USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of Saugus 1911 > Part 18
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It was, therefore, with some disappointment that I began the last year of work. I had hoped for the purchase of at least three or four lathes and an extension of instruction to cover two hour classes instead of one hour. It is not practical to mix a class of beginners with the advanced pupils. When we take into consideration the fact that only forty hours a year are devoted to manual training instruction, taken altogether five days of eight hours each, I think we have every reason to be proud of what has been accomplished. The much needed san- itary arrangements which have been installed have been appreci- ated by pupils and instructor.
I want to thank you as the Superintendent of Schools for the deep interest you have taken in this department and for your cooperation. I have the signature of each pupil against a list of tools loaned him by the school authorities for use in the shop, and I trust that this will prove a benefit. I have given each boy a set of rules to govern his conduct in the class and good discipline generally has been the result.
We are very fortunate in having a room so well adapted to our work. It is well lighted, well heated and affords ample room for the purposes to which it is put. I have visited other schools and I have no hesitation in saying that we are doing as well as the best of them in so far as our limited facilities will allow.
Respectfully submitted,
S. PERRY CONGDON,
Instructor of Manual Training.
42
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Supervisor of Drawing and Sewing.
SAUGUS, February 8, 1912.
Mr. William F. Sims, Superintendent of Schools :
DEAR SIR,-In accordance with your request, I hereby sub- mit my report as Supervisor of Drawing and Sewing in the Sau- gus Schools.
In reviewing the years' work in Drawing from the lower grades through the High School, I feel that certain places of the work have made marked progress.
The definite aim in the primary grades has been to strengthen the hand and eye for
" If hand and eye you deftly train Firm grows the will and keen the brain."
Small children draw naturally and confidently, a form of expression which disappears later if not developed. They use drawing to express ideas which are in their minds rather than to represent appearances of what is before them ; all their draw- ing is practically memory drawing, it may be wanting in æsthetic and prospective qualities but never lacks intention.
As the child merges into the pre-adolesent stages he becomes self-critical. The inadequacy of his efforts disatisfies him, and his work loses the freedom of childhood. His instructive desire knows better than hefore, but his sense of beauty and proportion rises very slowly. He is interested in the construction of things and now is the time to introduce him in a practical way to plans and the means of developing his various plans.
The aim of teaching drawing to the older pupils is to cultivate the habit of doing things well, to appreciate the good work of others. "Appreciation increases with attempt ;" to know a good design and to reject a bad one; to see beauty in common things, and to express himself clearly but simply with one's pencil.
Any child capable of making a grade from year to year can learn something from drawing and to his advantage.
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REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
The work in the High School is elective, and much ability is shown among the pupils in the courses. Want of time is the one great drawback. There are classes in free hand drawing, charcoal work, craft work, designing, and a large class of boys are working well in mechanical drawing.
I wish to express my appreciation to the Superintendent and to the teachers who have cooperated with me in my work.
The classes in sewing are making as much progress as is pos- sible in the small amount of time alloted, namely, fifty minutes a week. Most of the girls show interest in the work, and after having learned some of the necessary stitches are now working on garments cut from cloth bought by them.
Last June the Ninth grade girls completed either waists or simple gingham dresses, and this year's class have drafted patterns for undergarments. Home work is encouraged and many of the girls have received extra credit for the same. One day every two months being appointed for the exhibition of this work.
A new machine in the sewing room at the High School is much enjoyed and is of great assistance in the work.
Last September we received a number of prizes at the Essex County Fair for work exhibited.
Sewing should be commenced in the sixth grade, so by the time the pupil has reached the eighth grade the necessary, and what seems at times to the pupil rather useless stitches, have been mastered, and they are ready to start on more practical work.
Respectfully submitted,
ETHEL AGNES BROWNE.
Supervisor of Drawing and Sewing.
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REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
To the Superintendent of Schools of the Town of Saugus:
DEAR SIR, - I have the honor to submit to you my report for the present year 1911 and 1912, as Supervisor of Music.
The course of study followed this year is the same as that of last year, the New Educational Music Course. The Eighth and Ninth Grades are now supplied with books in the series so that the course can be carried on systematically from one grade to another through the nine grades A careful outline of the year's work has been placed in the hands of each grade teacher and the department hopes to have the work in all grades uniform throughout the Town.
Particular attention has been paid to proper breathing throughout the grades. Good singing is impossible without proper and intelligent breathing. Aside from the immediate benefit to the singing, the breathing exercises, rightly taken, strengthen the respiratory muscles and enlarge the breath capacity.
The aim of the course is thus two-fold, to develop a child physically and mentally. Breath control is largely muscular, and proper breathing is one of the first essentials to good health. Music training requires obedience to fixed rules, unity of action on the part of all participants, as well as the training of the ear, thus making it of value to the child's mental training.
The work in the ninth grade is particularly commendable. The students came in from the various eighth grades well trained for chorus work. We have ample material for study and the work shows steady improvement.
The High School work is greatly handicapped by the lack of material. Interest in any study, and particularly that of music, is sacrificed unless ample material of merit is provided. It is earnestly hoped this need may be supplied for the coming year.
Respectfully submitted,
MARY E. BERRY,
Supervisor of Music.
JANUARY, 24, 1912.
45
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Mr. William F. Sims, Superintendent of Schools :
DEAR SIR, - The combined report of the activties and needs of the four upper classes of the High School and of the Ninth Grade is herewith presented. The total enrollment of all these grades in the building since September, 1911, is 245. Of these, 98 are boys and 147 girls.
Health Conditions.
It is with great pleasure that your Principal can comment favorably on the general attitude and character of these pupils. Their appearance is, almost to a pupil, neat and wholesome. The physical examination by the Medical Examiner and the Principal shows that these young people are cleanly and that their health is far, and away above the average of like graded city schools. The eye and ear tests, moreover, have shown a most excellent condition among our students in regard to seeing and hearing. But very few cases seem to be handicapped by these or any other physical disabilities. The excellent situation of the High School building, in point of light, and the large amount of window area in all of the rooms are probably respon- sible for the excellent condition of the pupils' sight. The Saugus pupils show both virility and physical strength, that they are responsive and thoughtful, and that they possess a gradually developing good judgment.
Leaving School : Causes.
However, while the general personal conditions are good, one fact should be especially noted,-the condition of so few boys lasting through to a fourth year course, or even to a third or second year. There were graduated last June but five boys in the four years' course. There are only four boys in the present senior class, and while there is a good-sized junior class of boys, yet, coming again to the second-year class, there are but five in that. Undoubtedly, this situation is attributable to three causes. First, that the school after June, 1912, will give no diploma in a three years' course ; secondly, the sad lack of a
46
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
well-proportioned commercial course ; third, the strong tempta- tion for many to leave school to go to work for a weekly wage which, at first view, seems a high amount. The first of these causes is a minor one, but the second, and more especially the last, is of tremendous influence in a boy's failing to continue his High School course one or two years more. The temptation to work in Lynn at certain trades, at what for a boy of sixteen or seventeen would be extraordinarily good pay in other commu- nities is very strong, and especially strong with an energetic push- ing boy who aims to earn money. In fact, it takes away many of the best, business-like pupils early in their course. It is probable that it is a thing of necessity that some of these boys' parents are compelled to put them to work thus early on account of financial need, but again, many leave school by reason of that temptation of "big pay " which early will give a strong, ener- getic boy from twelve to fifteen dollars a week. However, it is almost impossible in these trades to secure a much higher wage than this, and the boy is held to that special work and has no potentials in a few years for anything beyond.
Of course there are exceptions but not as a rule in the trades of of which we are speaking. To illustrate one exception : In the High School which came under my direction previously to my coming to Saugus a boy left school in the third year, long before graduation to enter the United States Army, in the coast artillery, as a private, feeling that his High School preparation for his life work was one that would not offer particularly good returns. He soon saw his opportunity, studied seriously by himself, since he had more or less leisure for study, and qualified in less than three years for the examination for a Second-Lieutenancy in the army. This he has passed and is to receive his commission as an officer in a few months. Such an opportunity, however, would not be possible for a boy who early leaves school to go into one of the Lynn trades which we have in mind, because the demands of that work are, from the first, exacting, since the work is, relatively speaking, highly paid from the very first. The boy is apt to judge hastily and estimate the value of his work from the immediate financial return rather than from what may be its
47
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
value a few years later. It should be the aim of all parents, teachers, churches, and social bodies in Saugus to keep boys and girls in school as long as possible, that the training of the last year or two of the adolescent period may develop in them the power to grow after they have left school. The second cause for leaving school so early could be partly remedied by introduc- ing into one curriculum a well-rounded commercial course. There is little doubt that such a course would retain a certain number of pupils a year or two longer, especially when one notes the constantly increasing interest arising in the study of bookkeeping, one of the subjects already presented in the school. We should have, this next year, courses in at least stenography, typewriting, and penmanship.
Classes.
There is an increasing interest in the subject of Mechanical Drawing. Many boys in the High School are taking this work and many do excellently in it. This rising interest is probably the outcome of previous work taken in the Ninth Grade Manual Training classes and shows a real desire to make use of what knowledge they have gained in practical Manual Training courses. Such work is most surely a potent factor in making young boys think, and think of practical matters.
A reduction of the number of divisions in certain classes was made this year, especially in the English branches whereby a far more economical method of using the teacher's time, is now in use. By such reduction or condensation we have been able to get along this year with eight teachers instead of nine. A further reduction will be impossible since the incoming class from the Ninth Grade last September numbered 67, whereas the first year class the previous year contained but 39 This increase of nearly sixty per cent rendered it necessary to provide another room teacher's time. Moreover no relief was possible by using the teachers of the Ninth Grade for the instruction of this large Freshmen class because the Ninth Grade itself con- tained as many pupils this year as it did the previous year.
·
48
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Indeed as the classes are taught today, some of them are too large for proper handling, especially in the first-year studies of Latin and Science.
Home Work.
An innovation has been tried since September in the teaching of the ninth grade pupils in a sustained attempt to get pupils to do at home what we may call " home work," that is, work of a manual or purely practical nature. This is work that is not stipulated as being of one sort for all but of many various types, to fit the capacity or taste of the individual pupil, as bread making, the care of the table, cooking of many and various things and the like. The aim here is to develop the habit of regularity, the habit of being of some use in the household, and of doing a few things well. Your Principal would ask that a sum of money be set aside by the School Board, possibly $25 or $30 for the purchase of supplies, that we may do simple, experimental work of this nature, not at home but in school hours. It would deal primarily with questions of economy in cooking and with the simpler elements of Domestic Science, and could be done in our laboratories with one or two gas ovens and a few gas plates. The work already done this year in the home work is being observed with great interest by the teachers interested in our ninth grade, and already warrants some slight outlay on the part of the School Committee.
Agriculture.
One other matter of a very practical nature should be brought, I believe, into the training of some of our Saugus pupils. This has to do with instruction in Agriculture, both from the theoretical and the practical side. Two courses in Agriculture could and should be given in our school, one an elementary general course in the Ninth Grade, the other a con- tinuation of this elementary work into the first year of the High School curriculum and providing instruction and experimenta- tion in whatever, from a local point of view, agriculturally affects Saugus people. This course could profitably deal with
1
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REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
market gardening, horticulture, fruit growing, poultry raising, and the like. Such instruction should deal mainly with these topics, and like topics taken up from the small farmer's point of view and rather personally than from the point of view of the great farms and of the farmer that deals with many acres.
The courses of zoology and botany now given in the High School could well be reduced to a course of agriculture, retain- ing certain elements of the science of zoology and botany, but only those elements that might be considered from the agricul- tural point of view. This is advisable since these natural sci- ence courses attract few pupils and are uneconomical in many ways. One attendant aid to this instruction could be made use of very materially and efficiently. Our Town Farm, so con- veniently situated and so well managed, would readily offer facilities for agricultural teaching that should not be permitted to pass. Cooperation between the Board of Selectmen and the School Board could easily provide a plan whereby practical and observational work in agriculture could be done, and this at a very slight expense. Most surely the signs point to need of agricultural courses in our high schools. We have merely, in this matter, to recall the wonderful success of the Potato Exhibit given by the pupils of the Saugus schools; the tremendous interest that has been aroused among high school pupils in the Middle and Western states on the subject of farm- ing : the strong incentive to agricultural teaching in Massachu- setts high schools by the State Legislature in its legislation of 1911, whereby a chief part of the cost of such instruction is to be paid by the state. Such a course in agriculture, as advocated above, could well be inserted into our first year work in the High School, especially in our Scientific and English courses, for it would seem as though many of our first-year pupils do not have their time occupied quite fully enough. It would seem that those pupils could do more practical work. While this year it is probably not good sense to secure state aid for agricul- tural instruction in our school by subscribing to the conditions laid down by the State Board of Education in respect to the matter, yet the non-expensive and tentative method of teaching
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REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
this special branch as suggested in this report should be tried. If this is successful the first year, then, by all means, the method advocated by the State Board should be taken advantage of in 1913.
Aims.
The aims of our High School and the Ninth Grade depart- ments were set forth in some detail in my last report, and I would merely state that I believe the aims today should be the same as those of last year, that is, for High School pupils thor- ough training for higher institutional work, for business, for util- ity in life : for the Ninth Grade graduates an early introduction into the elementary parts of a fairly large variety of subjects with special emphasis laid on accuracy in the School Arts, and on the formation of good habits. In discipline, from the view point not only of studies but also of personal character and con- duct, the school is in excellent condition. Our teachers are exceedingly faithful, sympathetic with the school life and the social life of our pupils, and are ever ready to aid and assist the members of their classes to the limit of their powers, and all this in face of receiving salaries that are markedly low in contrast with those received by teachers in the towns and cities close to Saugus.
Other Needs.
Again this year, the Principal would repeat that the school is woefully lacking in not providing a good range of suitable reference books for science, history and literature study. There should be an expenditure of money for the purchase of such books and magazines. In the Principal's classes in English a number of the very significant present day topics are taken up for discussion. For a suitable investigation of such topics pupils are actually obliged to go to the Public Libraries of Boston and Lynn for information that they may use in present- ing those questions in a scholarly and authoratative way. We sadly need proper up-to-date encyclopedias and reference books in many subjects. The trustees of our local Public Library
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REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
could undoubtedly assist our pupils in their work in these subjects by placing in the Town Library the current periodicals that deal with the very important social and political questions that are agitating our American life today.
Your Principal is very glad to announce that the New Eng- land College Entrance Certificate Board, representing thirteen of the colleges, recognizing the excellent work done in the colleges by Saugus High School graduates, has granted to the school the right of entrance by certification.
Respectfully submitted, JAMES F. BUTTERWORTH, Principal, Saugus High School.
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Graduating Exercises
OF THE
Class of 1911, Saugus High School
Tuesday Evening, June 20, 191 I
Motto: Labor omina vincit
PROGRAM
Selected
Music S a. 1b. Overture "Ivanhoe" Edward Hazel Orchestra
Invocation
Rev. Charles Schuttler
Music. Unfold, Ye Portals Gounod's Redemption High School Chorus
Salutatory. Perseverantia Omnia Vincit .
Emma Nelson Dawson (Second Honor)
53
GRADUATION EXERCISES.
Essay. The Conquest of the Pole .
Aubrey Randolph Goodwin
Class Oration. Making One's Life . · Francis Marion B. Merrithew
Class History. .
Katherine Maria Walker
Music. The Red Scarf G. A. Veazie High School Chorus
*Essay. Physical Culture for Young Women Eloise Agnes Pratt
Class Prophecy Isabella Thomas Lovett
Presentation of Gifts
Hazel Florence Paige
*Essay. The Present Age Joseph William Curtis
Class Will Florence Juliana Stocker
Essay. O Tempora ! O Mores ! Charles Parsons Putnam ( First Honor)
5
GRADUATION EXERCISES.
Music. Sextet " Lucia di Lammermoor" . High School Chorus
Donizetti
*Excused
Presentation of Class Gift . Edgar Randolph Comee
Acceptance for School L. Leslie Chamberlain '12
Presentation of Diplomas . Hon. Frank P. Bennett, Jr.
Singing of Class Ode
55
GRADUATION EXERCISES.
CLASS ODE
MILDRED LOUISE KIMBALL
Air-" Flow Gently Sweet Afton " I
Dear class of nineteen eleven the time has come When fin'lly our days in the High School are o'er ; Yet in our life's journey whate'er it may be, Those happy days we'll remember evermore. May the lessons we learned there, in work and in play, Teach us ever to follow the pathway of right, Let our motto, " Perseverance conquers all," Come what will and come what may, be ever bright.
II
And when through the trials and pleasures of life ; Through sunshine and sorrow we've cheerfully passed, May we enter, free from care, the world beyond,
Where our doings and not our riches are classed. And so dear classmates go forward from this night Avoiding the wrong in all you strive to do : With hopeful hearts, look always for better things, And to the dear mem'ry of your class be true.
56
GRADUATION EXERCISES.
GRADUATES
Four Years' Classical Course.
Emma Nelson Dawson Eloise Agnes Pratt
Mildred Louise Kimball
Charles Parsons Putnam
Isabella Thomas Lovett Florence Juliana Stocker
Hazel Florence Paige Katherine Maria Walker
Four Years' Latin Scientific Course. Edgar Randolph Comee Joseph William Curtis Francis Marion Blaisdell Merrithew
Four Years' English Course.
Frances Josephine Edmands Aubrey Randolph Goodwin
'Three Years' English Course.
Julia Emma Buxton Bertha Gertrude Mason
Bernice Leavering Chase Herbert Preston Mason
Joseph Newton Gamage Agnes Henrietta Mclver
Lizzie Marion Hanson Philip James Riley
Margaret Agnes Williams
Graduation Exercises
OF THE
Ninth Grade, Class of 1911.
June 16, Saugus High School.
PROGRAM
PART I.
I. The Twenty-Third Psalm . Mendelssohn School Chorus.
2. Things Worth While in America Essay
Ellery Metcalf.
3. A Turn in the Road . Recitation
Earle Macleod.
4. Napolita Piano Solo
Bertha Halliday.
5. Famous Persons in America Essay
Violet Loyte.
58
GRADUATION EXERCISES.
6. Panama Recitation Lewis Gray.
7. There's Music in the Air. . School Chorus.
8. Conservation . Essay Alice Halliday.
9. The Oars are Plashing Lightly . Sextet
Girl's Chorus.
Elva Annas
Victoria Barber
Grace French
Ruey Marden
Violet Barber
Jessie Rideout
PART II.
I. The Trumpeters Recitation
Lupton Reddish.
2. The Phlegmatic Englishman versus
The Energetic American
· Essays
Percy Evans and Leslie Green.
3. Spring Song Mendelssohn
School Chorus.
1. a Selected .
Solo
h Little Boy Blue
David Edgar.
59
GRADUATION EXERCISES.
5. Beauty in Common Things Recitation
Helen Enderwick.
6. The Making of the Average Man Essay
Chester Smith.
7. To Thee, O Country . Eichberg
School Chorus.
8. Class Gift, Twenty Books .
Raymond Clark, Class Librarian.
9. Presentation of Diplomas Mr. Harry T. Turner.
-
60
GRADUATION EXERCISES.
GRADUATES.
Elva Annas
Victoria Barber
Violet Barber
Violet Loyte
Flora Berryman
Marion Luce
Alice Blood
Ruth Mackay
Willo Blossom
Earle Macleod
Mildred Borland
Melbourne Macleod
Thomas Bresnahan
Loma Maddox
Horace Brown
Catherine Maher
Hazel Chandler
Ruey Marden
Robert Marsden
Raymond Clark Bertha Collins
Lester Marshall
Clara Day
Hazel McKenney
Maurice Day
Lucille Merrithew
George Drew
Ellery Metcalf
Mildred Drew
Harold Moore
David Edgar
Esther Mungan
Edgar Eklund
Ethel Musick
, Helen Enderwick
Elvina Newbury
Percy Evans
William Nockles
Mildred Flockton
Abbie Parrott Alice Penney
Charles Flynn
Eldred Foss
Carl Penny Avis Pratt
John Fox
Chester Frazier
Justina Lehane Dorothy Low
Lupton Reddish
GRADUATION EXERCISES.
Grace French
Jessie Rideout
Helen Gibbs
Ethel Rivers
Ansil Gott
Emma Ruebe
Lewis Gray
Mary Russell
Ralph Gray
Leslie Green
Doris Shepherd Marie Skehan Chester Smith Frank Smith
Bessie Griswold Parker Groton
Alice Halliday
Bertha Halliday
Cecil Hamilton
George Sprague Edna Staples Lewis Stocker Cary Thornton
Isobel Hendrick
Leonilda Hicks
Gladys Trask
Elizabeth Higgins
Everett Tufts
- Erwin Hill
Sherman Waters
Elsie White
Nannie Hjort Mary Howard Florence Hussey
Alice Willis Alice Wilson
Grace Ingalls
Charles Wilson
Harold Jones
Edward Wilson
Augustus Julien
Helen Wright
61
SAUGUS PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1729 00051 4098
SAUGUS PUBLIC LIBRARY 295 Central St. Saugus, MA 01906
For Reference
Not to be taken
from this library
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