USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of the officers and committees of the town of Scituate 1876-1884 > Part 15
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76
4 11 Morrill and Hannah.
Inanition,
3 10 Alfred and Sarah A.
23, Mary Noonan,
Cancer,
82
Michael and Winnie Quinn.
50
25, Nancy O. Brown,
Consumption,
29
17 Alvyen and Eliza Vinal.
Stricture of bowels,
82|11| S Simeon and Rachel.
26, Caleb Bates, 27, J. Thomas Merritt,
Consumption,
20| 4 Joseph E. and Hannah.
lug. 13, Annie Eastman,
Bright's disease,
16
6 22 Herman R. W. and Emeline S.
23. Harriet E. White,
Sept.
Old age,
81
Pneumonia,
36 3 22 Gilbert G. and Susan P. Wilder.
Bright's disease,
45 3|6|Samuel and Betty.
3 10 Isaac H. and Ada.
29, Edward Raymond, 19, Mary J. Bates,
Cancer,
45 5 Lewis and Charlotte Lanagan.
29. Eliza Litchfield,
Sporadic cholera,
77
5 Isaac and Betsey Collier.
30, Dianna Merritt,
Fhthisis,
75
1| 6 Rufus and Dianna Curtis.
30, Eliza B. Brown,
Paralysis,
37| 3|22 John and Ruth Lacount,
2, Rufus Litchfield, 3, Susan W. Bricher, 6, Joseph Kay, S, |Lendell A. Young,
Cholera infantum,
10 7 Edward F. and Pamelia J. 4 29 Eleazer and Deborah.
Cholera infantum,
74 Edmond and Mehitable.
Chronic diarrhoea,
Oct. 6, George Doherty, 9, George B. Litchfield, 15, James S. Briggs, 2, Susannah W. Bates,
Dec. 5 Susan W. Damon, 6. Daniel Hatch, 24, Alfonso Gannett,
Dysentery,
1| 6|21 George and Charlotte. 9 William H. and Olive C.
Infantile,
Brain Softening,
78 62
6 1 Joseph and Marion.
Apoplexy,
Inflammation of bowels,
65 3 7 Joseph N. and Elizabeth.
Enteritis,
63 4 10 Joshua and Mary Farrington.
Paralysis,
67 4 16 Daniel and Nancy.
Dentition, 1 4 2 Joy K. and Eliza E.
The following were brought to Town for Interment :
1877. July 12 Caleb Bailey, 1878. Feb. 12, Mary A. Litchfield, 14, Hannah Lane, March 5, Leah J. Prentiss, :
82
8
Died at Taunton.
. 12 Died at South Scituate.
78 3 25 Died at Boston.
67 Died at South Scituate.
15, Lewis Stevens,
56 7 15 Died at Mansfield. . Died at Boston.
April 17, Jane E. Vinal,
May 4, William Collier, 31, Lurana H. Litchfield,
32 66 Died at Boston. 24 Died at South Scituate.
72
4 Died at Hingham.
39 11 25 Died at Sandwich. Died at Boston.
Nov. 27, Warren Young,
24
Died at Woburn.
5L
Aug. 17, Susan N. Bailey, 25, Jane H. Brown, Sept. 14, Davis C. Witherell, Jr.,
Premature birth,
3|28 Ezekiel and Lucy W. Jones.
Nov.
19, Charles Ellms,
52
SUMMARY.
Whole number of births during the year 1878 49
Males 28
Females 21
Whole number recorded in 1878 55
Number of marriages recorded 29
Number of marriage certificates issued 27
Number of deaths in Scituate during the year 48
Males 26
Females 22
Average age: fifty-one years, one month and twenty-nine days.
Of the number who died in town, four were over ninety years, nine over eighty, eighteen over seventy, thirteen were under thirty, and seventeen between thirty and seventy.
Whole number recorded during the year 60
Whole number of dogs licensed during the year 79
Amount received for the same $170 00
CHARLES E. BAILEY, Town Clerk.
SCITUATE, February 1, 1879.
.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
,
OF THE
TOWN OF SCITUATE,
FOR
-
1878-79.
PLYMOUTH : AVERY & DOTEN, STEAM BOOK PRINTERS, 1879.
REPORT.
The committee are glad to be able to say that the schools have, in general, done very well; success has been the rule, failure the exception.
Some of the schools have, maintained a high rep- utation for a considerable time ; others have more recently advanced from the lowest to the highest rank.
The attendance, as usual, shows a loss of nearly twenty per cent. of school time. This was partly owing to the prevalence of sickness and stormy weather towards the end of the winter term. The number not absent during the year is twelve; not absent for two years, seven ; not absent for five years, one ; not absent for two terms, forty-five ; not absent for one term, seventy-five. These stand for the visible side of the perseverance of the scholars. There is also an invisible side, as we are well aware, and a roll of honor which we
4
cannot write, for those who had the will, but not the way ; whose hearts were in the school-room, and who would gladly have been in their places, but for ill health, or ocean tides, or inclement skies. Such pupils are live branches, that do the minimum of harm to a school by their temporary and enforced absence; they are apt to keep their vigor and growth, and, by their hearty application, to make up in part for the common loss. There are others of whom it might be said, with truth, that they do not come to school at all. Occasionally they put in an appearance, barely sufficient to keep their names upon the register ; but in reality they are not where they seem to be, but far away, where their thoughts and interests are ; and if their bodies were where their minds are, it would be but little loss to them and a positive gain to the school.
A glance at the registers will show that cases are not uncommon in which the days of attendance are less than those of absence ; now and then there is one who has been present only a third or a quarter of the time. A general estimate would show that the great loss of seven weeks of schooling, on an average, to every pupil in town falls chiefly upon about a third, or perhaps a quarter, part of the scholars. It is this class which, not- withstanding the noble example of punctuality afforded by others, keeps the average attendance low and retards the progress of the schools.
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Of course, it is not possible to attain perfection in this matter, and necessary absence must be accepted as one of the hindrances we are to expect; and there would be no reason to complain, if the only causes of absence were attributable to the weather or to sickness ; but what shall we say to the frequent instances in which the pupil is absent from three to six weeks in the course of a single term? We can only say that a school thus afflicted is in the condition of a tree, some of whose limbs, dead, but not dried, take up its healthful sap only to send it back to spread discase through the whole organism.
Such a misuse of a school is always an abuse of it. The neglect of one's own privileges is a detriment to those of others. The right to such a use of a school is a right to do wrong, -a right to despoil others of their rights. Concerning this matter, duty has a word for every sensible man and should be heard with deference.
THE HIGH SCHOOL.
This school has, in four years, had five different teachers. When this is said, a great deal more is said respecting the school. It is equivalent to the assertion that in all that period the school has not been under the forming hand of any one person. If all these teachers had been of the very best, it would still have been a serious detriment to have had so many changes, for one
6
man is so unlike another that no one can take up the work of another in a school without a serious break. From these frequent changes the school has necessarily suffered. Four years ago the tone of the school was excellent ; its morale was good ; the deportment of the pupils, both in the school-room and out of it, was all that could be asked. This was due to the exceptionally good qualities of the teacher as a disciplinarian. He held the school well in hand, was prompt, inclining to severity in speech, yet withal popular with most of his pupils, because he did not deny them their right to be governed. His advantages had been those of a Normal school, and he did not claim to be able to teach a High school in which the languages are required by the statute. This lack he would have made up, as his ambition prompted, but, unfortunately, he fell sick and was driven hastily from us by the rigors of our climate. He barely escaped with his life. The next teacher came well recommended by persons far and near, as a college graduate who had taught with marked success, and vouched for by a school committee, in whose service he had done well. His head carried more than that of his predecessor, but it contained a lurking heresy that the pupils of High schools, being ladies and gentlemen, are competent to govern themselves, and may properly be left to come and go at will. The premise was good that such pupils ought to govern themselves, but the conclusion did not follow that they would do as they ought. The
7
tension at once relaxed, and the school changed its entire character, as though the muscles of a lion had sud- denly become those of a lamb. This teacher remained only one term. What the school then lost it has never fully recovered. The next teacher, with a mind of remarkable activity and full of enthusiasm, entered upon his task with good promise of success, but, at the end of his first term, he was prostrated by sickness and soon passed away, much lamented. Then followed a fourth teacher, a gentleman of liberal education and experience, also recommended by intelligent persons among us. He was a fairly good instructor, and during the nearly two years that he remained he did a good work, and the standard of the school was raised, so that it became, in fact, a High school, but the fatal obstacle of discipline was at last too much for him, and he retired. Such were the antecedents of the school when the present teacher took it. It may well be supposed that he was confronted by grave difficulties.
It was decided that in a school of this grade, and among scholars of nearly adult stature, the use of the rod was out of the question, - almost as much out of place and out of date there as in the lecture-room or the church. Some means of discipline must be devised, and it was deemed most suitable that those who, after repeated reproof, should still be insubordinate, should be excluded from school, to be restored on promise of amendment, and, in extreme cases, to be finally expelled,
-
S
and thus exposed to the censure of public sentiment, which is the only effectual punishment for such offences by such persons.
Under this treatment the disorder gradually sub- sided, though it must be said that much of the attention of the teacher had to be given to this part of his work, to the hindrance of other parts.
The difficulties of government have been increased by the presence in the school of pupils who were not willing to take the studies assigned them. They were very desirous to enter the school, but it is difficult to see for what reason, unless it were that the school-room afforded a convenient meeting place, where their social instincts might find exercise and their youthful spirits effervescence, or a reading room for the perusal of news- paper stories and dime novels, of the most unwholesome character. In a word, the school-room was to some of these young people a place of entertainment ; and if it was not that, it was intolerably dull and irksome. No wonder they were restless and hard to control.
If there is to be a High school, it must be with the understanding that those who enter shall occupy them- selves with the studies taught. If, in exceptional cases, some are excused from particular branches, these should at least be forbidden to introduce recreations of their own to fill up the idle hours. If the school is expected to maintain a high standard, care must be exercised in admitting only those who are qualified. If it is desir-
9
able, in the present circumstances, to be less rigid in the demands for admission, and if a lower standard better meets the actual requirements of the children, still let it be insisted that they go to school to work and not to play.
What the grade of the school shall be will depend upon what the public shall require, or, rather, what they will sustain. If there is a desire for superior education, if our young people are willing to devote their time to study and will remain in the school long enough to make some advancement, this will give character to the school, and it is the only thing that can do it. If there is a demand, the supply will follow. On the other hand, the school must do its part to create this demand. The school will react upon the community and increase the demand, which will return to it the materials for further growth and power. Thus all the other schools, and the whole intellectual life of the community, will rise or fall with the High school. It is a place of power and responsibility, which the teacher should occupy with skill and tact, and enterprise and zeal, and a due appre- ciation of his opportunity. This is the emphatic demand of the community who feel a proper solicitude for their educational interests, and are willing to submit to all reasonable sacrifices to make their schools what they ought to be. The committee fully sympathize in the determination of the people of the town either to have a good High school or else none at all. If the people will
10
do their part to encourage the scholars and sustain the teacher, they will not fail to have a good school. The past history may at least suggest the inquiry whether the school has had all the help it should have had from parents and others, for it is possible that the efforts even of the best teacher might be thwarted by a lack of sup- port from the people. Let us do our part faithfully, then, if teachers fail, let them promptly give place to others, for in this most important matter we must hold that " success is a duty."
THE GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
It is hardly necessary to say that the East Grammar has been admirably instructed and governed under the management of Miss S. L. Young. Her successful work for so many years has laid us all under great obligations, and the record she has made will not soon be forgotten. Her many pupils will appreciate more and more, as years roll on, the value of her teachings, both by precept and example ; and the whole community will accord to her the honor which belongs to one who unites in one person the rare traits which form a really good teacher.
It is much to our regret that Miss Young should have been obliged to relinquish her work, near the end of the year, on account of sickness. We all share in the common affliction. This is the most noteworthy fact in
11
relation to the school, necessitating, as it does, a change of teachers, with the hazards and uncertainties incident to such a step.
As to the future of the school we are hopeful, and bespeak for the new teacher, Mr. Charles Young, the cordial support and co-operation of the parents and friends.
The West Grammar, during the last two terms, has been under the instruction of Mrs. J. A. Neely, who has given very good satisfaction.
The candidates for promotion to the High school, from both these schools, will be better prepared than those of last year, and yet it has not been found practi- cable to advance them to the end of the arithmetic. They will be obliged to continue this branch for one or two terms in the High school.
THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
If the amount of knowledge required to be imparted in these schools were the measure of the qualifications of the teachers, there would be some ground for that shal- low notion which dies so hard, that almost anybody can teach a Primary school.
The fact is, the amount of knowledge which can be conveyed to any of our scholars is quite small, but in order to impart that knowledge, as it should be, there must be a vast deal more of knowledge and experience on the part of the teacher.
12
The work done by our Primary teachers is very cred- itable to them. Among them we find those whose attainments are fully equal to those who teach the higher grades. Some of the best of the Primary schools afford an illustration of this, showing that the better the teacher the better the school.
The thanks of the town are due to one of our teach- ers, who now closes her work, Miss H. N. Bailey, for her very valuable services as instructor of the Beach street school. Under her direction the school, from being one of the most unsatisfactory, has become one of the very best. It has changed its whole appearance, and is now one of the most successful and interesting schools we have. This was the work of a skilful and experienced teacher, who took in hand the materials which had baffled the attempts of others, and gave them order and life.
This is one of the instances which lead to the conclu- sion that a poor school is not to be accepted as a necessity in any case. The right sort of teacher will accomplish the desired results. We are fortunate that for the small compensation we are able to offer, we can secure so many of this class of teachers. We cannot afford to pay even that price for poor teachers.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
Whose business is this concerning which the school committee now render an account ?
13
It is that of the Commonwealth, to which the com- mittee are directly responsible, which assumes the right to care for the educational interests, and to foster and guard them as essential to the common welfare and safety.
It is that of the Town, whose families are solicitous for the intelligence and morals of their neighborhoods.
It is that of the Committee, to whom the community have entrusted their most precious interests, and whose duty it is to educate the children.
It is that of the Teachers, through whose agency the committee perform the task assigned them.
But we do not approach an adequate reply to this question, till we say that it is emphatically the business of the Parents about which we are now concerned.
The state, the town, the committee, the teachers, are only subordinates in this great work, only helpers of the parents, in whose hands still remain the right and the duty and the responsibility of training their offspring. These aids are provided because this work is so impor- tant, and because few parents have the means or ability to do it well. For their assistance they can avail them- selves of the school. The school can attend to the cul- ture of the mind and the morals. It is bound to do all it can to render the pupils intelligent and wise and good. There will still remain the greater part of the work, of training, for the parents. The culture of the children will need all that the family can do for them, as well as
14
the school. The parents can do a great deal to assist the school. They should, so far as they can, supervise the studies, and attend carefully to the habits of their chil- dren. They should mind their own business in seeing that the children are punctually at school, and that they are obedient and studious.
There is a great deal that needs to be done for the children, that the schools cannot do. The parents must realize that this whole business of education is theirs. They must do their part if they would secure the good designed. If they neglect their duty, and evade their responsibility, all the expensive and carefully devised aids will be crippled.
The school is an annex to the home : the training of the school-room an adjunct to that of the family. They are essentially one. They should always be harmonious. The school at variance with the home. is really a house divided against itself, which cannot stand.
This will open the way for a word respecting school government. The foundation of good government must be laid at home ; it is because this work is so poorly done that the government of the school is so difficult. Parents do not always succeed in this work to their own satisfaction, and teachers must take things as they find them, and do their best, but if all do what they can, very good results will be attained.
Some one has said that it is one thing to manage a school, and another thing to govern it. Very true ; we
1
15
recognize the distinction, and admit that a school ought to be governed. That is, it should feel the influence of authority, exercised through the medium of law. The pupils should be trained, both at home and at school, to yield obedience to proper authority, to do their duty because it is right, and because the law requires it.
At the same time, there will remain a proper func- tion for good management. If the teacher can make his pupils think they are doing their own pleasure when they are doing his bidding, it would seem a pity to dis- turb such a harmless illusion. A wise government will maintain its dignity without being arbitrary: it will bend, that it may not break.
It is by the judicious blending of command and per- suasion that the greatest rulers have kept their places. The truth is, that the serious lack of either of these elements will lead to failure. If one is more apt to be neglected than the other, it is authority, but persuasion is sometimes the more potent of the two, and is of great service in the culture of self government, in which alone does school government reach its perfection. If parents would do their part, the task of the teacher would be easier and better performed. They may find an incen- tive to greater fidelity in the thought that the instructor is but an assistant in their school, and that they them- selves are the heaven appointed teachers, whom no ordi- nance of man can supplant.
Every parent will realize that the question as to what
16
the child knows is of less importance than as to what he is. This is true, not only in the sense that the moral character is of more consequence than the intellectual, but it is true of the mind considered separately.
It might be required of us to tell what the children have learned during the year past, what they have to show for the time and money expended, and reference might be had to the amount of information which has been added to their stores of knowledge, the facts of his- tory, the principles of science, which have made them better informed with respect to the worlds of matter and mind. But if it were possible to offer such a display of facts and principles, it would furnish a very inadequate account of what the pupils have done.
A more adequate appreciation of the years' work would ask by what means the pupils have come into pos- session of their knowledge, and by what tenure they hold it ? By what degree of self help did they come by it ? Was it by the exertion of their own strength that they compassed it, or were they lifted over every diffi- culty ? Did they make it their own by a vigorous put- ting forth of their powers, or did they passively receive it into memories as leaky as the sieve's of the Danides ? In short, the real question is, what are these pupils in intellectual character ? what can they do ?- rather than how much do they know ? What are their powers of observation, of arrangement, of comparison, of judg- ment
17
As for information, it is very plentiful now a' days, and very cheap. Papers of various sorts are as thick as the leaves of autumn, but intelligence depends largely upon the power to make a proper use of these facts. How happens it that in the midst of this superabundance of knowledge there is still so much popular ignorance ? We should hardly have expected it in such an age ? How happens it that a generation or two since, with fewer advantages, there were as vigorous minds as there are now ? It is a sufficient answer that the greatest facilities for information do not of themselves make men intelligent. Well disciplined minds are not very com- mon, and it is for this reason that our educational work makes such slow and laborious progress. Mere reading, simply receiving mental nourishment from a spoon, will not make strong men. There must be vigorous applica- tion, a manful grappling with difficulties. It is casier to lift a scholar along than to lead him along, but the little that is added to his knowledge in this way adds nothing to his strength. These considerations should be kept in view, if we would judge correctly as to the quality of our schools.
But when the school has done its utmost .- it can do but a small part, and that not the most important part of the work of education, - there will still remain the greater share for the family and the church, and if they fail to do this work, the effect will appear in those habits which neutralize the best endeavors of the school ; but
2
18
even if these endeavors should succeed, the product would be a failure.
A trained intellect in possession of one who neither fears God nor regards man, is a very dangerous weapon. We have already too many monstrosities of this sort, and wide spread evil has been the consequence.
The crying need of our times is the true wisdom which informs both head and heart ; the understanding which, by the most skilful means, seeks the most benefi- cent ends. Our schools are our boast, but unless they send out wise men as well as intelligent men, they can do but little good, and may even do much harm.
Upon the threshold of this momentous theme we must pause ; it is not for us to enlarge upon it. Suffice it to say that the beginning and the end of all true edu- cation is character which deals justly, and loves mercy, and walks humbly before God, and the training that is faithfully done at home will show its good fruits in the school-room.
For the committee.
WILLIAM B. GREENE, Secretary. J. O. COLE, Chairman. WILLIAM P. ALLEN.
ROLL : OF : HONOR
FOR PUNCTUAL ATTENDANCE.
HIGH SCHOOL. Two TERMS. Cora D. Bailey. ONE TERM. Louis N. Curtis, Andrew Waterman.
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