds must be kept back to the capacity of the average intellect, while the dull, sluggish, plodding mind cannot, without entailing too great a loss on the majority, receive a disproportionate amount of attention. This evil is of course lessened as schools are more thoroughly graded, and schol- ars of almost the same attainments brought into the same classes. But even then the evil is increased as the classes are increased above a certain limit. Private instruction is generally thought the most advantageous, but the great cost of it, in most departments, leads to the forming of classes, where the proportional expense is least. But then classes are always as small as possible, and they are chosen, at any rate, as the lesser of two evils. Apply the principle involved to our common schools, and it is clear that the best results they can give must be very far below what each mind is capable of under more favorable circum- stances.
There can be no doubt that public school education is advancing. Considerable improvements have been made in the character of text-books, in methods of teaching, and. most of all, in the employment of more competent teachers. This progress in the past is only a pledge of what we should expect in the future. In two directions great advance can be made without any radical change in the present system. Care should be taken not to put too many scholars under
9
SCHOOL REPORT.
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