USA > Vermont > Rutland County > History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 24
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West Rutland Academy was incorporated in 1810. This existed and was quite a flourishing school for over twenty years. Poultney Female Academy was incorpated in 1819, but lived only two or three years. Mr. Hollister in his history of Pawlet, says : " Measures were taken about the beginning of the present century for the establishment of an academy, or grammar school, as such institutions were then generally called. A commodious brick edifice was erected near the village, in which the higher branches were taught, usually two terms in the year, fall and winter, until its destruction by fire in 1845. When the Methodist church on the hill was vacated in 1845 by the society, it was fitted up for an academy under the auspices of Jason F. Walker, its first prin- cipal. This school took the name of Mettowel Academy, but I am not aware that this or any other academy in Pawlet was ever incorporated. The Met- towel was sustained as an academic institution some ten years, when it ceased to exist.
The people of Vermont seemed to have been opposed to adding academies by raising a tax on the grand list, yet those institutions have been numerous in the State, and in great part well sustained until the introduction of graded schools, of which I shall have something to say in this chapter. The academies in Rutland county have done good work in the cause of education, and two of them, those at Castleton and Poultney, are now doing good work ; one of the State Normal Schools is connected with the academy at Castleton. The his- torians of the several towns where the academies are and have been located will go more into detail in giving the history of those institutions in Rutland county.
Primary Schools .- We will now return to the primary schools. The Leg- islature from time to time made amendments to the school laws passed in 1782, yet no radical changes were made until 1844. The laws of 1782 were so changed quite early in our history that a State school tax was provided of three cents on the dollar; the money raised by this tax and the income of the school lands went into the town treasury and was called " the public school money," and divided among the several districts in each town by the selectmen of the several towns, and the balance necessary to support the school was raised on the polls of the scholars attending the schools. By an act passed by the Legislature in 1825, a very considerable fund was added to the " public money." By this act all the avails of the " old Vermont 'State Bank," with six per cent. of the net profits on the existing banks, and all sums arising from peddlers' licenses went into this fund. It amounted in 1841 to $164,292.28. But this sum soon de- parted by means of legislative enactments and otherwise, which our space will not permit us to trace out in detail.
In 1837 Congress made provision for the deposit of the surplus revenue, which had accumulated from the sales of public land, with the several States of the Union. The share which fell to Vermont was $669,086,74. This sum
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was distributed among the several towns in the State in proportion to their population, and the towns were directed to loan the money on sufficient secu- rity, and apply the annual interest to the support of schools. The several towns became responsible to the State for the money and for its use ; also for its re- turn, and any portion of it, if called for under subsequent apportionments that might be made. This has and now seems to be a permanent fund, subject, however, to new apportionments that are liable to lessen the amount or pro- portion in some or all of the States.
Schools of Early Days .- A great deal of criticism and wit has been ex- pended over our " old time schools." We hear from the critics and wits of the old school-house : " It was such a building," they say, " as the farmer of to- day would not house his cattle in." "The teacher was not qualified for his work ; he was paid seven or eight dollars a month in winter, and from fifty cents to a dollar a week in summer and boarded around." "The rod or the ferrule was his sceptre, with this he governed his school." "The government was arbitrary, the method of instruction was coarse, rude and dictatorial ; it was not such as to awaken the minds and hearts of pupils."
The quotations in the preceding paragraph are taken from the writings of those who have assumed to instruct us in matters of education during this generation. While it is true that our school system has undergone a great change in the last forty years, and that the present system is far in advance of that under which the schools were conducted in this State for the first half century of its existence, every intelligent Vermonter will concede. Yet the tone of those criticisms of the old time school in Vermont are too often, as the writer believes, a slander upon the good people of Vermont who settled our State, founded our institutions, and led us on for fifty years with as true a pa- triotic purpose as ever existed in the hearts of men, and as intelligently as the light of their time would permit. Civilization has advanced, and schools, as a result, have advanced. Because our fathers did not establish the graded school and the long list of improvements found in our modern system, it furnishes no better reason for ridicule than the fact that the Vermont farmers used the clumsy wooden plow for the first half century after the settlement of the State. The farmers then used the best implements they had, and the best that the age could furnish. It was not their fault that the plow with the iron mould-board had not then come within their reach, or that the mowing-machine, which would cut as much grass in a given time as six men would with their scythes, had not been invented.
Education, when treated historically, is a matter of growth, and rude as the earliest schools of Vermont were, I should bestow the larger meed of praise upon the founders of our institutions, and those who nourished and cared for them in the early part of our history. The truth stands out prominently in our early history that the people regarded the school as indispensable, For a
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school-house, if they could do no better, they built one of logs, hired a back room in some dwelling-house, or put up the best frame building they could - a school they would have. Aside from the support of Christianity, if there is anything in our history more important than any other, or more productive of good results, it is the faithfulness and persistency of our fathers in projecting and sustaining the schools.
One bright morning in May, 1820, I was ushered into a school-room in school district No. 2 in Middletown, the district in which my father then re- sided. The school-house was a small building, in size twenty by sixteen feet on the ground. It had its entrance on the north end which opened into a little room or passage-way five feet square, and this opened into a school-room of some fifteen feet square. The north end of the house, five feet in width contained the above entry room, the chimney and the girls' closet. I well re- member the appearance of this school-room as I entered it for the first time. It retained substantially the same appearance as long as I went to school there, which was until 1827, when my father was set to school district No. I, the village district. Writing benches, as they were then called, ran around on three sides of the room, fastened to the walls, and in front of them were rough benches of hard wood slabs, with legs as rough as the slabs. On these were seated the larger pupils, all old enough to write, and in the center of the room were lower seats conveniently arranged for the smaller scholars.1 In the front or north end of this room was a large fire-place, constructed of the best stone that could be obtained in the vicinity, not hewn or polished, but put in as they came from the field. From this fire-place the room was warmed in the winter. Wood was then plenty, and householder or party who sent to school furnished his portion, a quarter or half a cord to the scholar, as the vote of the district in school-meeting might be. The fire was first made by putting in a " back log," then a "forestick " on a pair of andirons and the space between filled up with small wood and kindlings. Such also was the way dwellings were heated at that time. I have in this description included all the furniture and all the fixtures of the school-house where I learned the A B C, and shall assume that this school-house was an average of the school-houses in Rutland county at the time I attended school there. I completed my common school education in the village school-house, which was no better than the other ; it was larger, as the village school had about eighty scholars in the winter term, and some less in the summer; there were about forty in winter and about twenty-five in summer in attendance at my first school while I attended there. No paint was
1 In the northeast corner of the room was the teacher's desk, which might have cost fifty cents. On that desk lay a rule which belonged to the teacher, and over the fire-place on two nails driven in about two feet apart and on a level, rested " a twig of the wilderness," which, with the rule, was de- signed as a terror to evil doers. In the corner near the desk stood a broom, which was used once a day during the noon recess by one of the older girls attending the school, each taking her turn in sweeping the room.
14
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HISTORY OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
ever put on either of those houses, inside or out, and both were alike "open to the wind and the weather; " and from what I knew of other school-houses in the town, and from what I afterwards learned of the school-houses outside, those two houses fairly represented the average school-house of Rutland county and of the State.
But it should not be forgotten here that many of the best scholars and ablest men Vermont ever produced received their primary education in such buildings as I have described. I can count a score of men and more at the district schools with me who in after life distinguished themselves in the pro- fessions. The academy and the college were then more relied on for a " finish."
School Improvements. - Improvement in our common school system in this State was not so rapid until after 1840. Thomas H. Palmer, a former resident of Pittsford in this county, was the prime mover in bringing about a revision of the school laws of the State, and opening the way for the efficient system under which the public schools of the State are now conducted. Mr. Palmer was a native of Scotland, emigrated to Philadelphia when a mere boy, where he acquired a competence in book publishing, and retired from that business in 1826, and removed to Pittsford. There he provided himself with a beautiful house, and gave himself to the literary pursuits and the cause of education. He took a deep interest at once in the schools of Pittsford, visited them often, offered suggestions to teachers and pupils, and often gave public lectures on this interest which lay near his heart. As early as 1850 he invited the teachers in the county, or those intending to teach, to meet him at Pitts- ford for what we may call a teachers' institute (what he called it I am not aware). They were usually held about two weeks. The exercises consisted of a review of the branches then taught in the common schools, with lectures on the various topics connected with the teacher's management of the school by Mr. Palmer. These institutes were held by Mr. Palmer once a year, usually in the fall, and proved of much utility. Mr. Palmer's efforts in the cause of education attracted attention in other parts of the State, and in the summer of 1874 he was invited to Middlebury by Governor Slade, and there had an in- terview with the governor and president and professors of Middlebury College. In this consultation it was determined that an effort should be made to remodel the school laws of the State, and to that end a committee of Middlebury gen- tlemen was appointed to correspond with the influential friends of education about the State, and Mr. Palmer took upon himself to canvass the State per- sonally, which he did, lecturing in a number of towns. On the meeting of the Legislature of that year in October, petitions came from all parts of the State asking for more efficient school laws. Those petitions were favorably received by the Legislature, and a law was passed which provided for an examination of teachers, and the supervision of schools. This was one step, but an impor-
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tant one, toward our present system. The Legislature of 1845 took another step in the same direction. It provided for a State superintendent of schools, and one or more superintendents in each town of the State. The State super- intendent to be elected by the Joint Assembly, and the town superintendents by the freemen of the several towns at their annual meetings in March. It provided for the examination of teachers, and made null and void all contracts for teaching between teachers and prudential committees of districts, unless the applicants had first procured certificates of qualification.
In 1840 the Legislature, by an act of that year, provided that all the mon- eys raised by school districts for the payment of teachers' wages, be raised upon the grand list ; and moneys by a tax upon the scholars who attend school shall be appropriated only to defray the expenses of fuel and teachers' board. In this connection we may as well state that in 1864 the Legislature provided that " all expenses incurred by a school district in supporting schools in excess of public moneys received by the district shall be defrayed by a tax upon the grand list of the district." Such is the law in force now and will doubtless remain the law of Vermont. This makes a free school in the full sense of the term. A parent under this law has no more, no less, to pay whether he sends his children to school or allows them to run in the streets. .
A board of education was provided for in the State in 1856. That board was empowered to appoint a secretary and it had the general oversight of the schools until 1874, when the board was vacated by statute and a superintend- ent of education took its place. "Since that time the State superintendent of schools and the town superintendents have had the supervision of the schools of the State. The State superintendent is required to hold teachers' institutes in each county, to give public lectures and, as far as practicable, to visit schools in company with the town superintendents.
Normal Schools. - Mr. Palmer was a very enthusiastic advocate of normal schools, but he did not live to see them established ; he died in 1861. The Legislature passed an act, which was approved November 17, 1866, which established a State Normal School. This act was amended in 1870, which appropriated $1,000 to each of the Normal Schools of the State, then estab- lished at Johnson, Randolph and Castleton, and extended the schools to 1880; this appropriation was afterward cut down to $500. The act was subsequently amended, which extended the same to 1890. It will be understood that these schools are for the education of teachers. The State superintendent of educa - tion nominates and approves a principal teacher and first assistant for each Normal School and shall withdraw such approval when the interests of the school demand, and the principal provides for the discipline of the school. There are two courses of study in the Normal School, and are such as the trustees and the superintendent of education agree upon. The Normal Schools of the State, thus far, have been very well sustained and in effect have raised
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the standard of qualifications of teachers ; and especially has this been appar- ent to the friends of education in Rutland county, from the good work of the Castleton Normal School, of which A. E. Leavenworth is now and has been for several years the principal.
Graded, High and Union Schools .- The establishment of graded schools in the larger towns has, perhaps, more than anything else indicated improvement in our schools and school system of the State. The law now in force provides for " graded schools," "district high schools," and " union schools." A graded school is defined as "a school maintained by the town, or school for not less than thirty weeks in each year, and consisting of four or more departments taught by four or more teachers, having an established course of study, and having all of the departments under the control of one principal teacher, shall be a graded school and be entitled to the privileges granted by law to graded schools." If the children of a school district are so numerous as to require more than one teacher, the district may, at a district meeting, vote to erect as many school-houses and to provide as many teachers as are necessary, and may direct the sciences or higher branches taught in one of those schools. This is the " district high school."
" Contiguous school districts may form a union district for the benefit of the older children of such districts by a two-thirds vote of each of the districts thus united." The older children who possess the qualifications prescribed by the prudential committee shall be permitted to enter the union school, or " union high school," as it is sometimes called ; and this is the union school.
Changes and Conditions. - There has been a good deal of legislation in Vermont in the last forty years with a view to the improvement of schools. For this purpose the friends of education in the State have been very active in that time in procuring suitable legislation to raise the schools on a higher plane. Instruction is now much more thorough and effective in the common branches, and in many of the schools in Rutland county the higher branches are now taught successfully, and at the graded schools in Rutland and Bran- don young men are fitted for college, and all the higher schools are supported entire by tax on the grand list, as all public schools in the State are and have been since the act of 1864.
A remarkable change has occurred in forty years in the character of our school buildings ; school-houses have been erected in Rutland county at a cost among the thousands. As I write now I can look out on a school-house in Poultney erected and furnished at a cost of over $12,000, and it would not be a wild estimate to say that the cost of this one house was more than all the school- houses in Rutland county were worth in 1820. The graded school buildings in Rutland and Brandon each must have considerably exceeded that sum in cost. In the towns of Castleton, Fairhaven, Pawlet, Wallingford and Pittsford we find excellent school-houses in the central districts and great im-
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THE PRESS OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
provement throughout the county in school-house architecture, with few ex- ceptions. A great improvement also will be found in the style and furnishings of the school-rooms. No school-room is now expected to be without a black- board, and most of them have outline maps and some globes and other appa- ratus, for illustration and instruction. Suitable desks are also in general provided.
Our school system seems now as perfect as it can be made ; yet it must be conceded that some of our schools in the " back districts " are still " behind the times "; but this is not the fault of the existing system ; if there is a fault anywhere it lies with the people of those districts. What more can the State of Vermont do for schools than it is now doing ? It has provided a way to pay the entire expenses ; it educates competent teachers, but it cannot prevent by law the depopulation of the rural districts; but it has provided for the union of contiguous districts and, last of all, it has provided for the " town system," seemingly for the purpose of bringing within the reach of every child of every class an opportunity for acquiring a good common school education.
CHAPTER XV.
THE PRESS OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
The Early Press - First Paper in Rutland County - Sketch of its Proprietor - The Second Paper - The Rutland Herald - Sketches of Matthew Lyon, Judge Samuel Williams and Dr. Samuel Wil- liams - Succeeding Proprietors of the Herald - The First Daily Paper in the County - The Rural Magasine - Other Rutland Journals - Newspapers of Fairhaven - Poultney Journals - Castleton Journalism - Brandon Newspapers - Danby and Wallingford Journals.
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N a few years more the press of this county will have reached its centennial birthday. The press of this country has always closely followed in the steps of the pioneer and grown up side by side with the early school and church. To this fact we may reasonably attribute a considerable share of the general intelligence of our communities.
The press of Rutland has ever held a commanding position in the affairs of the community, county and State, and some of the leading citizens have been at one time and another connected with newspaper work. Some have been men of marked ability, ranking high among their fellows, and occupying posi- tions of importance. The several newspapers established in Rutland have in the main received a fair support during their existence, but a large majority " had their brief day, " and retired from one cause or another, or the misfortunes of their publishers. The first paper printed in Rutland was established by Anthony Haswell, and was called the Herald of Vermont or Rutland Courier.
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It made its first appearance June 18, 1792, and when the fourteenth number was printed ready to be distributed the ensuing Monday a fire, on Sabbath evening, September 21, 1792, destroyed the office and most of the edition. The Legislature, which he met in Rutland a few weeks afterward, granted the unfortunate publisher a lottery, by which he was allowed to raise £200 as a compensation for his loss, from which, however, he never derived any pecuniary benefit.
Anthony Haswell was a prominent figure in Vermont in the latter part of the last century. He was born at Portsmouth, England, April 6, 1756, and came to Boston when about thirteen years of age, and served his apprentice- ship as printer with Isaiah Thomas. He established the Vermont Gazette at Bennington, June 5, 1783, which he continued with brief interruptions during his lifetime. In 1784 Vermont, then an independent government, established post-offices at Bennington, Rutland, Brattleboro, Windsor and Newbury. Anthony Haswell was appointed postmaster-general, with exclusive powers, his commission bearing date March 10, 1784. He held the office until the ad- mission of Vermont into the Union in 1791. He died at Bennington.
On the Ist day of April, 1793, James Lyon began the publication of the Farmer's Library or, Vermont Political and Historical Register. Although its name was so formidable, the size of the sheet was not very pretentious. Under the heading of the paper was the following: " A Political and Histori- cal paper, by John J. Lyon ; published every Monday near the State House, Rutland." I
Mr. Lyon's salutatory is of sufficient interest to warrant its insertion here ; it reads as follows : -
" The editor, having obtained subscriptions equal to the support of the pub- lication, returns his thanks to his patronizers for their encouragement, and pur- poses, under the auspices of the literati of Rutland and its vicinity, to supply them with a News Paper that shall merit the title ascribed to it. - He regrets, however, the present impossibility of obtaining paper of a suitable size, and is determined to enlarge it as soon as possible.
"Not having a correspondence established with foreign printers it will not be in his power to furnish much foreign intelligence until the third or fourth number, until which time it is hoped the public will suspend its opinion of the publication.
"Being about to establish a regular Post from Rutland to Windsor, who will have a direct communication with the eastern mail, we shall soon have a regular chain of early intelligence from that quarter."
How eloquently this brief editorial speaks of the limited communication with the outer world enjoyed by the early inhabitants of the town !
1 It has been repeatedly stated in various prints that this paper was first published in Fairhaven, either by Matthew or James Lyon. The facts are correctly stated above, being taken directly from the first number of the paper itself, which is in possession of Albert H. Tuttle, esq., of Rutland.
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THE PRESS OF RUTLAND COUNTY.
The ownership and editorial control of this paper (which soon passed to other hands) has been ascribed to Matthew Lyon ; it is more than probable that he did edit the sheet or, at least, had much to do with it during the period when it was published by his son, James. The Lyons were from Fairhaven, where James advertises " writing paper manufactured at Fairhaven, " in the Herald in 1794. The paper in question was printed for about eighteen months, when on the 29th of November, 1794, it was purchased by Judge Samuel Wil- liams and Rev. Samuel Williams, LL.D., the Vermont historian, and the name changed to The Rutland Herald or, Vermont Mercury. In the first number the proprietors announced that " as we have purchased of Mr. Lyon, editor of the Farmer's Library, the Printing Office, Apparatus, and privileges annexed by law to his Paper, it will for the future be carried on by the sub- scribers, with the above title, under the direction of Dr. Williams. The price of the Herald will be nine shillings per annum to those to whom we send the paper ourselves; seven shillings and sixpence to those who call at the office and take them. " 1
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