USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1876 > Part 19
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Knight,
Carrie P. Townsend,
II.
Knight,
Mary E. Deane,
I.
DIX STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS. GRADE.
Earle,
William H. Bartlett, Principal,
IX.
Earle,
Clara Manley, Asst.
VIII.
Earle,
Eldora M. Aldrich,
VII.
Earle,
Minnie Meade,
VI
Thompson,
Abbie N. Hoxie,
V.
Thompson,
Ellen E. Darlington,
IV.
Metcalf,
Susie W. Forbes,
III.
Metcalf,
Esther B. Smith,
II.
Metcalf,
Alice W. Giddings,
I.
4
Thompson,
Josephine M. Wilson,
Goulding,
Sarah L. Phillips,
269
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
WALNUT STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
Stoddard,
Etta A. Rounds, Principal,
VIII.
Stoddard,
Nellie C. Thomas,
VII.
Stoddard,
Kate A. Meade, VI.
Plunkett,
Ella M. McFarland,
V.
Plunkett,
Caroline II. Metcalf,
V.
Plunkett,
Eunie M. Gates,
IV.
WOODLAND STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
McCafferty,
Edward I. Comins, Principal,
IX.
McCafferty,
Annie C. Wyman, Asst.
McCafferty,
Ann S. Dunton,
VIII.
McCafferty,
Jennie I. Rice,
VII.
Bassett,
Mary M. Lawton,
VI
Bassett,
Carrie R. Clements,
V.
Bassett,
Martha T. Wyman,
IV.
Bassett,
Nellie M. Muzzy,
IV.
Brown,
Maggie I. Melanefy,
III
Brown,
Sarah J. Melanefy,
II.
Brown,
Amanda H. Davie,
I.
Brown,
Ella E. Goddard,
I.
LAMARTINE STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS. GRADE.
Murphy,
Charles T. Haynes, Principal,
VII.
Murphy,
Mary A. Harrington,
VI.
Timon,
M. Ella Spalding,
V.
Timon,
Louise A. Dawson,
IV.
'l'imon,
Mary E. Kavanaugh,
III.
Earle,
Ellen T. Shannon,
III.
Earle,
Ida A. Tew,
II.
Earle,
F. Belle Perry,
II.
McMahon,
Alice V. Proctor,
I.
McMahon,
Celia E. Whiteman,
I.
WASHINGTON STREET.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
McNulty,
Charles T. Haynes, Principal, J. Chauncey Lyford, Asst. Fanny S. Holman,
VIII.
LEDGE STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
McMahon,
Charles C. Woodman, Principal,
IX.
McMahon,
Margaret M. Geary, Asst.
McMahon,
Olive G. Davis,
VIII.
McMahon,
Maria P. Cole,
VII.
Earle,
Eliza E. Cowles,
VI.
Earle,
Hattie E. Clarke,
V.
Earle,
M. Addie Powers,
IV.
Moriarty,
Emma L. Cowles,
IV.
Moriarty,
Alice G. McMahon,
III.
Moriarty,
Mary E. D. King,
II.
Moriarty,
Mary V. Callaghan,
I.
Moriarty,
Ida A. E. Kenney,
I.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
IX.
McNulty,
McNulty,
Persis E. King,
Murphy,
270
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 31.
THOMAS STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
Rogers,
Harriet G. Waite, Principal,
VIII.
Rogers,
Emma J. Houghton, Asst.
Rogers,
Amanda M. Phillips,
VII.
Rogers,
Anna J. Hitchcock,
VI.
Chapin,
Abbie C. Souther,
V.
Chapin,
S. Lizzie Wedge,
IV.
Chapin,
Abbie F. Hemenway,
III.
McCafferty,
Hattie W. Bliss,
II. .
McCafferty,
Mary E. D. Cavanough,
II.
McCafferty,
Belle H. Tucker,
I.
McCafferty,
Harriette Crook,
I.
SYCAMORE STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
Marble,
Abbie E. Clougli, Principal,
VIII.
Marble,
Minnie F. Whittier,
VII.
Marble,
Ann E. McCambridge,
VI.
Goulding,
Susie A. Partridge,
V.
Goulding,
Hattie A. Smith,
IV.
Bassett,
Sarah W. Clements,
III.
Bassett,
Emma F. Marsh,
II.
Bassett,
Eliza J. Day,
I.
EAST WORCESTER.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
Chapin,
Ella W. Foskett, Principal,
VI.
Chapin,
Annie Brown,
V.
Chapin,
Tamerson S. Darling,
IV.
Rogers,
Julia A. Bunker,
IV.
Rogers,
Kate C. Cosgrove,
III.
Rogers,
Nellie A. Sprout,
III.
White,
Aloysia Radcliffe,
II.
White,
Mary E. Russell,
II.
White,
Ada E. Simonds,
I.
White,
Mary J. O'Connor,
I.
PROVIDENCE STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS. GRADE.
Plunkett,
L. Elizabeth King, Principal,
VI.
Plunkett,
Sarah J. Newton, V.
Plunkett,
Evelyn E. Towne,
IV.
Plunkett,
Anna M. Overend,
III.
Knight,
S. Cornelia Maynard,
II.
Knight,
Bridget T. Carlon,
II.
Knight,
Ella J. Lyford,
I.
ASH STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE. TEACHERS.
GRADE.
Harlow,
Mary J. Mack, Principal,
VI.
Harlow,
Mary J. Packard,
V.
McMahon,
Sara A. Harrington,
IV.
McMahon,
Mattie A. Collins,
III.
McCafferty,
Flora J. Osgood,
II.
McCafferty,
Mary McGown,
I.
271
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
SOUTH WORCESTER.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
Woodward,
Carrie A. George, Principal,
VIII.
Woodward,
M. Louise Rice,
VI.
Woodward,
Ellen M. Boyden,
V.
Woodward,
Janet Martin,
V.
MeNulty,
Amelia M. Walker,
IV.
McNulty,
Esther E. Travis,
IV.
McNulty,
Libbie H. Day,
III.
White,
Lydia W. Ball,
II.
White,
Mary C. Paige,
I.
White,
Alice E. Johnson,
PLEASANT STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACIIERS.
GRADE.
Stoddard,
Ella L. Dwyer, Principal,
V.
Stoddard,
Mary L. Norcross,
IV.
Stoddard,
Mary E. A. Hoyt,
III.
Woodward,
Lucy Lewisson,
II.
Woodward,
Emma J. Norcross,
I.
Woodward,
Martha E. Amidon,
I.
SALEM STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
White,
Anna E. Ayres, Principal,
VI-V.
White,
Mary O. Whitmore,
IV.
Murphy,
Emma I. Claflin,
III.
Murphy,
Effie J. Phelps,
II-I.
EDGEWORTH STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
Knight,
Ella E. Roper, Principal,
VI-V.
Knight,
Sarah M. Brigham,
IV.
Metcalf,
Jennie E. Maloney,
III.
Metcalf,
Mary A. Gauren,
II.
Metcalf,
Marianna Newton,
I.
NEW WORCESTER.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE. TEACHERS. GRADE.
Bassett,
Charlotte H. Munger, Principal,
IX-VIII.
Bassett,
S. Lizzie Carter,
VII-VI.
Marble,
Ella J. Moore,
V-IV.
Marble,
Belle H. Crowell,
III-II.
Marble,
Ada L. Sherman,
I.
SUMMER STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE. TEACHERS. GRADE.
Moriarty,
Abbie A. Wells, Principal,
IV.
Moriarty,
Susan M. Buttrick,
III.
Moriarty,
Carrie F. Merriam,
II.
Moriarty,
Lilla F. Upton, I.
272
CITY DOCUMENT -No 31.
QUINSIGAMOND.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
Timon, Timon, Timon,
Sarah F. Carpenter, Principal, Mary S. Eaton, Emily J. Herrick,
VII-VI. IV-III.
II-I.
MASON STREET.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
Brown,
Mary E. Pease, Principal, Emma C. Maynard,
II-I.
ADRIATIC.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
Brown,
Amy E. Hopson, Principal, Sarah J. Morgan,
I.
UNION HILL.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE.
TEACHERS.
GRADE.
Murphy,
Mary A. Tyler, Principal, Etha M. Stowell,
II-I.
SUBURBAN.
COMMITTEE.
SCHOOLS.
TEACHERS.
Plunkett,
NORTHVILLE,
Eudora A. Dearborn.
Brown,
TATNUCK,
Helen H. Welsh.
McCafferty,
VALLEY FALLS,
Sarah A. Bullock.
Marble,
LEESVILLE,
Eliza J. Seaver.
Goulding,
BLITHEWOOD,
Anna M. Bemis.
Plunkett, Earle,
ADAMS SQUARE,
Minnie M. Parmenter.
McCafferty,
BURNCOAT PLAIN,
Josie M. Ware.
Knight, Rogers,
NORTH POND,
Mary D. Shute.
CHAMBERLAIN,
Mary F. Barker.
DRAWING.
Thompson,
COMMITTEE. Mrs. Rogers,
Harlow.
TEACHER.
Lucius B. Morgan.
MUSIC.
McCafferty,
COMMITTEE. Mrs. Earle,
Bassett.
TEACHER.
Edward S. Nason.
GRADE. III.
Brown,
III-II.
Brown,
IV-III.
Murphy,
BLOOMINGDALE,
Mary E. Fay.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
To His Honor the Mayor, and the School Board of Worcester :
IN conformity to your regulations, I submit the following as my Ninth Annual Report ; and by these regulations this report which it is the duty of the Superintendent to prepare, becomes the report of the School Board to the public and the school authorities of the state.
ABSTRACT OF STATISTICS,
FOR THE YEAR 1876.
I. POPULATION.
Population Census of 1875 49,317
Estimated Population .
50,000
Children between the ages of five and fifteen, May, 1876 8,801
II. FINANCIAL.
Valuation, May, 1876 . $48,223,397 00
Decrease for the year
1,043,684 00
City debt, December, 1876
2,492,300 00
State, county, and city tax, 1876
739,903 08
Rate of taxation .
.0148
Value of school-houses and lots 36
823,517 00
274
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 31.
Other school property
64,337 33
*Ordinary expenses of schools Per cent. of same to valuation .0028 Per cent. of same to whole tax .186
138,113 85
Repairs of school-houses, furniture and stoves 4,786 65
$142,900 50
Permanent improvements to school-houses $2,502 79
New furniture, etc. 1,502 40
Rents and insurance 1,316 70
5,321 89
Less revenue
1,253 28
Expended for all purposes $146,969 11
Charged by the Auditor
$1,181 62
Average cost per scholar for all schools, including ordinary repairs 19 04
Same last year .
$20 07
Cost of Evening Schools
1,594 79
Average per scholar
$4 99
Cost of Evening Drawing Schools
915 00
Average per scholar $6 54
Cost of High School . 17,074 30
Decrease . $94 85
Average per scholar
48 85
Decrease
5 83
III. SCHOOL-HOUSES.
Number occupied December, 1876 34
Rooms, not including recitation rooms 163
Room rented at New Worcester
1
Drawing School rooms, recitation and Evening School rooms, additional
7
Whole number of sittings :
In High School 417
Additional space for 145
Grammar Schools, Grades IX-VI 1,919
Secondary Schools, Grades V and IV 1,950
Primary Schools, Grades III, II and I 3,776
Suburban Schools
. 434
IV. SCHOOLS.
High School, ten rooms
1
Grammar rooms, Grades IX-VI 39
Secondary rooms, Grades V, IV 38
Primary rooms, Grades III, II, I 65
* See detailed statement further on.
$148,222 39
SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. 275
Suburban Schools . 10
Northville, Tatnuck, Valley Falls, Leesville, Blithewood, Bloomingdale, Adams Square, Burncoat, North Pond, Chamberlain.
Evening Schools 6 .
Washington street for boys; Walnut street for girls ;
. Dix street, Belmont street, Cambridge street and New Worcester, for both.
Free Evening Drawing Schools, both sexes 5
V. TEACHERS.
Male teachers in High School 4
Female teachers in High School 7
Male teachers in Grammar Schools .
6
Female teachers in all grades below the High School
153
Special teacher of Music, male
1
Special teacher of Drawing, male
1
Special teacher of Drawing, High School, male
1
Number of teachers in Day Schools 173
Male teachers in Evening Schools 3
Female teachers in Evening Schools 14
Teachers in Free Evening Drawing Schools, male
4
Whole number of teachers 194
VI. PUPILS.
Number registered in Day Schools 9,176
Increase . . 288
In Evening Schools . 610
In Free Evening Drawing Schools 150
Number registered in all schools 9,936
Increase 270
Number over 15 years old
1,419
Increase 81
Estimated number in this city in private schools here
1,325
Pupils in State Normal School, this city 105
Average number belonging to public schools 7,504
Increase 361
Average number belonging to Day Schools 7,042
Increase 337
Average daily attendance in Day Schools . 6,540
Increase . 340
Average daily absence
502
Increase
1
276
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 31.
Number at close of Fall term, 1875 . 7,037
At close of Winter term, 1875-'76 . 6,781
Increase from last year . 387
At close of Spring term 6,851
Increase
413
At close of Summer term Increase 351
6,751
At close of Fall term
7,659
Increase .
74
Per cent. of daily attendance to average number belonging 92.9
Increase
00.4
Number perfect in attendance the whole year
614
Increase
159
Perfect three terms 626
Perfect two terms 860
Perfect one term
1,603
Number registered in High School . .
. 545
Increase
101
Boys .
Increase 30
301
Increase
71
406
Increase
46
48
Number left the school .
91
Increase . . 54
Average number belonging
350
Average daily attendance 342
Average daily absence
8
Per cent. of daily attendance to average number belonging . 97.9 . Average age of pupils, December, 1876 . 16.1
Average number of pupils to a regular teacher 34
244
Girls
Number at the close of the year
Number of graduates, June, 1876
SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. 277 STATISTICS, WORCESTER SCHOOLS,
ON THE PLAN ADOPTED BY THE
NATIONAL SUPERINTENDENTS' ASSOCIATION,
December 1, 1875, to December 1, 1876.
ESTIMATED SCHOOL POPULATION.
Number between the ages of five and fifteen . 8,801
Under 6 years old . .
1,819
Over sixteen years old .
590
Between six and sixteen years of age .
9,391
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Number enrolled during the year . 9,936
Average daily attendance in day schools. 6,540
School rooms, exclusive of those used for recitation only 163
School rooms used exclusively for recitations 4
Average duration of school in days .
205
SCHOOLS OTHER THAN PUBLIC.
In schools corresponding to public schools below the High
School .
1,242
In schools corresponding to public High School 83
Teachers in said schools of all grades :
Males .
9
Females .
20
Total
29
Teachers in public schools, day and evening :
Males
20
Females
174
Total .
194
Average salary of teachers per month in public schools :
Males
$193 94
Females .
54 98
ANNUAL INCOME.
Local tax .
$146,969 11
.
278
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 31. ANNUAL EXPENDITURES. Permanent.
Buildings and furniture, etc. $4,005 19
Current.
Salary of Superintendent
3,000 00
Salary of Clerk
782 45
Salaries of Teachers
114,189 63
Salaries of Truant Officers
2,000 00
Miscellaneous :
Repairs
$4,786 65
Fuel
7,070 31
Janitors
5,340 13
Other
5,794 75
$22,991 84
$142,963 92
Total .
$146,969 11
Current expenditure, per capita, of school population, five to fifteen
$16 24
Expenditure, per capita, of pupils enrolled in public schools . 14 39
Expenditure, per capita, of average attendance in public schools
20 64
Expenditure, per capita, of population between six and sixteen Expenditure, per capita, of population between six and sixteen
15 22
including interest on value of all school property at 7 per cent.
21 83
POPULATION OF THE CITY.
The estimated population is based upon three ratios of the year 1875, when the state census was taken, and the year 1876 : the polls assessed, the school census, and the average number at school; these averages indicate a population of more than 51,500. The number given may therefore be regarded as the minimum of the present population.
FINANCIAL.
This aspect of the school question has attracted much atten- tion in this city recently ; and it is necessary, in the interest of public education, that the whole question should be fully under- stood. The subject was discussed at length in the report for the year 1875, and to that discussion reference is here made for a fuller view than will be presented in this place.
279
SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
THREE SUMS
may be given as the ordinary yearly cost of schools, each derived from a different way of viewing the subject :
First, we may include all that belongs to the cost of instruction proper ; such as salaries of teachers, the cost of superintendence, books and apparatus, including maps, etc., printing, stationery, and articles used for illustration, such as chalk, pointers, etc.
Second, we may include with the above the cost of fuel, jani- tors, clocks, thermometers, brooms, brushes, pails, dippers, all the ordinary repairs that come from daily use, glass, paint, etc.
Third, we may include, with these two classes of items, per- manent improvements like new desks, new rooms finished in houses partly built and turned over to the care of the school committee, new fences, steps, etc., in the school yards, vaults provided where the health both of pupils in the school and of people in the neighborhood was endangered.
In the above statistics each of these classes of items is given in a separate amount.
The first of these classes of expense for the year 1876, was . $138,113 85 The second
$142,900 50
$146,969 11 The third
The latter is the entire amount expended by the School Board. Of this sum $1,316.70 was paid for rents and insurance ; a pay- ment forced upon them by the failure of the City Council to provide suitable school rooms and office room. The largest item of rent is for the office of the Superintendent of Schools. Those accommodations are not merely for the sub-committees of the School Board, the Superintendent and Secretary, the City Phy- sician, the Superintendent of Public Buildings and the Truant Officers, who all do business there, but for the convenience of the public who have dealings with these officers. This public office was formerly situated in the City Hall ; but to make room for the officers of the Departments of the City Council, it was removed to the present quarters, and $1,000 annually is charged to the cost of schools in consequence. This sum belongs to the cost of maintaining a City Hall ; it specially ought to be so
280
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 31.
charged since a part of that edifice is rented to the county for a court room for the sum of $1,000.
Truant officers belong to the Police force more than to the corps of teachers. To keep boys from running away from school, is in the line of educating those boys, to be sure; but the ordinary cost of schools for ordinary scholars, ought not to be swelled by adding this item. A truant boy kept in school is ordinarily a criminal nipped in the bud. The cost of maintain- ing the Police of a city would therefore be less, in a series of years, if two of the men were detailed to prevent crime by keeping boys in school. It is proper here to refer to the valuable aid rendered by the City Marshal and his men during the year in this direction.
The cost of city water, furnished to pupils in school whose parents, in most instances, pay a water-tax for them at home, is another item that goes to swell the aggregate cost of education.
To this department has also been charged the sidewalks in front of the school-houses, as if the school were an individual ; and the cost of clearing snow from the sidewalks is an item of cost recently sought to be added.
Besides all this, the sum of $1,181.62 additional to the largest sum named above, appears in the Auditor's statement of the expenditures for schools. This is the amount of bills authorized by the City Council but not expended by the School Board; nor were the bills approved by its committee. A large part of this amount was for putting in steam heating apparatus at the Bel- mont street School; and it properly belongs to the cost of school-houses. In all these ways then, and there are others like them, has the apparent cost of supporting the schools been increased within a few years.
Besides all this, it has been suggested that still another item might be added : the annual interest of the cost of school-houses, and other school property. Another step in the same direction would be to add the interest of all sums previously expended. On the same principle the Highway Department should be charged with the interest of all sums previously expended in building new streets, and with interest on the yearly cost of their maintenance; and the Commissioners of Shade Trees and
281
SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
Public Grounds should be charged with the interest of, the cost or the value, of the Common, and with the annual expense of clearing snow from the paths. The answer to this nonsense is that the public have had the use of the streets and of the Common. The answer to the equally absurd position about schools is that these houses have been used by the public from year to year ; and any debit of the kind suggested would have to be offset by a larger credit.
In speaking of schools, the fact is often overlooked that one- sixth of the population or thereabouts belong to them. When the city owns a City Hall, or builds streets, or provides sidewalks, a Fire Department or a Police Department, the expense is in- curred for this fraction of her citizens not less than for any other. There is also the same obligation to build a school-house, as to build an engine-house; and the same necessity for fuel, janitors, water, etc., as in the City Hall. It is not improper that the lib- erality of the city in providing these things on a generous scale, should be shown by figures in the reports ; but these expenses are only incidental to the education of the children; and the cost of instruction proper is the only item with which the School Board is justly chargeable. In most of the calculations made in this report the second of the three classes of expenditures has been taken as the basis-a sum augmented in a way not strictly legitimate, as pointed out above.
BY WHOM EXPENDED
The financial critics should observe that the School Board con- tains a number of gentlemen who have maintained a good reputa- tion as members of the City Council; it should be assumed that they desire to act for the best interest of the city in their present position not less than in their former office. There are others who, though without that distinction, have been successful in the management of their own business; there is no ground for sup- posing them to have become suddenly possessed with a desire to waste money. The presumption should be then, that the ladies and gentlemen in charge of the schools, mean to do the best thing.
37
282
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 31.
COMPARTIVE COST.
Let us see whether there has been any attempt at reduction in the cost of schools.
1875.
Cost including repairs, etc.,
$143,355.05
1876. $142,900.50 7,504
Average number of pupils,
. 7,143
Whole cost per pupil, .
$20.07
$19.04
HIGH SCHOOL.
Whole cost, .
$17,169.15
$17,074.30
Whole number of pupils (five classes), 444
545
Average number of pupils,
. 314
350
Cost per pupil, . $54.68
$48.85
Cost of Evening Schools,
$2,064.93
$1,594.79
Cost per scholar, .
. $8.51
$4.99
Cost of Evening Drawing Schools,
$1,275.00
$915.00
Cost per scholar, .
. $8.22
$6.54
Expended for all purposes taking the Auditor's
statement,
. $152,493 21 $148,150 73
We see then, that there is :-
First, a reduction in the total cost .
$4,342.48
Second, a reduction in the cost per scholar
1.03
Third, a reduction in the cost of the High School .
94.85
Fourth, a reduction in the cost per scholar, High School . Fifth, an increase in the average number of pupils . 361
5.83
Sixth, an increase in the averge number of pupils, High School
36
These last items necessitated more teachers.
There has been a decrease in the total cost; and in the cost per scholar, of about five per cent. for all the schools, and of about ten per cent. for the High School. The reduction in sala- ries at the City Hall last year averaged about three per cent. At the same time the number of scholars has largely increased. As much real economy appears in doing more work with the same money, as in doing the same work with less money. It seems not to be noticed by the critics that the causes which depress busi- ness have increased the size of schools,
283
SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
SCHOOL-HOUSES.
Within the year the house on Southgate street has been en- larged by the construction of two new rooms. This is barely sufficient for the present need in that vicinity. At South Wor- cester an additional room has been constructed from two clothes rooms in the third story. At Ledge street, a basement abandoned once as unhealthy, has been re-occupied; and the basements at Woodland street and Pleasant street are still used for schools.
Four good rooms have been secured in the old house at East Worcester, where there were only two before, by a reconstruc- tion of that house. Two new rooms have been made in the north drawing school room in the Walnut street house. A new room has been finished in the attic of the Edgeworth street house. A better room in the building of the Sovereigns of Industry at New Worcester has been hired in place of the store in Quinn's block. One additional room has been occupied by pupils on the third floor in the High School house; and one more room at Thomas street, at Summer street, and at Providence street. There are three rooms vacant at Quinsigamond Village, one in the attic at Providence street, one at Dix street and one each at Northville and at Tatnuck.
The improvements to the Pleasant street school house called for more that a year ago have not been made.
ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS.
The grading of the schools remains substantially as last year. Owing to an excess of scholars in certain grades a few new schools were opened in September last : at Woodland street grade IV ; at Walnut street grade V; at Providence street grade VI. Grades IX and VIII were transferred from Lamar- tine street to Washington street and all grades below the eighth are kept at the former school. The school on Walnut street grade IX, which was in care of Myra J. Denby, the last half of the school year ending July, 1876, was discontinued in order to save expense, and all the schools of this grade have been very full the present year. This school at Walnut street was con-
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ducted by its last principal very satisfactorily; and the pupils have maintained themselves creditably in the High School, where they nearly all entered. It is due them to state that they were well represented at the concert on the common July 4th, 1876, for by an accident the list of names was lost ; and they do not appear in the pamphlet appendix to the Centennial vol- ume.
THE CENTENNIAL CONCERT.
A leading feature of the city's centennial celebration of the Fourth of July, was this concert by twelve hundred school- children in a large tent on the common. It was not alone for the music that this exercise had a charm. The children themselves, their interest in the occasion as shown by their presence, their good conduct throughout, the orderly manner in which they took their places, the promptness with which they responded to every direction - no other exercise of the day had such a charm as all this, and no other display of patriotism gave so great promise for the future as the well controlled spirit of these young Americans. In the midst of the excitements of the day they assembled with their teachers at the appointed places, and passed through the thronged thoroughfares without disorder. They were seated in the tent in twenty minutes. With all the promptness of an army, they seemed to have the unrestrained freedom of self- governing citizens. There was more than one person present who was proud of these children, and proud to work for their welfare. The services of the teachers on this occasion were recognized by the adoption of the following :
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