USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Town of Newton annual report 1869-1870 > Part 25
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
NAHANTON, Oak Hill. From Dedham, passing Winchester, to Kenrick's Bridge. Distance- 1 mile, 32 rods.
NEVADA, Newtonville. From Watertown, passing Linwood Avenue, to California. Distance - 1-4 mile, 22 rods.
NEWTONVILLE AVENUE, Newtonville. From Walnut, crossing Harvard, crossing Mt. Ida, to Centre, near Franklin. Distance - 1 mile.
NONANTUM, Newton. From Washington, northerly, easterly and south- erly, passing Orchard, to Washington. Distance - 3-8 mile, 6 rods.
NONANTUM PLACE (unaccepted), Newton. From Nonantum.
NORTH, Newtonville. From Crafts to Waltham line. Distance - 1-2 mile.
NORTH BEND (unaccepted), Newton. From Centre, near Watertown line.
OAK, Upper Falls. From Elliot to Railroad Station. Distance - 72 rods.
OAK AVENUE (unaccepted), West Newton. Fron Webster.
ORCHARD, Newton. From the westerly to the easterly section of Nonan- tum. Distance - 379 feet.
OTIS, Newtonville. From Walnut, crossing Murray, to Chestnut, West Newton. Distance - 3-4 mile, 36 rods.
PARK, Newton. From Washington, crossing Vernon, Church, Franklin, to Sargent. Distance - 5-8 mile, 16 rods.
161
PARKER, Newton Centre. From Cypress, crossing Boylston to Dedham. Distance - 1 1-4 mile, 12 rods.
PEARL, Newton. From Centre, passing School, Jewett, and Waban, to Watertown. Distance - 5-8 mile, 12 rods.
PEARL PLACE (unaccepted), Newton. From Pearl.
PELHAM, Newton Centre. From Centre westerly to Pleasant. Dis- tance - 50 rods.
PERKINS, West Newton. From Washington to Winthrop. Distance - 49 rods.
PETTEE, Upper Falls. From High, east of schoolhouse, to Cottage Hill. Distance - 29 rods.
PINE, West Newton. From River westerly. Distance - 3-8 mile, 8 rods. PLEASANT, Newton Centre. From Centre to Homer. Distance - 1-2 mile.
PRESCOTT (unaccepted), Newtonville. From Lowell, crossing Central Avenue.
PROSPECT, West Newton. From Washington, near Auburn, to Temple. Distance - 64 rods.
PUTNAM, West Newton. From Margin to Temple. Distance - 59 rods.
RICHARDSON, Newton. From Centre, passing schoolhouse, to Church. Distance - 64 rods.
RIPLEY (unaccepted), Newton Centre. From Chase.
RIVER, West Newton. Froin Waltham, passing Cherry, Elm, Emerald, and Pine, to Lexington. Distance - 3-4 mile, 8 rods.
ROWE, Auburndale. From Auburn, passing Walcott, to Emerald. Distance - 1-4 mile, 28 rods.
SARATOGA, Newton. From Centre, near Church, to Newtonville Avenue. Distance - 19 rods.
SARGENT, Newton. From Centre, opposite Cabot, to Waverly Avenue, opposite Kenrick. Distance - 3-8 mile, 28 rods.
SCHOOL, Newton. ' From Washington to Pearl. Distance -38 rods. SEAVERNS, Auburndale. From Lexington, crossing Melrose, to Ash. Distance - 82 rods.
SHAW, West Newton. From Winthrop to Lander. Distance - 41 rods.
SHERIDAN (unaccepted), West Newton. From River to Derby. SHORT, West Newton. From Otis to Highland. Distance - 38 rods. SOUTH, East Newton. From Hammond to Ward. Distance - 1-4 mile, 8 rods.
21
162
SPRING, Upper Falls. From Summer to Winter. Distance - 15 rods. STANIFORD (unaccepted), Auburndale. From Lexington to Freeman. STATION, Newton Centre. From Centre, passing Warren, Glen Ave- nue, to Jackson. Distance - 1 mile.
SULLIVAN PLACE (unaccepted), West Newton. From River.
SUMMER, Upper Falls. From Chestnut to High. Distance - 24 rods. SUMNER, Newton Centre. From Station, passing Lyman, Willow, Gibbs, to Ward. Distance - 1-2 mile, 16 rods.
TEMPLE, West Newton. From Highland, passing Putnam, to Prospect. Distance - 1-4 mile, 12 rods.
TREMONT, Newton. From Park, crossing Waverly Avenue, passing Belmont, to Brighton line. Distance - 93 rods.
TROWBRIDGE, Newton Centre. From Beacon to Pleasant. Distance - 18 rods.
VERNON, Newton. From Centre, passing Baldwin, crossing Park, to Waverly Avenue. Distance - 1-4 mile, 32 rods.
VINE, Oak Hill. From Brookline to West Roxbury line. Distance - 1-4 mile, 10 rods.
VISTA AVENUE, Auburndale. From Woodland Avenue to Aspen Ave- nue. Distance - 69 rods.
WABAN STREET AND PARK, Newton. From School, crossing Jewett, to Pearl. Distance - 1-4 mile, 25 rods.
WALCOTT, Auburndale. From Lexington to Rowe. ยท Distance - 1-4 mile, 18 rods.
WALES, Lower Falls. From Washington to Needham line, at Stone Bridge. Distance - 1.7 rods.
WALNUT, Newtonville. From Crafts, crossing Watertown, Lowell, Washington, Homer, Beacon, passing Oak-hill Station, to Centre. Distance - 2 3-4 miles, 10 rods.
WALNUT PARK, Newton. From Washington to Waban Park. Dis- tance - 72 rods.
WALTHAM, West Newton. From Washington, passing Webster, River, Crafts, to Waltham line. Distance - 1 1-8 mile.
WARD, Newton Centre. From Centre, near Grafton, passing Waverly and Grant Avenues, Hammond, South, to Brighton line. Distance 1 1-4 mile.
WARREN AVENUE (unaccepted), West Newton. From Webster to River.
WARREN, Newton Centre. From Station to Glen Avenue. Distance -62 rods.
163
WASHINGTON. From Brighton line, passing through Newton, Newton-
ville, West Newton, Lower Falls, to Needham line, at Bridge over Charles River. Distance - 4 7-8 miles, 16 rods.
WASHINGTON PARK, Newtonville. From Walnut to Harvard. Dis- tance - 1-4 mile, 18 rods.
WASHINGTON PLACE (unaccepted), Newtonville. West of Walnut. WATERTOWN, West Newton. From Washington, passing Cross, Lowell, crossing Walnut, Crafts, passing Bridge, Chapel, Pearl, to Water- town line. Distance - 1 3-4 mile.
WAVERLY AVENUE, Newton. From Washington, crossing Tremont, passing Vernon, Church, Franklin, Kenrick, Sargent, Cotton, to Ward, opposite Grant Avenue. Distance -1 1-4 mile.
WAVERLY PLACE (unaccepted), Lower Falls. From Washington, near Hamilton.
WEBSTER, West Newton. Fron Waltham, crossing Cherry, Elm, to Rowe. Distance, 3-4 mile.
WEBSTER PLACE, West Newton. From Webster.
WILLOW, Newton Centre. From Centre to Sumner. Distance - 34 rods.
WINCHESTER, Newton Centre. From Boylston, passing Dedham, to Nahanton. Distance - 1 1-2 mile, 32 rods.
WINTER, Upper Falls. From Chestnut to High. Distance - 22 rods. WINTHROP, West Newton. From Perkins to Putnam. Distance - 49 rods.
WOODLAND AVENUE, Auburndale. From Washington, passing Maple, .crossing Grove, Hancock, Central, to Auburn. Distance - 3-4 m.
WOODWARD. From Boylston, passing Lincoln, crossing Chestnut, to Beacon. Distance - 1 mile, 23 rods.
RULES AND REGULATIONS
FOR THE
GOVERNMENT OF TOWN MEETINGS.
Approved by the Court, Dec. 29, 1857.
1st, No final vote shall be reconsidered, unless the person moving the same shall have made a declaration of his intention to do so at the time of its adoption, and shall have been one of the majority acting thereon ; and no article in any warrant shall be again taken into consideration, after it has been disposed of, unless ordered by a vote of two-thirds of the voters present.
2d, No person shall speak more than twice upon any ques- tion, without first obtaining leave of the meeting, except for the correction of an error, or to make an explanation, and not un- til others who have not spoken upon the question shall speak, if they desire it.
3d, All motions submitted for consideration of the town shall be in writing, if so required by the presiding officer or by the meeting.
4th, Every person speaking shall address the chair, standing and uncovered.
5th, No vote fixing the period for closing a ballot shall be re- considered after such ballot shall have commenced ; but it may be in order to extend the period without such reconsideration.
6th, Committees shall be nominated by the presiding officer of the meeting, unless otherwise ordered by a vote of two-thirds of the voters present; and in nominations at large no person shall nominate more than one member of such committee.
7th, All motions to lay on the table, to take from the table, to take any article from its regular order, or to change the order of business, shall be decided without debate.
8th, The duties of the presiding officer shall be determined by the code of rules governing the presiding officer of the house of representatives of this Commonwealth, so far as they are adapted to the condition and powers of the town.
BY-LAWS
Approved by the Court, Dec. 29, 1857.
COLLECTION OF TAXES.
ARTICLE 1. - The assessment of all taxes shall be completed, and a list of the same delivered to the Collector, on or before the first day of July of each year.
ART. 2. - The appointed time for collecting poll-taxes of persons hav- ing no other tax shall be from the 20th to the 31st of July, and all other taxes from the 10th to the 20th of November of each year,
ART. 3. - It shall be the duty of the Collector, during each of said periods, to appoint at least eight different times and places, in different parts of the town, when and where he will meet the inhabitants, and re- ceive their taxes ; and he shall, immediately after receiving the tax-list from the assessors, make out the tax-bills, and send the same to each of said inhabitants and each non-resident, as he can find, with a notice thereon of said times and places and the penalties of non-payment of said taxes ; and the town shall furnish printed blanks for the use of said Collector.
ART. 4 .- At the expiration of the time appointed for said payment of taxes, the Collector shall issue a summons to all delinquents ; and, if any taxes remain unpaid more than ten days after the service of said sum- mons, the Collector shall immediately proceed to collect the same, with legal fees therefor.
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES.
No action shall be had at any town meeting on the report of any committee previously chosen, unless the same shall be specially notified in the warrant for calling said meeting.
PASTURING OF CATTLE OR OTHER ANIMALS IN STREETS AND WAYS.
No person shall pasture cattle or other animals in or upon any of the streets or ways in the town of Newton, either with or without a keeper, under the penalty of five dollars for each and every such offence; and it shall be the duty of the Selectmen to prosecute every violation of this By-Law ; and all fines or penalties collected for such offences shall be paid to the Treasurer for the use of the town.
165
BY-LAWS OF THE TOWN OF NEWTON CONCERNING
Truant Children and Absentees from School.
Adopted March 2, 1863.
SECTION 1. - The town of Newton hereby adopts the provisions of the forty-second chapter of the General Statutes of this Commonwealth, so far as applicable to Truant Children and Absentees from School, and all the provisions of the two hundred and seventh chapter of the Acts of 1862, and the several Acts in addition thereto, or in amendment thereof.
SECT. 2. - Any person convicted of any offence described in said Acts, or ei her of them, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding twenty dol- lars, or by confinement in any institution of instruction, house of refor- mation, or suitable situation, which shall be provided for the purpose, for a term not exceeding one year.
SECT. 3 .- The Selectmen of the town shall provide a suitable lock-up, or institution of instruction, or house of reformation, or some other suita- ble place in the poor-house belonging to the town, or some other place in the town aforesaid, or in the County of Middlesex, which shall be a signed and used for the confinement of persons convicted and sen- tenced to confinement under said Acts.
SECT. 4. - Three Truant Officers shall be annually chosen in the town of Newton, at its Annual Meeting in March, to serve one year, whose duty it shall be to make complaints of all persons who have violated any provisions of the Acts aforesaid, or either of them.
SECT 5 .- The Selectmen of the town shall fix the amount of compen- sation of said Truant Officers, for their services, as they shall think just ; and the sum shall be paid from the treasury of the town.
SECT. 6. - It shall be the duty of the School Committee, and of the teachers of the public schools in said town, to report the name of every person or persons violating any or either of said Acts, to the Truant Officers of the town, that they may be complained of therefor.
To the foregoing By-Laws the following was appended; viz., -
SUPERIOR COURT, SUFFOLK, SS. January Term, 1863. I approve the By-Laws of the town of Newton, relative to Truant Children and Absentees from School, hereto annexed.
MARCH 2, 1863.
THOMAS RUSSELL,
Justice of Superior Court.
166
BY-LAWS OF NEWTON.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
MIDDLESEX, SS.
At the Superior Court, begun and holden at Cambridge, within and for said county, on the second Monday of December, being the thir- teenth day of said month, Anno Domini 1869.
The following By-Laws adopted by the inhabitants of the town of Newton in said county, at a legal town meeting, held on the second day of November, A.D. 1869, were presented to the Court by Marshall S. Rice, Esq., clerk of said town, and being seen and examined by the Court, and found conformable to the Statutes of this Commonwealth, are, on this twenty-seventh day of December, A.D. 1869, approved by the Court, to wit : -
SECTION 1. - No person shall play at ball, or throw balls or stones, or snow-balls, within any of the streets or public places in said town of Newton.
SECT. 2. - No owner, or person having for the time the care and use of any horse, shall ride, drive, or permit the same to go, at a faster rate than eight miles an hour, in any street, way, or public place in said town.
SECT. 3. - No person shall drive, wheel, or draw any coach, cart, hand- cart, handbarrow, or other carriage of burden or pleasure (except chil- dren's hand-carriages drawn by hand), or drive or permit any horse, neat cattle, swine, or sheep, under his care, to go or stand upon any side- walk in the town.
SECT. 4. - Three or more persons shall not stand in a group, or near to each other, on any sidewalk, in such a manner as to obstruct a free pas- sage for foot passengers, for a longer time than twenty minutes at any time, nor more than five minutes after a request to move on, made by any Police Officer or Constable.
SECT. 5 .- No person shall fire or discharge any gun, fowling-piece, or fire-arm, or make any bonfire or other fire, in any street or public place in said town.
SECT. 6. - Any person violating any of the provisions of these By- Laws shall be liable to a penalty of not less than two, more than twenty dollars for each offence.
168
After the above By-Laws had been read to the meeting, they voted, That we adopt said By-Laws as By-Laws of Newton.
Voted, That the Selectmen present said By-Laws to the Superior Court for approval.
A true copy, Attest :
MARSHALL S. RICE, Town Clerk of Newton.
In testimony that the foregoing is a true copy of record, I hereto set my hand, and affix the seal of said Court, this eighteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Attest :
JOHN JAMES SAWYER, Assistant Clerk.
THIRTY-FIRST
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
BOARD OF SCHOOL-COMMITTEE
OF THE
TOWN OF NEWTON.
FOR THE YEAR 1870 :- 71.
BERTY AND UNION,
107
FO
UNDE
163
BOSTON : PRINTED BY RAND, AVERY, & FRYE, 3 CORNHILL. 1871,
SCHOOL-COMMITTEE FOR 1870-71.
JOHN B. GOODRICH, CHAIRMAN. EZRA P. GOULD, SECRETARY.
GEORGE E. ALLEN.
CALVIN CUTLER.
NOAH S. KING. HORATIO F. ALLEN.
JOHN A. GOULD. ISAAC HAGAR.
A. B. UNDERWOOD.
SUB-COMMITTEES.
High School. - GOODRICH, G. E. ALLEN, CUTLER, E. P. GOULD. Grammar Schools. - G. E. ALLEN, HAGAR, KING. Intermediate Schools. - CUTLER, H. F. ALLEN, J. A. GOULD. Primary Schools. - E. P. GOULD, UNDERWOOD, GOODRICH. Music. - H. F. ALLEN, GEORGE E. ALLEN, HAGAR. On Repairs. - HAGAR, H. F. ALLEN, GEORGE E. ALLEN.
REPORT.
THE Committee has very little that is new to say in regard to the condition of the schools this year. It appears from the last Report, that it was good then; and that it certainly is now, without any very perceptible change for the better, and none, we are sure, for the worse. And yet we hope that our schools have not been without that grad- ual progress which the united experience of committee and teachers should bring about every year, though in any single year it might be almost imperceptible.
One thing that has contributed to this result is the small number of changes in our list of teachers ; only ten having taken place during the year. This is probably owing largely to the ' comparatively high salaries paid by the town, which, with the attractions of the position, make it " easy for us to retain the excellent teachers that we also have but little difficulty in securing. But, while the salaries are high here as compared with those paid in other towns, it is becoming the feeling of your committee, that the time is near when they ought to be higher, not from motives of policy, but of justice. They feel that those who occupy such important positions should be paid, not just enough to keep them, but a fair and even generous compensation ; for it is not true of teachers, nor of professional men generally, that the man will command all that he is worth, - a maxim that holds only in the competitions of mercantile life. And it is specially just that they be liberally paid, because the
5
6
culture which is demanded of them creates tastes which are expensive, and which ought in a measure to be grati- fied ; and this culture itself makes it necessary that the teacher be paid something more than will merely support him. Besides this, their occupation is not such as to culti- vate, though they may have, business-habits, and they can- not be expected to make money go as far as those who do little else but manage money. And so, while we are not entirely dissatisfied with the present pay of our teachers, we are about ready to increase it. This is not from a con- viction that our teachers are in all cases worth more than they now receive, but that the position is; and it will be the labor of your committee to secure teachers to corre- spond.
The new school-house in District No. 1 has been com- pleted, and is a monument to the faithfulness, judgment, and taste of all connected with its plan and construction. They feel sure that there are very few buildings of the kind whose exterior is in better proportions whose interior is more convenient, or which are more thoroughly built throughout. At the same time, we wish that the old build- ing, which has some very pleasant rooms, and is far from worn out, had been used so far as it would accommodate the lower grades of schools. There certainly seems to be "but little reason for leaving that building idle ; and there are some cogent reasons, stated in the Report of the Pri- mary School Sub-Committee, for separating those schools from the others. The motto should be, we think, not " Pull down, and build greater," but "Increase the number of school-houses as it becomes necessary." What has been said about this, however, is not intended as a reflection on the action in this case, so much as to suggest what we think would be wise in a similar case ; and much of it has been suggested by our experience there.
Besides the erection of this new building in District No. 1, the school-house at North Village has been enlarged by the addition of two rooms, in one of which has been placed
7
an intermediate school. This, with an intermediate school in District No. 1, makes the only addition to the number of schools during the year.
It has been proposed to abolish the intermediate grade of schools, merging them in the grammar schools. The reasons urged for this are mainly these, - to conform our schools to those in Boston and its vicinity, to secure greater unity in the studies by bringing them all under the supervision of one committee, and to bring the schools more directly under the care of the masters. On the other hand, the labors of the grammar-school committee will be greatly increased by this arrangement, unless, by dividing these labors, we bring back the old state of things so far as the committee is concerned. And as regards the mas- ter, while we think it wise for him to have some general oversight of the schools in his building or district, we do not wish to see the day when he shall become, as he is in some places, merely a district superintendent, with but little care of the instruction of his own class.
Very considerable progress has been made toward this unity of work in the various schools by the labors of the sub-committees of the grammar and intermediate grades ; but we feel that even more might be accomplished if we had a superintendent to assist the committee in their work. That officer would, of course, give his entire time to the direction of our school's, to the comparison of text- books, and to the study of the best methods of education. The committee can do much; but they cannot, consistently with their other duties, do all that they feel ought to be done. : For instance, we do not feel at all sure that the text-books used are the best; but we do not have time to examine them all so thoroughly as to be certain. Again : doubts have been expressed by distinguished educators as to the course of study pursued in our grammar schools. It has been thought, that, after a certain point, arithmetic became so hard a study, that the understanding was not sufficiently developed to pursue it with much advantage ;
8
and that therefore it would be better to discontinue it, and with it grammar, for the same reason, from the first year in the grammar school till the last, when the scholar is sufficiently mature to understand, and so to acquire rapidly, the more advanced processes in arithmetic and the princi- ples of language. That is one theory : there are objections to as well as strong reasons for it. But men who neces- sarily make this a secondary matter cannot decide such questions in their leisure moments: and it is rather for such work as this, requiring broad investigation and patient thought, than for the details of the work, that we feel the need of a man to give his whole time to it. We intend, therefore, to ask for an appropriation for a superintendent of our schools, without purposing, however, to use it, unless we feel convinced that we have secured the right man.
The discipline in our schools is in the main good. There has been a record of corporal punishment kept by the teachers ; and we have no doubt that the necessity of keep- ing such a record, giving in each case the nature and the reasons of the punishment, has exercised a wholesome restraint. Sometimes we fear, however, that the hasty or unkind word may have been used, and that is certainly as injudicious as unreasonable punishment. What we would impress on the teachers is the necessity, difficult as it may be, to do nothing impatiently. There are many times in a teacher's hard life, when he may reasonably be impatient or indignant; but the only safe way is for him generally to wait till that momentary feeling passes away before he either says or does any thing. The teacher's moral influ- ence over the school is as essential as its mere mechanical order. And generally we think that this is secured.
In preparing the statistics from the registers, the secre- tary has noticed some things to which he wishes to call the attention of the teachers. In the circular sent round by the committee at the beginning of the year, the teachers were instructed to consider the first and second terms as the summer term, and the third as the winter term. Instead
.
9
of this, fully three-quarters of the registers were returned with the reports of the first and second terms separated, instead of combined. The work of the secretary is, of course, much increased by this inattention to a small matter. Again : the report of each class occupying a separate room should be by itself. The master's and assistant's rooms are not to be considered in the report as constituting one school. And the record of visits should be kept accurately too. Some of the registers are much fuller in this respect than others.
One suggestion that we wish to make, not to the teach- ers, as they have no right to depart from the uniform rule in this respect, but to those who make and can change the rule, is in regard to the manner of computing the average attendance. The rule given is, " Ascertain the aggregate number of days that all the scholars have actually attended school during the term, and divide this aggregate by the number of school days in the term; " and in the footnote it says that this is " desired to show the extent of absentee- ism from the public schools." We submit that it does not seem to us to show that. For instance, a new school is formed in one of the districts in the middle of the term. The scholars who are taken out of other schools to form that have to be counted, according to this rule, as absent from those schools ; and this largely diminishes the average attendance, when really the average attendance of each scholar while a member of those schools may have been excellent. And every scholar who leaves the school during the term for any reason, of course diminishes the average attendance, and, if he goes to another school, does the same by that. It seems to us, then, that the percentage of attendance of each scholar, while a member of the school, would alone show exactly the extent of absentee- ism. This item might be added to the average in the report.
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.