USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of the officers and committees of the town of Scituate 1910-1912 > Part 11
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Most of our work now is directed toward the suppression of insects and diseases - all of which are better understood each year, and consequently more easily handled.
The worst enemy of the elm is the European Elm Leaf Beetle - the mature beetle wintering under shingles, clap- boards, in attics and empty buildings. As soon as the warm weather of spring brings out the leaves the beetle emerges and feeds, cutting irregular holes in the foliage; after feeding about two weeks the beetle lays her eggs on the under side of the leaves, feeding and laying alternately over a period of several weeks, one beetle laying from two hundred to six hundred eggs.
The eggs hatch in about a week, and the slugs attack the leaves, which soon turn brown as if scorched, and later fall from the tree.
The slugs are fully grown by the middle of July, when they descend the trunk, where they pupate in the rough
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bark and around the base of the tree. From these pupæ the mature beetles emerge in about ten days and again feed on the foliage.
Spraying in June with arsenate of lead is absolutely neces- sary. Many beautiful elms have been killed in the towns north of us by neglecting to do this.
The gypsy moth imported in 1868 for use in experiments in producing silk, lays her eggs on the tree trunks, stone walls, fences, buildings, etc. Each egg cluster contains from three hundred to six hundred eggs that hatch in April or May and feed until sometime in July, when they change to pupæ, from which the moths emerge in about two weeks to lay their eggs for the next year's brood. The gypsy moth is generally distributed over the town, necessitating consid- erable work to hold it in check.
Painting the egg clusters with creosote and cutting out all unnecessary brush, to be followed by spraying, is the most economical method.
The brown-tail moths, probably introduced on imported nursery stock, lay their eggs usually on the under surface of the leaves in July, hatching in the following month --- the young caterpillars feeding in a mass soon commence spinning their winter webs. In making this web a number of leaves are drawn together and carefully spun in with a tenacious web. With the approach of cold weather they unite the web and close the exit holes, wintering as small caterpillars, and emerging the following spring to feed.
The extremes of cold do not seem to affect these insects in the least.
Spraying in the fall was tried with fair success, but early spring spraying has been very successful. Cutting the winter webs and burning them is quite an item in moth expenditure.
It is probable that without the help of parasites and dis- eases, it would be impossible to even hold the gypsy or brown-tail moth in check.
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The State Forester's office has conducted successfully ex- periments with what is known as "Flacherie" or wilt disease of the gypsy moth.
By liberating diseased caterpillars in badly infested places, they infect the whole colony and do great damage, killing many.
Experiments are now under way at Wills's Island at Greenbush and Barron's Island near Cohasset. In July there were liberated in the Brown colony several thousand Tachina, which resemble the common house fly; and a number of hundreds of Calosoma beetle larvæ, which feed on the gypsy caterpillars in both the larva and beetle stages, and from which good results are expected this spring.
The State has been very liberal this year, giving about $4,000.
Last fall a systematic clearing of the town was com- menced under the direction of Mr. Worthley, who was at the head of the moth work in Massachusetts.
A part of the town lying between Front, Brook, Bay streets and the swamp north of Willow Street was gone over thor- oughly, cutting the brush, clearing up all tin cans, etc., and covering all holes in trees.
It is the policy of the State to take a section each year until the whole town is cleared. The town needs suitable spraying equipment. Last year the Forester's office kindly loaned us one of the State machines, but they cannot guar- antee that we may have it this year.
Spraying is probably the most important part of moth suppression and it cannot be done economically without proper apparatus.
Scituate is about the only town that does not own one or more up-to-date machines.
Thanking you for your interest and co-operation in this work, I am . Yours very respectfully,
PERCIVAL S. BROWN, Tree Warden.
-
ISRAEL C. DALBY
Israel Cook Dalby
ISRAEL COOK DALBY WAS BORN IN SCITUATE AUGUST 22, 1859, AND DIED DECEMBER 13, 1910. IN EARLY LIFE HE PREPARED FOR A BUSINESS CAREER, AND NEARLY COMPLETED THE COURSE AT BRYANT AND STRATTON'S COMMERCIAL COLLEGE. THE TEM- PORARY FAILURE OF HIS EYES LED HIM TO CHOOSE AN OUTDOOR OCCUPATION. HE SERVED ON THE SCHOOL BOARD IN 1890 WITH MRS. JULIA E. WEBB AND MISS ELLA BATES.
A TRUE SON OF SCITUATE, A GRADUATE OF HER SCHOOLS, A LOVER OF HER SCENERY, A VALUED FELLOW CITIZEN, A CONSCIENTIOUS TOWN OFFICER AND A WARM PERSONAL FRIEND. HE WAS ALWAYS A LEARNER AND THEREFORE ALWAYS INTERESTING.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
OF THE
TOWN OF SCITUATE
FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31
1911
131
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Frederick B. Noyes, Chairman, term expires 1913.
Clara M. Skeele, Secretary, term expires 1914.
Peter W. Sharp, term expires 1912.
SCHOOL PHYSICIAN William P. Grovestein, M.D.
TRUANT OFFICERS John F. Turner, Caleb W. Prouty.
TEACHING AND SUPERVISION William E. Chaffin, Superintendent and purchasing agent.
HIGH SCHOOL
Wallace R. Brown, Principal.
Louise Adams, Latin, French, German.
Annie S. Marston, English and History.
Jennie E. Pierce, Commercial Department.
JENKINS SCHOOL
Sarah L. Meigs, Principal.
Nellie E. Adams, Grades 6 and 7.
Josephine I. Barry, Grades 4 and 5.
E. Gertrude Gardner, Grades 2 and 3. Mary E. Gillis, Grade 1.
HATHERLY SCHOOL Grace B. Simmons, Principal.
May B. Clutterbuck, Grades 6 and 7.
132
HATHERLY SCHOOL-Continued
Lilliette C. Jenkins, Grades 4 and 5. Sarah M. Kane, Grades 2 and 3. Irma J. Cole, Grade 1.
HIGH STREET SCHOOL
Josephine G. Ward.
Lillie C. Stoddard, Instructor in Music.
Bertha G. Tilden, Instructor in Drawing.
SCHOOL CALENDAR
Winter Term
Commences January 2.
Closes March 29.
Spring Term
Commences April 8.
Closes June 21.
Fall Term
Commences September 3.
Closes December 20.
Winter Term will commence December 30, 1912. :
Holidays
Washington's Birthday, Patriots' Day, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving Day and the day following.
Regular meetings of the School Committee on the first Thursday of each month.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
To the Inhabitants of Scituate:
The business of this department runs in about the same channels from year to year. In our last report we presented an epitome of facts relating to the cost of maintenance of our schools. Our rank remains substantially the same in the list of cities and towns of the State. No special comment is needed on routine expenses, for all who are interested can turn to our former statement. The unexpended balance this year will be retained and immediately applied to the payment of outstanding bills for fuel. Contract for coal calls for $945.00; of this amount only $93.43 has been paid; $851.57 must be taken from our balance, leaving unexpended of the general appropriation, $253.91. The cost of transportation remains the same, but that of books and supplies has in- creased.
The comparative study of the financial side of Scituate's school problem made in 1910 by your committee anticipated its work for 1911; namely, a comparative study, through visitation of other schools and consultation with educators, of the efficiency of present methods of teaching.
We are inclined to think that the work of our teachers, as an educational whole, reflects the great care and skill with which they have been selected. The most exacting task of superintendent and committee, and the surest test of their judgment is this selection. We recognize good serv- ice all along the line, from the high school teacher who for- gets herself in her fidelity and patience, to the teacher in the lowest grade who has wonderful eyes for seeing the possibilities wrapped up in little bundles.
Scituate has fifteen class-rooms and no amount of print- er's ink can put on these pages a picture of the growth and
-
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change made during the past year. Like all other things of the spirit the real work is unobserved and unpraised. If the School Committee could arrange a torchlight proces- sion with transparencies and march through our streets, the boys and girls who have honored old Scituate in the great universities, colleges, technical schools and business plants, all then could read the deeper meaning of the schools of this town. But such things can be felt, if they cannot be seen.
Our children need education and not simply instruction, and education means acquiring a mental habit through dis- cipline. The chicken farmer no less than the lawyer must have power of concentration, or he will go under. Good thinking always precedes serviceable action. The culture studies are practical for they make over the boy or girl. French will always be used in the writing of treaties. Latin will always be used in the writing of medical prescriptions. "Sodii chloridum" means one thing forever; "Salt" may designate a thousand compounds. We cannot trust matters of life and death to a growing and inexact language. The engineer and lawyer are called upon to measure words. A delicate distinction means money in specifications or pleas. Those who have been of most practical use to the world have come to their profession through the study of the practical men of Rome.
How about the nine-tenths who do not enter college? Many want the town to make a plunge into an elaborate vocational course. Let them remember that pasting a label on a teacher or a department means little. Label is often libel. We may establish a course in "agriculture" or "domes- tic science" in our High School, but words sometimes do not tell of things. It is not so much a new department that is needed as the teaching of physics and chemistry as ap- plied to farm-work for the boys, and to the arts needed con- stantly in the home for the girls. The teaching of drawing
135
should be with special reference to the reading of blue prints. Geometry, economics, history and the mother tongue can all be made to interpret everyday life in our community. Methods should be adapted to our children and not our children adapted to methods. Education was made for man and not man for education. Greater specialization in indus- trial training can only be given in fully-equipped district trade schools.
In line with this theory was the issuance by the Commit- tee, last September, of a new course of study and a more flexible system of grading. Less class work and more individual work is demanded of the teachers. To save a year in the educational life of the weakest pupil on the register means a great deal to the child and to the com- munity. The town has repeatedly paid for the teaching and transportation of pupils who take two years to do one year's work. This is not good business, nor good education. The "lock-step system" of promotion we are trying to break up. The Committee also suggested a series of spell- ing contests which have worked well.
The town looks to the School Committee for information before making additional expenditure of money for teachers' salaries. The appropriation must be increased one thousand dollars, if the maximum salary of all the grade teachers is to be six hundred dollars. It must be increased five hun- dred dollars, if the maximum is to be five hundred and fifty. The town will be given full opportunity at the coming March meeting to set its approval or disapproval upon a new schedule of salaries.
We believe that the town has got full return for every dollar of the public building fund at the disposal of the School Committee. By gradual elimination of desks of less desirable construction and the purchase of such as meet the strictest requirements of health and comfort, the schools are now all seated in the best manner. Twenty desks were put
136
in the past year. A large outlay was made on the Jenkins School chimney and roof, a partition removed and capacity, blackboards and other fixtures adapted to the growing first grade. At the Hatherly School the span of the upper cor- ridor was shortened by the placing of two columns. New floor timbers were also put in. The marked vibration of the building during the marching exercises has been stopped. The foundation has been recemented. The building must be reshingled, the heating plant overhauled and alterations made in the fire-escape. All basement flights of wooden stairs in all the buildings have been strengthened. The new laboratory equipment and the enlarged heating plant at the High School are both proving satisfactory.
Our transportation policy, we are pleased to learn, is be- ing universally adopted throughout the State. Our town is only another form of a great office building, in which the streets are the halls and stairways, and the school barges are the elevators. Transportation accordingly must be lim- ited by the architect's plan. Conveyance can only be made from certain designated places.
The credit for any advance in the schools of Scituate is due to those who have loyally supported the administration.
Respectfully submitted,
FREDERICK B. NOYES. CLARA M. SKEELE. PETER W. SHARP.
137
ACCOUNTS OF 1911
SALARIES
William E. Chaffin, Superintendent . $566 60
William P. Grovestein, School Physi- cian 75 00
John F. Turner, Truant Officer 12 00
C. W. Prouty, Truant Officer 10 00
$663 60
TEACHERS
HIGH SCHOOL
W. J. B. Macdougald $180 00
Wallace R. Brown
1,020 00
Lillian E. Wier
420 00
Louise Adams
320 00
Georgina K. Fiske 330 00
Annie S. Marston
200 00
Rose Bernard 450 00
Bethan Polley
144 00
$3,064 00
JENKINS SCHOOL
Sarah L. Meigs
$800 00
Nellie E. Adams 550 00
Josephine I. Barry
500 00
E. Gertrude Gardner 500 00
Mary E. Gillis 440 00
$2,790 00
HATHERLY SCHOOL
Grace B. Simmons
$800 00
Jennie E. Schofield
62 50
138
May B. Clutterbuck
$452 50
Lilliette C. Jenkins
500 00
Sarah M. Kane
500 00
Eleanor E. Curtis
440 00
$2,755 00
HIGH STREET SCHOOL
Josephine G. Ward .
$500 00
Dorothy Barnes
1 50
$501 50
DRAWING
Harriet J. Ford
$105 00
Bertha G. Tilden
60 00
$165 00
MUSIC
Lillie C. Stoddard
$70 00
JANITORS
Everett L. Bearce
$550 00
Walter T. Newcomb
500 00
Wiley S. Damon .
320 00
Mrs. Waldo Litchfield
40 00
$1,410 00
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Frederick B. Noyes .
$83 33
Clara M. Skeele'
83 34
Peter W. Sharp.
83 33
$250 00
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TRANSPORTATION
Appropriation
$3,500 00
Charles M. Ferguson
$520 00
Clement J. Prouty
480 00
A. F. Sylvester
550 00
M. G. Litchfield
540 00
George S. Hatch
480 00
S. C. Webster
540 00
Clifton Newcomb
199 20
$3,309 20
Balance to Treasury
190 80 $3,500 00
HIGH SCHOOL SPECIAL APPROPRIATION
Appropriation $750 00
F. T. Bailey & Co., Heater 148 00
F. T. Bailey & Co., Laboratory .
14 02
Alan C. Litchfield, Express
2 70
L. E. Knott Apparatus Co.
286 95
American Seating Co.
100 00
George F. Welch
39 42 .
$591 09
Balance to Treasury
158 91 $750 00
BOOKS AND SUPPLIES
E. E. Babb & Co. $615 77
Milton Bradley Co. . 5 .40
American Book Co ..
63 68
J. L. Hammett & Co. . 63 87
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 19 40
A. E. Burton & Co. 2 50
Wadsworth, Howland & Co. 22 02
Ginn & Co. 51 29
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The Beal Press $23 90
Georgina K. Fiske
32 11
Boundbrook Press
25 50
Charles W. Dorr
4 75
Public School Printing Co.
5 25
$935 44
FUEL
Frank E. Cook
$166 78
George F. Welch
416 61
Charles F. Andrews 18 75
William T. Clapp
66 00
Lyman W. Lincoln
11 00
Walter T. Newcomb
3 00
Waldo Litchfield
20 00
John T. Fitts
67 50
W. D. Turner
6 00
Frank Studley
1 50
L. F. Hyland .
36 00
W. S. Damon
2 50
Mrs. Waldo Litchfield
2 00
$817 64
MISCELLANEOUS
Joseph Breck & Son
$0 60
C. M. Litchfield, express
30
Fred L. Litchfield, labor Jenkins School 5 00
Henry T. Cole, barge fares
80
F. B. Noyes, expense, 1910
8 00
Walter T. Newcomb, repairing bat- teries 3 00
M. G. Seaverns & Co., supplies 17 24
141
Dugmore & Duncan, keys $1 25
Bayfield Shop, sharpening lawn mower 1 25
Waldo Litchfield, cleaning vaults . 3 00
James Litchfield, cleaning vaults 5 00
W. W. Manson, cleaning vaults 5 00
Galen Watson, repairing clocks 3 50
F. B. Noyes, expenses 39 86
Wallace R. Brown, diploma ribbons . 3 78
Thomas H. Farmer, disinfectants
75
Harriet S. Noyes, school census.
25 00
Alan C. Litchfield, express
1 10
Fred D. Graves, express
1 88
S. C. Webster, express
7 66
W. E. Chaffin, expenses 9 00
P. W. Sharp, expenses
8 25
C. M. Skeele, expenses 4 75
Southern Mass. Telephone Co. . 65 94
C.J. Prouty, repairing pencil sharpener
75
Jetson Wade, carriage for Committee 9 00
Waldo Litchfield, flagstaff
2 50
$234 16
SUMMARY
Receipts
General appropriation $14,000 00
Transportation
3,500 00
Special High School
750 00
School Committee
250 00
County Treasurer, dog fund 389 04
State tuition . 73 00
E. E. Babb & Co., credit
41 19
Telephone reimbursement 7 79
Broken windows 80
$19,011582
142
Expenditures
Salaries $11,669 10
Transportation . 3,309 20
High School equipment 591 09
Books and supplies
935 44
Fuel 817 64
Miscellaneous
234 16
$17,556 63
$1,455 19
Balance from special High School ap-
propriation .
$158 91
Balance from transportation appro- priation
190 80
349 71
Balance to treasury on general appro- priation
$1,105 48
143
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
To the School Committee:
In accordance with your regulations I herewith submit my third annual report.
A comparison of the enrollment data in this report with the same data in previous reports shows little variation in total school population.
The number of pupils at the High Street School has fallen off. If the number in attendance there should become much less, the school had best be closed and the pupils transported to the Hatherly.
Some rooms at the Hatherly School were overcrowded with pupils for the first few weeks in the fall term, although this condition was relieved to some extent as the summer people returned to their winter homes; some of the rooms are at present taxed to their seating capacity. A glance at the "enrollment by grades" appended to this report shows that the lower grades have on the average a less number of pupils than the higher grades, so that the tendency will be for the rooms to be less crowded next year. As there is ample room to accommodate more pupils in the first three grades, the seating problem at the Hatherly School will take care of itself for three or four years at least, unless new families should come into the district.
None of the rooms at the Jenkins School are crowded. There are a few less pupils at the High School at present than at the same period last year.
ATTENDANCE
Constant attention has been given to matters of attend- ance; in some cases the parents of delinquent pupils have been visited and others have been written to concerning irregular attendance. The number of tardy marks and dis-
144
missals are less than were found on the registers last year, while the number of pupils whose names appear on the roll of honor is greater than was the case last year. Best of all, the percentage of attendance, which for years, at least, has been below the average for the State, this year is slightly above the last reported average for the State, and an ex- amination of the Scituate school reports for many years back indicates that it is decidedly higher than any reported average for the town and is probably the highest average attendance ever attained in Scituate. The parents and teachers are to be congratulated that each of the items of attendance shows improvement.
NON-PROMOTIONS
Of the 417 pupils in the grades below the high, there were but nineteen non-promotions; most of these failures were caused by absence from school, a few from mental or phys- ical disability. If all promotions have been wisely made, this comparatively low percentage of non-promotions indi- cates an improvement in the efficiency of the teaching.
TEACHERS
We have been fortunate to have had but one change of teachers in the grades. Early in the winter term, Miss. Knight resigned her position in the Hatherly to accept a position in Abington. Miss May B. Clutterbuck, a gradu- ate of the educational course of Mount Holyoke College, was secured for this room. Conditions have shown con- stant improvement.
The High School has not been so fortunate as the other schools in the permanency of its teaching force. Early in the winter term Mr. MacDougald resigned to accept a more lucrative position in Athol, and Mr. W. R. Brown, a gradu- ate of Harvard University, was elected to fill the vacancy. At the close of the school year in June, Miss Fiske resigned her position in the English department.
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During the summer Miss Annie S. Marston, a graduate of Bates College, was chosen to fill this vacancy. Soon after the beginning of the fall term Miss Rose Bernard, of the Commercial department, resigned to accept a position in Boston. Miss Jennie E. Pierce has been elected to take her place.
The great help that Miss Adams has been to this school since her return to her old position after a year's leave of absence is a pointed illustration of the value of an experi- enced teacher who knows the work and the conditions of the school.
COURSE OF STUDY
It is now some years since a course of study has been pre- pared for the towns of this district and but few copies of the old course are in use. Directions concerning the work of the grades have from time to time been given, but, feeling that the teachers should have specific directions at hand, the superintendent began work on a course of study. Visit- ing the office of the State Board of Education for advice, it was found that a course of study for the town schools of the State was then in course of preparation under direction of the State Board of Education and with the assistance of normal school principals and superintendents. As this course of study will be based on a much wider range of observation and experience than any local course could be, work on the local course was suspended, pending its completion. A year has passed and this course is not yet in print. It is, however, anxiously looked for, as our schools are much in need of such a course as this promises to be.
Meantime, the work of the schools continues along prac- tically the same lines as for some years past. It is no merely perfunctory statement to say that the greater thor- oughness with which the essential drill topics have been taken up and the added care and comprehensiveness of the work in English are resulting in the pupils being much
146
better equipped on leaving the grammar schools. For sug- gestions concerning manual and industrial work you are referred to the report of last year.
MEDICAL INSPECTION
It is realized that the health of the child is even more important than his education. No money expended by the town has been spent to better advantage than that spent for medical inspection in the schools. Medical inspection would be productive of still greater benefit to the community, if all parents regarded it as an imperative duty which they owed their children, to consult and follow the advice of their family physician when notified by the medical in- spector of physical defects. As an illustration: It is well known that children having adenoids become dull in their studies and drop behind their grades. Frequently, after having the adenoids removed they are able to make up the lost work and keep up with their former companions. There are now children in our schools having adenoids, whose parents have been notified of the fact by the medical inspector, but who apparently have given the notice no consideration. The importance of immediate attention to the physical defects of children reported to parents by the school physician cannot be too strongly urged. The same holds true of notices of defective sight sent by teachers to parents.
DRINKING FOUNTAINS
The public drinking cup has been banished by law as being dangerous to public health. The private drinking cups in our schools are liable to be so frequently borrowed that they are but little better than the public cup. As there is running water at the Hatherly, the Jenkins and the High School buildings, it would be but a small expense to have drinking fountains installed in these schools.
147
SCHOOL SAVINGS BANKS
The revised school laws of this State mention thrift as a subject to be taught in the schools.
The present generation has more to tempt one to ex- travagant habits than any previous generation in the his- tory of the world. We are told that there is an increasing tendency for people to live beyond their means. Consider- ing that one is largely but a bundle of the habits he has formed, anything tending to develop the habit of saving in school children would seem well worth while.
The system of stamp-saving in the schools is one of the most practical means of teaching thrift.
The Woman's Club deserves much credit for introducing the stamp-saving system in the Jenkins School. It is to be hoped that this may also be taken up in the Hatherly, and that the High School may take advantage of the act of the Legislature to authorize savings banks to receive deposits from school children. The Act will be found in Chapter 211, Acts of 1911.
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