USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Southbridge > Town annual reports of the officers of Southbridge for the year ending 1878/1879-1882/1883 > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
GEO. W. COREY, CHAS. W. HILL, Auditors.
F. W. EATON,
ANNUAL REPORT
+ OF THE +
SELECTMEN.
SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
In retiring we submit our annual report regarding the pru- dential affairs of the town, coming under our care during the last fiscal year. The practice certainly has its uses if the re- ports are properly prepared, and if voters themselves devote sufficient attention to them to read them, and in discharging their duties keep in view results that may and can be secured in the management of the appropriations annually granted, and the expenditures made. That trust is so largely discretionary and so far a matter of good judgment and business capacity that not only these should be regarded as essential qualifications for officials, but also policies approved by the experience of faithful public service should be pursued until improvement may be safely made. The burdens of taxation that fall upon the people to support our municipal institutions grow heavy and oppressive, as carelessness or mismanagement permits even the smaller items of expense to be incurred or the appropriations are deprived of their greatest purchasing power, and therefore it is but proper to assume that so far as these reports contain infor- mation explaining in a general way the accounts itemized in the Auditor's report, both voter and succeeding official will be better able to understand the actual necessities of the town, and the methods best calculated to secure an economical and wise administration of affairs. This should justify our course ; con- scious that decided advancement has been made within a few
56
SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
years past, we earnestly desire that no step backwards be taken, but holding to all that has been accomplished, still more im- provement may be made without detriment to our municipal interests.
We have expended of the appropriations placed at our dis- posal during the year for all purposes $24,040.42. In but eight instances have the expenditures exceeded the appropriations and four of these accounts shown in the Auditor's report, namely: Bridges, Railings, Sidewalks and Street Lights, were provided for by special appropriations in August last, the only accounts now showing a deficit being the Columbian Road, Decoration Day, Insurance and the Globe Main Street walk, amounting to $107.So in all.
HIGHWAYS.
The total sum paid for work on Highways has been $3,032 60, as follows :
Paid for Surveyor's services, $211 13
Teams used by him, 847 19
Supplies and repairs of tools, 185 44
Gravel, 144 40
Workmen, 1,644 44
$3,032 60
It may be again proper in this connection to add that the suggestions contained in the report of last year, regarding our roads and the best method of repairing them, as worthy of con- sideration in doing road work in a prudent way. In our judg- ment the town should procure a stone crusher and apparatus connected therewith, for the purpose of macadamizing the main streets in the business portion of the town and the most de- fective portions of our roads, thereby making them durable, clean, and secure against washing. Towns adopting this plan of making roads secure most satisfactory results. We trust the town will not forget this matter and will soon adopt this method of permanent road making. Our highways are certainly
57
SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
improved and in better condition throughout the town than formerly, but not so good as they may be made with no consid. erable larger appropriation than is usually granted for this work.
Improved methods in the line suggested and in providing for our team work will add somewhat to the expenses, but the property purchased will be available in reducing the cost of road repairs, and other special work, or to be sold if the town should wish to dispose of it.
SIDEWALKS.
We have during the year constructed the walks voted by the town at the April meeting, viz: Main Street walk globe, from the engine house to Gothic Hall, 134 ft. 4 inches, with a solid substantial wall. At first it was intended to make this a gravel walk but as the work progressed it was decided that no change of grade would be likely to occur soon, and to make a finished concrete walk. We have constructed on Hamilton Street walks from Gleason's store to the road leading to the black- smith shop, 289 feet 5 inches, Edwards Street from Marcy Street to land of S. K. Edwards, and from land of Samuel Williams to estate of the late Geo. H. Hartwell, 434 feet 6 inches, Everett Street from the Cemetery entrance to the south end of land of Mrs. H. A. Smith, 210 feet, Main Street Center Village from the land of William Edwards, to the rail- road bridge, 970 feet, all with concrete covering and curbstones, as voted by the town. We have also constructed on Hamilton Street 358 feet 5 inches of walk, with concrete covering and curbstones from the end of the present gravel walk to Crane Street, north side, and have repaired the walks generally, new brick covering on the walk on Main Street, in front of the business blocks from corner of Elm Street to the building owned by Sylvester Dresser. When this work was done an appropriation of $150.00 was asked and granted in August. In making up the accounts, a credit balance of 41 cents ap- pears to be unexpended.
58
SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
BRIDGES.
The Bridges have needed much work and material during the year, but most of them have been covered with new planks of good quality, and the outlay for this account will be small next year. The appropriation of last April was insufficient to purchase material, but at the August meeting an appropriation of $300.00 was made, and for old planks sold during the year $10.00 was received which enabled us to do the work, and a credit balance of $38.54 unexpended.
COLUMBIAN ROAD.
This appropriation has been used and the work done, although not completed as it should be, for want of sufficient money and more time. The sum granted was less than the estimates, and the account was overdrawn $78.80. We recommend that the ledge at the Columbian dam be removed far enough to ensure safe travel for teams, and the taking down and rebuilding of the wall in front of the large tenement house in the village on a grade with the road. It is now in a rough condition and is unsafe.
SOUTH STREET.
The street crossings have been laid on this street at the head of High and Sayles Streets, and the gravel walk west of High Street has been extended to West Street, making a good walk to that point.
STREET LIGHTS.
The lamps posts and lanterns voted at the Annual Meeting have been procured. The appropriation for this account made in April was insufficient, because a contract could not be made with the Lighting Company at the previous terms, and an ad- ditional sum of $150.00 was asked and granted in August. With this amount the lighting has been done through the year, leaving a credit balance of $90.79, besides a purchase of five barrels of gasoline now on hand, in consequence of the failure
.
59
SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
of the United States Street Lighting Co. to continue their con- tract. Upon investigation it was found that the town could own its fixtures and do the lighting cheaper than hire. We therefore have bought new attachments for our gasoline lanterns with all the necessary supplies for lighting, at a cost not exceeding $300.00 which can be paid for the coming year from the regular appropriation made and do the lighting also. The town now owns its fixtures, and the amount needed for street lighting will be greatly reduced in the future for the same number of lamps.
RAILING HIGHWAYS.
Much was needed to be done in railing highways, and a con- siderable amount of new railings have been placed in different sections of the town. There is a considerable amount of rail- ing material on hand to be used, but for want of time a part of the work has not been done. South Marcy Street should be provided with railings, and an appropriation was granted in August of $200.00 with the intention of doing this work, but time was so occupied with other works in process that it could not be done. There is a credit balance on this account of $179.21, which should be used in part for South Marcy Street.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
This department has been well managed and with economy, showing a good credit balance, notwithstanding the purchase of a large amount of new hose and other necessary supplies. The engineers are deserving of credit for the judicious man- agement of their department.
DRINKING FOUNTAIN.
This valuable and long needed necessity has been placed in the center of Main Street, easy of access, and yet out of the way of public travel, and probably nothing done during the year has been more appreciated than this. The fountain was not
60
SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
purchased early in the year because the amount appropriated was not sufficient to pay for what was needed, nor until the ap- propriation of $175.00 voted in August. The purchase was made immediately after this grant.
CHAPIN STREET.
The cutting down of the ledge on this street has been done in accordance with the vote of the town, and a decided improve- ment in the grade and appearance of the street has been made.
The bank wall at Westville, on the highway adjoining the premises of the Litchfield Shuttle Co., must be rebuilt and we recommend the removal of the old wall and building of a sub- stantial wall, at the same time widening the road, which is narrow at this point, straightening the line of the road. The widening of the road an average of five to six feet would be a great improvement, and the Litchfield Shuttle Co. will give the land required for this change.
The unsettled small pox claims for use of hospital belonging to the Morse heirs, and for services of Joseph DeGrenier, long disputed, have been adjusted and disposes of all known out- standing matters in that account.
Notice of claim for personal injury has been filed by Narcisse Bashan for falling upon the ice which may result in a suit. The claim appears to be one of a questionable character.
The town also stands indicted with a dozen of the real estate owners in the Center Village, for maintaining a nuisance caused by the contamination of the brook. The town becomes a party to this prosecution by reason of the sewers in the streets, which, it is alleged, discharge filth into the water channel from buildings which have sewer pipes entering them. This case will come on for trial at the May term of the Superior Court. This prosecution led the board to take the steps they did in regard to a sewer, and now we earnestly recommend the town to establish some general sewer system, to relieve that locality from this source of danger, and settle for the conflicting interests
61
SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
and notions of the land owners the constantly embarrassing questions that are annually brought to the attention of the Board of Health. This appears to be the only method that can be pursued, but this should be done at the expense of the land owners, and not fall upon the town to defray.
The Central Mills Co. petitioned the County Commissioners for an abatement of the taxes assessed upon its real estate, which was heard and dismissed, but it is understood that the petitioner will prosecute its application by a certiorari before the Supreme Court.
In these matters the interests of the town have been carefully attended to, and allusion is made to them here, so that our suc- cessors may possess information as to the legacies of a legal character our administration has unfortunately bequeathed upon the town, by chance however, rather than by official action on our part.
There has been for the past two or three years an error in the assessment of taxes, that has disturbed our accounts, and pro- duced an annual deficiency in our resources. This has arisen from the bank tax assessment on the stock of resident stock- holders, collected and paid by the State Treasurer. This tax has been charged to the collector in the assessors' warrant, while in fact nothing was given to collect, to pay it with. This was corrected this year, but last year a balance stands against Mr. Whitford, of several hundred dollars, while in fact he owes but a few dollars. Doubtless this will be corrected hereafter. The deficiency now existing must be corrected by vote of the town.
The town indebtedness is now reduced practically to $ 10,000, the unappropriated funds and unexpended balances upon special appropriations and on accounts that will not require the balances credited to them for use, amounting in all to about $5,250. We recommend that these balances be transferred to unappropriated funds, and out of that to appropriate $4,000 to payment of the debt, leaving but $6,000 to be raised by taxation to extinguish the entire debt. The logic of this history in conducting the affairs of the town, should impress all
62
SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
tax payers with the necessity of making business prudence and sagacity the indispensable qualifications for official trust. We hope that next year the town will be out of debt, the first time for a period of nearly twenty-five years.
We shall commit to our successors a department well ar- ranged for easy management, in the hope that so far as our methods have been prudent, our successors will pursue them, with all the beneficial results to the public that follow.
JOHN TATTERSON, Selectmen THOMAS SANDERS, of
A. H. WHEELER, Southbridge.
ANNUAL REPORT
++ OF THE +
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
REPORT.
THE past year has been one of more than ordinary moment in the educational affairs of the town. Mr. E. M. Phillips, who had been on the Board ten years, and done much excellent work for our schools, was succeeded by Rev. Silvanus Hayward, and Rev. B. V. Stevenson, who had been a member of the Com- mittee for five years, adding to its strength and efficiency, was succeeded by Mr. James J. Oakes. But the change of two- thirds of the Board from men of such long service to persons new to the educational work in this town, does not include all that has contributed to distinguish the past year from many of its predecessors.
One of the first things we found requiring attention was a course of study. Last year's Board had considered the subject and left it for our action. The old schedule had so unified the system and improved the methods that great advancement had been made during the years since its adoption, and the schools had advanced beyond it They were, on an average, more than a year ahead of the printed requirement, and having no points to steer by, were temporarily drifting. While working upon the new schedule we decided upon another change. By the old system three years were spent in each school. This gave too much work to each teacher, but the number of schools in town was so many that the arrangement could not well be changed without incurring more of a financial load than the Committee thought prudent. The closing of eight schools by the opening
5
66
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
of the parochial school, however, left us with means and accom- modations and opened the way for reducing the work in each room. Consequently we opened two new schools, and placed in them the first classes in the intermediate schools and the third classes in the grammar schools. The new schools were named Lower Grammar. This enabled us to rearrange the whole system, so as to have only a two years' course in each room.
In the new course of study we continued the improved methods of the old one; and added thereto as much as the advanced conditions of the schools would warrant. It is our aim to have the schools teach principles in a thorough manner, and to cultivate habits of observation and thought, rather than to fill the pupils' minds with an accumulation of undigested facts, or the precise language of text books. This, it seems to us, is the real practical education, about which so much is said in these days. All of text book elementary geography is omit- ted from the plan, and its place is supplied by more oral instruc- tion and the study of the special geography of our own state. Some of the elementary book work in arithmetic is also omitted and more done orally and on the blackboard. The changes in grammar alluded to in the last report are continued. Much of the old fashioned rote parsing and analysis, which was nothing but the machine-like repetition of stereotyped formulas with little practical knowledge of how to use the language correctly, is omitted. Instead we give considerable work in the construction of sentences. The closing examinations this spring showed some very creditable work in original composition, even in the primary grade. We have adopted Swinton's Language Lessons as a standard to be followed.
The pratical results of former boards' attempts at improving the school system of the town is seen in the continual elevation of the standard of our higher schools, and the fact that the number of scholars in them has also steadily increased. Nearly two years of the work now done in the grammar schools was once crowded into the high school, and the standard of that was never better than at present, placing it in the front rank
67
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
of schools of that grade. Yet, notwithstanding, every seat has been occupied during the past year and the incoming class will probably number twelve or fifteen more than the graduating class. This necessitates immediate arrangements for more accommodations.
We trust that future years will show as good results from the additional steps taken this year. Indeed we think that an improvement can already be noticed, and we believe that the spring examinations were never more satisfactory than this year in thoroughness of work and advancement made. For this, however, due credit should be given to the teachers. A desire for self improvement has led them voluntarily to meet monthly with the Committee for informal conferences on various educational topics. The beneficial results have been plainly seen in the school room.
The statutes require drawing to be taught in the public schools. The Committee feeling, as has been intimated in previous reports, that this was drifting too much in the line of pictorial work, and not enough in the direction of the industrial, consulted with the Secretary of the State Board of Education, at whose instance Prof. Carter, of the State Normal Art School, gave a series of lectures to the teachers. Mr. W. A. England has since visited the town once a month to direct the work.
A study of the public statutes as revised and codified last winter discovered the following recently-enacted law :
Each school committee shall procure, at the expense of its' town, a sufficient supply of text books for its public schools, and shall give notice of the place where such books may be obtained. They shall be furnished to the pupils at such prices as merely to reimburse the expense of the same.
The law seemed imperative, and therefore we acted accord- ing to its provisions. We have on hand $80.00 worth of books, which sum should be placed to the credit of the account which appears with the Auditors' report.
In last year's report we called attention to the opening of the parochial school, and the law regulating the employment of children in factories. Acting under the provisions of that law we have visited the school at stated periods and certified to the
68
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
attendance there of such of its pupils as wished to work in the manufacturing establishments in town. Our action had nothing to do with the school system of the state or town, or with "endorsing" the school, or with the school laws. The statue under which we acted is entitled "Schooling and limit of labor of children employed in manufacturing and other estab- lishments."
The statutes relating to truant children say that " Each town shall . provide suitable places for the confinement, disci- pline and instruction of such children," to which any minor con- victed of being a truant may be committed by the District Court. County and union truant schools may be established by the County Commissioners, and "a town may assign any such tru- ant school, or, with the consent of the State Board of Health, Lunacy and Charity, the State Primary School, as the place of confinement, discipline and instruction of children so convicted "
The town by-laws provide that a minor so convicted of tru- ancy "shall be committed to the Monson Almshouse or other place of confinement provided for that purpose."
The question has arisen whether or not this vote complies with the statutes, and as the town will lose its proportion of the state school fund unless it makes the legal provision for truants, we have caused an article to be inserted in the warrant, that the voters may consider the matter.
Course of Study and Regulations
OF THE
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF SOUTHBRIDGE,
Adopted, March, 1883.
REGULATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. 1
Three principal objects should be kept in mind :- to train pupils to observe, to think, and to express.
Children are naturally curious and observant. Their interest in common things should be encouraged and stimulated by questions and simple talks about the numberless objects in street, highway, field, forest, and sky.
In reading begin by requiring each sentence to be read as a whole, just as it should be spoken in conversation. Secure clear and distinct enunciation, but avoid the separate naming of words. The articles a and the should be pronounced as part of the following word. For instance, a boat, a goat, the gun, the past, should be spoken as if they were single words like about, ago, begun, depart. Avoid all exact rules in regard to pauses and inflections. Teach correct methods by example rather than by rules. Even the little child who really understands what he is reading, will uniformly give nearly the right expres
70
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
sion, unless hampered by bad habits or false training. Leave no lesson till the average scholar in the class can read it fairly. In all recitations distinct utterance and correct language should be required. In reciting tables and in answer to questions the falling inflection should be insisted on.
The practical use of correct spelling is found only when thoughts are expressed in writing. Exercises in spelling, therefore, should be principally in writing. As early as possible sentences should be written from dictation, and parts of daily lessons should be written on the board by the pupils. Words thus spelled in vital connection with each other, will be much better remembered than when written in dry lists, as isolated, dead fragments.
In Grammar, remember that the technical forms of routine parsing are of comparatively small value. The true design of the study is to enable the pupil to understand language, and to acquire facility in its accurate use. Thus every recitation properly conducted becomes a language lesson.
In Arithmetic teach principles rather than rules. Absolute accuracy is indispensable. Every statement, whether in words or other symbols must be precisely true. Secure perfect clear- ness of thought and clearness of expression will naturally follow. This necessary precision and accuracy should be secured without a slavish repetition of the exact words of the book.
Geography should not be a study of dry details, a mere mem- orizing of isolated facts and statistics, but a living description of the home of man, its diversified surface and varied climate, its vegetable and animal life, and the manners and customs of its inhabitants.
In History require pupils to recite in their own language, and avoid mere memorising. Assign lessons frequently by topics instead of sections and pages of the text-book, and thus en- deavor to awaken an interest in representative men and decisive events. Aim to secure a knowledge of the general current of events with their causes and effects, and encourage the consul- tation of other books illustrating the period studied.
Drawing and Penmanship are required throughout the course.
71
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
Teachers will devote some time each week to instruction in temperance, morals, and manners, as required by the statutes of the Commonwealth.
Beginning with the seventh grade, written examinations are required each month. The papers will be deposited with the School Board, and kept on file for at least two years.
The course prescribed for any grade is to be considered a minimum, and the teacher is expected to proceed further, when- ever the proficiency of a class will admit.
Except in Primary grades, no pupil will be transferred from one class to another without the express direction of the School Board.
COURSE OF STUDY.
LOWER PRIMARY.
FIRST AND SECOND GRADES.
Reading, beginning with chart. Never allow a word to be spelled to find out what it is. Carefully distinguish between reading and mere naming of words. Teach pupils to hold book and turn leaves properly.
Spelling. In oral spelling teach pupils to pause distinctly after each syllable, but to pronounce only the whole word. Do not repeat a syllable by itself to aid them in spelling.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.