USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Southbridge > Town annual reports of the officers of Southbridge for the year ending 1887/1888-1890/1891 > Part 10
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By requirement of the state inspector of public buildings, fire escapes, extending from the ground to the windows of the upper stories, were placed upon the three four-room-school houses, and the outside doors changed to open outward. Con- venient means of access from the rooms to the escapes were arranged, and instructions and practice given for their use. If no occasion occurs for the use of the fire escapes the knowledge of their use may sometime be of service.
The large increase over last year in the whole number of pupils will account for the increased expenditure in the depart- ment of Common schools. One new school was opened in September, and three additional helpers employed in the over- crowded primary schools.
THE WORK OF THE SCHOOLS.
ARBOR DAY was observed in an interesting manner by several of the schools, the children exhibiting much enthusiasm in planting trees. It is hoped that more will be done on the recurrence of the day.
THE TEACHERS' INSTITUTE, held in town on November 2, under the direction of Secretary Dickinson and Agent Edson of the State Board of Education, was an interesting occasion to our teachers. The exercises were instructive and helpful, as shown by results in the class-rooms. The gentlemen expressed
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gratification and appreciation of the unusual hospitality extend- ed to them and to all invited to the Institute.
PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE, including the effects of alco- holic stimulants and narcotics upon the system, is made by the statutes one of the branches to be taught in all the schools. At first there was much difference of opinion in regard to the intent of the statute-to what extent the subject must be taught, some holding that it must be made a daily study in all grades, like arithmetic or language, with text hooks in the hands of all pupils. This is found to be not only impracticable, but unpro ductive of the best results. The children are not capable of grasping much of the subject, and to attempt to repeat from day to day through year after year the little that they need and are able to comprehend would render the subject irksome to the children and the teachers and thereby defeat the good purpose of the instruction. The general practice now seems to be to give in the lower grades a lesson, more or less informal, once or twice a week, and in the grammar grades to have a simple text book in the hands of the pupils for reading and study. In the High school, where the pupils are better able to comprehend the subject, it is taken as a scientific study.
In recent visits, a lesson on this subject was called for in every school. A ready response was given, and, with two ex" ceptions, the lessons showed that the subject had received care- ful attention. If the subject were included in the High school course, to be studied by all the pupils, with ample means of illustration, I think no one would then question that the intent of the law is duly regarded in our schools.
Constant and special attention will be required to make the penmanship what it should be. A daily half hour in imitation of a copy in a copy book will not make good penmanship. Ex- ercises with a view to ease and rapidity must be an important feature of the regular practice. Arrangements have been made which will give an impetus to this work, and, it is hoped, result in decided improvement in the penmanship.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
The High school has labored under great disadvantages for the year on account of unsuitable accommodations, and it is a matter of regret that another class must be subjected even for one term to like inconvenience.
The schools are well supplied with supplementary reading, so that when one book is read through by a class, another of suitable grade is placed in their hands. Some of the sets of books are other than the ordinary school readers, and are help- ful to the work in other studies. There is need of more read- ing matter of interest, especially in the line of geography and history. In the study of geography, less attention is now given to unimportant details, learned to be immediately forgotten, and more to the physical features, the animal and vegetable life of countries, the social and moral condition of the people, the great commercial and business centres and the productions of the dif- ferent countries. This instruction, supplemented by specimens of the vegetable and mineral products, pictures, and whatever else can be brought to the class-room by way of illustration, re- sults in a more intelligent conception of the earth and its inhab- itants and makes the subject one of the most interesting to the pupils. If a case were placed in each room where geography is taught, to receive a collection of specimens and pictures to be used in illustration, it would add much to the general interest.
Good results appear in the department of drawing and mod- eling. The work is made more practical and profitable each year.
Music has received regular attention in all the classes. The system in use provides for a systematic course of instruc- tion from the primary to the high school, and includes a careful training of the voice. Books have been furnished to several classes and more will be needed next term. Good progress has been made in most classes. The exercise is conducted by the regular teachers, except in the high school where a special teacher has been employed.
The statutes indicate as a part of the teachers' work "to impress on the minds of children and youth committed to their
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care and instruction, the principles of piety and justice, and a sacred regard of truth; love of their country, humanity and uni- versal benevolence; sobriety, industry and frugality; charity, moderation and temperance, and those other virtues which are the ornament of human society and the basis upon which a republican constitution is formed." No responsibility of the teacher is more weighty than that which relates to the develop- ment and strengthening of the character. Our schools are not and cannot be religious, but they can be and are christian schools. Morality-christian morality can be, and is there taught; that mor- ality which becomes christian manhood and womanhood. The es- sential elements of a good school are essential elements of manly character; order and obedience, punctuality, respect for the rights of others, truthfulness, a sense of personal responsibility self reliance, purity, self control, courtesy, a high sense of honor -these, and more, every conscientious teacher with a due sense of responsibility, seeks to inculcate by precept and example. A good school implies a wise method of government. The teach. er must govern herself, to govern others. Morality cannot be taught by formal lectures. Occasions are not wanting for the most effective moral lessons. The common incidents of school life, the reading lessons, subjects of study, memory gems, afford frequent occasions for impressing important truths.
I have reason to believe that a marked improvement is man- ifest in the moral bearing of the children. They are more polite, more thoughtful of the rights of others; cases of irregularity in conduct, improper language on the play ground, defacing the walls of the building, have, the past year, much less frequently than before come to my notice.
Our schools, imperfect as they are, show features of excellence. To none are the defects more apparent than to those teachers who, by fidelity and untiring devotion to the welfare of their pupils, are doing much to make manifest the evidence of prog- ress.
With the liberal appropriations so readily granted by the town with teachers earnest and faithful, well supplied with appliances
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
for effective work, with your continued sympathy and support, holding fast whatever of good has been attained, we must move forward towards that ideal which can be approached if never reached.
In closing this my third annual report, I wish to express grateful acknowledgment to all whose confidence and coopera- tion I have enjoyed during the year.
Respectfully submitted, J. T. CLARKE, Superintendent of Schools.
Southbridge, March 12, 1889.
GRADUATING CLASS OF 1889.
MARY LOUISE BOARDMAN, HARRY LeROY BIGELOW,
MARY ELIZABETH MCCABE, STEWART ALFRED MACOMBER.
PROGRAMME OF GRADUATION EXERCISES.
OVERTURE-"La Souveraine," - Orchestra.
Herman
PRAYER.
SALUTATORY AND ESSAY-"The World Moves,"
Mary Elizabeth McCabe.
ORATION-"Self Reliance,"
Harry LeRoy Bigelow
-
Millocker
MUSIC-"Laura Walzer," -
Orchestra.
SONGS-Selected, - High School ESSAY -"What custom wills in all things should we do't." Mary Louise Boardman.
ESSAY AND VALEDICTORY-"Value of Energy." Stewart Alfred Macomber.
MUSIC-"Charming" Gavotte,
Orchestra.
-
LeThiere
PRESENTATION OF DIPLOMAS. BENEDICTION.
CALENDAR, 1889-1890.
Spring Term begins March 25, 1889 ; ends June 28, 1889. Fall Term begins Tuesday, September 3, 1889 ; ends De- cember 20, 1889.
Winter Term begins January 6, 1890 ; ends March 14, 1890.
VACATIONS.
June 29 to September 2, 1889, inclusive.
From Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving, the remainder of the week.
December 21 to January 5, 1890, inclusive. March 15, 1890 to March 23, 1890, inclusive.
HOLIDAYS.
Every Saturday ; Washington's Birthday ; Memorial Day ; Labor Day ; all National and State Fast Days.
APPENDIX.
LAWS RELATIVE TO SCHOOLS AND CHILDREN OF SCHOOL AGE.
ATTENDANCE OF CHILDREN .- CHAPTER 47
SECTION I. Every person having under his control a child between the ages of eight and fourteen years shall annually cause such child to attend for at least twenty weeks, some pub- lic day school in the city or town in which he resides, which time shall be divided, so far as the arrangement of school terms will allow, into terms each of ten consecutive weeks; and for every neglect of such duty the person offending shall forfeit to the use of the public schools of such city or town a sum not exceeding twenty dollars.
SEC. 3. The Truant officers and the School Committee of the several cities and towns shall vigilantly inquire into all cases of neglect of the duty prescribed in section one, and ascer- tain the reasons, if any, therefor ; and such Truant officers, or any of them, sball, when so directed by the school committee, prosecute, in the name of the city or town, any person liable to the penalty provided for in said section.
SEC. 8. Children may, with the consent of the School Com- mittee first obtained, attend school in cities and towns other than those in which their parents or guardians reside ; but when a child resides in a city or town different from that of the residence of the parent or guardian for the sole purpose of at- tending school there, the parent or guardian of such child shall be liable to pay such city or town, for tuition, a sum equal to the
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
average expense per scholar for such school for the period dur- ing which the child so attends.
PUPILS MUST BE VACCINATED.
SEC. 9. The school committee shall not allow a child who has not been duly vaccinated to be admitted to or connected with the public schools.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.
Laws of 1885. Chapter 198.
The School Committee shall not allow any pupil to attend the public schools while any member of the household to which such pupil belongs is sick of small-pox, diphtheria, or scarlet fever, or during a period of two weeks after the death, recovery or removal of such sick person ; and any pupil coming from such household shall be required to present, to the teacher of the school the pupil desires to attend, a certificate, from the at- tending physician or board of health, of the facts necessary to entitle him to admission in accordance with the above regula- tion .- [Approved April 29, 1885.
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF 1888.
[CHAPTER 348.]
AN ACT in relation to the employment of children,
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:
SECTION I. No child under thirteen years of age shall be employed at any time in any factory, workshop or mercantile establishment. No such child shall be employed in any indoor work performed for wages or other compensation, to whomso- ever payable, during the hours when the public schools of the city or town in which he resides are in session, or shall be em- ployed in any manner during such hours unless during the year next preceding such employment he has attended school for at least twenty weeks as required by law.
SEC. 2. No child under fourteen years of age shall be em- ployed in any manner before the hour of six o'clock in the morn-
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ing or after the hour of seven o'clock in the evening. No such child shall be employed in any factory, workship or mercantile establishment, except during the vacation of the public schools in the city or town where he resides, unless the person or cor- poration employing him procures and keeps on file a certificate and employment ticket for such child as prescribed by section four of this act, and no such child shall be employed in any indoor work, performed for wages or other compensation, to whomsoever payable, during the hours when the public schools of such city or town are in session, unless as aforesaid, or shall be employed in any manner during such hours unless during the year next preceding such employment he has attended school for at least twenty weeks as required by law; and such employment shall not continue in any case beyond the time when such certificate expires. The chief of the district police, with the approval of the governor, shall have authority to desig- nate any kind or kinds of employment in factories, workshops or mercantile establishments as injurious to the health of child- ren under fourteen years of age employed therein, and after one week's written notice from the said chief to the employer or his superintendent, overseer or other agent of such designation no such child shall be employed in any such kind or kinds of employ- ment in any factory, workshop or mercantile establishment.
SEC. 3. No child under sixteen years of age shall be employed in any factory, workshop or mercantile establishment unless the person or corporation employing him procures and keeps on file the certificate required in the case of such child by the following section, and also keeps on file a full and com- plete list of such children employed therein.
SEC. 4. The certificate of a child under fourteen years of age shall not be signed until he presents to the person author- ized to sign the same an employment ticket, as hereinafter described, duly filled out and signed. The certificate and the employment ticket shall be separately printed, and shall be in the following forms respectively, and the blanks therein shall be filled out and signed as indicated by the words in brackets :-
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
EMPLOYMENT TICKET, LAW OF 1888.
When [name of child], height [feet and inches], complexion [fair or dark], hair [color], presents a certificate duly signed, I intend to employ [him or her].
[Signature of intending employer or agent.] [Town or city and State.]
AGE AND SCHOOLING CERTIFICATE, LAW OF 1888.
This certifies that I am the [father, mother or guardian] of [name of child], and that [he or she] was born at [name of town or city], in the county of [name of county, if known], and state [or country] of [name], on the [day and year of birth], and is now [number of years and months], old.
[Signature of father, mother or guardian.]
[Town or city and date.]
Then personally appeared before me the above named [name of person signing] and made oath that the foregoing certificate by [him or her] signed is true to the best of [his or her] knowl- edge and belief. I hereby approve the foregoing certificate of [name of child], height [feet and inches], complexion [fair or dark], hair [color], having no sufficient reason to doubt that [he or she] is of the age therein certified.
[Signature of person authorized to sign, with official char- acter or authority.]
[Town or city and date.]
In case the age of the child is under fourteen, the certifi- cate shall continue as follows, after the word "certified" :- And I hereby certify that [he or she] can read at sight, and can write legibly, simple sentences in the English language, and that [he or she] has attended the [name] public [or private] day school according to law for [number of weeks, which must be at least twenty] weeks during the year next preceeding this date, and that the last twenty weeks of such attendance began [date.] This certificate expires [date, one year later than above date.]
[Signature of the person authorized to sign, with official character or authority.]
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
If attendance has been at a private school, also signature of a teacher of such schools, followed by words,-certifying to school attendance.
[Town or city and date. ]
In case a child can not read and write as above stated the following may be substituted for the clause beginning "and I hereby certify" through to and including the word "language". : "and I hereby certify that [he or she] is a regular attendant at the [name] public evening school" ; but in such case the certifi- cate shall only continue in force for as long a time as attend- ance of such child at such evening school is endorsed weekly during the session of such evening school, not exceeding the length of the public school year minus twenty weeks in place of attendance at day school as now provided by law, with a state- ment from a teacher thereof certifying that his attendance con- tinues regular. If attendance has been at a half-time school, forty weeks of such attendance must be certified to instead of twenty. The foregoing certificate must be filled out in dupli- cate, and one copy thereof shall be kept on file by the school committee. Any explanatory matter may be printed with such certificate in the discretion of the school committee or superin- tendent of schools.
SEC. 5. In cities and towns having a superintendent of schools, said certificate shall be signed only by such superin- tendent, or by some person authorized by him in writing ; in other cities and towns it shall be signed by some member or members of the school committee authorized by vote thereof : provided, however, that no member of a school committee, or other person authorized as aforesaid, shall have authority to sign such certificate for any child then in, or about to enter, his own employment, or the employment of a firm of which he is a member, or of a corporation of which he is an officer or em- ployee. The person signing the certificate shall have authority to administer the oath provided for therein, but no fee shall be charged therefor ; such oath may also be administered by any justice of the peace.
.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
SEC: 6. The certificate as to the birthplace and age of a child shall be signed by his father if living and a resident of the same city or town ; if not, by his mother ; or if his mother is not living, or if living is not a resident of the same city or town, by his guardian ; if a child has no father, mother or guardian living in the same city or town, his own signature to the certifi- cate may be accepted by the person authorized to approve the same.
SEC. 7. No child who has been continuously a resident of a city or town since reaching the age of thirteen years shall be entitled to receive a certificate that he has reached the age of fourteen unless or until he has attended school according to law in such city or town for at least twenty weeks since reach- ing the age of thirteen, unless exempted by law from such at- tendance. Before signing the approval of the certificate of age of a child, the person authorized to sign the same shall refer to the last school census taken under the provisions of section three of chapter forty-six of the Public Statutes, and if the name of such child is found thereon, and there is a material difference between his age as given therein and as given by his parent or guardian in the certificate, allowing for lapse of time, or if such child plainly appears to be of materially less age than that so given, then such certificate shall not be signed until a copy of the certificate of birth or of baptism of such child, or a copy of the register of its birth with a town or city clerk, has been pro- duced, or other satisfactory evidence furnished that such child is of the age stated in the certificate.
SEC. 8. The truant officers may, when so authorized and required by vote of the school committee, visit the factories, workshops and mercantile establishments in their several cities and towns, and ascertain whether any children under the age of fourteen are employed therein contrary to the provisions of this act, and they shall report any cases of such illegal employment to the school committee and to the chief of the district police or the inspector of factories for the district. The inspectors of factories, and the truant officers when authorized as aforesaid,
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
may demand the names of all children under sixteen years of age employed in such factories, workshops and mercantile estab- lishments, and may require that the certificates and lists of such children provided for in this act shall be produced for their in- spection. Such truant officers shall inquire into the employ- ment, otherwise than in such factories, workshops and mercan- tile establishments, of children under the age of fourteen years, during the hours when the public schools are in session, and may require that the aforesaid certificates of all children under sixteen shall be produced for their inspection ; and any such officer, or any inspector of factories, may bring a prosecution against a person or corporation employing any such child, other. wise than as aforesaid, during the hours when the public schools are in session, contrary to the provisions of this act, if such em. ployment still continues one week after written notice from such officer or inspector that such prosecution will be brought, or if more than one such written notice, whether relating to the same child or to any other child, has been given to such employer by a truant officer or inspector of factories at any time within one year.
SEC. 9. Every parent or guardian of a child under four- teen years of age who permits any employment of such child contrary to the provisions of this act, and every owner, superin- tendent or overseer of any factory, workshop or mercantile establishment who employs or permits to be employed therein any child contrary to the provisions of this act, and any other person who employs any child contrary to the provisions of this act shall for every such offence forfeit not less than twenty nor more than fifty dollars for the use of the public schools of the city or town. Every parent, guardian, or person authorized to sign the certificate prescribed by section four of this act, who certifies to any materially false statement therein, shall be punished by fine not exceeding fifty dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding thir- ty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. A failure to pro- duce to a truant officer or inspector of factories the certificate required by the provisions of this act shall be prima facie evi-
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
dence of the illegal employment of the child whose certificate is not produced.
SEC. IO. The expressions "factory" and "workshop" used in this act shall have the meanings defined for them respective- ly by chapter one hundred and three of the acts of the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven.
SEC. II. Within one month of the passage of this act the chief of the district police shall cause a printed copy thereof to be transmitted to the School Committee of every city and town in the Commonwealth.
SEC. 12. Sections one to six, inclusive, of chapter forty- eight of the Public Statutes, chapter two hundred and twenty- four of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-three, chapter two hundred and twenty-two of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and section one of chapter four hundred and thirty-three of the act of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven are hereby repealed.
SEC. 13. This act shall take effect on the first day of July in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight .- [Approved May 17, 1888.
REPORT OF THE LIBRARY COMMITTEE.
The Library Committee respectfully present their Nine- teenth Annual Report for the year ending Feb. 28, 1889 :
FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
RECEIPTS.
Balance March 1, 1888, $211 73
Appropriation at annual meeting,
1,500 00
Dog fund for 1887, 477 52
Received by Librarian for fines, etc.,
75 77
Cash,
3 50
$2268 52
EXPENDITURES.
A. J. Comins, services as librarian, $850 00
Cash paid, express, etc., 56 24
Estes & Lauriat and others for books, binding and periodicals,
835 95
Mutual Gas Light Co., for gas, 14I CO for repairs, 40 12
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