CHAPTER XV.
SCHOOLS.
in New England, ever since the first free school was established amidst the woods that covered the peninsula of Boston in 1636, the schoolmaster has been found on the borderline between savage and civilized life, often indeed with the axe to open his own path, but always looked up to with respect, and always carrying with him a valuable and preponderating influence. Next to the minister, ruling elder and magistrate, he was regarded with the profoundest respect; and when he walked through the Village, or rambled in the fields, with his head bowed down in meditation upon some grave moral question, or solving some ponderous sum, the boys dared never pass him without pulling off their hats. He was among the few who received the title of "Mr.," and stood next to the minister in the minds of the people; just as he does in Goldsmith's inimitable description in "The Deserted Village."
The school-boy's situation at that day was no sinecure. He was compelled to make many a deep indentation in his brain with the sharp points of sums in arithmetic not easy to do, and with sentences not readily subjected to the rules of grammar, and long words difficult to spell. Tough points in theology, seasoned with texts of
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scripture, and coupled with knotty questions of election, of faith, of works, and saving grace, formed a wholesome sauce to the more secular learning. Bits of practical philosophy, maxims that had been tested and found to be solid old English proverbs, scraps of experience pickled down in good attic salt; something of civil polity and political economy, reverence of gray hairs, and respectful treatment to woman, were among the things that he was obliged to learn. Rough he might be and often was, but stupid he could not be; for knowledge, and that of a kind not easily digested, was beaten into his skull as if by blows upon an anvil. Gentle or simple, he must submit to the same dry rules of application.1
Connecticut has long been distinguished for her common schools. The code of Laws established by the General Court in 1650 recognized their importance.
"It being one chiefe project of that old deluder Sathan to keepe men from a knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times keeping them in an unknowne tongue, so in the latter times by perswading them from the uce of Tongues, so that at least the true sence and meaning of the originall might bee clouded with false glosses of saint seeming deceivers, and that learning may not bee buried in the grave of or Forefathers, in church and common wealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors. It is there fore ordered by this Courte that every Townshipp within this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty householders, shall appoint one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him, to write and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in general."2
1 Hollister.
2 Trumbull's Colonial Records, Vol. I. p. 554.
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In 1677 a fine often pounds annually was imposed upon any county town that should "neglect to keep a Latin School according to order;" and upon any town in the colony that should neglect to provide a school for more than three months in each year a fine of five pounds was levied. In 1690 the schools in Hartford and New Haven counties were made free schools. The ancient records of Wallingford contain no allusion to the matter of public schools at an earlier date than 1678, eight years after the settlement of the village. On the twenty-seventh of November in that year it was voted in town meeting that
"The towne complyed with what ye select men motioned & consented for ye incouragement of such a schoolemaster as ye select men shall approve of to alow ten pounds a yeare and three pence a weeke for all schollers males or females from six to sixteene years ould so long as they goe to schoole."
It is quite evident that schools had existed long before; probably here as elsewhere, the school and the church took root together, and grew up with the first log cabin in the forest. For in Connecticut the schoolmaster has not been far off when the minister has been settled, and the school-house has been side by side with the church. Thus did our predecessors, like all the other founders of New England, develop a far-sighted religious wisdom, and a profound sagacity, which none of the princes and statesmen of this world knew. For all possible and conceivable ends had the power, blood and wealth of nations been squandered for thousands of years, except for the only true ends of the state, the formation and elevation of men. The fathers of New England designed to raise up religious and intelligent men. They alone ever conceived, or at least actually carried out, the
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scheme of educating the people. In this point of view, the everlasting pyramids, the matchless splendors of Babylon, the great masterpiece of architecture, St. Peter's, are less imposing and valuable than the log school-houses of primitive New England.
In 1680, Elijah Preston agreed to teach such children as should be sent to him for four months for ten pounds, and he "to find house-room, and the schollors wood." In 1684, the town granted £10 to the teacher out of the public treasury, and required the pupils to pay £5 in addition. In 1689, the town voted £5 for a school, and the next year £4. In 1691, the town voted that all the money for schools should be raised by those who sent children to school. October 4, 1693, the town voted to give, and did sequester all the land lying between the old country road and the old mill, including the mill-pond, to the use of the school. December 15, 1693, John Parker and Joseph Thompson were chosen a committee with instructions to employ a teacher; and £6 were appropriated for the maintenance of the same, part in winter, and part in summer. In 1694, they gave £6 to schools. In 1695, Eleazer Peck, John Parker, and John Moss, were chosen a school committee, and £6 were given for the use of schools. The same year the town authorized the committee to employ a woman to teach in summer, and a man in the winter. The next year £6 were appropriated to schools. In 1697, the care of procuring a school-teacher was given to the selectmen to procure one as cheap as they could, and to enquire about building a school-house. The town also decided that the school-house should stand in the street between John Moss's and Joshua Culver's. The same year they
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voted to forbear building the school-house, but in December following they decided that the school-house should be twenty feet long and fourteen feet wide, and to be built at the expense of the town. In 1698, it was voted that each pupil should pay a penny a week. In 1702, it was voted that a school-house be built, they having hitherto hired a room for that purpose. The same year at a Court of Assembly at Hartford, it was ordered that the respective constables of the towns in the colony should levy the sum of forty shillings upon a thousand pounds, and deliver it into the hands of the committee,
"Provided the said committees or select men will give them certificate under their hands of their receit of said money and improvement thereof for the maintenance of schools in their townes respectively according as the said law directs, which the said committees and select-men upon receit thereof are hereby required to doe."
In 1711, fifty acres of land and money were voted to schools. In September of the same year,
"Ye town voated that they would chous a commity to treet with ye Scool Master concerning his terms in order to a set-tolment & bring report to ye town. At ye same Metting Mr Henry Bates scool Master gave the following proposals Namely.
"Gontel Men. Upon second considerations I doe hereby propose that if ye town for incoragment will be pleased for to make sure and conferme to me fifty acres of land whar I shall care to take it up whar it is not already taken up; & let me have the improvement of ye old Mill pon so called and all other Lands that belongs to the scool and fifty pounds a year for ye time we shall agree upon the town appointing a commity to agree with me and all those that sends children
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to cast in thar mite towards purchaseing a horn steel and upon condition i may be yours to serve,
"henry bates.
"Att ye same meting ye town voatted thar accepttans of ye above sd proposell, and chose capt. Merriman, Sam11 Mun-son, sr. John Ives, for thair comitte to agree with ye sd scool mastter. December 24, 1713, ye town voated yt the money conserning ye scool Respecting chilldren shall be raised upon all ye children that live within a mille & half of ye scool hous, from six year old to teen, Whether they go to scool or nott."
If we were to judge by some of these records, there were among these teachers some who were but poorly qualified for their employments. They are well described by John Trumbull in his "Progress of Dulness:"
"He tries, with ease and unconcern,
To teach what ne'er himself could learn;
Gives law and punishment alone,
Judge, jury, bailiff, all in one;
Holds all good learning must depend
Upon the rod's extremest end,
Whose great electric touch is such,
Each genius brightens at the touch.
With threats and blows, excitements pressing,
Drives on his lads to learn each lesson;
Thinks flogging cures all moral ills,
And breaks their heads to break their wills."
Female instruction must have been greatly neglected, when the daughters of men who occupied important offices in the town and church, were obliged to make a mark for their signature. December 29, 1713, it was voted that all children between the ages of six and sixteen that reside within a mile of the school house, whether they go to school or not, and those who attend
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one week shall pay for half a year. And John Moss and Samuel Culver were appointed to see that the teacher keeps his hours. The next year it was voted that all the children that go to school shall pay two shillings a head, and all the rest to be paid out of the town treasury. To this the following persons dissented, viz.:
West side of the river." "john hodgkins, benjamin beach, thomas willshine, joseph parker, thomas brooks, joseph clark, nathaniel andrews, john parker, mather bellamy."
December 19, 1715, the following petition was presented at town meeting:
"The farmers residing on the west side of the river, to the town of Wallingford humbly show, that your neighbors have for some considerable time many of us dwelt remote from the town and under great disadvantage as to the great duty of educating our children, and the time allowed we wil keep a school according to law, and the bounds we desire is that West of the River as high as Timothy Turtles and Timothy Beache's, and we hope that you will grant our request, in consideration whereof we subscribe friends and our names,
"john hotchkiss, jacob johnson, joseph parker, john doolittle."
The request was granted, and the town was divided into two school districts in 1715. In 1719 they voted to have three schools, one over the river two months, and in the north part near Samuel Andrews', one month. In 1720, "every scholar that enters the school between the twentieth of September and the last of April, shall each
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bring half a load of wood, and if they fail, then they shall pay a fine of sixpence, to be looked out for by the committee." January 10, 1721, the town gave Mr. Bates, the schoolmaster, liberty to sit in the first pew in the front gallery of the new meeting-house. April 25 of the same year, "the farmers on the west side of the river, and the north farmers shall have the proportion of our schools, and this vote shall stand until the town see cause to alter it; "and a committee was chosen to see that it was carried out. December 11, 1722, one farthing was added to the pound for the benefit of teaching at the farms such as could not comfortably come to the town to the school, they paying poll money, the same as those attending in town.
About this time the management of schools was transferred to school society committees, by an act of the General Assembly. December 29, 1724, it was decided that a new school-house should be built in the lane where the old pound was; to be twenty-five feet long and twenty feet broad; and Lieutenant Moss, Sergeant Nathaniel Curtis and Henry Turhand were chosen a committee to build said house.
The school-house in what is now the Yalesville district was originally on the east side of the river, near the residence of Elijah Hough; and was not removed from there until about the year 1800, when a new school-house was built, and the bounds of the district changed and enlarged. The present school-house is the second one built on the site situated on the west side of the river.
The Union Academy1 in Wallingford was chartered
1 The term "Academy," which in England had been applied to seminaries of learning established by non-conformists, to distinguish them from
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in 1812, upon the petition of Samuel Cook, and for many years was in a flourishing condition. The academy building stood on the land now occupied by the house of Mrs. Samuel H. Dutton. In 1818, there were forty-five pupils. Our elegant Academies and highly improved schools are but the developments and natural growth of the early schools at Wallingford.
For a long time the only books in common use in district schools, were the "New England Primer" and the "Psalter." The edition most commonly used was entitled, "The New England Primer, improved for the more easy attaining of true reading of English. To which is added The Assembly of Divines, and Mr. Cotton's Chatechism. Boston, Printed by Edward Draper at his Printing Office in Newbury street and Sold by John Boyle in Marlborough street, 1777."1 This book contained a frontispiece of "The Hon. John Hancock, Esq., President of the American Congress," and a picture of John Rogers in the flames, and his wife and nine children looking on; also an illustrated alphabet beginning with
"In Adam's Fall
We finned all,"
and ending with,
"Zacheus he
Did climb the Tree
Our Lord to fee."
the schools and colleges of the Church of England, seems to have been applied, very naturally, by the sons of the Puritans to similar institutions in this country ; and though not confined to schools founded by Congregationalists, was generally applied to such. Some of these institutions ceased to exist after a few years, while others were merged in the higher departments of common schools ; but many of them were incorporated by the General Assembly, and became permanent educational institutions.
1 The first edition was printed by R. Pierce for Benjamin Harris at the London Coffee House in Boston, 1692.
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Arithmetic was taught in their common schools, the teacher only having a book, and writing the sums for the pupils, and showing them how to do them. "Dilworth's Spelling Book, or New Guide," was introduced in 1740. The author was an Englishman, and died in England in 1781. His book was for a time in common use. Trumbull alludes to it thus, in 1772:
"Our master says, (I'm sure he is right), There's not a lad in town so bright, He'll cypher bravely, write and read, And say his catechism and creed, And scorn to hesitate or falter, In Primer, Spelling Book, or Psalter."
Dilworth's "Schoolmaster s Assistant," or arithmetic, was published after his spelling book had been well received, in 1743. It was much used in Connecticut.1
The school ma'am taught the children to behave, to ply the needle through all the mysteries of hemming, over-hand, stitching and darning, up to sampler; and to read from ABC through the spelling-book to the Psalter. Children were taught to be mannerly and pay
1 The following books were in use in the schools of Connecticut at the various dates: Spelling Books: Dilworth's, 1740; Dyche's, 1750; Perry's, 1780; Webster's, 1802; Murray's, 1819. Arithmetics: Jeak's, 1713; Hill's, 1752; Pike's, 1786; Adams', 1802; Daboll's, 1814. Readers: Webster's Selections, 1785; American Preceptor, 1792; Columbian Orator, 1800. Geographies: Gordon's, 1708; Guthrie's, 1785; Morse's, 1790 ; Cumming's, 1813; Adams', 1815. English Dictionaries: Bailey's, 1745; Dyche's, 1750; Johnson's, 1759; Entick's, 1770; Perry's, 1783; Walker's, 1806. English Grammars: Salmon's, 1759; Lilly's, 1761; Webster's, 1785; Alexander's, 1797; Murray's, 1806. Latin Grammars: Garret-son's, 1704; Burr's, 1757; Adams', 1800; Biglow's, 1809. Latin Dictionaries: Ainsworth's, 1736; Cole's, 1743; Young's, 1762; Entick's Tyro Thesaurus, 1808. Greek Grammars: Vossius', 1700; Wettenhall's, 1739; Milner's, 1761; Valpy's, 1808. Greek Lexicon: Schrevelius, 1700 to 1774. Book-Keeping: Snell's, 1710; Perry's, 1777; Booth's, 1789; Turner's, 1800.
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respect to their elders, especially to dignitaries. In the street they stood aside when they met any respectable person or stranger and saluted them with a bow or courtesy, stopping modestly till they had passed. This was called making their manners. Peculiar reverence was paid to the minister. Bold was the urchin who dared to laugh within his hearing. That reverend personage was accustomed to catechise them once a month in the meeting-house, and to accompany the exercise with many a stern reproof or grave admonition.
The early schools were somewhat rude, and we may smile at their evident defects. But the world had never yet seen such men-so poor that they could not build a hut twenty-four by thirty feet; so harassed and perilled by a savage war that they went to their Sabbath worship armed with muskets, while night and clay their little village was guarded by block houses and patrols; and yet in that deep poverty and from their first day in the wilderness nobly sustaining the preaching of the Gospel and schools, virtually free to every child among them. The early settlers in the towns which composed the two original colonies of Connecticut and New Haven, came with their families and all the family relations existing from the first. They came with all the elements of the state combined in vigorous action, and with a firm purpose to make the then wilderness their permanent home. They came with earnest religious convictions, made more earnest by the trials of persecution. United in a common faith, bound together by strong sympathies and already organized in churches for religious improvement, it was in harmony with their circumstances that they should seek the intellectual and moral culture of their children.