USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Waldoboro > History of old Broad Bay and Waldoboro, Volume 2 > Part 45
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8Lincoln County News, Feb. 13, 1874.
"Reports in the papers of Dr. Wm. H. Hahn, dec., Friendship, Me.
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Educational Anarchy
From time immemorial the custom had prevailed in most districts of employing a different teacher every term. To this Mr. Benner states: "I shall be happy at any time to assist the agents in the selection of teachers to the best of my knowledge and judg- ment." The need of new schools is constantly stressed, "but," the report continues, "suggestions savouring of expense are quietly ignored. ... There is a lamentable absence of school furniture throughout the town; not a globe, a few tattered and useless maps, and rarely good blackboards." The modern view of the Super- intendent as well as the primitive techniques in vogue in the schools are revealed in the following observation on "methods":
The one continual round of mechanical lesson learning can be pro- ductive of but meager results; spiritless recitations, rules without prin- ciples, grammar without language, reading without understanding, a gen- eral lack of vitality and efficiency. This is mostly due to the want of special training on the part of teachers.
In the administration of his office Mr. Benner went as far as the law and the mandates of the Town Meetings would allow. He refused to grant certificates without examinations and pointed out that as prescribed by law "two days will be appointed for public examinations." The free high school, in Mr. Benner's judg- ment, was unusually prosperous in the year 1877, "under the charge of a gentleman [W. S. Thompson] of scholarly attainments, with professional zeal, and a generous supply of pith, vim and vigour." Under Mr. Thompson the annual sum for its support was voted by the district without one dissenting vote.
The newly organized grade system in the Brick School was beginning to bear fruit, as a feeder to the high school, of ade- quately trained pupils. In 1878 a class of seventeen was promoted to the first year of high school work. In his report for this year Mr. Benner enunciated principles that would be conservatively adequate in the present day:
Teachers must study to free themselves from the trammels of rote- teaching and textbook drill. ... Pupils should be taught how to use text- books, and how to study, and trained to habits of observation and re- flection. In fine the object of instruction is to teach the pupil to think.
In his report for the year 1877-78 the Superintendent ex- amines one by one the major subjects in the common school cur- riculum - reading, arithmetic, geography, spelling, and grammar, and in each case states objectives and outlines methods for achiev- ing them in a fashion that was entirely clear and convincing and as sound for our day as for that. Mr. Benner realized, of course, that such way-pointers must remain little more than empty ges- tures so long as the schools were under the control of district
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agents who in too many cases were more deeply interested in keeping taxes down than in the educational opportunities of their district children. Progress under this century-old yoke was not possible, and mildly and tactfully the Supervisor points this out in his final report: "Many towns in the State are abolishing the school district system and substituting the 'town plan,' under which the school committee exercises the function of both com- mittee and agents. This has the advantage of simplifying man- agement and securing equal privilege to all children."
But Waldoboro wanted none of this. The old, "Dutch" pat- tern of thrift was still too strong, and local district autonomy as against control from the village was still a means of paying back old grudges. This attitude was, of course, entirely illogical. The agents would squeeze the district school to save money, and at the same time they would waste more than they saved by continuing five schools in five districts where all the facts called for a consolidation of the five into three schools, as was vainly urged by Mr. Benner. There was one substantial gain in the lat- ter's administration. The laws compelling school attendance were far more strictly enforced than ever before. In 1877 the percentage of attendance ranged from sixty-nine per cent in District No. 11 (North Waldoboro) to ninety-six per cent in District No. 22 (Genthner Neighborhood). Salaries too were moving reluctantly upward. William S. Thompson and E. R. Benner were paid $100 per month in the District No. 6 high school. Beyond the village limits, however, the widow's mite was still the order of things. Cora E. Fish received $3.00 per week in District No. 31 (Teague School); Emily Farnsworth, $3.75 per week in District No. 21, (Finntown), and Emma Boggs (Mrs. Wm. S. Johnston), $5.00 per week in District No. 28 (Weaver Town). The wages of male teachers included an allowance for board, but the female teachers were still "boarded round."
Right down to the end of the century the schools were debauched by the back-district folk in the annual Town Meetings. Through these years the vote switched back and forth alternately from superintendent to control by a school committee. There were some competent supervisors who would try their hand only to be turned out because they were efficient, or who quit after trial because they soon discovered that effort was futile. The back- district folk clung tenaciously to the principle of the district agent hiring the teachers, and this single fact in reality was sufficient to nullify all progress. It is doubtful if any school system in any town ever was handled by an electorate with grosser ignorance or stupidity. Nearly everything that was done, right down to the end of the century, projects this fact into history in bold relief.
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Educational Anarchy
In March 1878 E. R. Benner relinquished the post of super- intendent, and the town elected to return direction of its schools to a committee with the reservation that the districts retain their agents, and the agents retain the right to hire the teachers. The next year the town elected to return to the supervisor system, and John J. Bulfinch was chosen for that nearly futile office. He was not able to hire teachers outside of District No. 6, but he could and did revise the texts in use in all schools, and intro- duced the Swinton series to be used for five years. On March 22, 1880, it was voted to consolidate schools in districts No. 11, 23 and 31 in one school building near Burnheimer's Corner; dis- tricts No. 3, 4 and 8 in one building near Winslow's Mills; dis- tricts 5 and 30 in one building to be between Flander's Corner and the Achorn district. Since the school population was shrinking markedly this was a highly intelligent decision. It is highly prob- able, however, that this March 22nd was a day when the weather kept the back-district folk housed, for no move so rational would have commended itself to their spirited spite. As it was, they apparently turned out in force at the April meeting and acted promptly to postpone indefinitely the articles on consolidation.
În 1881 Mr. Bulfinch was re-elected as supervisor but as always with the reservation that the districts should retain power through their agents. The next year the demos switched back to control by a committee, electing William H. Levensaler, Emily F. Farnsworth, and Ozro D. Castner, but Mr. Castner wisely declined to serve. In 1884 the common school curriculum was expanded under the pressure of state law to include United States history and physiology and hygiene. The next year the electorate chose to return to the supervisor system, with the usual reservation. In order to avoid further repetitious comment on this colossal edu- cational stupidity it should be noted here that by annual vote the districts retained their agents and hired their own teachers down to the year 1895, and this was but one of the several characteristic ways in which the back-district folk maintained their blighting control on the progress of the town. Spiting the village folk was their annual sport, and presently the free high school became the target of their low-geared sadism.
In the meeting of March 29, 1886, Article 22 in the warrant read as follows: "To see if the town will vote to raise money to obtain State aid in sustaining a Free High School, and if so, where it shall be located." The reaction to this article by the voters represented a new low in their selfishness and blindness in edu- cational matters. It was voted to raise $400; two hundred for a high school in the village; "one hundred dollars for a Free High School in District No. 11 [North Waldoboro], and one hundred dollars
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for a High School in District No. 18 [South Waldoboro]." The total appropriation was not enough to support a single good school, and vet the town by reason of the irony that so often rises from ignorance, suddenly found itself a considerable center of learn- ing supporting three high schools.
This solemn cat and mouse play - the back-district folk the cat, and the free high school the mouse - went on year after year. the location of the high school or schools shifting according to the caprice of the voters. In 1887 it was voted to allow a hundred- dollar appropriation for a high school in District No. 26 (Orff's Corner), and "another in a location to be decided by the super- visor." In 1888 there were again three high schools - Village, North and South Waldoboro. This grim jest became an annual event. Some years the location of the high schools was left to the discretion of the supervisor: sometimes, as in 1890. no money was raised for a high school in the village, for in the meeting of April 21. the vote "to raise $300 for a high school in District No. 6," was lost. At the April meeting in 1896, in an unwonted access of gen- erosity the voters raised "$500 for a Free High School; $150 to be expended in the Groton District [West Waldoboro]; $150 in District No. 11 [North Waldoboro]: $150 in District No. 15 [Minktown]." By a master stroke of irony the balance. $50, was allotted to a high school in the village. This vote was really the high-water mark in absurdity. Another Town Meeting was called for May 2nd - when the back-district folk presumably would be doing their planting - the vote was reconsidered, and the location of a high school left to the discretion of the supervisor.
Just a few years before this comic dénouement another ab- surdity was recorded for the last time by the Town Clerk. At the meeting on March 20. 1893, the town for the last time authorized district agents to employ teachers. With the end of this educa- tional anachronism, a new era could begin in Waldoboro schools.
This narrative. in following the major phases or aspects in the educational drift down into the 1890's. has passed unmentioned certain minor developments, and with these in mind it reverts to the 1880's. In the alternating swing back and forth between theo- retic control vested in a committee or a superintendent. John Bul- finch had become supervisor in the spring of 1885. Mr. Bulfinch was a clergyman, the son of an old village squire. college trained, a most upright, scholarly, and quietly decisive man, who held the ofice for a number of years under most trying circumstances, during which the high school was frequently the martyr to the low-geared spite of the back-district folk, and during which the district agents were still doing their educational clowning. Despite such handicaps, the supervisor went ahead effecting progress wher- ever progress was possible.
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One of his contributions had to do with schoolbooks. From earliest times these had been purchased by the parents for their own children. An unfortunate consequence was that while some chil- dren were provided with texts others were never so provided. In fact, some reports expressed the conviction that not more than two school readers could be found in some districts. Recognizing this evil, Mr. Bulfinch secured authorization from the town in 1887 "to purchase and sell schoolbooks and supplies to pupils at cost," and furthermore such pupils as were unable to purchase such texts were to be supplied "free by the town at the discretion of the superintendent." Such a provision was a boon to the edu- cation of the children of the poor - and there were many of these, how many and how poor, few of us in this day can realize.
Bearing on this point of poverty is a little story told to me by my teacher, the late and dearly beloved Susan A. Ludwig. It was in my primary schooldays well over a half century ago, when "Susie" Ludwig related that in a back-district in her early days of teaching in the town, there was a little girl to whom she had been helpful, and the child in her gratitude invited the teacher to her home one evening to be her supper guest. The entire meal was bread and molasses. There was nothing more and the whole family shared alike. This is a simple tale, but it was typical of a condition which Mr. Bulfinch faced and solved with Christian resourceful- ness. Hereafter books were on sale or were available to the poor "at Mr. Percy Storer's place of business." He was to receive $25.00 for this service.
It was Mr. Bulfinch's sincerity and his compassion for child- hood that led to the row in District No. 6, in 1887. As early as 1885 there had been much sickness among the primary scholars. It was reported that green mold had collected on the walls of the primary schoolroom in the basement of the Brick Schoolhouse, and that the floor itself was within a few inches of the damp earth. Consequently a committee of two physicians and the supervisor after investigation reported that there was no way to make this room a fit place for a school. The district was not of the same opinion, but it did expend $350 in improvements. Against this decision Mr. Bulfinch protested.
Further investigation followed including one by the Secre- tary of the State Board of Health. Mr. Bulfinch's judgment was thus again confirmed, and on the day when the school was opened by the district agent the Supervisor publicly notified the teacher and pupils that the room was not suitable for occupancy and dismissed the school.1º Mr. Bulfinch carried his fight before the Town Meeting of March 19, 1888, in which his report and recom-
10Data drawn from a paper read by Mrs. Jane Brummitt before the Waldoboro Historical Society, August 1940.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
mendation were rejected, whereupon he resigned. He was suc- ceeded by Dr. Francis M. Eveleth who served for one year and then relinquished the job with the observation that his super- visorship of one year cost him half his practice, and his salary (about $183) did not compensate him for this loss.
In 1889 the town again turned to Mr. Bulfinch and elected him Superintendent of Schools, but he declined to serve. There- upon Dr. J. True Sanborn, "Old True," was chosen and served for one year. The following year Dr. Fred C. Bartlett assumed the post and served until 1893. In this year Mr. Bulfinch again de- clined to serve, and Dr. Sanborn took over for several more years. Since his bill for services caused some arching of the brows among a people which had always regarded education as a commodity to be had at a trifling cost, the town at its April meeting in 1895 fixed the salary of its school supervisor "at $2.00 a day for the time actually employed." Dr. Sanborn, unlike Dr. Eveleth, unwilling to sacrifice "half of his practice" to his zeal for public service, ren- dered a bill for $375. This was an unheard-of sum for such a trivial service, and the town balked. Dr. Sanborn stood fast and a com- mittee was appointed to investigate the facts and submit a report. The committee did not agree. A majority reported $267 as being the total of warranted charges, while a minority held this sum to be insufficient. The town rather than face the expense of a suit accepted the minority report and settled for $300. Dr. Sanborn resigned.
The mid 1890's marked the end of an era in the history of education in the town. This had come with the abolition of con- trol by district agents, with the centralizing of control in the hands of a Supervisor of Schools, and with the establishment of a free high school on a permanent basis. This chapter would naturally conclude at this point save for the fact that it seems worthy of historical record to offer a swift insight into schooldays in the early years of the high school, based on data provided by one who completed the course and graduated.
In 1882 a class of twenty entered the re-established High School of District No. 6. It came from the grammar school on the recommenda- tion of the teacher, Dora Howard [York], and from the ungraded schools of the town after examination by some member of the School Board. In the latter case fitness for high school work was to a considerable degree based on age, size and parental influence.
In these years the high school teachers rotated with considerable frequency, none remaining very long in the school. The examination to determine the fitness for Principal was rather informal. In 1882, Mr. Charles Sumner Cook, later a distinguished Maine attorney, a Bates grad- uate, presented himself by appointment before a member of the School Board. This gentleman from behind his counter peered at Mr. Cook over his glasses, offered him a problem in Algebra, selected a passage from
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Educational Anarchy
Caesar for translation, and asked him to spell kerosene and molasses. Hav- ing met this ordeal satisfactorily Mr. Cook became the head of a high school of sixty pupils.
The program of studies making up the four year course in 1882 was the following:
First year: English Grammar and Composition, Reading, Beginners' Latin, Arithmetic and United States History.
Second year: English Analysis, Reading, Elementary Latin (contin- ued) Elementary Algebra, Physical Geography or English History.
Third year: Reading Caesar, Intermediate Algebra, Physiology, Bookkeeping.
Fourth year: Reading, English Authors, Virgil, Plane Geometry (four books), Natural Philosophy, Ancient History.
The second year of this class of twenty entering in 1882, began un- der the instruction of F. S. Forbes, "an off term," with the average at- tendance of the school at twenty-two. The other two terms of the year were under the direction of Mr. C. W. Longren, a Bowdoin undergradu- ate. Under his tutelage the average attendance rose to the encouraging and hopeful figure of thirty-three.
The third year of this class began under W. R. Butler who had previously taught a singing school in the town. Since the standard for admission to the school had been raised, there were none prepared to enter from the Grammar School this year. This reduced the number of pupils in the school to sixteen - certainly an interesting commentary on the level of intelligence in a town where so tiny a fractional part of the school population was continuing its education beyond the eighth grade level. The remaining terms of this year were taught by Irving W. Horne, and the number of admissions raised the school roll to thirty-three. It should here be noted, that of the many who taught in the High School of those days only Mr. Horne made teaching his life work. The others taught only as a means of securing money for continuing their profes- sional studies in the fields of law, medicine or theology, and for an aver- age weekly wage of $13.75.
The fourth year of this class was taught by Mr. Will Donnell in the summer term, and in the fall and winter terms by Mr. J. H. Libby. At the close of the summer term Alice N. Benner, Dora Gay, Mabel F. Kaler, Susan A. Waltz and Elizabeth Winchenbach [the preponderance of females is worthy of note] had completed their four year course and received their diplomas on the last day at exercises held in the school- room. This was the first time in the town that diplomas were ever awarded to a class. A few diplomas had been granted earlier but only to the few who had made personal application for them. The following summer the remainder of this class entering in 1882 was graduated. This division in the class had come about through loss of time due to illness in the one case, and through the fact that three members had changed their course at the beginning of the second year. In this manner a year's work had been lost in Latin.
As the time for graduation approached these four with the approval and assistance of the Principal, Mr. Libby, planned to make a formal oc- casion of this event. The class parts were amicably distributed by agree- ment, Edna Young selecting the valedictory, Lena Kimball the salutatory, Abbie Storer the class history and Jennie Matthews the prophecy. Less amicable was the decision on an auditorium for the exercises. Since the class was half Baptist and half Congregational, the pull in the two direc- tions was rather even. The weight of tradition was, however, with the
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older parish, and so it was that the first formal exercises of a graduating class from the Waldoboro High School was held in the "old North Church" in 1886 - the same site on which such exercises are held in the present day.11
No detail seems to have been omitted. There were class parts, class colors, a Latin motto, class pins, printed invitations, pro- grams, and even a brass band. As soon as this event had been thus formalized the classical tradition, characteristic of the local gentry from early days, took over, and in the first of such exer- cises ever attended by me (1894) Alida Keizer delivered the salu- tatory in Latin, and Emma Sproul the valedictory in Greek.
On this bright note the record of one of the darkest phases of the town's history is concluded. Still ahead lay years of fumbling, ineptitude and sub-standard achievement, but from the mid-nine- ties the trend was toward a better day, and the new century was to witness the modernization of the town's whole educational system, and its rise to a parity with the systems in similar com- munities throughout the state.12
11Narrative of Jane Matthews Brummitt.
12 A list of the thirty-one school districts is offered at the end of this volume.
XLVI THE END OF THE CENTURY
These things I saw, and part of them I was. VIRGIL
TA HE EVENTS OF THE CLOSING decades of the nineteenth century must almost of necessity be cast in the form of annals. Vitality was at a low ebb in the town. It was unquestionably a period of decay. The era of wooden ships was nearly at its end, and with its passing the creative drive that had produced these ships as well as the town's wealth and prosperity found itself without an economic goal. These last decades of the century accordingly re- solve themselves into a record of the passing from the scene of those sturdy business figures of the Great Days, into a very con- siderable building program of many new homes, and into a blind groping after new forms of economic enterprise that would main- tain the life of the town at those levels of well-being and wealth which a generation of new, though lesser, leaders could so vividly recall from the days of their childhood, when the town was one of the busiest and strongest economic units in the state.
The decade of the 80's was a veritable village Götterdäm- merung, as one by one, in steady and swift succession the great figures of an earlier and happier era departed the scene. The first of the old landmarks to disappear (May 17, 1880) was George Demuth Smouse, a third-generation German, the son of the ro- mantic trader, Captain George D. Smouse. Born in 1799 in "the old Smouse house" he was brought up by his stepfather, Colonel Isaac G. Reed, and throughout his life was closely associated with the Reed clan in banking and as a member of the great ship- building firm of Reed, Welt & Company. Mr. Smouse was in his own manner the first historian of Waldoboro. He left no record of his interest, but happily born as he was, his life span (1799- 1880) brought him into association in his youth with the gen- erations that had settled the wilderness, and carried him down close to the end of the town's most colorful century. The regret- table thing is that he made no written record of his rich knowl- edge drawn from firsthand sources.
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ALFRED STORER 1815~1882
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The End of the Century
On September 19, 1882, Isaac Reed came to the end of his days. He was probably the most versatile figure in Waldoboro history. His last years were serene ones. His great political machine had crumbled because his personal ambitions had come to their end; his shipbuilding activities, or what remained of them, he had resigned completely to his son, Asa Redington. His sunset years were days of peace passed in communing with his cronies, young and old, on the streets and in the village stores, cultivating fruit and flowers in his spacious back lot, and ending his winter eve- nings with the invariable pitcher of cider, bowl of apples, and pan of popcorn.
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