USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > Town annual report of Swampscott 1895 > Part 6
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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
1895.]
and fostered that steady onward march through the years and the centuries, which have resulted in a nation of happy and prosperous people. Just there on yonder height, rises that majestic shaft, which perpetuates the heroic endur -. ance, the undying patriotism, and the successful struggle of that patriot people, who fought to establish and give permanence to that peaceful prosperity which we to-day enjoy, and which make it possible for us to dedicate to the higher educational requirement for our rising generation, such beautiful and enduring structures as this. Right here at our doors, lies this great and busy hive of in- dustry, the hum of whose ceaseless wheels and the steady pulsation of whose tireless energies are affording constant impetus and success, to one of the greatest industries the world has known. Looking landward, the eye rests upon the beautiful undulating and picturesque scene of forest, of hill and plain, where but a short league away, our noble Commonwealth is rearing another of her grand temples of learning, soon to take its proud place with those higher ed- ucational institutions, of which we here, are an integral, though a supplemental part.
And now, Mr. Chairman of the Selectmen, who by virtue of your office, are custodian of the public property of the Town, I come, sir, in behalf of my com- mittee, to surrender our trust, to deliver to you this completed building, to hand you these keys, and to give into your possession the custody of this property as the result of our best efforts for all our interests, in return for the means which you have placed in our hands.
Accept it, sir, in behalf of the Town, guard it zealously, transmit it to your successors, and to you and to them may it prove a source of pride and profit, and may this community ever realize a rich and noble endowment, and a satis- factory and profitable investment, in the possession of this Phillips School.
In receiving the keys, Mr. Bulfinch spoke felicitously as follows :
ADDRESS OF MR. BULFINCH.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee :
The duty, or as I would prefer to call it, the privilege, of accepting in be- half of the Town of Swampscott, this modern institution of learning, situated, as you have so well described, on one of the grandest and most sightly loca- tions to be found on the North Shore, and dedicated to the elevation of the intellect and morals of our boys and girls, is one for which I am truly grateful, and justly proud.
My Dear Friends :- You have been invited here this afternoon to engage in the dedication of a building constructed in behalf of hundreds of our children whose opportunities for earnest, remunerative and satisfactory education has been jeopardized by ill-located, ill-constructed and ill-ventilated school build- ings. In fact, what was formerly said of the old High School building at Lynn, can be truly said of our old building on Redington street : " That it scarcely shelters our pupils from the rain."
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
[ Feb. 28,
Although the question of location and the vast expenditure of money on the new edifice has been lamented by some of our citizens, it is pleasing to see them all come smiling into line and lend their efforts in making this the crowning event in the preparation of the high school building for its noble purpose.
The school work, for the past few years, in the old building has been under such unfavorable conditions that it has been almost impossible for our honor- able school board to gratify the demands that this age absolutely necessitates.
Education, opportunities and conditions have materially, almost radically, changed the character and purpose of the course of instruction, and the work done during the years spent within these walls will prepare them for that greater work which they all hope to achieve in future years.
It has been said that about 90 per cent. of our men who engage in business in this country fail ; some from lack of capital, others from misfortune, but the vast majority, I venture to say, from insufficient education.
The composition of your Building Committee I believe to have been a good one. You have had on that committee from the citizens able, faithful and experienced men; you have also had there the members of the school board, which has been a great advantage, and whose absence on such committees is considered a disadvantage in cities where, although they have from the stand- point of maintenance the necessary repairs of a school building, they have practicallv no voice in the selection of a site or the construction of their buildings. So I say this building is better for having their counsel, for they are the ones who know better than all others the needs and wants of our school system, and it must be borne in mind that they are not only officers of the Town, but they are also officers of the Commonwealth, and have its several mandates to perform.
While we all feel that both the teachers and the scholars have shown great achievements in the past, we can safely predict, and shall expect, that, under the favorable conditions afforded in this modern building, our teachers will be enabled to redouble their efforts to render each department more efficient in its purpose of preparing our children in attaining the very highest excellence within the compass of their faculties.
In conclusion, I wish to extend my sincere thanks to the sub-committee for their zealous efforts; to the architect, for his judgment and taste, and to the citizens for their substantial reply to a clamor for a better home for our school children.
Mr. Chairman of the Swampscott School Board :- I have received these keys not to retain, but simply serving as a stepping-stone in their transit to your custody, and it becomes my pleasant duty, in behalf of the Board of Selectmen of the town of Swampscott, to deliver to your keeping this beautiful edifice. With its conveyance our responsibility ceases, while yours and that of your colleagues commences.
The town, for its own prosperity and the advancement of its children, has appropriated for this structure with generosity, and may it look for a return commensurate with its expense.
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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
1895.]
The Chairman of the School Board was made the final custodian of the keys, and in receiving them at the hands of the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, he spoke as follows :
THE ADDRESS OF REV. W. H. ROGERS.
Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens :-
To one like myself it seems a very great honor to be made the custodian of these keys, and I confess that I might be weak enough to be somewhat elated, were it not for the accompanying thought of the responsibility, which sobers and subdues.
This is one of the great days in the history of a community whose settle ment ante-dates that of historic Boston, and it is fitting that the structure which represents the crowning improvement of more than two hundred and sixty years of material and mental and moral progress, should be dedicated on the crowning summit of our territory, where sea and city on the one hand, and field and forest on the other, combine their varied charms to capture and captivate the eyes of the pilgrims from all parts of the land, who annually visit our shores.
It becomes my first duty in behalf of pupils, teachers, committee and citi- zens generally, to convey our hearty thanks to the Building Committee, whose skill and arduous toil has accomplished for us a public school building so admirable in all its appointments, a model at once of comfort and convenience, of strength and simplicity, of grace and dignity.
To gentlemen D. K. and L. H. Phillips, we also owe a debt of gratitude for that generous offer which came to our relief in the time of a most embarass- ing exigency, enabling us to perpetuate the name of their honored father, Eben B. Phillips, whose thrift and enterprise were so prominent in the material development of our town for a long period of years, and whose industry and economy is worthy to be imitated by the youth of the generations to come. And the name of Phillips, which we all delight to honor to-day, suggests yet another name in that earlier history of our community, far back even in the seventeenth century. Many of you, I am sure, will recall the Francis Ingalls and the Edmund Ingalls of those early days, and whose names are happily represented here to-day in the person of Francis Edmund Ingalls, the tireless Secretary of the Swampscott School Board.
But we come in the last place to pay our chief debt of gratitude to the peo- ple, by whose suffrages this building has been decreed, and by whose sugges- tions it has been developed. It would seem as though every step of our progress had first been suggested by the people and then supported by the people.
The School Committee were at first a unit in spending about three thousand dollars ($3,000) for the enlargement and refitting of the Redington street building. The people said, "No. We must have an entirely new building."
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The committee proposed to themselves a structure costing, perhaps, twenty- five thousand dollars ($25,000), on the old site. The people said, "No. From our ample territory select a more favorable situation." The committee origi- nally had no thought of anything but a wooden structure. The people said, "No. We should build of more enduring brick."
Thus, step by step, we have moved on, until, by the generosity of our donors, and by the acceptance of the same by a hearty vote of the people, we have attained a consummation, which we believe the future will vindicate with an emphasis stronger even than that which the present affords.
But our exultation to-day should be tempered by a sense of new responsi- bilities. Our school house is built, and well built, but all about us, in the per- sons of our boys and girls, we see the crude material of character, waiting at our hands to be built into the enduring temple of a strong and noble manhood, and a pure and beautiful womanhood.
May young men and maidens go from this hill, from year to year, with such an equipment for the duties of that larger world into which they enter, as shall be an annual demonstration that this building, which has been erected by the people, for the people, shall not have been erected in vain.
To this end, the committee beseech the continued hearty and considerate co-operation of all our citizens. Remember, that we are called upon to look after, not the particular interest of one child, but the general interest of more than five hundred children. Then we, in turn, will endeavor to remember, for each and every one, that your child is one of the five hundred.
Teachers :- I may say that it is to you that we are indebted for that spirit of progress, efficiency and enthusiasm that has made this temple of learning pos- sible, and I hardly need to remind you, that an indulgent community, which has provided superior surroundings and facilities, have a right to expect that increasingly efficient service which we know you will cheerfully render.
And to the members of our High School who are here to-day, may I address one word ? It is your privilege to spend the formative period of your lives under a horizon where the epoch-making events of our history have occurred, and where the epoch-making men of our history have lived. Study well the figures which present themselves upon the landscape which spreads itself before you, so rich in historic and patriotic and poetic association. Improve the opportunity here afforded to enrich your natures with the pure and lofty and tender sentiment of Lowell, Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, with which this atmosphere is redolent. In this age in which "wealth is arrayed against the Commonwealth," it is good to look from this summit across the bay, to the home of Agassiz, and to recall his words, which were in substance, "I have not time to make money." Surely, you who study in full view of Bunker Hill, and where you might have heard the guns of Concord and Lexington, where you might have caught a glimpse of the white sails of the Mayflower, as the winds wafted her to the southern shores; surely, you should be patriots.
But let us not, in this hour of our delight over the new school house, forget the dear memories that cluster about the old school house. Let us not forget the workers who there laid the foundation of all that we have been able to
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accomplish here. We cherish their memories, and we are glad that so many of them are with us to-day.
And now, from this high vantage ground which we occupy here to-day, not only in a physical but in a mental and moral sense, let us, one and all, parents and pupils, teachers and committee, reconsecrate ourselves to the cause of educa- tion, and to a truer, kindlier and more faithful citizenship. Let us remember the rich heritage of the past, and pay to our posterity the debt we owe to our ancestry.
After the delivery of the keys to the School Committee, the members of the High School rendered the following dedicatory hymn, with words and music by Miss Elizabeth A. Bill, instructor in music and drawing :-
This day, O Wisdom's Goddess, O, being great and free; This temple fair and beautiful We dedicate to thee.
O here, make thou thy dwelling, Thy gracious presence lend; May courage, truth and purity, With Wisdom's teachings blend.
O give each youth and maiden, Who may assemble here, Some jewel from thy casket, Some message full of cheer.
Let thou these halls always, With love of country ring ; While honor, justice, manliness, Shall from thy teaching spring.
To thee, O Wisdom's Goddess, Our homage ne'er shall cease ; For all thy ways are pleasantness, And allithy paths are peace.
This temple then, we dedicate, To Wisdom, honor, truth ; To womanhood and manhood high, And bright unsullied youth.
Following the dedicatory hymn, came the dedicatory ode, by Rev. Geo. A. Jackson, which was as follows : -
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
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ODE
READ AT THE DEDICATION OF THE PHILLIPS SCHOOL, SWAMPSCOTT.
I.
Wakened to sing by ocean, And lands that lie beyond; But turning with first devotion, To our own broad land and fond. Seek ye me with me yon tower: 'Twill be an exalted hour, If, not with vision near, But eyes anointed, clear,
Ye look the horizon round-
For only that our bound. Beyond the East beginnings lie,
Up out of chaos come, Beyond the West eternity, - Time here shall find its sum.
II.
From chaos and dread night, From things that crawl and fight, Slow come we to the light, Where sons, not creatures, stand.
Aye, sons, not by the hand, But by the breath, of God, Made masters of the sod, Whence creatures come.
So have we history; So in them mystery,
Whene'er we seek to trace Th' oncoming of our race, Who not as the planets move, Compelled. Oft hate or love Seem dumb, man's ways to prove.
III. All errant then, As knights without a cause, Aimless, not having laws, Move sovereign men ? Said we not this; The goal we do not win, Because no bound
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1895.]
Is drawn around Our going. Willful, we overleap, Sluggards, we lie and sleep, As if not knowing. Decree the All had made,' Ere He the foundations laid ; Yea, this to the race had said, As yet unborn :- "From the first morn Mind doth adorn
The earth, until the end,
Upward ye must have trod,
Upward, from self to God; And all must tend To make men free, As God is free; And all must show that worth
Resides in man, not in his birth. When comes the day That each for all and all for each
Do live, the goal we reach : Then earth may pass away."
IV.
Then east again, o'er ocean, Into history, Not now all mystery, We peer. Our land her portion God-given hath, _w" , Closing the long path €1175 That clasps the earthy ... But erst behold the dearth, In that dim, distant East, Of freedom. Not bound at first-the beast Is not, that seemeth free- But sure, as by fixed decree, Man ever chose his own : - "My will, naught else be done." Look then ! Great empires low, Brute tyrannies - Egypt's, Assyria's, Nineveh's- Make slaves of men, that so They may learn law.
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[ Feb. 28,
V.
Aye, law, first step to being free, Though taught by tyrant's sword. For so, "Thus saith the Lord," When spoke, was heard, and every knee Was fain to bow. Who questions how The potter moulds his clay ? Why serfs were taught to obey The voice of God By Egypt's rod, Still terror-held ?
Trace then His way : There comes a day
When the whole East grows bright,
And the cavernous past is light. Lo, One stands free As God is free,
Presage and pledge of distant goal. "Would men be free indeed ? Follow," saith He, "where I lead. Not contravene, but speed,
Fulfil God's law; Find life in loss; Self to perdition toss,
If need. Bear ye the cross- Freedom is of the soul."
VI.
Could this break chains-
To say, "Who loses gains"; To tyrants turn the cheek, And answer, ever meek, "In God's good time?" Aye, paradox sublime,
Like freedom less'ning crime,
Like lilies grown from slime : His yoke makes free. But wait thou first the thousand years Which be God's day. Hellenic wit and Roman spears, Meantime shall say, Unwilling, "This His rule." Yea, teach with priest, with bishop's crook, And begging friar,
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1895.]
And bell and book, And tall cathedral spire- Teach everywhere "Lo! this His rule." And peace at once abounds, And men stand free ? Nay. Sword and strife; A plunging, tottering world, Once more to chaos hurled; Death, darkness, bonds, not life, Until He sets the bound, who hedges round The lords of hell.
VII.
Then scan once more that East. Kings, priests and knaves, Serfs, subjects, slaves, At first seem all. But no ; Yon serf, down-trod, In that long sleep hath dreamed, And to himself hath seemed A son of God.
Put back in form of clay That dreamer ? Say That priest or king shall bind His unchained mind ? Turn back as well the day, To flooding ocean say, "Be bound."
From Runnymede to Uri's shore, Where Wickliffe prayed, where Luther's door Was nailed with thought, Where sturdy Knox with priestcraft fought,
Where Leyden's dikes let in the sea,
Where Hampden died to make men free, In every cross-taught hamlet, find Unshackled mind. Of freedom's onset this the van: New type of man.
VIII. Hail, cross-born ! Thou thy race shalt free. But under ban That cramped old field ;
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[ Feb. 2S,
Prescription-bound, it cannot yield Fair freedom's fairest fruit. Rise up and flee Far over sea; There shalt thou see A continent reserved, where never knee Shall bow, save unto God.
And lo, he comes, that cross born man, Conscious that he is free, That he is rounding out God's plan, Launching eternity.
Look down. We see them landing on the strand; We see them spreading o'er the land. So dread their trust, Our hearts stand still. Peace, do not fear, that trust Is God-alloyed, and shall fulfil The mission given to man.
IX
Aye, bring the day When each in all- Or rich or poor or great or small- Hath heritage: When every son, Too free for paltry portioning, Shall be at one With the Great Source :
Not live in having, but in being. Blest goal !
Not reached by a million swords,
And not by a pampered class,
Nor yet an imbruted mass From untaught hordes. Goal rather of a state
Where a half hundred empires
Teach their sons to wait On law; Life incomplete to call, That doth not share, Bravely each burden bare, With the great all,
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1895.]
Than self more dear. Teach then, Ten thousand school-crowned hills; Send out in countless rills, Knowledge of our high destiny. Free they as God is free, The race that see
How each for all must ever be- Fit prelude to eternity.
When Gov. Greenhalge was presented, the audience arose and gave three hearty cheers. We very much regret the circumstances which prevent us from giving more than a meagre paragraph from His Excellency's thrilling address, which was received with unbounded satisfaction, yet that paragraph is too valuable to be omitted, and we give it as follows : -
He said that he had been invited that afternoon to attend a very important educational event that was going on at Springfield. A member of his family, who was a Harvard student, had asked him if he did not take an interest in physical development, and he had replied that, although he did, he preferred to come to this educational event of another nature and take part in the dedica- tory exercises of the Swampscott High School. So the family had divided. His son had gone to Springfield, and he was very glad to be here.
To merely look from the windows of that building on the glorious view of eastern Massachusetts was itself a liberal education. Lynn, Salem, Marble- head, Nahant and Boston were in full view.
When the story of Massachusetts was told it would not be her chief glory that she made print cloths or woolen goods, or that she led the world in making boots and shoes.
The choicest crop of Massachusetts was her ideas, the principles she fash- ioned in the foundry of her brain, and so long as she kept at the front in educa- tion she would hold her own whenever her skill or intelligence were called for. When the manufacture of cotton called for the product of 40 per cent brain and 60 per cent of raw material, things went well for Massachusetts for awhile, but when it got so that any and all sections could furnish this 40 per cent of brain and 60 per cent of raw material, Massachusetts set them another stint and put in 50 per cent of brain and only 50 per cent of raw material, and today the proportions set by Massachusetts were 60 per cent of brain and 40 of raw material.
" Thus," he continued, the brain of Massachusetts has again and again proved more than a match for the combined resources of her sister common- wealths in giving to her and keeping for her, the manufacturing supremacy, as well as the intellectual supremacy for which she has always been rated.
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
[ Feb. 28,
The Governor concluded his speech with a vigorous appeal for an increasing interest in the cause of the public schools, and after expressing his gratitude for the honor and pleasure of being present, retired amid rounds of applause.
Dr. Pullman came as the invited orator of the day. His address was most timely and vigorous. He spoke substan- tially as follows :
DR. PULLMAN'S ADDRESS.
I congratulate the citizens of Swampscott upon the achievement which this dedication service marks and commemorates.
By the erection of this temple of learning you have added another buttress to the stability of the Commonwealth, another ornament to your beautiful town and to the whole North Shore; you have given another evidence of your capacity for sound and energetic self-government, another proof of your wise providence for your children and your children's children; you have made a special contribution to good citizenship, and have built a lasting monument of your loyalty to the principles which have made our nation great among the great nations of the earth.
Such edifices do not build themselves. They represent the public spirit and persistent faith of leaders who know how to patiently overcome difficulties. The obstacles to be encountered in such a work are :- A wise reluctance to spend the public money, the apathy of the comfortable classes, the inertia of ignorance, the absorption of men in personal interests, and the stalwart oppo- sition of honest differences of opinion. These are only to be removed by discussion. And discussion is good. It develops clear ideas. Ours is a gov- ernment by discussion. Discussion is the safeguard of the Republic, and I hope and expect that this school will train its pupils to profitably discuss all matters of public policy.
You have spent on this building, I am told, about fifty-three thousand dol- lars ($53,000). Very good. You have spent these dollars on the principle that boys and girls are worth more than dollars. They are scarcer, and un- speakably more valuable. You have said, What shall it profit Swampscott, if it shall gain the whole corporation tax and lose its boys and girls ? You mean to give every Swampscott youth a good chance in life. You don't mean to have it an educational disadvantage be a citizen of this town. No family shall decline to settle here on the ground that the school facilities are not good. No citizen of Swampscott shall hereafter be compelled to send his children away from home to get a good education. Horace Mann said :- "I will make it possible for the poorest child in Massachusetts to have an education as good as the richest man can buy." With the opening of this school, Swampscott comes into line with this noble purpose, and gives its children equal advan- tages in standard education.
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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
1895.]
But this building is only the body; the school you put into it will be the soul, and will determine the value.
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