USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1854-1857 > Part 4
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81 40
Parmeter Esq. Win. E. 6 13 Pattee Jesse P. 71 46
O.
Palmer Nathaniel
1 50
Pattee William H.
1 50
Osborn John
7 52
Ober Joseph E.
1 50
Osgood George
3 81
Prentiss Abby W.
16 65
P.
Payson Mary P.
25 44
Pratt Nathan 61 16
Prior William
1 50
Patterson Nicholas 1 50
Pratt Andrew
31 56
Patterson Matthew 7 25
Predy John
1 50
Parks Alfred
6 59
Pattee Alonzo
1 50
Potter J. S.
8 44
Pierce Eben
1 50
Price James
1 50
20
Prescott & Proctor 78 63
Rowe Patrick 1 50
Prescott E. R.
12 60
Russell George H. 1 50
Proctor A. R.
22 31
Reardon Peter 2 66
Porter Adaniram
1 50
Russell Alfred 1 50
Piper Edward
1 50
Russell James S. 11 21
Pearson Joseph
1 96
Russell Bowen 23 76
Russell Ira L. 2 43
Russell Wid. Rebecca 6 48
Rich Leonard 1 50
Robinson Luther 7 06
Prentiss George
44 17
Robbins Nathan
305 59
Prentiss Jr. George 15 03
Robbins Edwin
6 13
Peck A. G. 390 93
Richardson James M.
10 29
Prentiss Samuel 5 20
Robbins Daniel
23 24
Prentiss est. of James 23 12
Richardson William
66 38
Pierce Wid. Lydia
20 12
Richardson Richard 9 83
Pierce Abel 39 31
Russell Amos 28 54
Pierce Oliver H.
6 59
Russell Oliver
15 50
Pitts & Bailey
29 60
Russell J. W. 2 19
Russell Josiah H. 40 93
Reill Anton 1 50
Pierce Wid. Jonas 6 71
Rauber Frederick 1 50
Ruffley Henry 1 50
Robbins James 1 96
Russell Wid. Rebecca
imp. by G. C. Russell 35 38 Russell Wid. Rebecca
imp. by Solon Hardy 3 24 Robinson Josiah 15 38
Robbins Nathan imp. by D. Puffer 2 77
Russell Mrs. Sarah 2 31
Russell Col. Thomas 225 48 Russell George C. 49 74 Russell Geo. C. trustee 4 63
Russell Thomas J. 57 26
Russell Eliza A. 1 33
Russell Esq. James 154 59
Russell heirs of James imp. by M. Proctor 20 81
Ramsdell Thomas 43 36
Russell Thomas H. 6 13
Russell Albin 2 43
Russell Capt. Edward 9 83
Richardson Wm. H. 25 26
Russell 2d G. C. 16 77
46 30
Riley James 1 50
Ryan John 1 50
Russell 2d James 40 00
Richardson George B. 46 08
Richardson G. B. & Co. 21 74
Richardson George E. 1 50
Rock Adolphus 1 50
S.
Sargent John 1 50
Sullivan John R.
1 50
Speatman Robert
1 50
R.
Russell & Whittemore 26 82
Richard L. Marshall 1 50
Richardson Mark A. 6 59
Russell Benjamin F. 41 27
Robbins Joshua 36 31
Rawson Warren
Poland Benjamin imp. by Osgood 20 81
Pitts & Bailey imp. by
Gage, Sawyer & Co. 23 01
Pratt Nathan imp. by Newell 23 58
Pierce Thomas P. trus- tee for Mrs. Grant 5 09
21
Shattuck Isaac 63 60
46 72
Simonds Marshall
29 94
Swan Martha 3 39
Squires John P.
38 86
Spear Joseph S.
23 71
Sweeney Jeremiah
1 50
Simpson Alonzo
17 69
Sanderson Wid. Mary
2 77
Stearns Leonard
40 93
Swan 2d Charles
1 50
Stearns Jr. Leonard
1 50
Sullivan John
1 50
Stearns George Smith Francis
8 44
Sheber Joseph
1 50
Smith Joseph
5 66
Sweeney Edward
1 50
Scott James
1. 50
Shepard Thomas
1 50
Sullivan James
1 50
Steines James
1 50
Smith John
1 50
Sweeney Daniel
1 50
Sawing J. C.
1 50
Swan Samuel
23 24
Smith James E.
1 50
Storer Edward
17 57
Schouler Robert
67 87
Stacy Nathan
1 50
Schouler & Brother R. 66 82
Sweat William L.
2 43
Strahan Thomas
1 50
Swain B. D. 13 52
Stringle Gatlib
1 50
Stevens John R.
1 50
Shaw James 1 50
Stevens George
1 50
Stokes Alfred
1 50
Swan Gershom
1 50
Sumner Walter
1 50
Sargent Elisha 1 50
Soles William 7 05
Sweeney Patrick 1 50
Setchell Wm. F. A. 11 68
Sullivan Michael
1 50
. Schouler Jr. James ' 31 56
Schwamb & Brothers C. 9 25
Smith Rev. Samuel A. 6 59
Schwamb Jacob 1 50
Smith Rev. S. A. Guar-
Schwamb Peter 1 50
dian for E. P. Smith 7 35
Schwamb Theodore 1 50
Smith Rev. S. A. Guar-
Schwamb Charles 1 50
dian for S. A. Smith 8 69
Schweiser John 1 50
Shay Henry 1 50
Smith Rev. S. A. Guar- dian for E. D. Smith 9 51
Starkweather E. C. 19 55
Sargent Timothy 1 50
Swan Harrison 1 50
Swan Henry
20 81
Swain Rev. S. B.
10 75
Sheperd James
1 50
Solomon Edward
1 50
Swan Stephen 67 70
Solomon John 1 50
Symmes Stephen 55 85
Stanwood Theodore 4 27
Symmes Jr. Stephen 16 19
Swan heirs of Gershom 21 04
Smith Edward
38 97
Snow Richard 1 50
Swan Wid. Phebe 19 89
Sheen Thomas 3 24
Swan Charles 1 50
Shepard Norman 1 50
Swan est. of Henry 17 70
Schouler John 86 03
Snelling est. of Char- lotte
17 58
Society Trustees of Baptist 60 32
Stanwood Daniel 3 81
Swan Timothy
40 02
Stowe William
8 44
22
T.
Tufts Capt. Benjamin 26 94
Teel Joseph 31 92
Thorp Thomas 13 99
Tufts . Ephraim
96 49
Taft H. B. 8 44
Trask Moses C.
16 66
Town Levi 1 50
"Toomey Cornelius 4 27
Toomey Michael
1 50
Thaxter James
11 90
Teel Albert L.
13 99
Teel est. of Thomas H. 81 87
Teel Albert L. Guar- dian 93
Thorp Thomas E. 1 50
Tufts Henry 23 70
Teel George S.
22 32
Taylor William
1 50
Tufts Horatio
1 50
Tilton Elbridge 1 50
Thorp Alfred 1 50
Toland James 1 50
Tufts Wid. Helen W. 2 31
Teel est. of B. C.
10 05
U.
Underwood Napoleon 21 85
Underwood Dr. Joseph 16 65
Usher est. of Elmira 4 63
W.
Whittemore Wm. H. 61 17
Whittle Parker 1 50
Wright Stephen E. 1 50
Warren Marshall 1 50
Whittemore Charles
20 00
Woard Willard
2 89
Woods B. F.
13 76
Wilbur Thomas 1 50
Walker E. R. 7 06
Wallace J. W. 6 35
Woodman Charles 1 50
White Charles 1 50
Wyman James
18 03
Whittemore Wid. Re- becca 43 12
Whittemore Henry 36 66
Whittemore Henry trustee for J. Coffin 4 63
Whittemore
Henry,
trustee for E. A. W.
Whittemore & H. C. Whittemore 71 23
Whittemore Henry C. 1 50
Whittemore Gershom 24 51
Wood William T. 14 45
Wood Isaac 4 74
Wells Sarah 7 17
Wyman Wid. Mary 3 24
Warren Joseph 1 50
Whittemore F. H.
62 78
Whittemore est. of
Jonathan 93 19
Whittemore Wid. E. L. 4 33
Whittemore est. of Elbridge 13 88
Wyman John P. 1 50
Wyman Abner 1 50
Whitten J. W. 22 78
Whitten J. W. imp. by Kimball 8 33
Whitten J. W. imp. by Hart 8 33
Woodbridge J. M. 2 65
Woodard George W. 1 50
Winn John 12 60
White Nathaniel 1 50
Warner James 1 50
Winn est. of Sarah 3 24
Winn Albert 89 15
Winn Albert Guardian for M. D. Frost 41 63
Wellington & Swain 9 71
Wellington David K. 17 81
Waite Wid. Cynthia 8 33
Woodbridge Samuel 3 81
Woodbridge Henry W. 1 50
Woodbridge Albert A. 1 50
1
23
Woodbridge S. F. 94 16
Winship Oliver 2 43
Wyman James M. 1 62
Whittle Robert
1 50
Wellington Henry 1 50
Wiley John 1 50
Weston Albert 1 50
Washburn Charles L. 3 81
Wyman Joseph
68 82
Whittemore Wm. A. 94 79
Wyman Luke Jr. 17 69
Wyman Luke 41 51
Wallace John 1 50
Wallace Josiah 1 50
Wilson James
1 50
Wilson Horace
8 56
Welch Patrick
1 50
White William
1 50
Winn Charles G.
120 24
Winn Charles G. trus- tee for Mrs. Yates 5 09
Washburn Henry 1 50
Ware George W. 12 14
Wellington J. O. 94 66
Wiggin Joseph A. 1 50
Walton Edmund
5 67
Wellington est. of Tim- othy 90 53
Wellington est. of Tim- othy imp. by Josiah Crosby 5 56
Whittemore Wid.Sarah 67 99 Wyman J. P. & A. P. 92 73 Wyman heirs of S. imp. by M. C. Kenney 6 94
Wyman heirs of S. F. 37 93 Winneck est. of Wm. B. 28 10 Winn Russell & Schou- ler 10 64
Wilson Wid. Sally 1 85
Whittemore heirs of William 43 48
Y.
Yoar Michael 1 50
Yates Charles 4 74
Yates Wid. Almira 24 38
Yates Widow Almira
Guard. for F. Yates 2 77
LIST OF NON-RESIDENTS
AS ASSESSED
For the Year 1856. ·
Bowman Wid. Frances $4 63 Jacob Hanscomb 3 47
Philander Ames 1 16
C. W. Kingsley 10 41
William Cotting 80 13
Smith & Lougee . 63 13.
David Cooledge 1 85
Thomas Hutchinson 23 98.
Dr. Benjamin Cutter 15 73
Wid. Susan Huffmaster 5 21
Est. of Stephen Robbins 20 35 Henry Wellington, Jr., 20 35 Jason Thayer 5 09
Heirs of David and Josi- ah Kendall 2 54
Michael Campbell 1 85
Locke est. of Micajah
20 17
Asa Locke 4 17
Nathan Smith 7 52
Phineas Lawrence 7 96
Jeremiah Russell 2 68
Est. of Emerson Parks 6 94
James M. Fessenden 2 43
Wid. Abigal Richardson 3 24
John R. Hagan
10 64
Josiah Bright 1 39
Reuben Reed
14 81
Est. of William Russell 18 50 Levi Russell 14 57
George D. Cutler 4 63
Wid. Lydia Whitney
& Walter H. Russell
4 10
James Stearns 0 93
Est. of Isaac Sanderson 58
Frederick Tudor
158 50
J. W. Converse 35 15
James M. Usher 19 66
Jacob Hittinger 80 94
David Hill
9 71
Elbridge Fisk
9 71
Thomas H. Bailey
93
James L. Pitts
2 77
Joseph Palmer
2 31
Samuel Cutler Dr. G. H. Dadd
7 71
Amos Quimby 17 81
Washington Jacobs
1 85
George Adams 11 10
Wallace, P. D. 93
Timothy Whittemore 18 50
John W. Prentiss 1 16
Heirs of John L. Sullivan 6 94
Jonas Viles
5 09
Moses A. Getchell 11 56
John Swan, Jr. 1 39
M. C. Kenny 24 05.
Est. of James Brown
imp. by E. Brown 19 19
Marlborough Williams 26 36
Frederick Tudor imp. by S. Lynch 29 14
23 12
Mr. Glidden 5 56
Silas Cutler 13 88
Est. of James Brown 76 06
Joseph Dickson 4 16
Francis Russell
4 05
William Horne 1 85
1
25
J. M. Baldwin 1 85
Joseph Reed 2 41
Edward Riddle
4 16 Supply Barney 2 08
J. C. Chase
12 95 Ballou & Hibbard 5 48
J. D. Green
2 31 Isiah Fisher
78
Jacob Stearns
93
David H. Thorp
69
William Monroe
3 24
Joel A. Wright 1 74
Aaron Locke
69 Moses B. Brigham
83
B. F. Allen
11 68
Nathan C. Downing 2 08
Est. of Anna Tufts
1 39
Jeremiah Curtain 1 78
John Swan
2 54
Alvin Abbott 69
Thomas Dewer
93
George C. Thompson 69
William White
93
Hannah L. Singleton 69
Daniel White
2 08
William H. Rymill 52
E. R. Collins
1
85
Hamilton Raddick and John Gault 69
Est. of J. C. Collins,
93
William Bullock
1
16
Joseph H. Park 2 22
James Russell and James
Est. of Preston Shepard 11 56
S. Brigham 78
John Mills 6 71
Andrew Lewis
5 09
J. Dodge .
2 08
Charles Patterson 69
Edward Payson, Guard. 7 40
Robert B. Rogers 83
J. V. Fletcher 47 89
Thomas Robie 4 17
Oliver M. Winship 8 79
James M. Woodbridge 3 25
Joseph Cartland 22 66
Hammilton Raddick 86
James C. Converse 22 66
John Gault 60
F. S. G. Robinson 69
John Muldoon 69
Joseph T. Richardson 1 13
Nahum Packard
9 71
F. M. Jennings
5 56
THE AMOUNT OF TOWN VALUATION.
Real Estate,
$2.114.006.00
Personal Estate, 1.247.478.00
$3.361.484.00 at 4 5-8 mills on the dollar,
$15.546 86
778 Polls at $1.50 each,
1.167 00
$16.713 86
Town Grant,
13.000 00
State Tax,
1.650 00
County Tax,
1.611.48
Overlayings,
452.38
$16.713 86
William Spurgin 79
John O. Niles 1 62
Joseph A. Veasey 33 07
26
The above is a true and correct copy of a list of Town, State, and County Taxes for the Town of West Cambridge, assessed upon the Polls and Estates of the inhabitants of said Town, and also the non-residents, according to a valuation, as taken by the subscribers on the first of May, A. D. 1856, and committed to Josiah H. Russell for collection for the current year, with their warrant in due form of law.
STEPHEN SYMMES, JR., WILLIAM DICKSON, GEO. C. RUSSELL,
Assessors of the Town of Wt. Cambridge.
West Cambridge, June 12, 1856.
REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF WEST CAMBRIDGE,
FOR 1855-6.
CENTRE SCHOOL.
THIS School is not in a prosperous condition. There is good order, good recitations, and on the part of most of the pupils very good progress. Mr. Charles L. Washburn's method of teaching, makes thorough scholars in such branches as are studied here. In his first class there are some of the best scholars in town, and many, whose only experience in a Grammar School has been under his charge, have made excellent progress. There are no better Geography classes, no better Readers, in short, in every study his pupils show persevering and successful instruction. The Committee have confidence in his ability, and wish they could say that the state of the school answered their expectations. What we miss in this school-room, where everything seems so orderly, is, what we will call, for want of a better expression, its humanities. Some of the pupils are too often obstinately obedient, and manifest too little love for teacher, classmates, or anybody else. They seldom sing, although the teacher has been often kindly requested to make this beautiful art a frequent exercise. We
28
cannot help thinking that there would be a more regular and full attendance in this, the largest district in town, could there be a manifestation of more affectionate confidence and real interest, with less will, on the part of teacher and pupils.
Miss Jennison, the assistant in this school, has been faithful to her charge, and her works do praise her. We regret that her ill health obliged her to resign the situation. She is now suffering from the effects of a legal, and very common system of slow poisoning, to which the accumulated wisdom of the ninteenth century subjects the great majority of Young America in the school-room. Breathing an atmosphere charged with the gasses generated in twenty or thirty pairs of active lungs, the life of it burned out by the red hot sides of a cylinder stove, and occasionally revivified by a torrent of out-of-doors air through an open window, tempered with snow flakes or below zero, will in time affect the toughest nature. Miss Harriet Blake succeeded Miss Jennison, and is doing the district good service. She is a good teacher, and her pupils cannot fail to progress.
CENTRE PRIMARY SCHOOL.
In this school there has been no change of teacher. Miss L. C. Tucker is an admirable instructor of children. While she takes charge of the school, it will, without doubt, remain one of the best conducted Primary Schools in the region about. We must, however, remind the parents in this district of the fact that she is mortal, and cannot well do more than forty things at once ; and we would respectfully suggest to those who so pertinaciously insist upon making her their nursery maid, by sending in their " wee bit todlings " of all ages below four and a half years, the propriety and fairness of providing them with cot beds and candy. It is difficult to understand how she can find time to look after the comfort of " those tired little feet,"' during the long warm summer afternoons, where accomodations for a nap are so scanty, and yet so bravely do her duty by the older children.
29
NORTH-WEST DISTRICT.
This school is unlike any other in town. It is an excellent illustration of the importance of ambition and skill in the teacher. The town is under great obligations to Mr. Peabody for the excellent condition this school has been kept in for several years. He has infused into the school an ambition and refinement that places his first classes among the best in any town school in the State. Many children have come under his care, indifferent themselves, and whose parents never enter the school-room, who in a little while have learned to know how much they can do, and have soon taken a stand among the best in the school. In this district there are too many who think that if their children can " read, write and cipher," it is all they need know of books, and that all knowledge more than of these, is acquired at a total loss of time. We cannot here "reason together" upon the wisdom or folly of their conclusions, but will only say that the free expression of such sentiments, by the parents, takes from the heart of the child all desire to do well and labor diligently, and hangs to the teacher's energies a drag that wearies and discourages his most earnest endeavors.
NORTH-WEST DISTRICT PRIMARY SCHOOL.
Here again we have been fortunate in not being obliged to change teachers. Miss Mary .C. Hill, assisted by her sisters, Adeline and Henrietta, during different terms, has continued the school through the year in a manner acceptable to all interested. This is a very large school and taxes the strength and patience of the teachers most severely. Here, as in the Centre District, we have a room filled with fine active children - packed as closely together, and treated much in the same manner as hams in a smoke house, so far as ventilation and space are concerned. The little room into which twenty-five or more are often crowded for recitation, and which would be in use through all the hours of school, were it possible for the assistant to remain in it, is about four feet wide and ten long,
30
without other ventilation than the door which opens into the school-room, which must be closed during exercises. After being occupied half an hour the air of the room becomes so impure, that no one can continue to breath it without being sick. This school should have larger and more commodious rooms. It has good teachers and is made up of agreeable and intelligent children. They deserve better accomodations.
SOUTH DISTRICT.
This School is somewhat peculiar. There is no trouble here, no fault-finding, at least, so far as the Committee are informed ; no children abused ; no partiality ; no negligence on the part of the Teacher; no intrusion of the scholars upon angry neighbors ; no running the gaunlet in passing the school- house in sleighing time. The district has seemed pleased with the school, and the teacher has been pleased with his pupils.
Mr. W. Fisk Gile, who has been the instructor the most of the year, has been earnest and successful in the discharge of his duties. The members of the district, by their generous contributions, have furnished the school-room with a beautiful cabinet of philosophical apparatus, at an expense of more than two hundred dollars. Such manifestations of interest are assurances of the right state of things. People do not give money where they have no interest in the use to which it is appropriated. Mr. Gile resigned in February, and was succeeded by Mr. R. C. Hardy, whose well established repu- tation as an excellent teacher, and an agreeable, honorable man, secures to him the utmost confidence and respect of the Committee.
SOUTH DISTRICT PRIMARY SCHOOL.
It is a pleasure to speak of this school. Under the man- agement of Miss Amelia Douglass, it has ever been one of the best schools in town. Pretty, intelligent children, a spacious, cheerful room, and a kind-natured, skillful instructor,
31
are certainly the essentials present here. Everything goes on harmoniously, and everybody seems to be satisfied and pleased.
EAST DISTRICT PRIMARY SCHOOL.
This fine little Primary School has continued under the charge of Miss S. Miranda Chase, and we most heartily continue to her the commendations of last year. Her earnest, kindly efforts to benefit the children, and their obedient, affectionate response, together with the hearty good will and steady encouragement manifested by the parents towards both, have done much towards realizing the pleasant relationship which should ever exist between the teacher and the members of the district. The last term was much broken up by severe weather. The drifting snow storms, the exposed situation of the school-house, and the tender age of many of the children, made going to school a very dangerous undertaking many times during the past cold winter; but where the teacher, the pupils and the parents are willing each to help the other, there must always be advancement. At all the visits of the Committee and at the final examination, it was evident that the teacher knew how to do her duty, and was willing and able to do it.
She has resigned her situation very much to the regret of all interested in the school, and retires with the respect and kind wishes of those whom she has most faithfully served.
Amount of money paid over by the Town Treasurer to orders from the School Committee.
To Mr. Silas Peabody,
$650 00
" Charles L. Washburn,
650 00
W. F. Gile,
579 12
R. C. Hardy, .
62 50
Amelia Douglass, .
225 00
S. Miranda Chase,
256 00
32
To Miss Lydia C. Tucker,
.
$275 00
Mary C. Hill,
225 00
66 Adeline Hill,
101 00
C. Jennison, .
126 00
Harriet Blake,
38 00
M. A. Shattuck,
7 20
Henrietta Hill,
33 00
Mr. Stephen Swan,
13 44
" Abel Pierce, .
13 44
Stephen Symms,
.
.
6 72
EXPENSE OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Amount raised by direct taxation,
$2600.00
Received from State Fund.
85.69
Income from Cutter School Fund,
325.04
The cost of wood and coal has been about
220.00
Building fires and sweeping,
77.00
Incidental expenses, -
25.00
There were in town on the 1st of April, 1855, 387 children between the ages of five and fifteen years, 287 children under five years of age.
Does not the large number of this younger class indicate the absolute necessity of providing more room soon ?
Upon presenting to the people of West Cambridge a report upon the condition of the public schools, it seems proper to suggest to them such alterations and improvements as have appeared to be desirable in their arrangements. There can be no doubt that if all who are desirous of making these insti- tutions as useful and profitable as they are capable of being made, even with the same outlay of money, should come to- gether and patiently look into the subject, there would soon be a state of things over which the hearts of true men would rejoice. They would become interested in them, and feel something more than is manifested by the mere assent to an
.
.
.
·
.
.
.
33
appropriation for their support on town-meeting day. They would realize more vividly the obligations they themselves should acknowledge for mental habits and wealth they have derived from them. To most of us these public schools have been the benefactors that have placed in our possession the means of starting fairly in the race of active life. Many, very many, have had nothing else to look to for the knowledge that gives them courage and confidence in their own capacity.
If we cannot have a high school, then the recommendation of the last school report should be adopted.
There should be intermediate schools established in the Centre and North-West Districts, or what would answer as well, the houses should be made large enough to give convenient and well-ventilated recitation rooms. This want of space and fresh air is the great want of our schools. Our teachers have been competent and active, and there is a set of pupils in all the districts who are willing to do credit to their instructions. They have not fallen behind our expectations, but they are capable of doing better, and would do better were they well supplied with that elastic, buoyant vitality derived from well- ventilated blood.
A bountiful God has stretched out space into infinity, and piled up the sweet atmosphère to the stars, yet we allowance our children in both, by dealing out to them most stingily what is given to them without measure.
There is no danger whatever that our children will not learn fast enough, but there is great danger that they will not grow fast enough.
Their minds are cultivated with much more care than their" bodies, and we are too forgetful of looking for well developed, cheerful boys and girls, while praising and encouraging the men- tal vigor of precocious prodiges. A healthy boy at fourteen who can shoulder a bushel of corn, or swim a half mile, or a robust, warm-blooded girl who can laugh heartily, run, jump rope, and work without the " side ache," affords surer hopes of.a happy life and future worth, than to be feeble and nerv- ous, and able to demonstrate every geometrical problem ever
34
known, and read, in a dozen obsolete languages, all the old Mythology ever written or dreamed.
In the education of our children, we are looking too much for immediate effect; and in ministering to their comforts and bodily welfare, we overlook our short comings and follies, be- cause there is no change at once in their condition for the worse. Yet they surely are silently and always progressing towards a vigorous bodily and intellectual maturity, or re- ceding to become weak and dependent beings. If we could all of us more fully understand the terrible significance of this great truth, " The sins of the parents shall be visited upon the children, even to the third and fourth genera- tion," we should lay aside some of our indifference and superstition, and realize the physical to be as excellent and worthy of culture and as essential to our true growth and happiness as the mental and spiritual.
If our common schools, as they are conducted, especially in cities and large towns, must necessarily be instrumental in deteriorating the development of the race, as they often do by the close confinement and overtasking to which children are subjected, their good effect may well be doubted. The physi- cal energy and common sense of one broad-chested young man from the old-fashioned, wood-warmed, well ventilated school- · house in the back woods, whose stock of town-and-state-paid education enables him only to " read, write and cipher," will often carry him through more useful and difficult enterprises than would swamp a score of more learned but puny and effeminate beings. Those men and women are best educated who can best perform the duties of life, in whatever capacity they may be obliged to act, and there are few positions where health and strengh do not conduce as much to that end as mental acquirements. It is as essential that children play as that they study ; and while so much is being done to secure a proper regulation and attention to the one, we leave them to originate and conduct their sports as they can and where they can. The streets are their play-ground, and the shops and public highway their rendezvous.
35
How can we wonder that they are so often saucy and old beyond their years in bad habits.
The fault is not theirs, and they must be visited, sometimes with suffering, for the sins of their elders. No parent has a moral right to be habitually so involved in business or pleas- ure, as not to know how and where the hours of play are occupied ; for a more rapid and permanent process of educa- tion is going on at such times, than in any school to which they are obliged to resort. Every school house should have connected with.it a spacious and pleasant play-ground, that should be kept neat and made attractive .. This ground should be furnished with swings, stands for jumping, conveniences for cricket, goold, football, and whatever else will best promote health and cheerfulness. Could the parents themselves, be induced occasionally to play with their children, and forget the formal conventionalism of grown up society, their hearts might perhaps be refreshed and made better by such fellow- ship with what, in its purity and innocence, we are assured, is like the Kingdom of Heaven.
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