USA > New York > Old New York : or, Reminiscences of the past sixty years > Part 21
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PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION.
has recorded the name of this first schoolmaster, Adam Rolandsen ; and it well merits to be fur- ther stated, that Rolandsen's original establish- ment continues in a prosperous condition to this day, and is the parochial school of the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church, supported by voluntary contributions. I have some recollection of the first formation of that system in this city, which finally eventuated in the system of public schools. Only one year after your first measures were adopted to establish the Historical Society did the duty of enlarging the domain of knowledge by public instruction take possession of our city rulers. The Trinity Church charity school, and other free schools under the governance of differ- ent religious associations, had indeed for years an existence, and were more or less prosperous ; but the great mass of children belonging to parents of no religious order was sadly neglected, save those who could accomplish the means of enlightenment at private institutions. The names of that noble band of citizens who were the applicants for an act to establish a free school in the city of New York for the education of such poor children as do not belong to, or are not provided for by any re- ligious society, are duly recorded in the reports of the Board of Education ; and he who looks over the list will recognize that many of the names of our prominent residents, of exalted excellence, are
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
found in the number. Under its restricted powers, the society organized its first school in May, 1806, with forty scholars. With enlarged charter powers, aided by the liberality of the city government, in 1808 they were provided a spacious building, which admitted five hundred pupils.
I remember well the discourse delivered at the opening of this improved edifice, at the corner of Tryon Row and Chatham street, by De Witt Clinton, the moving spirit of the whole affair. He was the president of the Society, and the Board of Education, in their Report of 1854, say well when they announce that the address was worthy of the occasion, "as sowing the seed wheat of all harvests of education which subsequent years have gathered into our garners." I have ac- companied Mr. Clinton in those earlier days, in his tour of inspection, with Thomas Eddy, Jacob Morton, Samuel Wood, Joseph Curtis, Robert Bowne, Charles Wilkes, Cadwallader D. Colden, and others ; and I can testify to the scrutinizing devotion which Mr. Clinton gave to every thing that seemed calculated for the promotion of the great and novel design. By the death of Mr. Curtis very recently, all, I believe, of that philan- thropic corps are departed. I see none left of the original body of incorporators.
It is impossible at this time to be more minute or dwell longer on this grateful subject. In every
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SYSTEM OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
condition of public trust to which Clinton was chosen through life, he never forgot education and the public schools. Every message of his, while governor, descants on the vast theme, and his sug- gestions, years ago, as head of the State, may. I think, be honestly stated to have led to that spe- cial department, the Normal Schools. He is the first individual I ever heard descant on their im- mensc importance to the proper rearing of com- petent tutors, and on the provision which ought to be made for such an undertaking. I can scarcely conceive of a greater subject for a public discourse than the origin, the progress, and present state of our system of Public Education ; in every condi- tion, from its humble beginning up to its com- manding importance at the present day, from the Free School Society of 1805 through the change to the Public School Society of 1826, providing for all classes of children ; next the Ward school organization of the then called District schools ; then to its present consolidation under the Board of Education of the City of New York, a period of nearly half a century. Well may that en- lightened citizen and public-spirited character, E. C. Benedict, in his Report of 1854, as president, say, " The services of those philanthropic laborers in the noblest of causes have imposed upon the city a debt of gratitude that can never be fitly esti- mated, much less repaid." During that period it
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
has conferred the blessings of instruction on 600,000 children, and on more than 12,000 teachers. So long as the influence of those children and their teachers shall be felt, (and when will it cease ?) so long, justly adds Mr. Benedict, " shall the useful- ness of the Public School Society continue." I will add, that according to the last Report of the Board of Education from the present enlightened President, William H. Neilson, the whole number of schools within its jurisdiction during the year 1855, was 271. The glory and imperishable ex- cellence of our public system of education, en- hanced by the influence of our self-government, by universal freedom and a free press, were demon- strated to be in accordance with enlightened pub- lic intelligence, when at the election of 1850 the free school question was submitted to the popular suffrage. Free schools were sustained in this city by a vote of 39,075 to 1,011, a majority of nearly 40 to 1. If more were wanting in confirmation, how easily could we swell the testimony by the re- corded opinions in behalf of the vast and enduring benefits of knowledge among the masses by the testimony of our wisest statesmen and patriots. And let us ever keep before us the vital principle that the colossal proportions of the republic are endowed by education alone with a proportionate cohesive power. Where education moreover is popular, the creative faculty abounds ; and it is
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JOSEPH LANCASTER.
characteristic of such a state, that the people thus blessed daily achieve some new step in advance, whether it be in the modification of a rail or in new powers for the steam-engine.
It would be omitting a duty and inflicting an act of injustice not to notice in the course of these remarks on education the well-remembered philan- thropist, Joseph Lancaster, whose arrival among us about the year 1820, created a sensation among the friends of useful knowledge. Lancaster, by many years service abroad, and by the discussion, which arose from his system of instruction, had rendered his name quite familiar at the time of his appearance in New York. It was conceded that he had effected a substantial advance in the means of enlightening the masses, and at a pecuniary expense well worth the action of the economical teacher. The patrons of the common schools, such men as Clinton, Griscom, Eddy and Wood, felt the duty obligatory to pay deference to the philosophi- cal stranger, and give countenance to his sugges- tions. But he had little to offer that was new ; the Lancasterian plan had been already widely tested ; it had its friends and its opponents. Lancaster laid claims to originality, and in part it was admitted that his merits were not to be overlooked. He had announced his innovation, for imparting elementary tuition, in 1803, but the controllers of the schools were alive to what Bell had done, with the like
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
intent, some years before ; hence he lost the re- nown of priority of discovery, and his opportunity of essentially doing much to further his system was cut off; for with a patriotic vigilance the directors of these juvenile scholars were intent on further improvements, which were finally commend- ed for adoption under a new organization. Lan- caster finally announced that he had been walking in the steps of Dr. Bell, but that the notoriety and adoption of the new system were due to his energies ; but Bell had first conceived the idea of conducting a school through the medium of the scholars themselves. The very Quakerism of Lan- caster had tended vastly to promote the diffusion of his system, and the encouragement of his plans, and the support he received ought to have secured at least his temporal independence. But with in- creased fiscal means his expenditures had increased, and the philanthropic man, deserting the rigid and frugal habits of his sect, involved himself in many obligations, and now sought the chances of redemption by his transatlantic residence. There was, however, little to do by Lancaster or for him. Within a short time he became an object of elee- mosynary relief ; yet his Quaker disciples, with characteristic benevolence, were not behindhand in contributions. While, however, he could enumerate De Witt Clinton within his charity circle of friends, he felt protected. The latter years of his
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JOSEPH LANCASTER.
life gave unmistakable evidences of hard times with him. I have rarely seen an object of deeper com- miseration among individuals who, according to the world's decision, had made a mark. He who had once figured in England, in his chariot and six, felt the want of means to purchase a crutch. An accident terminated his life, in New York, in 1839.
I have indicated that Clinton was specially kind toward Lancaster : it was that sort of kindness that arose from a consideration of the good he had done, and could in nowise originate from a contemplation of the man himself. He was now a mass of obesity, unwieldy, and of feeble articulation, such as we oc- casionally see in individuals of objectionable habits, loaded with adipose deposits, "an aggravated agglo- meration of superabundant redundances." More- over, Clinton possessed a peculiar disposition to be drawn toward those who enjoyed any thing like a literary taste, or were engaged as professors of knowledge, and who retained a fondness for reading. He himself was emphatically a book-worm : when- ever released from public cares, he might be found day or night with his volume in or at hand. As might be conjectured, his taste embraced a pro- digious variety ; but natural history was his most congenial study ; and he preserved the habit to the last of his life of enlisting individuals to dis- cover in the bookstores or at the stalls old and curious authors on physical science. No expense
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
was spared to add to his library the noted worthies of bygone days. His literary messenger on one occasion notified him that a rare old father on natural history was to be obtained for some eighty dollars. The work was ordered by Clinton ; he was delighted on having secured it, and with hardly more than ferriage money in his poeket he returned to Albany ; but he had Aldrovandus with him. This aneedote is seareely within the seope of a history of our publie system of eduea- tion, but it is not irrelevant to illustrate something of the qualities of De Witt Clinton, the great in- stigator of our sehool system.
The Free Academy, which, it has been very properly remarked, gives completeness to the sys- tem of publie instruction, and is an integrant branch of the whole system for the enlightenment of the people, possesses the great advantage of a liberal system of edueation similar to that which is embraced in our colleges for the highest depart- ments of study. Indeed, few, if any, of our col- legiate establishments hold out so ample a course of instruction in elassieal literature, in modern languages, in mathematical and physical seienee. The existence of the Academy is brief, yet already have precious fruits been seattered widely over the land, to the wonder and admiration of the most appreciating minds. I, unfortunately for myself, am but in a limited degree acquainted with the
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FREE ACADEMY.
professors of that great school ; but if Dr. Gibbs is to be taken as a specimen of its teachers, un- bounded confidence may be reposed in the acqui- sitions of its scholars. I only repeat what is ut- tered daily, that the distinguished principal, Dr. Webster, has solved the problem, how manifold are the benefits which may flow from a wise ad- ministration of able collegiate authority.
Let me in all sincerity ask, in what other place may the poorest and the humblest child of indi- gence find instruction from the A, B, C, to the highest branches of classical and scientific knowl- edge, through every stage of his study, without one dollar's expense to the recipient ; and all this, every device and measure, planned and accom- plished since our organization in 1804. Let all praise be given to our constituted authorities for this exemplar of their wisdom and patriotic fore- thought ; let, above all others, that capacious mind which is alike seen in the union of the Erie and the Hudson and in our noble system of education, become the theme of collegiate eloquence and his- torical record. Let our children and their chil- dren's children keep within memory the names of Hawley, Bernard, Randall, and Benedict. But this request is perhaps superfluous ; the bounty is ever before us, the givers cannot be forgotten. To those alive to local history and the origin of great practical ideas, says the accomplished essayist
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
Tuckerman, in his biographical volume, daily ob- servation keeps fresh the memory of Clinton .*
The transition is not altogether violent, in leaving one species of instruction for another-in dismissing the system of school education and taking up the Stage, so long reckoned a source of useful knowledge, and by many still decmed capa- ble of becoming an enlightencd monitor. But with the drama, as with many other subjects that properly belong to a discourse accommodated to this occasion, I am subjected to a painful brevity ;
* Most astounding disclosures were made at the London Edu- cational Conference in June last, 1856, on the great question, the enlightenment of the people. I extract from the report, which appcared in the Illustrated London News : "Notwithstanding all the voluntary efforts, all the benevolence, all the liberality of Churchmen and of Dissenters, of corporations and of individuals, there are in England and Wales, out of nearly five millions of children between the ages of three and fifteen years, little more than two millions who attend any school whatever, leaving 2,861,848-nearly three millions,-who are not in the receipt of school instruction." "Nor is even this state of things, bad as it is, the worst part of the case. Of the two millions of children who attend existing schools, we are informed by the Prince that only six hundred thousand-less than one-third-are above the age of nine. In other words, more than onc-half of the poor children of England receive no school instruction at all, and two- thirds of the remainder arc taken away from school at an age so early that it is quite impossible for them to have received any en- during benefit from school teaching. The result is, if these figures are correct, that only one child out of every eight in this rich, civilized, and Christian country, remains at school after its ninth year."
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THE DRAMA.
for what adequate notions can be imparted within the few moments at command, of the dramatic oc- currences of New York during the past fifty years ? It has so happened that for forty years of my life I have been, with slight intermissions, the medical adviser and physician of many of the leading heroes of the sock and buskin, from the arrival of the great George Frederick Cooke in 1810, to the departure of the classical Macready in 1849 ; and I am apprehensive that of all the individuals com- memorated in Dunlap's Biography of Cooke, I am perhaps the sole survivor.
I cannot say that I have ever been stage-struck or dramatically mad in my admiration of the his- trionic profession ; yct as one cver gratified with the displays of intellectual power, I have expe- rienced the raptures inspired by genius, in a voca- tion which, while it holds the mirror up to nature, is the acknowledged school of oratory, and has re- ceived in all ages, among the refined, the counte- nance and support of many of the loftiest minds and most sympathizing hearts. Moreover, I think it not too much to say, that my professional inter- course with actors has enabled me to obtain a view of dramatic character and of dramatic life, which could scarcely be expected to fall within the scope of the mere beholder of scenic representation, who never perhaps had passed behind the foot-lights, or been familiar with that condition of physical
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
and mental toil which the ceremonies and per- formances due to "personation," impose on the feelings of the successful artist.
I take it for granted that no intelligent man will hold in doubt the fact, that the life of the player is one of severe trial, of great demands on the physical powers, of incessant mental anxiety, and of precarious rewards. Yet have I known many members of that calling filled with the largest benovolence and enriched with the graces which dignify human nature. The actor's life is especially subjected to the caprices of fortune ; the platform on which he stands is ever uncertain ; as a general truth he encounters adversity with more than ordinary fortitude. I have known many instances of this nature ; the mimic world has its stern realities not less than the actual, and the wardrobe no more protects its denizen than do the common habiliments of the ordinary citizen. " The life of an actor," says a modern essayist of the school of English undefiled, "is a severe trial of humanity. His temptations are many ; his fortitude, too, often ineffectual ; his success pre- carious. If he be resolute, uncontaminated by the society of his associates, and a genuine artist besides, he is worthy not only the praise of the moralist, but also deserving the admiration of the critic. The prejudice against the profession, like most prevailing prejudices, is founded on general
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THE DRAMA.
*
truth ; but it is frequently absurd and baseless."" If the stage has fallen from its high estate, and failed to raise the genius and to mend the heart, to elevate the moral sentiment by heroic action and sublime example, let not its sad decline rest solely with the representatives of Shakspeare and Jonson ; let something be ascribed to the revolu- tions of taste and to the mutability of popular opinion ; but more than all, let us suffer within ourselves the chagrin of self-condemnation, like the dyspeptic patient, who in searching for the causes of his own horrors, finds them to have originated from the pernicious aliment in which his disturbed propensities had led him most un- wittingly to indulge. "The love of the drama," says the poet Campbell, "is a public instinct, that requires to be regulated, but is too deep for eradi- cation. I am no such bigot for the stage," con- tinues he, " as to say that it is necessarily a school of morals ; for, by bad management, it may be made the reverse ; and I think, on the whole, that the drama rather follows than leads public morals." " The drama will exist," says Dunlap, "in good or evil repute, to guide or mislead, whether legis- lators will it or not. The people will have it so. The choice of the legislator is only to render
* Characters and Criticisms, by W. Alfred Jones, A. M., New York, Vol. 2, p. 182. 12mo. 1857.
9
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
that beneficial which may be otherwise." The drama is legitimately the school of human life ; it has vast accommodations, but its origin is in the human heart ; in its nature it is the con- centration and the exposition of the passions and the doings of man. Let it cherish fidelity to its great trust ; let it so conduct itself as not to fall below the intelligence of its arbitrators ; never forgetting that the schoolmaster is abroad. The remedy is within grasp ; and its restoration is not altogether a thing of fancy. The scholar, how- ever fastidious, cannot wholly disregard a theme which found favor among the lucubrations of the mighty Warburton : he who would penetrate into the ethics of human life need not suffer appre- hension of evil from studies which absorbed many of the precious hours of the great moralist, John- son ; nor can the Christian philosopher be afraid to reason on the subject with the example before him of Young, the successful author of the Re- venge, and the poet of the Night Thoughts, a work, whose devotional excellence has made it a manual of closest study to millions of human souls, wherever revealed truth has been recognized.
I am not so confident as to presume that what I may utter can have any influence on a New York community, either on the fortunes or destiny of the stage. It has been decried by the best of men, and it has been countenanced by the wisest.
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THE DRAMA.
It was formerly supported by religious partialities, and every body is aware that it owes its origin to religion, and that the first actors were priests or missionaries. An illiterate multitude were thus enlightened, and the clergy with an inherent sa- gacity represented the wonders of belief and the actions of the gods in appropriate temples. Collier, with the zeal of an antiquary, has traced the origin of the " Miraele-Plays " or "Mysteries," as the source and foundation of the English national drama, and the connection between the miracle-plays con- sisting in the outset only of Scripture characters, and " Moral Plays," or " Moralitics," represented by allegorieal personages ; and he has aimed to show how the first, almost imperceptibly, deviated into the last, by the gradual intermixture of alle- gory with sacred history, until miracle-plays were finally superscded. " "Mysteries" and "Moral- ities " were often made the vehicles of religious controversies.
For a long while the stage was a school of in- struction, for manners and behavior, and on this ac- count it is still higher to be appreciated. Shak- speare has taught more history to the masses than all the schoolmasters, from the time when the first ped- agogue was installed ; and Lord Chesterfield's dicta have proved a mere cipher compared to the opera-
* Collier's Annals of the Stage.
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
tions which scenic influence has wrought in molli- fying the intercourse of society. Yet there is a progress in refinement which eclipses the exhibition of the stage, and he whosc mind is stored with much knowledge, will abandon theatricals as hav- ing lost their former interest with him. It cer- tainly is a foe to hypocrisy, and that alone, with the real philanthropist, is no small recommendation. It proves a wondrous relicf to the laborious man and the worn intellect, and is a happy succedaneum for diversions less beneficial to good morals and good health. Grant that the sphere of the stage is indeed local, and its displays fugacious, yet it leaves a lasting impression on the human heart. Its rich literature bears the impress of genius, and cannot be overlooked by the accomplished scholar. But I must break off here. Let those who would raise an indiscriminate outcry against the stage, read the calm and dispassionate Address of Dr. Bellows, lately delivered in the Academy of Music, before the Dramatic Fund Association.
The history of the first introduction of the stage in the American colonies is full of perplexity. Dunlap, our leading dramatic historian, in his work on the American Theatre, a performance of acknowledged merit, has blended his facts with so many crrors, that we strive in vain to derive from his pages a true knowledge of the subject. He was doubtless led into most of his difficulties by
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THE AMERICAN COMPANY.
too great reliance on the story given by Burk, in his History of Virginia. I have endeavored to make the case clearer, and have sought out curious facts in Parker's News Boy. The introduction of the drama in the American colonies was in this city, on Monday evening, the 26th of February, 1750, in a convenient room for the purpose, in one of the buildings which had belonged to the cstate of Rip Van Dam (a renowned Knickerbocker) in Nassau street. The play was the historical tragedy of Richard the Third, written originally by Shak- speare, and altered by Colley Cibber, under the management of Lewis Hallam, whose family con- sisted of his wife, a son Lewis, and a younger son, Adam, with a niece, Miss Hallam. His elder son, Lewis, was but twelve years of age. Dunlap says, that he made his first appearance in September, 1752, at Williamsburg, in Virginia. The younger, Adam, appeared in October, 1753, in this city, in the character of "Tom Thumb." He had a daughter, who became Mrs. Mattocks in England. It may be that this company, under manager Hallam, appeared next in Williamsburg ; but on the 15th of April, 1754, they opened in Philadel- phia with the " Fair Penitent."
We have not before us the cast of the play (Richard the Third) enacted in this city. It pos- sesses so many dramatis personæ, that we have little doubt that several of the company had to
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
take double parts. Rigby, we may safely infer, enacted Richard Third. There was no aceommo- dation of boxes, only pit and gallery. There was no farce after Richard Third. The permission for the performance was given by the British governor, Clinton. Lewis Hallam, at the age of twenty- nine, appeared in Lord Ogleby, the year after the comedy was written, in 1767. This part he played for forty years ; the last time in the Park Theatre, in 1807, and witnesses of this faet still survive. Manager Hallam died in Philadelphia in 1808. This company was generally designated by the name of the Old American Company, and Hallam the father of the American stage.
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