USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1886-1889 > 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 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34
66 66 publications taken (weekly and
monthly .
20
" daily papers .
3
66 " books added from Jan. 1, 1888, to Jan. 1, 1889 .
269
" books loaned 27,221 ·
66 " magazines loaned 684
Largest number of books and magazines delivered in one day .
240
Number not returned to the Library from July, 1887, to July, 1888 0
Registration of book-borrowers during the year 216
Whole number of registered book-borrowers 3,357
Fines paid to the Town Treasurer in 1888 $98 00 -
ELIZABETH J. NEWTON,
Librarian.
ARLINGTON, Dec. 31, 1888.
1
School Committee's Report.
To the Town of Arlington :
The School Committee submit their Annual Report.
Looking at the work done during the past year by teachers and scholars, comparing the results attained with those of previous years and with what we see in the schools of neighboring towns, and basing our judgment not merely upon such a survey but also on the many favorable comments as to the condition of our schools which have come to us unsought from persons exceptionally well qualified to form opinions on educational subjects, your committee feel fully justified in reporting that the close of the year 1888 leaves all our schools at the level of the high standards of former years, and that the new year opens with bright prospects for a continuance of this success.
The present school board can claim no very large share of credit for this prosperous condition. Our duty is mainly to see that the work moves on properly in the path which experience has shown to be safe and reliable ; that such additions and improvements in ways and methods are made as are called for by the advance of the science of education. In this work we have received the indispensable aid of our faithful corps of teachers who keep abreast of the times and are always ready and eager to suggest improvements which
136
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
your board are glad to examine and generally to adopt. We all feel however that the general lines of our graded system have been so carefully laid out that alterations should mainly be confined to minor points, - at any rate until the growth of population or greatly altered views of educational policy make more revolutionary changes evidently necessary.
The credit of what has been done in our town for popular education is justly due not to us, but to the school boards of former years, who, aided by the advice of some of the leading educators in the Commonwealth, carefully planned and effected the great change from the old district and mixed schools to our present system of graded schools, and to the able and devoted teachers present and past who have worked not for their own individual reputation so much as for the general good of all the schools.
The town has been fortunate in its ability to retain teachers for considerable lengths of time and to avoid the serious con- sequences which always result from frequent changes. Whenever vacancies occur we believe it to be the wiser plan to take time and care enough to choose persons who have not only training and experience, but also those natural qualities which go to make up the enthusiastic and success- ful teacher, and so to prevent any deterioration in the quality of the schools.
Of such changes there have been few during the year. At the end of the spring term, Miss Elisa A. Sargent re- signed, to take a position at the West. Miss Sargent was a teacher of unusual energy and exerted a decided influence in preventing undue laxity in study and behavior among the scholars. Her place was filled in the fall by the appoint- ment of Miss Marguerite J. Steele. We have also been
137
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
unfortunate in losing the services of the Misses Blake who have taught in our schools for some years to the great satis- faction of parents and committee. The severe and lingering sickness of an aged parent caused the resignation of both these ladies, and their positions were not filled during the year, - as it seemed better not to appoint permanent suc- cessors until later. The teachers of the parallel grades with the help of a substitute have been able to carry along the work so far, but it will probably be necessary in the early part of 1889 to fill the vacancies. Miss Anna H. Rood, a graduate of our High School and of the Salem Normal School, has acted as substitute teacher and has given good promise of success in her profession.
For several years it has been in contemplation to appoint a general assistant in the Russell School. It is often desir- able that the master should be able to leave his room during school hours to investigate or attend to cases where delay would be subversive of discipline and furthermore that he should be able to supervise in some measure the instruction in the various rooms, in order to secure a closer relation between one teacher's work and another's, and a more har- monious and systematic working together than would other- wise be obtained. It is no less important that the other teachers should be relieved at times when there is an unusual pressure of work and that a competent substitute should be ready in case of the necessary absence of a regular teacher. To accomplish these ends, it was decided in November to appoint Miss Ada E. Flanders, the teacher of the first divi- sion of the fifth class, to the position of general assistant. Although this change has gone into operation too recently for us to make any definite report, we believe that it is already proving itself to be desirable.
138
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
The division of the western part of the town, made last year, has continued to give satisfaction to the people in both the Cutter and the Locke districts. The same competent teachers have been in charge, and we hope that we shall be able to retain their services for a long time to come. Miss DeBlois, who has long taught the Cutter Primary School and has gained the attachment and regard of so many parents and children, has been obliged to be out of school on account of illness during the latter part of the year. Her place has been well filled by Miss Rose M. Brady.
The Crosby School, we are glad to say, has experienced no change of teachers. The eastern section of the town contin- ues to grow, and there is a steadily approaching necessity for larger school accommodations.
The High School continues in a prosperous condition under the charge of Mr. Fisher with Miss Newton and Miss Simmons as assistants. The interest and enthusiasm shown by the scholars in this school are very noticeable. We wish that more of our towns-people would learn from personal observation into what a pleasant place an unattractive building has been transformed, and what good work is being done there. With 70 scholars already in this school and the prospect of still larger numbers in the near future, we believe the time has come when the need of larger and more convenient quarters should receive more than the passing allusion, which it has been almost customary to make in late reports. Before the need becomes so pressing as to compel immediate and perhaps hasty action, the ques- tion should receive serious consideration and perhaps be put into the hands of a special committee with plenty of time to act with care and deliberation before reporting to the town.
139
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
While the subjects to be taught in our schools are in the main fixed by law, the extent to which each is to be pursued and the relative amount of time to be given it are left to the judgment of committees and teachers. We are making efforts to simplify work in all subjects so as to lay stress upon the more important parts, and to improve methods whenever practicable. The branches of penmanship, draw- ing, and music call for special mention here. Even with the utmost care in dividing the time at our disposal among the different subjects, according to their importance, it will sometimes happen that the marked improvements observed in one department have really been made by unintentionally taking time belonging to another branch, which necessarily, in its turn, at once falls below the standard. Thus it has come about, gradually and almost imperceptibly, that in some grades penmanship has not received its full share of time and attention ; till visitors have made the criticism, and perhaps with some justice, that in certain rooms there could be seen too many styles of penmanship, - some pupils having acquired styles peculiar to themselves, while the closest scrutiny failed to give evidence of a system which could be traced with the proper advancement, from each grade to the next above. Under arrangements now being perfected, we believe that penmanship will soon receive in every grade, the time and attention which its importance demands, under a system in which the improvement in each room is clearly the legitimate fruit of the work done in the next and lower grades.
Drawing has for some time failed to receive the attention that the law designed. This neglect has arisen partly from the claims of other studies and partly from the difficulty of
140
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
teaching this subject to any useful extent in a necessarily limited time. The sub-committee on this branch are now trying, with the advice of our own teachers and outside specialists, to arrange and introduce a course that shall give pupils the benefits properly belonging to the study, without unduly infringing on the time required by other branches.
The sub-committee on music, Messrs. Rawson and Ceiley, report their entire satisfaction with the results ob- tained by Mr. Marshall, and their conviction that our schools stand among the first in the State in regard to musical in- struction. They say also,- "The most gratifying results have attended the teaching of vocal music during the past year. A degree of proficiency has been attained which is very satisfactory to both committee and musical instructor. The intelligence displayed by the pupils in reading music at sight is remarkable. The placing of music upon an educa- tional basis and applying the same principles to its presenta- tion that underlie the teaching of all subjects has proved to be of great value to the pupils. What they accomplish is done by their own efforts under the instruction and guidance of the special and regular teachers. They are trained to think, and so are able to solve all the problems in music as they do in their other studies. An exhibition of their skill in this direction was given last May, when several tests in one, two, three, four, and five-part music, which had been prepared by a gentleman eminent as a musical writer, were most successfully sung by pupils from the different classes. These tests were based upon work actually studied by the different grades and were therefore a fair showing as to their musical ability."
141
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
The attendance and discipline have been generally good. In the statement annexed to this report will be found the whole number of scholars and the average attendance for each school. In reckoning the whole number, scholars are counted who have been members for any part of the term. Hence the number of members at any particular time is often less than the whole number for the term, and consequently the average attendance is really better than it seems to be at the first glance and more nearly equal to the number of scholars than the figures show. This is especially the case in the lower primary schools, where children are sometimes kept out of school during the greater part of a term in the inclement seasons of the year, and then sent for a few weeks only.
Sickness of course has had its effect of diminishing more or less the average attendance ; but the remarkable freedom from epidemics of contagious diseases, which our town has enjoyed of late years has continued up to the time of writing this report, the returns which have been made in compliance with our public statutes being generally of single and isolated cases. The figures for the year 1888 show at a glance how fortunate our public schools have been, in a town of 5000 or nearly 5000 inhabitants, and make a record of which we may well be proud, and to the continuance of which all should lend a willing hand, when they find them- selves specially concerned, by promptly complying with our rules and the public statutes as given in last year's report,- rules and statutes which, as there stated, were all established for the general good. From January 1, to December 31, 1888, inclusive, your Board of Health, and through them your School Committee, were notified of the appearance of
142
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
twenty cases only of contagious diseases, and of these twenty cases, nine only were cases specially affecting the school attendance under the statute of 1885,- these nine cases being all reported during the forty weeks of our school year. Let us hope that this may prove to be an average annual record.
A cause diminishing the number of pupils in the latter part of the year was the establishment, in September, of a school connected with the parish of St. Malachy. As this school received children of different ages, it did not operate to deplete any one school especially, but drew a small number from each room. Accordingly the effect of this withdrawal of scholars was merely to diminish the number in each room somewhat, but not to such an extent as to cause the discon- tinuance or change of grading of any school.
During the year various alterations and repairs have been made on the school buildings for the purpose of keeping the property of the town in good condition, or for the more important purpose of preserving the health of the scholars. Questions of the ventilation and proper sanitary arrange- ments of large public buildings and especially of school- houses have come of late years to be regarded of the first importance. Epidemics of contagious diseases have fre- quently been traced to buildings apparently properly constructed, until sanitary experts have been puzzled and forced to reconstruct their theories of proper ventilation and drainage. School-houses, built fifteen or twenty years ago in accordance with the views then prevalent, often need thorough overhauling. Realizing this state of affairs, the sanitary committee have felt the importance of their work, and although no epidemic or even a single case of sickness
143
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
of serious character has ever been traced to one of our public school buildings, they heartily welcomed the statute of 1888, which placed the sanitary arrangements of school- . houses under the control of the State Inspector of Factories and Public Buildings. Since the passage of the act they have gladly availed themselves of the assistance and advice of Mr. J. T. White of our town, one of the State Inspectors, in making needed changes. Of such changes the following are the most important. In the Russell School, as a tem- porary expedient, a new door was put in to cut off communi- cation between the basement and the floors above. In the Cutter and Locke Schools metallic ventilators were intro- duced as the existing appliances were by no means efficient. All these improvements are working well. In the High and Crosby Schools no immediate alterations were thought to be necessary.
Besides the usual repairs needed to replace parts, or keep the buildings in good condition the following improvements were made by the Prudential Committee. In the Russell School has been placed a new boiler, which has proved in every way satisfactory. Its cost, including much new piping, was less than our estimate. The chimneys were relaid from the roof up, having become loose and unsafe, and the roof received some needed repairs. A conspicuous if not important change was the restoration of the eagle, with freshened plumage, to the perch from which he had been absent fourteen years. In the Cutter School new floors were laid in both stories, and the rooms and school furniture were put in good condition. The conductors from the roof were so altered as to carry away the rain-water from the building so that it might not escape into the basement, and
144
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
a new pipe was laid to supply water to the second story. Nearly all the foregoing alterations were recommended in our last report. The chimney of the Locke School was relaid and the roof repaired. A few new seats and desks were placed in Miss Pierce's room. At the High School the doors leading to the second story were made to swing outward in compliance with the request of the State Inspector. Miss Simmons' room was supplied with seats and desks of an improved pattern like those in the large room.
The principal work to be done upon any school building during the coming year is, so far as the Committee can now see, the improvement of the sanitary conditions of the Russell School.
Although probably not seriously dangerous to health, the water-closets in the basement are the source of great annoy- ance to teachers and scholars, at time. Whether a remedy can be found by alterations within the building, or whether the only practicable and safe solution may not rather be to remove the water-closets outside altogether and place them in a building by themselves, is a problem to which the Sanitary and Prudential Committees are giving their best attention. In order to meet the latter alternative, the town will be asked to authorize the Selectmen to buy a strip of land suitable for the purpose, adjoining the school grounds. In this, as well as in other sanitary questions, your Committee will be guided by the advice of the State Inspector and ready at all times to carry out his requirements. It may also be necessary to take further measures to secure a dry basement in the Cutter School.
Soon after the beginning of the fall term, the State Board of Education, through its agent, Prof. George A. Walton, requested that a Teachers' Institute be held here, for the
145
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
benefit of the teachers of our schools and those of some of the neighboring towns. Such a gathering seeming for many reasons highly desirable, proper arrangements were made and the Institute was held in the High School building, November 21. There were present about seventy-five school officers and teachers, - all who could be comfortably accom- modated, - from Arlington, Belmont, Bedford, Billerica, Concord, Lexington and Watertown, and the session was a very interesting and useful one. The addresses were all practical and to the point; the hearers were in close relation with the speaker; the gathering was so small that anyone felt at liberty to ask questions freely, and there was a notice- able attention and interest on the part of all.
The contrast was marked between this Institute and the Teachers' Conventions which it was once customary to hold, when large numbers were gathered in large halls, with the inevitable result of turning the addresses into a series of lectures which it was difficult for many of the audience to hear or follow, and of reducing to almost nothing the feeling of responsibility of any individual for the success of the meeting.
We are convinced that a small meeting like that held here last fall is of far greater value than the large ones of former years, and that those schools must take the foremost rank whose teachers can attend such gatherings whenever possible.
With these statements and suggestions we commend to you our public schools, confident that the town appreciates the great work they are doing for her children.
Approved by the School Committee.
WILLIAM A. WINN,
ARLINGTON, Dec. 31, 1888.
Chairman.
10
146
TABULAR STATEMENT OF ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOLS.
FIRST TERM.
SECOND TERM.
THIRD TERM.
YEAR.
SCHOOLS.
TEACHERS.
Whole | Av'ge No.
Whole No.
Av'ge Attend
Whole No.
Av'ge Attend
Av'ge Attend
A. Gardiner Fisher
1
57
54
55
52
66
64
57
Eliza A. Simmons
42
37
42
35
37
34
35
4th
1st division 2d
Elisa A Sargent
Marguerite I. Steele
Louisa R. Warren
43
33
43
34
42
34
34
6th
2d
Elizabeth B. Blake
44
37
41
35
42
37
36
Elizabeth L. Geer
53
44
54
47
52
45
45
M. Carrie Lawrence
55
46
57
52
49
37
45
Mabel E. Blake
.
Lizzie A. Day
38
24
44
36
46
36
46
Mary F. Scanlan
53
46
54
50
48
40
45
Annie C. Snelling
45
19
56
39
47
39
32
Nathan T. Soule
35
32
32
30
18
17
27
Jennie A. Chaplin
43
38
40
36
36
35
36
6th and 7th
Mary M. Brady
49
43
50
46
39
35
41
8th and 9th
Elizabeth DeBlois
28
23
34
31
39
35
30
LOCKE GRAMMAR-1st, 2d, 3d, Class
Mary L. Pierce
20
19
20
18
31
28
22
4th and 5th Classes
Mary J. Copeland
44
39
44
37
37
33
36
6th and 7th "
Mary E. Rogers .
44
38
41
35
36
34
36
8th and 9th "
.
.
Fannie E. Taylor
33
29
89
36
38
36
34
985
829
1015
879
907
799
836
.
·
48
44
49
42
49
44
43
55
48
55
49
39
34
44
56
52
56
50
55
53
52
38
36
38
34
37
30
-
-
-
61
49
60
6th
" ist division
.
.
.
.
3d
“
2d
.
.
·
·
.
.
.
.
TEACHER OF MUSIC ·
.
.
.
Leonard B. Marshall
.
.
.
3d
.
.
Oliver M. Hobart . Caroline C. Turner Anna Pillsbury
Ada E. Flanders
-
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
COTTING HIGH ·
.
·
.
RUSSELL GRAMMAR-1st Class 2d Class
.
5th
5th
5th
66
.
RUSSELL PRIMARY -1st Class 2d Class
3d
1st division :
17
34
25
-
CROSBY PRIMARY-1st & 2d Classes 2d and 3d Classes
CUTTER GRAMMAR-1st, 2d, 3d, Class 4th and 5th Classes .
.
.
·
.
.
Anna J. Newton .
Horace A. Freeman
Attend
34
31
28
€
LIST OF JURORS OF THE TOWN OF ARLINGTON.
REVISED BY THE SELECTMEN, JAN. 21, 1889.
George W. Austin,
Eben E. Jacobs,
Calvin Andrews,
Charles S. Jacobs, Jr.,
James A. Bailey,
Charles L. Jones,
James Baston,
William H. Jones,
Henry W. Berthrong, Joseph H. Butterfield,
Gouverneur Kent,
Leander D. Bradley,
Herbert H. Ceiley,
W. Washington Kimball, Edwin B. Lane, George W. Lane,
Nathan L. Chaffin,
Mark D. Lawrence,
William A. Clark,
Henry L. Lawrence,
Moses J. Colman,
George H. Lancaster,
Albert W: Cotton, Charles F. Crosby, John S. Crosby,
James A. Marden, Alfred T. Marston, Oran B. Marston, Edward Mears,
Henry E. Chamberlin,
Edward H. Cutter,
Warren Cutter,
Herbert M. Day,
Lorenzo H. Dupee,
Theodore D. Dupee,
Henry D. Dodge, Charles B. Fessenden, Francis S. Frost,
George T. Freeman,
Edward S. Fessenden,
Edwin S. Farmer,
Charles O. Gage, James Gibson,
Rollin P. Puffer, Warren A. Peirce, David Richards, Frank J. Rogers, Thomas H. Russell, Carl W. Schwamb, Theodore Schwamb, Frederic S. Smith, Albert L. Teel, Lucian'C. Tyler, Waterman A. Taft,
Thomas Gray,
Cassius M. Hall,
Apollos J. Tillson, Andrew W. Turner, Edward E. Upham, Joseph P. Wyman, Richard A. Welch,
Charles H. Wharton,
Charles P. Wyman.
Benjamin Hall, James Hanna, Joseph J. Hewes, George Hill, Jr., S. Frederic Hicks, Jacob F. Hobbs, Alfred D. Hoitt, Richard M. Johnson,
R. Byron Moore, Edmund W. Noyes, T. Ralph Parris, Darwin A. Proctor,
JAMES A. BAILEY, GEORGE D. TUFTS, GEORGE D. MOORE,
Selectmen of Arlington.
STATISTICS
OF THE
TOWN OF ARLINGTON. MAY 1, 1888.
Valuation of Real Estate,
$4,291,532 00
66 " Personal Estate, 842,022 00
Amount " Town Grant, 86,780 37
, " State Tax, 6,030 00
..
" County Tax, 3,383 52
66 " Overlayings, 230 36
Number of Polls, 1502, at $2.00 each,
3,004 00
Rate of taxation on $1000,
16 25
Number of persons paying a tax on property,
1,003
Number of persons paying a Poll Tax only,
1,018
Total number of tax-payers,
2,021
66 66 " dwelling-houses,
898
. . " horses, 522
66 66 " coWS, 170
Increase in number of dwelling-houses since May
1, 1887. 55
ALFRED D. HOITT, / Assessors B. DELMONT LOCKE, JAMES A. BAILEY,
of Arlington.
ARLINGTON, May 1, 1888.
A LIST OF THE
STATE, COUNTY AND TOWN TAXES ASSESSED FOR THE YEAR 1888.
A.
Abbott, Charles L.
·
$64 56
Abbott, Levi ·
2 00
Abercrombie, Frederic M. 2 00
Adam, Alexander 2 00
Adams, Amos 2 00 ·
Ahern, Daniel
15 81
Arlington Gas Light Co. ·
287 63
Ahern, Dennis 13 38
Ahern, Dennis, jr.
2 00
Ahern, Edward . 2 00
Armstrong,
Thomas 'H.,
trustee 51 19
Ash, John T.
2 00
Austin, Charles D.
2 00
Austin, George W.
2 00
Austin, Mrs. Ida I. 62 24
Austin, William O. 2 00
Averill, George H.
2 00
Averill, Mrs. Georgiana 41 44
B.
Allen, Charles W.
2 00
Allen, David 2 00
Allen, Eunice E. . ·
85 07
Allen, George G. .
84 88
Allen, George G., Irving A. and John F. · 98 80
Allen, William H. . 1179 80
Andrews, Calvin . · 52 70 .
Archibald, George R. .
$2 00
Arey, Frank J.
54 81
Arey, Mrs. Jennie S. . S 13 Arlington Boat Club Cor- poration 97 50
Arlington Five Cents Sav- ings Bank ·
350 51
Armstrong, John A. · Armstrong, Joshua T. 2 00
Ahern, John 2 00
Ahern, John P.
2 00
Ahern, Morris
2 00
Ahern, Patrick
16 63
Ahern, Patrick J.
2 00
Ahern, William
2 00
Albee, Francis E. · 2 00
Allen, Abbott
2 00
Allen, Andrew F.
· 115 43
Allen, Arthur L.
2 00
Bacon, Arthur L. 2 00
Bacon, Charles F.
2 00
.
Bacon, Charles N. 8 50 Bacon, Edward E. 15 16
Bacon, Devisees under Will
of Henry J.
119 60
·
2 00
150
TAXES.
Bacon, Mrs. Isabella G.,
Bean, Harlan B. .
$2 00
guardian .
. $28 60
Bean, Mrs. Mary E. 59 31
Bacon, Jesse
. 117 86
Beddeos, James P.
2 81
Bacon, Major
45 88
Beers, James L. 2 00 .
Bailey, Mrs. Alice A.
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.