USA > New York > New York City > Dutch New York (early history of the Dutch in New York) > Part 13
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SHOW ROOM, DOLL'S HOUSE RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
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SERVANTS AND SLAVES
The prices of slaves varied in accordance with the natural gifts or acquired knowledge and skill of the individual. In 1655, a negro woman and her little son cost 525 guilders. Colonel Lewis Morris (1691) owned twenty-two negro men, £440; eleven negro women, £165; six boys, fgo; two girls, £24; twenty-five chil- dren, £125.
CHAPTER VIII
EDUCATION
E DUCATION in Holland, as in other countries of Western Europe, had been taken care of by the Church until the Reformation, when it was transferred to the magistracy of the towns, by whom it was supported and regulated. In the schools which thus supplanted the parochial schools, the elements of Greek, Latin, and German, reading, writing, and arithmetic, were taught. These schools were only for those who wanted to study, education not being compulsory; and pay schools of all grades for boys or girls, or both, were also licensed by the various school boards. It must be remembered that education during the Seventeenth Century was at a very low ebb. The farming-classes of all countries cared nothing for it, and even the lower class of citizens could often neither read nor write. A trading community, however, in a seaport, such as Amster- dam, Rotterdam, or New Amsterdam, found reading, writing, and arithmetic obligatory accomplishments in their business, as well as at least a smattering of the languages of their foreign customers and commercial rivals.
The West India Company recognized the importance of primary education, but, as it would appear, only along the lines of the old church schooling, that is, to teach children their duty towards God and their duty
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towards their neighbor, and not for the sake of any material benefits to be derived from mundane knowl- edge. Thus, in 1629, it was provided :
The Patroons and Colonists shall in particular and in the speediest manner, endeavour to find out ways and means whereby they may support a Minister and School- master, that thus the service of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool and be neglected among them, and they shall, for the first, procure a Comforter of the sick there.
The first schoolmaster sent out by the Company was Adam Roelantsen, who arrived with Director Van Twiller and Dominie Bogardus in 1633. As a char- acter to set a moral standard for the edification of youth, the schoolmaster was on the same plane with the minister and the Director-General. All three seem to have been early and successful apostles of graft on Manhattan Island, and habitual drunkenness was by no means the most serious offense of which they were accused. Roelantsen married Lyntje Martens, who certainly was not a penniless bride, for the first occa- sion of her husband's appearance in court was in June, 1638, when his brother-in-law, Cors Pietersen, got judgment against him for Pietersen's wife's share of her deceased mother's estate.
He was soon dissatisfied with the rewards of learn- ing, and found it more profitable to establish a laundry, or bleachery, as it was then called, but had trouble in making a success of his new venture.
Adam was manifestly gifted with a malicious and slanderous tongue, and seems to have been a match for any lady in the community. He was also apparently always in hot water with his male neighbors, the offi- cials and others. On Sept. 20, 1640, he sued Gillis de
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Voocht for a washing account. It is evident that the " bleachers " contracted to do the washing by the year, for Gillis claimed the year was not yet expired. Adam was therefore ordered to make up the full time and then collect. A year later his garden was damaged by the cattle of his neighbors Jan Damen and Jan Forbus, and he sued them for trespass. His wife's property and his own energies would appear to have resulted in a certain amount of prosperity, for in Feb- ruary, 1642, Jan Teunissen contracted to build a house for him. In August, 1638, he sued Jan Kant for slandering him. Kant had reported to the Council that Adam had declared he did not care for any one in the country. On August 26, he himself was sued for slander by Jan Jansen, gunner, and had to pay fifty-five stivers to the poor. In January, 1639, " Blanch Ael and Adam Roelantsen are ordered to discontinue their slanders against one another on pain of fine." In August, 1640, he was fined for slander- ing Jochem Heller's wife.
In August in the same year he deeded to Elderich Klein a house occupied by the Company's negroes. A year later he received a patent for a lot next to Philip Gerardy's property. This was adjoining the marsh near the Sheep's Pasture, and was very favorably situated for the drying-ground, or bleachery, of that day, where, after being washed, the linen was laid out on the grass in the open air to whiten.
About this time his activities as a teacher came to an end, for his successor arrived in 1643. He had amply justified the opinion of the home authorities regarding the deteriorating influence of the New Netherland climate on the morals of the Company's servants. It is evident that the court here had no confidence in the treatment his motherless children
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were receiving, for in March, 1646, " Philip Geraerdy Hans Kierstede (surgeon), Jan Stevensen (school- master) and Oloff Stevensen van Cortland (brewer) were appointed curators of the estate and children of Lyntje Martens, late wife of Adam Roelant- sen." In July, 1646, the Fiscal prosecuted him for slander.
On Dec. 17, 1646, for attempted rape, he was sen- tenced to be publicly flogged and then banished; but in consideration of his being burthened with four motherless children, and on account of the approach- ing cold weather, he was reprieved to a future date, when he was to leave the country.
Apparently he had not yet found the wherewithal for a young man to mend his ways; for in March, 1647, he was sued for debt and pleaded for time to pay. Three months later it is reported that Claes Calff and Adriaen Jansen declared that the unregenerate Adam had been thrown out of the tavern by order of the Fiscal Van Dyck, - doubtless on account of bibu- lous and riotous excess. Notwithstanding all this, in 1647 he was appointed provost !
Roelantsen's successor was Jan Stevensen, who ar- rived in 1643 and resigned his position with the Com- pany in 1648.
The first settlers were apparently too busy with the pioneer work of the young colony to care very much about either religion or education; for, five months after his arrival, we find Stuyvesant writing to the Directors (Nov. II, 1647) to know what provision is to be made for a school, "as there is none in New Amsterdam and the youth are running wild." We also learn that " for want of a proper place, no school has been kept in these three months." Stuyvesant's complaint about the deplorable conditions is fortified
II
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by his enemies in their celebrated " Remonstrance " of 1649, wherein they say :
There ought to be a public school provided with at least two good teachers, so that the youth in so wild a country where there are so many dissolute people may first of all be well instructed and indoctrinated not only in read- ing and writing, but also in the knowledge and fear of the Lord. Now, the school is kept very irregularly, by this one or that, according to his fancy, as long as he thinks proper.
To this Van Tienhoven retorts that a place has been selected for a school of which Jan Cornelissen is the master. The other teachers keep school in hired houses, so that the youth are in no want of schools that fit the needs of the country. "Tis true that there is no Latin school, nor academy."
Stevensen was succeeded, Oct. 26, 1648, by Peter Van de Linde. In the following year we find Jan Cornelissen, Adriaen Van Ilpendam, and Joost Carelse all teaching here; and in 1650 another schoolmaster was sent out from Holland. In April, 1652, the Com- pany Directors write to Stuyvesant that a schoolmaster from Hoorn named Frederick Alkes is coming on the Romeyn; they do not know much about him, but he has been well recommended by a person of quality.
If his habits are as good as his penmanship and a schoolmaster is wanted, you might consider him, but let him first be thoroughly tested, for we have noticed that the climate over there does not improve people's characters, especially when the heads of the administration do not set a good example to the community. We hear a number of complaints from people against the Fiscal and about his drunkenness and other things.
KITCHEN, DOLL'S HOUSE RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
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In 1652, Johannes Momie de la Montagne and Hans Steyn were licensed to keep school. Stuyvesant's representations had borne fruit, for on April 4, 1652, the Directors wrote:
We also agree with your proposition to establish there a public school and believe a beginning might be made with our schoolmaster (hypodidasculum), who could be engaged at a yearly salary of 200 to 250 guilders. We recommend for this position Jan de la Montagnie, whom we have provisionally appointed to it, and you may use the building of the City Tavern, if you find it suitable.
The next to petition for leave to keep school was Andries Hudde, whose request was referred to the ministers of the church on Dec. 8, 1654. The official schoolmaster at that time seems to have been William Verstius, for on March 23, 1655, he requested and re- ceived his discharge and Harman van Hoboocken was appointed in his stead as schoolmaster and clerk of the church of New Amsterdam. The latter evidently had miserable accommodations for his pupils and his family, for on Nov. 4, 1656, he respectfully requested the authorities to grant him the hall and the side room of the City Hall for the use of the school and as a dwelling, inasmuch as he did not know how to man- age for the proper accommodation of the children during winter, for they greatly needed a place adapted for fire and to be warmed, for which their existing quarters were wholly unfit; moreover, being burthened with a wife and children, he was greatly in need of a dwelling for them. The City Fathers refused, on the ground that the rooms requested were not in repair, and were, moreover, required for other purposes ; "but in order that the youth, who are here quite numerous, may have the means of instruction as far
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as possible and as the circumstances of the City per- mit, the petitioner, for want of other lodgings, is allowed to rent the said house for a school, for which one hundred guilders shall be paid him yearly on ac- count of the City for the present and until further order."
In January, 1658, Jacobus Van Corlaer was ordered to discontinue teaching until he had obtained the proper authority to do so; and in August Jan Lubberts was licensed to teach reading, writing, and ciphering. In 1660, Jan Juriaense Becker and Frans Claessen re- ceived similar permission; the latter died within two years.
In the middle of the century, the schoolmasters of the small settlements had various duties to perform: they not only taught the children reading, writing, and arithmetic and the articles of the Christian faith, but on Sunday officiated as Voorleser and precentor, read the Creed and Lesson, led the singing and kept the church records of christenings, marriages, and deaths. This was in accordance with the customs of Father- land.
In May, 1661, Evert Pietersen was commissioned to be comforter of the sick, schoolmaster, and pre- centor at New Amsterdam; and, Jan. 18, 1661, the inhabitants of Middelburgh (Newtown), Long Island, petitioned that Richard Mills, their schoolmaster and "soul's help on the Lord's Day," be allowed the use of the minister's house and glebe. (Granted.) July 4, 1661, the magistrates of Breuckelen petitioned for aid to pay their court messenger, " who acts also as chorister, schoolmaster, sexton and bell-ringer." (Granted.) Oct. 27, 1661, Harman van Hoboocken was appointed to be cadet and schoolmaster at Stuy- vesant's Bouwery. On September 21, also, Johannis
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van Gelder was licensed to teach school in New Amster- dam. On December 28, Boudewyn Maenhout was appointed schoolmaster and reader (voorleser) at Bushwick. In July, 1661, also, Carel de Beauvois was appointed court messenger, precentor, bell-ringer, grave-digger, and schoolmaster in Breuckelen. Other schoolmasters appointed to the various settlements of New Netherland were Johannes La Montagne, Haar- lem, 1664; Andries Jansen, Fort Orange, 1650; Andries Van der Sluys, Esopus, 1658; Adriaen Hage- man, Midwout, 1659, and Renier -, Midwout, 1660; Richard Mills, Middelburgh, 1660; Englebert Steen- huysen, Bergen, 1662; and Evert Pietersen and Arent Evertsen Molenaar, New Amstel, 1657 and 1661.
Several petitions are made to the Burgomasters in 1662. In February they are requested for a lot in Brewers Street for a schoolhouse, and a lot without the City Gate for a burying-ground. In September Johannis van Gelder petitions for a license to teach school in New Amsterdam; and this is granted. Finally, in December, the Schout and magistrates pray " that Engelbert Steenhuysen shall perform his con- tract as schoolmaster. This is ordered by the Court." In March, 1664, the Director-General and Council declare that it is highly necessary for the youth to be instructed from childhood in reading, writing, and arithmetic, but more especially in the principles and fundamentals of the Reformed Religion. In order, therefore, to promote so useful and God-acceptable a work, the schoolmasters are commanded to appear in church with the children in their charge on Wednes- days before the commencement of the sermon in order after the conclusion of Divine Service to catechize them in the presence of the ministers and elders as to what they have committed to memory of the Chris-
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tian commandments and Catechism. Afterwards the children are to have a holiday.
It is very easy for us to form a clear idea of the schools and the manner in which they were conducted, from the descriptions of travelers, and more particu- larly from the pictures which the Little Masters so frequently painted of school interiors. At the school- master's door hung a card, describing in his own handwriting the subjects which he was permitted to teach. This was to provide against misrepresenta- tion; and the omission to hang out such a sign was punishable by a fine of two guilders. In front of some schools was also hung a sign on which ap- peared in large letters, "School, Here Children are Taught."
The schools were mostly low-ceilinged, small rooms on the second floor of the house, looking on a dirty little street or back yard. Sometimes they were damp mouldy basements of some old public building. In sum- mer school was frequently held under an awning out- side the house. The children of the prosperous and poor were separately taught in the front and back part of the same room. In one of the corners stood the pultrum (reading-desk) with the Bible, and in the center a catheder with a desk, at which the master sat, and on which were placed the plak and a willow rod, its companion, besides the books of writing texts, an inkhorn, sandboxes, and a sharp penknife, a tile with a smooth pebble on which to mix inks of all colors, shells and horns large and small to hold the different kinds of ink, a vase full of black ink, goose- quills, parchment, a seal, green wax, slates and copy- books, the book in which the names of the scholars were written, a horn-book, hymn-book, New Testament, and other school requisites. Inside the catheder also
PIL
ABCDE
FGHIJK
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From old prints
OLD DUTCH SCHOOL SCENES
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stood a chair, on the right side of which hung the A B C board, and beside it an iron comb with a wooden handle, the mere sight of which is enough to make us shiver when we remember that it was used to curry unclean scalps. A single stroke was enough to make the blood trickle down the face. On the left hung the dunce's or ass's board, which was hung over the chest of the scholar who was too stupid or too lazy. Behind the raised desk hung calculating-boards, and specimens of fine penmanship that had gained prizes for the scholars, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and other samples of the schoolmaster's calligraphy, the school ordinance regarding the pupils' behavior on the street, at home, and in church; how they had to sit down, stand up, bow, nod, not to shuffle their feet, scratch themselves, blow their noses too loud, quarrel, fight, strike, kick, hurt, or abuse others. Ac- cording to some ordinances, the children had to pay homage to the master, bowing subserviently and say- ing "Your Health!" when he sneezed. For the smaller children very small benches which were called A B benches were used.
Doors and windows were left open for ventilation. When it grew dark, tallow candles on wooden blocks or in iron candlesticks were lighted. In these low, dark, and damp rooms, and in an atmosphere reeking with the flicker of the tallow candles, children were kept sometimes from seven in the morning until seven at night. School was opened in summer at six and in win- ter at seven in the morning. The children kept their hats and caps on, removing them only at prayers and when they said their lessons.
Not only was the master's rule over his pupils des- potic, but he also took precedence over the parents at public dinners. At the appointed hour he arose from
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his seat, said the prayer, or made one of the scholars say it, read a chapter from the Bible, and sang a hymn, after which the school work began. At eleven in the morning school was closed with prayer. Most of the children left; but some of them stayed and ate their lunch which they had brought with them. From one until four and from five until seven were the afternoon sessions, both opening and closing with prayer, Bible reading, and singing. On Wednesday afternoon school closed an hour earlier, and on Saturday after- noon there was no school. Five days a week the children were instructed in singing and in the Cate- chism. Sundays and holidays, the dog-days, the after- noons after the writing for the prize and the paying of the quarterly dues, and market days, were holidays. Pupils tried to coax the teacher for extra days off. The schoolmasters were often easily persuaded, but any bad behavior was punished severely.
Punishment consisted in striking the palm of the hand with the plak (a flat piece of wood on a handle) and flogging with the rod or switch. Neither the one nor the other was lacking in any school of proper " discipline," and they hardly ever were out of the schoolmaster's hands. The plak was often an instru- ment of horrible torture, of different makes and sizes. Some plaks were finely made with a twisted handle; some coarse and unfinished, - a round piece of board with a handle. There were round and oval plaks, thick and thin of blade, some with a smooth surface and some carved in diamonds; plaks with twisted copper wire, and with sharp points or with pin points, which tore the flesh of the palm. He who had misbe- haved at school or was guilty of only a minor offense was punished with the plain plak and light strokes; but the thief, or the fighter, or the incorrigible, got the
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hard plak and heavy strokes. The punishment with the rod was even more severe. According to the gravity of the offense this was administered on the naked body, or with the clothes on. In some schools boys were strapped with leathern belts. In the yards of some others, principally the poor and orphan schools, there were whipping-posts where boys and girls were whipped ; and in the school of the poorhouse in Amster- dam a bench whereon the small malefactor was put with his head through a board, fastened down, and smartly punished. In another school a block was fastened to the leg of the culprit and had to be dragged home through the streets and to church on Sundays. Nobody blamed the master if he beat or kicked the boys, or if he made them stand on a table and hold two or three heavy school boards above their heads during the lesson. We also read of leather cushions with tacks pointed upwards on which unruly girls were placed; and of girls being beaten, kicked, and bruised. In some cases the schoolmasters were veritable tyrants, but fortunately they were the exceptions.
The schools in most of the cities were under the supervision of the curators of the Latin or principal school. These appointed the teachers, who after hav- ing signed the canons and articles of uniformity and taken the oath at the City Hall, were considered sufficiently licensed. Little attention was paid to them afterwards and the schools were never inspected, al- though they always had to be kept with unlocked doors, so that the curators could visit them when they desired. They were summoned by the beadle to appear before the curators only in case the parents complained of lack of discipline, or insubordination of the children, or too severe punishment, or the neglect of the school on account of the master's drunkenness; and from the
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curators' sentence there was no appeal. There certainly was no lack of capable teachers, ornaments to their profession, but in general the condition of the schools was deplorable.
The girls' schools were just as bad. In the better class of schools the mistress sat before a little pul- trum on which were a book, a willow rod, and a wooden plak. She had also a long stick with which she could reach the rear benches. The children sat with their caps and bonnets on; in a corner of the room was the common toilet. The mistress also dealt in sweatmeats, for which the children spent their school pennies. The schoolroom generally served the mistress as bedroom, living-room, and kitchen. If the mistress was able to read (which was not always the case), a chapter and a Sunday lesson were droned into the chil- dren's ears; if not, the instruction was limited to re- peating the alphabet, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Articles of the Faith, till the children knew all that by heart, without being able to read or write. Some mistresses held these lessons in the forenoon, and taught sewing, knitting, and needlework in the afternoon, in summer, on the stoop.
These dame's schools were common in New Nether- land, especially in the outlying small communities. We have a record of one in 1685, when John Rodes leaves to his son John some land " and ye little house Goodey Davis keeps schoole in," which he is to remove for a shop.
The teaching was dull, aimless, and monotonous. The alphabet was taught without any attention being paid to the form, shape, difference, or proper sound of the letters. Words were spelled without significance or sense in a droning tone, and were often mispro-
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nounced. The sound produced by twenty children reading or spelling at the same time was so nerve- racking that the neighbors complained, and would rather live next to a smithy than a school. The schoolmasters excelled in penmanship; samples exist that are hard to distinguish from copperplate. The texts they set in running and Roman hands were gener- ally short proverbs, such as "To know God is the highest good," " He that lives well dies well," " We are all mortal," " Always do that which has to be done well," " Obedience is pleasing to the Deity," " Reason has to govern everywhere," etc. There was a quarterly writing competition for prizes, and the winner was rewarded variously with a silver pen, a Breda étui, a writing-desk, a penknife, a hymn-book, or a New Tes- tament. The winning handwriting was exhibited on the wall of the schoolhouse. Many teachers were as good at arithmetic as in penmanship, and some were employed to make up the accounts of the city treasurer and keep the ledgers for some of the mercantile houses. Ciphering was taught first on the arithmetic board, where the children began by adding penny to penny, advancing with the aid of the books of the various authorities on the subject. Later in the century, other books were used for the education of the scholars, such as "The Destruction of Jerusalem," "The Four Heem's Children," " The Beautiful Story of Fortu- natus' Purse," etc. There were also introduced the Epistles and the Acts of the Apostles, the History of David and Joseph, the Proverbs of Solomon after the version of Carel de Gelliers, schoolmaster of Leeu- warden. Picture books with stories arranged for chil- dren were not yet known.
Schoolmasters complained not only of the wildness and insubordination of youth, but that their doting
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mothers encouraged them in their mischief, as they were always more or less elated over their sons' pranks ; and also that they were taken from school too soon to learn a craft or to be trained for the office or the shop. The curators of Dordrecht asked the city government to prohibit boys leaving school too soon, as the custom deprived the schools of their incomes.
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