USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of the officers and committees of the town of Scituate 1898-1905 > Part 7
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Irving E. and Grace M.
Lee
24
Marion Wilder Whiting
Lee W. and Sarah T. M.
Stevens
25
Allen Warren Cole
Charles F. and Nellie F.
Wade
27
Edith Marion Jenkins
William H. and Annie
Walling
February
2
Lois Harriet Clapp
Jolın and Grace L.
Carter
13
Robert Davis Bain
Joseph H. and Lizzie M.
Pierce
16
Henry Bartlett Merritt
Joseph W. and Carrie F.
Sylvester
66
24
Joseph Andrews Dwyer
Elmer F. and Jeanie
Reed
March
4
Ellery Bradford Hyland John Edward Murray Jellows
Henry and Maria
Delory
26
Olive Lavina Patterson
Merritt
9
Harold Clifton Whittaker
Frank T. and Emily C. Walter T. and Cora D.
Bailey
June
8
Edward O'Connor
Dudley and Mary A.
James M. and Mary H.
Seaverns
July
2
Edwina Livingstone Dalby Pearl May Bates Illegitimate
George H. and Mary E.
6
8
9
9
Louis Brooks Litchfield
13
Frank Russell Olson
16
Bernice Lillian Tufts
30 Franklin James Connors
August
18
17 Andrew Monroe Faxon Margaret Bailey
Thomas P. and Mary A. William E. and Edna H. Herbert M. and Mary E. Stephen, Jr., and Sadie F. Samuel and Isabel M. Benjamin F. and Margaret A. Thomas and Lizzie Carroll A. and Mabel F. Henry T. and Josephine M.
Flaherty Woodman Compton Pratt
Osborne Forbes
Driscoll
Dunn Litchfield
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Litchfield
Samuel E. and Carrie B.
Edward J. and Sarah M.
Delaney
31
Thomas A. and Minnie D.
Jellows
April May
16
Norma Foster Morris
16
Ona Catherine Morris
Thomas and Ellen
Sullivan
25
Frederic Reed Mott
28
20
Lewis Bailey Newcomb
Gill
19
Frates
10
Mary Elizabeth Stanley --- Woodman Zadia Frances Merritt
William H. and Ellen F.
Ward Morris
September
4 5
John Patrick Kane Lucy Mignonette O'Neil Henry Wendell Fitts Wendell Warren Whittaker
October
18 31 11
Ellis Marsh Litchfield Clara Alice Crane Jessie Elmer Cole Florence Kimball Mary Elizabeth Manson
November
11
Willie Fay Vargus
66 December
24 10 John Burke 22 Bessie Illdora Gardner
29
Alice Lillian Landers
1878
April 26
Caleb Turner Jenkins
Patrick, Jr., and Catherine Henry P. and Mary Henry T. and Florence E. Warren I. and Annie E. Harry M. and Fanny M. J. Frank and Addie F. Henry T. and Maud T. Peter E. and L. Grace Charles and Emma B. Antoine F. and Kate Harry E. and Vesta L. William H. and Nellie C.
Edwin H. and Cecelia J. Edmund and Annie L.
Caleb T. and Hannah B.
Doherty O'Donnell Turner Hines Delano Litchfield
Elliott Litchfield
Pentz
Grassie Reed Ward
Harry Reed Damon
Sweetser Mitchell
Bowker
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16
17 24 10
DEATHS REGISTERED IN SCITUATE FOR THE YEAR 1899.
DATE.
NAME OF DECEASED.
CAUSE OF DEATH.
AGE.
NAMES OF PARENTS.
1899
Jan.
1,
Isabelle C. Jenkins,
La Grippe,
89
6
0,
Ruth Nichols,
Marasmus,
11
Mary.
7,
Carl Gillen,
Still birth,
-
87
5
12,
Edmund Hyland,
Kidney Disease,
88
6
Samuel and Rhoda.
14,
Samuel Stoddard,
72
5
Samuel and Mercy.
20,
Benjamin Hatclı,
Apoplexy,
67
8
20
23,
Job P. Otis,
74
2
-
26,
Kilborn B. Merritt, Alvin Blanchard,
Pneumonia,
83
20
Feb.
10,
Nathaniel J. Vinal,
Neuralgia of Stomach,
72
-
3
13,
Bradford Morton Nott,
18
5
13,
John E. Hawes,
Paralysis,
46
2
16,
Ona Catherine Morris,
Still born,
-
Peter and Elizabeth Benson
24,
Karen M. Mott, Bessie K. Harvey,
Tubercular Bronchitis,
43
10
11
William and Elizabeth Anderson.
Mar.
4,
Marion Wilder Whiting, Theodore M. Hobigand,
Apoplexy.
74
4
22
Nicholas and Elizabeth.
20,
Joseph A. Litchfield,
73
21,
David W. Totman,
68
21
24,
Catherine H. Brown,
Carcinoma, Accidental Drowning,
30
9
20
28,
Bridget Butler,
Influenza.
75
29,
Edward Tobin,
Selerosis,
68
5
Thomas and Joanna.
31,
Deborah Orcutt,
Cancer,
82 79
3
22
Samuel K. and Elizabeth W. Williams.
Phthisis,
41
11
27
John and Ann.
Sarah Pratt Ellms,
Cancer,
67
7
87
8
28 -
Lawrence and Rebecca.
-
Y.
M.
D. 7
Warren I. and Mary J. Ambrose and Kesiah Merritt.
10,
Dick,
Hans G. and Abby A. T. Samuel and Mehitabel.
1
Cancer,
Martin B. and Deborah.
28,
Hayward and Rebecca. Charles H. and Mary. Jeremiah.
Joseph W. and Carrie F.
Cancer of Stomach
61
Volvulus,
1
13
Irving E. and Grace M.
18,
Valvular Disease of Heart,
80
5
Leonard and Saralı.
Old age,
Joseph and Deborah Colman. George M. and Elizabeth.
26,
Sigourney R. Young,
Still born,
1
Henry and Maria. Marshall and Deborah Hatch.
Apr. 7, May 22,
Penelope Russell Walbach,
Disease of Heart,
James Hughes,
June 3, 10, 25, | James S. Litchfield,
Thomas and Sophia.
Old age,
3
Influenza,
Job and Lydia
Anæmia,
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9,
Jellows,
11
Thomas and Ruth.
Typhoid Pneumonia,
Valvular Disease of Heart,
July 1, Charles W. Soule,
21, George T. Sampson,
Aug. 6, Edward J. Graham, 19, 24, Margaret H. Hill, George Willbert Sutton, Olive L. Patterson, Leonard L. Perry, Edwin Bowditch, George W. Hardwick, Charles Everett Smith,
13, 18, Oct. 15, Dec. 7, 10, 14,
Margaret O'Brien, Nathaniel Wade, John Burke, Turner Litchfield,
Inanition (1 hour), Old age,
88
7
13
1898 Nov. 27, Unknown man,
Heart Disease, Neurasthenia, Bright's Disease, Dysentery, Cholera Infantum, Cholera Infantum,
66 47
1
35
79
7
9
4
75
72
4
13 18
1
Internal Hemorrhage, Asthenia, Old age, Exposure,
69
11
79
6
1
William H. and Nellie C. Stephen and Rebecca.
Accidental drowning,
-
-
-
4
8
1 Josiah and Sophronia. George and Ann M. Thomas and Mary.
Sept. 2, 3, 9,
Paralysis, Bright's Disease, Diabetic Coma,
12 22 Cheney. William P. and Matilda. Thomas A. and Minnie D. Calvin and Mercy. 25 10 William and Mary. George A. and Amy C. Charles H. and Carrie.
5 James Sweeney. Nathaniel and Elizabeth.
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THE FOLLOWING WERE BROUGHT TO TOWN FOR INTERMENT.
DATE.
NAME.
AGE.
PLACE OF DEATH.
Jan.
22,
Thomas O. Hayden,
58
5
22
Cohasset.
Feb.
17,
Henry O. Cole,
54
6
12
Boston.
20,
Everett Cushing,
68
-
--
Taunton.
23,
Amelia W. Sylvester,
58
10
13
E. Weymouth.
27,
Ethel May Curtis,
19
3
15
N. Weymouth.
March
21,
Mary E. Ward,
1
6
-
Boston.
April
10,
Eliza W. Jenkins,
75
11
Dorchester.
May
2,
Laura M. Porter,
59
7
8
Boston.
June
8,
Gridley James Fox Bryant,
82
9
Boston.
July
21,
Henry Irving Prouty,
22
6
2
Boston.
Nov.
23,
Stephen D. Webb,
72
3
20
Weymouth.
Dec.
30,
David T. Litchfield,
Arlington.
Sept. 4, 1878,
Edward J. Porter,
78
6
-
Lexington, Mass.
Nov. 17, 1882,
Ruth Gardner Porter,
89
--
-
Lexington, Mass.
-
Somerville.
18,
S. Annie Longfellow,
39
5
23
Bostonl.
Oct.
9,
Oscar H. Simmons, John L. Webb,
69
-
Weymouth.
9,
Y.
M.
D.
-
Searsmont, Me.
29,
Edgar J. Curtis,
35
2
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SUMMARY.
Number of births in Scituate for the year 1899,
45
Males, 22
Females, 23
Whole number recorded for the year,
46
Number of marriages recorded,
32
Number of licenses issued. 30
Number of deaths for the year,
44
Males,
30
Females, 14
Death for 1898, I
Brought to town for interment, 18
Whole number recorded for the year.
63
Number of dogs licensed for the year,
I27
Males,
III
Females,
16
Amount recorded for the same,
$302 00
CHARLES MANSON,
Town Clerk.
Scituate, December 31, 1899.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
OF THE
Town of Scituate
FOR THE YEAR ENDING DEC. 30,
1 899
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
To the Citizens of Scituate:
The condition of our schools in general is so good, and the work done by teachers and pupils is so creditable, that the citizens of the town may justly congratulate themselves upon their schools. Superintendent and teachers are work- ing faithfully and harmoniously for improvement in the work, the teachers are earnest and successful in their efforts to make school life both attractive and instructive.
The school census, taken in September, shows that we have 360 (eligible pupils) between the ages of five and fif- teen, 254 (required pupils) between the ages of seven and fourteen. In the schools there are 374 scholars enrolled as follows :
First year,
5I
Second year,
50
Third year,
3I
Fourth year,
45
Fifth year,
5I
Sixth year,
28
Seventh year,
45
Eighth year,
I7
Ninth year,
20
Tenth year,
15
Eleventh year,
I3
Twelfth year,
8
The cost of supplies for so many scholars is necessarily a large item of expense. Jones' "Latin Prose Composition" has been bought for the Latin-English course of the High
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School; Green's "History of the English People," for the English course.
Metcalf's Language Series has been introduced in grades VI .- VIII. "Lights to Literature" (readers), entire series; also Rand & McNally's geographies. New physiologies and arithmetics have been necessary to replace defaced ones, and in many subjects, a large number of additional books has been puchased.
Fuel has been purchased at reasonable rates :
Oak wood at $3.85 per cord. Pine at $2.95 per cord. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
Our corps of teachers suffers little break from year to year, and therein lies one secret of the steady growth in efficiency of our schools. The withdrawals of Miss Effie Kel- logg, assistant in the High School; of Miss Grace Otis, as- sistant in the East Grammar School, left two vacancies. Miss Lota Clancy, Mt. Holyoke College, '99, is now High School assistant; Miss Maud A. Vickery, Bates College, '97, shares with Mrs. Bedelle the work of the East Grammar School.
The salary of the teachers receiving less than eight dollars a week has been increased, so that now that amount is the minimum paid.
The High School year is now forty weeks. The com- mittee hope in the near future to increase also the year of the Grammar and Primary Schools from thirty-six to forty weeks.
So commendable is the earnest effort made by the large majority of the scholars toward perfect attendance, that a Roll of Honor is appended to this report, giving the names of those scholars who have not been absent, nor tardy unless specified, for one, two, or three terms of '99. In a few cases, the perfect attendance has been in more than one grade, and is so stated. The list, large as it is, would have
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been doubled if there had been room to include the names of those absent for only one day.
Five years ago, on account of the crowded condition of the West Grammar School, the town asked the committee to report as to what was best to be done. The report was : A union building for the west part of the town. From the day of its completion, the Hatherly School has been the pride of Scituate. Its advantages were apparent from the start. There was a beautiful building; there was graded work; there was the certain, steady progress that pupils working together from the first, can make; there came from the larger numbers more breadth, more enthusiasm in work. Today there are 148 pupils at the Hatherly School, 25 per cent. more than the number with which it opened. Such has been the work there that students from other towns as well as our own have come to train for teaching.
The conditions today in the east part of the town are similar to those of five years ago. Two years ago the committee was asked to bring in a report regarding the East Grammar School. Owing to the heavy expense necessitated by the storm of November 27, 1898, the report was de- ferred till this year.
The fact that the East Grammar School must be practical- ly made over to make it fit in size, in ventilation for the from 60 to 80 pupils who yearly attend there; the fact that money spent in re-modelling is usually poorly spent; the fact that the various primary schools, though kept in needed re- pair, must at no distant time require large expenditure; the unmistakable advantage of a union school, all these lead the committee to urge upon the citizens the need of a union school for the east part of the town.
In the care of the school buildings the High Street School and outhouses have been shingled, the walls of the Highland Street School whitened and the usual repairs made. A number of additional desks have been purchased for the Hatherly Schools.
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Of the condition of the school work we do not make special mention, as that is discussed at length in the reports of the Superintendent and special teachers.
For the coming year we would ask an appropriation of $7,500 for schools, of $250 for the salary of the Superin- tendent.
Respectfully submitted, JOY K. GANNETT, JR. JULIA E. WEBB. CLARA M. SKEELE.
January 1, 1900.
ROLL OF HONOR, 1899.
ONE YEAR.
Israel M. Barnes, tardy 7 times,
Frank P. Jenkins,
I Bertram W. Litchfield,
Ibelle F. Mott,
High School. Brook Street School. Class v, Hatherly School. High School.
2 Marjorie Mott, Class VII, Hatherly School. Brook Street School.
Ernest W. Smith,
TWO
TERMS.
High School.
Albert L. Dalby, tardy 7 times.
Lilla C. Nichols, tardy once.
East Grammar School.
3 Roland Collier, George F. Cushman. Bertha W. Cushman. Grace M. Jenkins.
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TWO TERMS.
Hatherly School, Miss Holland.
M. Olive Barnes. Alice M. Dalby. 4 Edna Litchfield. Frank H. Vickery.
N. Bertha Vinal.
5 Herbert Wilder.
Hatherly School, Miss Damon.
6 Bethia M. Clapp, tardy once. Maud Spooner.
Hatherly School, Miss Litchfield.
Joseph Barnes. Andrew Filmore.
Hattie E. Gannett.
7 Justin K. Nott.
Clara B. Paige.
8 Herbert E. Vickery.
Lillian K. Phillips, tardy once.
TWO TERMS. Hatherly School, Miss Kane.
Dorothy Barnes.
Byron H. Wood.
Brook Street School.
John F. Duffey. Nellie O'Connor. Ivan H. Yenetchi.
Highland Street School.
Julia Flynn. Katie G. Flynn, tardy 2 times. Sadie Graham, tardy once.
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High School. ONE TERM.
William O. H. Barnes. F. Merton Coleman. Margaret Corbett, tardy 7 times. Joseph Flynn, Jr. Belva C. Merritt. Alonzo A. Pratt, tardy 2 times.
East Grammar School.
Eleanor E. Curtis.
Mary J. Dwyer.
Sara G. Gillis.
George H. Otis.
Margarite Quinn.
Agnes M. O'Connor.
Joseph T. Smith.
ONE TERM. Hatherly School, Miss Holland.
Elwood Ainslie.
Florence Damon.
Bertha Hobson.
Fred Hyland.
Alice Lee. Bertha Lincoln. Richard Nichols. Percival G. Pratt.
A. Clark Spaulding.
Mary Spaulding. Esther Spaulding. James P. Sullivan.
Hatherly School, Miss Damon.
Fannie Burbank. Ada Litchfield. Eva Litchfield. Josephine Litchfield.
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Lawrence Litchfield.
Mary Litchfield.
Grace McEllany. May Turner.
Albert Turner.
Annie Vickery.
Marie Vinal.
ONE TERM.
Hatherly School, Miss Litchfield.
Elizabeth Bailey, tardy 2 times.
Philip Bailey.
Bertha V. Brown.
Matthew Gannett.
Alan C. Litchfield.
Joseph N. Murphy.
Paul B. Newcomb.
Annie B. Nichols.
Marjorie I. Pratt, tardy once.
Viola M. Vinal.
Hatherly School, Miss Kane.
Ella L. Vinal.
Greenbush School.
Freddie Clapp.
Henry L. Cole. Albert M. Whorf, tardy once.
ONE TERM.
Highland Street School.
James Flynn. Agnes V. Olson. Beatrice Turpin.
Scituate 5
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High Street School.
Sumner O. Crane.
Edgar H. Ellms.
Bessie E. Litchfield.
Harold P. Litchfield.
Mildred D. Litchfield.
Willow Street School.
James Dwyer, tardy 3 times.
Catherine Faye.
Andrew S. Finnie, tardy 4 times.
Beth F. George.
Martin Jellows, tardy 3 times.
Anastasia McCarthy, tardy once.
Mary F. O'Hernn,
Walter I. O'Hernn.
Maria A. Ward.
Lauretta Ward, tardy once.
ONE TERM.
Brook Street School.
Harry Barbour.
Helen S. Collier.
Mollie Doherty. .
Elsie C. Merritt.
Mildred Merritt.
Annie O'Connor.
Royal Richardson.
Agatha Ward.
Emily Ward, tardy once.
Charlotte Young.
Howard H. Young.
Robert J. Young.
George V. Yenetchi, Jr.
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CALENDAR FOR 1900.
Winter Term begins,
January 2.
Grammar and Primary Grades close, High School closes,
March 16. March 23.
Spring Term begins, April 2.
Grammar and Primary Grades close, High School closes,
June 15. June 29.
Fall Term begins,
September 4.
Thanksgiving Recess,
November 29, 30.
Fall Term ends,
December 21.
February 22, April 19, May 30, and one day of Marshfield Fair as holidays.
Explanation of figures preceding names in Roll of Honor.
I. Two terms perfect attendance High Street School.
2. Two terms perfect attendance, Grade VI. Hatherly School.
3. One term perfect attendance, Brook Street School.
4. One term perfect attendance, Grade VI., Hatherly School.
5. One term perfect attendance, Grade VI., Hatherly School.
6. One term perfect attendance, High Street School.
7. One term perfect attendance, Grade II., Hatherly School.
8. One term perfect attendance, Grade II., Hatherly School.
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SCHOOLS, TEACHERS AND STATISTICS.
SCHOOLS
TEACHERS
GRADES
Average
Average
Attendance
Percentage
Attendance
High
Julius N. Mallory
53.1
48.8
92
Effie L. Kellogg, Asst.
Lota N. Clancy, Asst.
Clara L. Bedelle
58.5
53.2
91
Grace L. Otis, Asst.
Maud A. Vickery, Asst.
7 and 8
21.9
21.
96
Hattie M. Damon
5 and 6
35.7
33.3
93
Brook Street
Gertrude Gardner
26.
24.5
94
Willow Street
Margaret Sullivan
24.6
22.5
91
High Street
Josephine G. Ward
18.
16.
89
HighlandStreet
Josephine I. Barry
14.
12.9
92
South Street
Lilliette C. Jenkins
16.7
14.2
85
Sara T. Bailey
Drawing Music
Lillie F. Stoddard
44.
40.5
92
Sara M. Kane
1 and 2
35.
30.8
88
Hatherly
Edith C. Holland
Carrie W. Litchfield
3 and 4
Membership
of
East Grammar
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT.
To the School Committee:
I hereby submit to you my annual report, which is the fifth since the beginning of my term of office.
As you in your report have dealt at some length with statistics of attendance for the last year, I have deemed it wise to make what I shall say on that subject of a general nature, without any of the details which you have included in your report.
The attendance in some schools this year has shown a de- cided improvement over that of last, due very largely, I be- lieve, to the efforts of the teachers in those schools.
Parents, of course, have the greatest influence in compell- ing their children, when it comes to that, to attend school. But teachers have the greatest influence in creating in their pupils a desire to improve whatever opportunities and ad- vantages there may be in regular attendance.
Right here is where many teachers fail. Other things being equal, those children whose interest in school and school work, on account of their backwardness, is at a low ebb, are the very children upon whom the most pressure should be brought to bear, and to whom the inducements, the advantages and the allurements of an education must be pre- sented in the clearest and most attractive light.
The other class, those whose interest in school work is keen, may be let alone, so far as this feature of the teacher's work is concerned.
The schools referred to above as having secured a decided
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improvement in attendance, have done so because the teach- ers have been alive to these facts.
Bright pupils have been encouraged to do extra work, so that time would not be heavy on their hands, while the less bright, by regularity of attendance and every other kind of stimulus, have been encouraged to keep up with the regular work. At the same time those who have shown a tendency to truancy, have had their cases investigated immediately when it was found on opening school that they were not pres- ent.
The superintendent, because he was one of the truant offi- cers, has not always been waited for while the offence was growing cold, and the effects of any consequent action were being weakened.
Truancy in these schools is now almost unknown.
In other schools truancy seems to have been encouraged rather than frowned upon and corrected.
Some teachers, I fear, are more than half glad when a dull or generally uninteresting boy remains away from school; and have put a premium on truancy by their attitude and lack of interest in this class.
In this way those who need most the benefits of school training, get less than the others, and because they get it in- termittantly, profit less by what they do get.
With this class of pupils lies the greatest opportunity for good work that a teacher can have. Her success must be measured, to a greater or less degree, by her success with those pupils who need a constant stimulus. She must lead, not drive. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can- not make him drink," is a truth that may well be applied to the teaching of children. A teachable frame of mind must first be cultivated before satisfactory work can be done.
The Grade System.
A great deal of criticism has been indulged in during the last two or three years relating to the grading in our schools.
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It has been affirmed that the present system is a machine through which the children must pass; the effort being made throughout the whole school course to produce the same re- sults with each individual pupil.
The system may be machine-like, and its whole purpose to produce one and the same thing in each pupil .. But if it is, then that one thing is such a moderate amount of education, as life for centuries back has determined to be absolutely necessary for the well being of all.
If good clay, loam and sand be passed through a brick press, one will come out a serviceable brick which will with- stand the storms of generations without changing its shape. The second will come out, possessing an imprint of the ma- chine which a few drops of water will totally obliterate. While the third will still be a useless heap of sand showing no effects of the process through which it has passed.
The fact that the result was different in each case was no fault of the machine, but of the material which first went into it.
Neither is it the fault of the system of grading in our schools that all pupils are not able to attain the same degree of proficiency.
The difference in the pupils themselves makes this result inevitable.
While the aim underlying and behind all our school work is the building up of a good character, the specific work which each pupil is required to perform, is what educators the world over have regarded necessary for all as the founda- tion of a life universally helpful, and particularly needful to the individual.
The work of the schools for the past year has, I believe, taken some steps in advance of that of preceding years.
In no branch perhaps is improvement more manifest than in reading.
I believe that in general the teachers have made earnest
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efforts to raise the standard of excellence in this study. The results have been very gratifying, because in many ways this subject is the most difficult in which to obtain even a moder- ate degree of perfection.
It has also been evident that the teachers have entered into their work in this line more systematically, and more scienti- fically than ever before.
They have realized that the aims of reading were, first, to secure a mastery of words; second, to develop the power of extracting thought from the printed page; third, to de- velop the power of reading aloud in such a manner as to ex- press the exact thought of the author to those who listen; and fourth, that which in many respects is the most im- portant of all, to stimulate an interest in reading, and assist in the formation of the reading habit.
Too much credit cannot be given to the teachers for the amount of good reading, outside of regular school work, they have secured from their pupils.
The libraries of the schools have been read and re-read, while the two public libraries have been extensively drawn upon to meet the demands which have been created and en- couraged by the teachers in their pupils.
But within the schools, and as a part of the regular school work, the improvement is especially marked.
The reading in the primary grades has, as a rule, always been good, so that in these grades the progress is not so evi- dent as in the grammar grades, where because children seem to possess greater diffidence, it is more difficult to secure good work.
It has been a revelation and a source of great gratification to me to listen to seventh and eighth grade pupils reading Hiawatha, Irving's Sketch Book, and Evangeline, in the manner I have heard it read during the year just passed.
The mastery of words, the interpretation of the thought, and its expression by the readers has always shown careful
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direction on the part of the teachers, and thorough prepara- tion on the part of the pupils.
The belief that this work will go on in the good way it is now started, leads me to hope that the opinion entertained by many that better readers were produced under the methods of fifty years ago than are produced now, may be entirely reversed.
The general adoption of the Metcalf Series in language has done much to strengthen and unify the work in this line.
Excellent work has been done by the teachers in develop- ing the power in their pupils to express their thoughts on paper. This seems more marked in the primary than in the grammar grades. Not that the grammar teachers have been less faithful, but because the ability to do anything ex- ceptionally well, would naturally stand out more prominently in a very young pupil than in one who is older, and of whom we expect more.
I have in my possession letters from an entire second grade, thirteen in number, every one of which is not only written legibly and neatly, but with very few errors; and show a good degree of originality.
These letters were shown to one of the most successful teachers of the second grade in Boston. She examined the letters very carefully, and then remarked : "I could not get thirteen such letters from the whole fifty-six pupils in my room."
This coming as it did, and from the source it did, ought to recommend somewhat the merits of our own schools.
With all due respect to those of other communities, I wish to say that I have carefully watched our schools, and com- pared the work done in them, by critically studying those pu- pils who have come to us from other towns and cities, and have found that, with one or two exceptions, these pupils have not been able to maintain a creditable standing, grade for grade, in our schools. This might appear conceited, and
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