USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 2 > Part 24
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In his report for 1854 Mr. Potter wrote as follows upon this question :
"Although it is a repetition of what has already been said, I will again state, in conclusion, the principles upon which I consider that all these cases should be decided, viz. : that all public religious exercises, by which I mean prayer and the reading of the Bible, or any religious book by the teacher and the whole school, the school boy being required to listen to it, can only be had by general consent. And it does not remove the difficulty to authorize a scholar who has conscientious objections, to leave the school room while the exercises are proceeding. For school purposes, the house is his house, as much as his private dwelling-house, and he has a right to be there.
"But if objection be made, which would seldom be the case if a teacher manages properly, then the Bible, or any religious book may be used in classes, like any other book, by those whose parents do not object to it.
"If any other grounds than thesc can be supported at the present day, it would imply a most wonderful change in the feelings of the people of this State. We should need to reprint and restudy the noble words of John Milton, Jeremy Taylor and John Locke in defence of religious freedom, to bring us back again to the doctrines avowed by our ancestors when they first settled this colony. The total separation of religious and civil affairs was with them their cardinal principle".1
1"The constitution and laws of the State give no power to a school commit- tee, nor is there any authority in the State by which the reading of the Bible, or praying in school, either at the opening or the close, can be commanded or enforced. On the other hand, the spirit of the constitution, and the neglect of the law, to specify any penalty for so opening and closing a school, or to appoint or allow any officer to take notice of such an act, do as clearly show that there can be no compulsory exclusion of such reading and praying from our public schools. The whole matter must be regulated by the consciences of the teachers and inhabitants of the district and by the general consent of
PROVIDENCE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BUILDING IN 1842.
FROM AN OLD WOOD CUT IN BARNARD'S SCHOOL REPORT.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
Rev. Robert Allyn, of East Greenwich, succeeded Mr. Potter as commissioner of public schools in 1854, and continued until 1857. The new official gave earnest attention to measures for improving the school system, particularly in regard to attendance. In his report for 1856 he showed that less than half of the children of school age in the State attended school at any one time. The cost of the entire school system for the preceding year was $153,431.10, and the average cost of instructing a scholar throughout the State was $4.90, while the cost based upon attendance was $6.93. The causes of so large a ratio of absenteeism were noticed as varied and the possible remedies sug- gested were little less so. Among the latter were legislation to pro- vide for more uniform visitation of schools; more intelligent and active co-operation of the entire community ; public discussion of the cvils resulting from ignorance, etc. Mr. Allyn noticed the success of the Normal School, which had been in operation about two years, opening on May 29, 1854. He believed the school system to be nearly perfect, only deploring the great increase of manufactures which brought in so large a foreign element of population.
Mr. Allyn was succeeded by John Kingsbury, who held the office to and including the year 1859. He entered upon his work with earnest vigor, visiting in person nearly every school house in the State. He showed in his reports that he considered the school law comprehensive and complete and that under its workings the educational affairs of the State had made wonderful progress. But he did not spare criti- cism of those districts that still lagged far behind in the construction of good and convenient school houses. Said he :
"The most remarkable circumstance to be noticed in this connection, is the great contrast, not so much between the structure and condition of the school houses of the different towns, as between the structure and condition of the school houses of the same towns, and sometimes between those of adjacent districts. Why is it so? Here is the same school law operating equally for the good of both, the same school committee to whom the supervision of each is committed. In the one district you will find the school house beautiful, commodious, everything without and within being so arranged as to attract and win the hearts of the young. In the very next district everything is re- verscd. Instead of attraction, the prevailing principle, as seen in the school house and its surroundings, is repulsion."
the community. Statute law and school committee's regulations can enforce neither the use nor disuse of such devotional exercises. School committees may recommend, but they can go no further." R. I. School Manual (1873), pp. 198, 258.
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GROWTH OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
It would seem that the commissioner need not have sought so anx- iously for the answer to his question, Why is it so? It simply meant that those in charge of school affairs in the one case were progressive, enterprising, broad-minded men, while in the other they were the opposite. In those adjoining districts, where he found such contrasts, he would probably have found the same in the condition of buildings and improvements on adjoining farms; or at least on those of the persons who had charge of the schools.
From 1859 to 1861, and from 1863 to 1869, the office of commissioner of schools was filled by Dr. Joshua B. Chapin, the interval of two years being filled by Henry Rousmaniere. The report of 1860 shows that the State appropriation of that year was $49,996.82; the total resources were $162,687.18; there was expended on school houses, $612,456.73; the number of scholars attending summer schools was 25,576; in the winter schools, 26,876; the number of children under fifteen years of age was 56,934.
In his report Dr. Chapin alludes to the increased number of women teachers employed and the better results on that account. Dr. Chapin was succeeded in June, 1869, by Thomas W. Bicknell. By this date greater thoroughness had been attained in the reports made by the commissioner, and for the first time, in his first report, every town in the State was represented by a detailed report. Mr. Bicknell at once urged the creation of a State Board of Education and the re-establish- ment of the Normal School. Both of these measures were soon carried out, the former in 1870, and the latter in 1871. From that time forward reports of the State Board of Education accompanied those of the commissioner. Mr. Bicknell was instrumental in procuring liberal legislation in support of public libraries ; also in the extension of the term of school committees from one to three years, and authori- zation of a school superintendent for each town. He also urged the appointment on school committees of a reasonable proportion of women. His report for January, 1872, contained valuable data as to evening schools in various towns of the State, some of his figures caus- ing much surprise among friends of education. On this subject he wrote :
"It may occasion surprise in many minds to learn that more than one in eight, of all the people of this State over ten years of age, cannot read nor write, and that more than one in nine of all the popu- tion of the State will remain for life unable to read a page of the simplest reading, or to sign a document, except with their mark."
He then shows the increase of illiteracy by the following figures :
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, PROVIDENCE.
249
GROWTH OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
1850, Illiterates (over 20 years), American born, 1,248; foreign, 2,359
1860,
66
66
1,202;
4,910
1865, 66
66
1,522; 8,629
1870, 66 (over 21 years),
60
66 16,786
1870, 66 (over 10 years),
4,444 ;
17,477
Mr. Bicknell's most practical remedies for illiteracy were the en- forcement of a law against allowing children under twelve years of age to be employed in manufactories ; the enforcement of a law requir- ing children employed in manufactories to attend school at least five months in each year; and the enactment of a suitable truant law. In the commissioner's opinion, also, the establishment of evening schools in every town would greatly reduce illiteracy. It is, perhaps, proper to call attention to the fact that in his figures above quoted, there is no opportunity for comparison with the increase of population, nor refer- ence to the great increase of foreign-born inhabitants in all manufac- turing centers during the period of which he was writing. It is a fact that Rhode Island, in respect to illiteracy during that period, was in as commendable condition as many other parts of New England.
In the year 1870, which was the first year for which the Rhode Island State Board of Education made a report, the number of districts in the State was given as 422; the number of summer schools taught, 583; the number of winter schools, 635; the number of children under fifteen years of age, 56,934; number of children between five and fifteen years (census of 1865), 38,788; number of children in private schools, 6,336; amount of State appropriation, $90,000; amount of town funds, $246,046.05; raised by registry tax and other sources, $44,799.96; amount of district taxes, $82,196.95; amount of total expenditures, $529,054.08.
The law establishing the State Board of Education was passed at the January session of 1870, and fully defines the scope and duties of the board. The members were directed to serve without compensation, outside of their necessary expenses, and quarterly meetings were ordered held. The first board consisted of Fred W. Tilton, for New- port county ; Rev. A. F. Spaulding, for Bristol county; George W. Greene, for Kent county ; Samuel H. Cross, for Washington county ; Rev. Daniel Leach and Charles H. Fisher, for Providence county. The high schools in existence at the time of the creation of the State board were situated in Providence, Newport, Pawtucket, Woonsocket, Bristol, Warren, Westerly, and Smithfield-eight in all.
The incorporating act of the Normal School, passed March 14, 1871, appointed as trustees of the institution the members of the State
250
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
Board of Education, and the commissioner of public schools. These trustees visited the cities of Albany and Oswego, N. Y., and various towns in New England where normal schools were in existence, in order to acquaint themselves with the best methods of conducting such schools. The further history of the institution is given later in this chapter.
In Mr. Bicknell's last report he called particular attention to the need of teaching drawing in the schools, especially in communities where many of the children must of necessity obtain their livelihood in mechanical occupations. He showed that the population of the State in 1870 was 217,353, of which number more than one-fifth, or 47,007, were engaged in mechanical and allied industries. At that time Newport was the only community where drawing was systemati- cally taught.
At the close of nearly six years' service as commissioner of public schools, Mr. Bicknell retired from the office in January, 1875, to be- come the editor of the New England Journal of Education. His labor was alluded to by the Board of Education as having been prosecuted "with a diligence, a wisdom, and a contagious enthusiasm, which, it is believed, have resulted in lasting benefit to the cause with which his name is identified". Meanwhile, in 1873, the General Assembly ap- pointed a committee, consisting of Elisha R. Potter, associate justice of the Supreme Court; T. W. Bicknell, school commissioner ; and J. M. Addeman, secretary of state, to publish a School Manual of all laws relating to education in the State, with such forms and decisions as might seem necessary. The laws of the State had been revised in the previous year (1872), and as far as they relate to schools remain in their general and more important features in 1900 as they were then enacted.
In January, 1875, Thomas B. Stockwell succeeded Mr. Bicknell as commissioner of public schools, and during the past quarter of a century has held the office.
From the commissioner's report of 1880 the following facts and figures are obtained : The number of children in the State between the ages of five and fifteen years (census of 1880) was 52,273; the number enrolled in the schools was 40,604; the number of graded schools was 530, and of ungraded schools, 294; number of evening schools, 40 ; number of school houses, 453 ; State appropriation for day schools, $90,000; for evening schools, $3,248.34 ; receipts from registry tax and other sources, $26,390.16 ; total receipts, $558,450.86; receipts from district taxation, $49,429.46 ; town and city appropriation, $342,- 972.48; town and city appropriation for buildings, sites, etc., $22,450;
251
GROWTH OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
paid for wages in day schools, $390,558.34; in evening schools, $15,- 047.50 ; estimated value of all school property, $1,894,122.
For purposes of comparison, similar statistics are here given for 1890, and 1899, as follows: In 1890 the number of children between the ages of five and fifteen years, inclusive, was 64,960, an increase in the decade of about 12,000; the number enrolled in the schools was 52,774; the number of graded schools was 785, and of ungraded schools 266, showing a marked increase in the number of graded schools ; the number of evening schools was 45; the number of school houses was 482, an increase of 29; the number of teachers was 1,378; the State appropriation for day schools was $120,000, and for evening schools, $2,894.19; there was received from the district tax, $61,382.09, and the total receipts from all sources were $1,091,993.86; there was paid to teachers, $549,367.38; appropriated for sites and buildings, $142,173.74; estimated value of all school property, $2,739,672. In 1890 there were 39 libraries reported with a total number of volumes of 165,080.
In 1899 the number of children enumerated, between the ages of five and fifteen years inclusive, was 79,825; the number enrolled in the day schools was 64,537; the number of graded schools was 1,187, an increase during the decade of 402; the number of evening schools was 65; the number of school buildings was 1,913, showing an increase of nearly 600; the State appropriation for day schools was $120,000, and for evening schools, $6,000 ; the total amount of district tax was $175,- 383.44, and the total receipts amounted to $1,665,609.35; there was paid to teachers, $917,118.58; appropriated for sites and buildings, $274,113.99 ; estimated value of all school property, $5,175,045.
Comparative statistics of schools in the various towns, high schools, parochial schools, libraries, etc., will be later referred to.
The earliest existing record of a measure for the establishment of schools in Providence is found in the following:
"Att A Towne Meetting May the 9th 1663 Thomas Olney Senior Moderator; It is ordered by this prsant Assembly, that 100 acrs of upland, and 6 Acres of Meaddow, or low land |to| the quan []tye of Eight acres in lew of meaddow Shall be Laide out within the bounds of the Toune of Providence; The which land, shall be reserved for the maintenance of. A Scoole in this Towne.
"And that after the said Land is Laid out, and the bounds thereof sett; it shall be Recorded in o'r Towne Record according unto the bounde ffixed, and shall be called by the name of Scoole Landes of Providence. ''1
1Early Records of Providence, vol. iii, p. 35.
252
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
While this proceeding laid the foundation for support of a school, it does not appear that anything was done under it for some years. The following petition refers to the grant of land :
"To ye Towne of providence mett at a quarter meeting the 28th of this Instant January 1683:84.
"My request is whereas there is an order formerly made, in this Towne, of a Grant of a purchase right of land to be layd out in this Towne for ye use and Bennefitt of a Schoole; which hath nott bene yett done, my Humble request is that the same may be fullfilled or accomplished according to the tenner of the sayd order. and in soe doeing you will oblige your Servant to Command
"Jon Whipple Jun'r."1
There is nothing in the records to indicate whether the grant referred to in this petition is the one named in the order above quoted, but it probably was; nor is there anything to show what action, if any, was taken upon Mr. Whipple's petition.
The first school teacher in Providence, if the earliest existing record is relied upon, was William Turpin. His request to the authorities is handsomely written in Old English, and reads as follows :
"The humble request of William Turpin, now schoolmaster of the said town, is, that whereas there was a parcel of land formerly granted by the ancestors of said town and was to be to the use and benefit of a schoolmaster, as by the records of the town book will more at large appear, which said order or grant was read to me in the presence of several gentlemen, that were the occasion of my settling at this town, who promised to be instrumental in the performance thereof. Gen- tlemen, my desire is, that the aforesaid land 'be forthwith layd out according to the said Order or grant', and that the said master or his heirs may be invested in the said land, so long as he or any of them, shall maintain that worthy art of learning. Thus leaving it to you, gentlemen, to give a speedy answer, according as you shall think meet, I rest yours to command. William Turpin.""?
Previous to the date of the above request, on June 11, 1684, Mr. Turpin made a contract to supply Peregrine Gardner with board and schooling one year for six pounds; forty shillings in beef and pork, twenty shillings in corn, and the remainder in silver money. This fact
1Prov. Town Papers, No. 418.
2 A note in Stockwell's History of Public Education, p. 133, has the following: "Beides teaching Mr. Turpin kept an ordinary, or house of public entertain- ment. His dwelling stood on the west side of North Main street, nearly opposite the Fourth Baptist meeting-house. At one time the General Assembly met there. It was a sightly place, and one of considerable business. He died July 18, 1709, leaving a widow (Anne, his second wife), and three children."
253
GROWTH OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
gives Turpin the honor of having been the first active teacher in the place, as far as known by the records. Whether any answer was given to the petition is not shown.
The next recorded action regarding schools is the following :
"Towne Meeting Jan. 27, 1695-6. Where as, there hath ben a Re- quest made unto ye Town by Jon Dexter, William Hopkins, Epenetus Olney, Willm Turpin, Joseph Whipple, John Smith, Philip Tilling- hast, and Joseph Smith, that the Town would accommodate them with a Small spot of Land to set a School House upon in some place in this Town about ye Highway called Dexter Lane or about ye Stampers hill, The Town have Considered of the matter and Do by these presents freely Grant unto ye aforesaid persons . a Spot of Land of Forty foot square about the place where it may be most conven- ient'' 1
Dexter's Lane was what is now Olney street. There is no recorded evidence that a school house was built, as permitted by this grant. In 1735 George Taylor was given the privilege of keeping a school in a chamber room of the state house.
On the plat made of the warehouse lots laid out on the west side of "the Town street", as what are now North and South Main streets were called, under date of 1747, a lot was left opposite the west end of the court house parade for a school house site. The date when this lot was set off for that purpose is not known, or whether it was done in answer to either the petition of Mr. Turpin or that of Dexter and his associates above named; nor can it be determined just when a school house was built there ; but it was prior to 1752, as shown by the follow- ing record of a proceeding in a meeting held October 30, of that year, when it was announced by Stephen Hopkins that the last preceding Assembly passed an act to "build a new Goal", if the town would find a convenient place ; he then moved that "the flats in the Salt River being the west end of the Lott that was formorly Granted for the use of a schoole whereon the Towne Schoole house in s'd Providence standeth to be a proper place". This motion was unanimously agreed to.2 In the same year (1752) Nicholas Cooke, Joseph Olney, Esek Hopkins, Elisha Brown, and John Mawney were appointed "to have the care of the town school house, and to appoint a master to teach in said house". In 1753 the school committee consisted of Nicholas Cooke, John Mawney, Nicholas Brown, Elijah Tillinghast, and Daniel Abbott.3
1Providence Town Paper, 31.
2 Providence Town Paper 0069.
3Providence Town Paper, 0975.
254
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
On January 8, 1753, leave was given to George Taylor by a commit- tee duly appointed "to order and direct and manage all matters and Things relating to the Town Schoolhouse, so-called", to teach until the first Monday of the following June. On his part "the s'd George doth hereby promise, and Oblige himself to school or teach one poor Child, such as the s'd Committee shall recommend, Gratis, or for nothing during all sd Term". This was probably the first step towards pro- viding free education for the poor.
On February 22, 1754, a lease was made to "Stephen Jackson of said Providence School Master", of the town school house for three months from March 1; the yearly rent was £45 old tenor, which was ordered to be used for repairs on the school house.1 No further action regarding this school house appears in the records until 1763, when the town clerk was directed to lease the building again. The teacher probably received his pay from scholars.
The following from the records shows what was first done to pro- vide a school on the west side of the river :
"To the Moderator and freemen of the Town of Providence Convened together at the Town meeting on the 17th day of April, 1751 "Gent'men
"We the Subscribers Humbly Shew that there is Great Necessity of haveing a Schoole house Built in this Town on the west side of the River and that we togeither with other of the Inhabitance there about : have agreed and Subscribed money for that purpose. and that we Should be very Glad if we may be so --- to Build it on the vacant Land at the Sowdy hill, a little above Joseph Snow jun'rs Dwelling house ; there Being Room to set it on and Leave the Road -- feet wide on each side-which being will oblidge us the subscribers and others the Inhabitance who are willing to spend their money to Leirn- ing and for publick good.
"Gideon Comstock " Alexd'r Frazier "James Field "Thomas Angel "Barzillai Richmond
"Nehemiah Sprague"2
After the court house was burned in 1758 the town began proceed- ings to obtain possession of the site, in place of the school lot on North Main street. These efforts were successful in February, 1765, when a
'Providence Town Paper 0974.
2Providence Town Paper 0821.
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GROWTH OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
committee of the town transferred the fee of the school house lot and purchased the other.1
At a town meeting held on December 8, 1767, measures were adopted to provide education for the children of all the inhabitants of the place. It was there resolved to build three school houses for small children and one for youth, the cost to be paid from the treasury, and the schools to be placed under control of a school committee. John Brown, John Jenckes, Nathaniel Greene, Charles Keene, and Samuel Thurber were appointed to select the sites for school houses, to pur- chase land, and make other necessary arrangements. Another com- mittee was appointed consisting of Darius Sessions, Samuel Nightin- gale, Jabez Bowen, and Moses Brown, to prepare ordinances for the government of schools. Both of these committees reported at a meet- ing on January 1, 1768, and both reports were rejected.
The report of the first named committee appears to have not been discovered by either Mr. Barnard or Mr. Stone in their researches ; but the work of the Record Commissioners of Providence has brought to light the following :
"Providence, January 1, 1768.
"Whereas, this Town has Voted that they will purchase or erect Three School Houses for the Education of Small children and one for the Education of Youth, and we the subscribers being appointed a Committee at a town meeting the 2d of December Last past to inquire and find if any Suitable Houses for this End may be purchased and at what Rate, and being Directed in said Vote to apply to the proprietors of the Private School Houses in the Town to agree with them about the purchases of the same, allso to agree. with some proper person or per- sons for Building such House or Houses as are to be built, agree on Situations, procure Titles, &c"."
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