Worcester County, Massachusetts - Chapter 183, 1889

Bv Edward B. Glasgow, A.M.

to instruct the youth " was made at a town-meeting held in December, 1725. Worcester was then, as it might be said, but just established ; for though some lands had been granted in this vicinity as early as 1657, various accidents, including the two wars of " King Philip '' and Queen Anne, had prevented any permanent settlement until 1713.

The persons who had failed to obtain the writingmaster in 1725 were not dispirited thereby; for a few months later, at a town-meeting, it was voted that the selectmen provide a sufficient school. Nevertheless, the end was not yet accomplished. In December, 1726, the question being raised again at a town-meeting, it was decided not to have a school. The great question would not, however, settle itself in so easy a manner. It arose once more in May, 1727, and a committee was named to provide a schoolmaster for one year. This would seem a substantial settling of the matter ; and in January, 1728, as we find it recorded, the town granted sixteen pounds, ten shillings to pay the schoolmaster, but it also then authorized the assessment of other moneys to meet a penalty. The committee of May, 1727, had not attended to its duty, and no school had been set up ; but the men of Worcester, hard-headed and positive, after the fashion both of Puritan and Saxon, were not thus to be trifled with. Certain citizens made complaint, and the town was " presented " by the Grand Jury for not providing a school. In consequence, the inhabitants of Worcester had to pay the charges of the legal process, viz., two pounds, eight shillings, six pence. This drastic remedy for neglect seems to have worked a cure; for thereafter the records, by direct or indirect mention, show that a school or schools were habitually maintained.

By the year 1731, there being then one hundred householders, as it is believed, it would seem that the needs of the town in respect to schools had much increased. Not only a schoolmaster was provided, but it was voted that a number of " school dames, not exceeding five," should be employed for the benefit of the small children in the remote parts of the town. This was the beginning of a custom, not then nor for many years afterward legalized, of employing women as teachers. It was supposed that a schoolmaster could be a man only, and that the term, as found in the laws, had no inclusive meaning as regards the feminine side of humanity. But common sense and the general convenience at last wrought a change in the interpretation of the law. The early schools of course were migratory, going here or there as circumstances might permit, having no fixed place and no exclusive building. The town seems to have thought itself rich enough in 1733 to build a schoolhouse, and provision was made for a very modest structure, " twenty-four feet long, sixteen feet wide," to be placed near the centre. The committee in charge of this matter moved with such slowness, that full five years passed before the building was raised; and, meanwhile, the formerly effective remedy of presentment by the grand jury was again tried, but for a somewhat diiferent reason. In 1736 the town was presented for not maintaining a grammar school, and in 1738 the prosecution was still continuing. We do not learn how many pounds, shillings and pence the neglect cost the town this time, but apparently the honest tax-payers were much stirred up, for they voted May 15th of the last-named year that a schoolhouse be erected " as soon as may be," at a place indicated on John Chandler's land. This little democracy had, however, like all democracies the world over, the custom of often changing its mind ; accordingly, a month later, it was voted that the schoolhouse be built at another spot, viz. : between the court-house and the bridge below the fulling-mill. Here, at last, at a point east of the old court-house, in what is now Main Street, the much-desired schoolhouse was erected.

With the advance of the town in material prosperity, the desire to improve the schools went along apace. The sums appropriated seem of course petty to us, who are accustomed to the lavish expenditure of these days. In 1745 the sum allowed seems to have been one hundred and ten pounds, which, in purchasing power of the necessaries of life - for the luxuries had not yet reached the colonies - migiit be said to equal five times that sum at the present day. In a community of one hundred and fifty households such a sum, i. e., £550, or $2750 would not now be thought a mean appropriation for public education. In this year also a somewhat complete scheme of operation for all the schools was reported by a committee, consisting of Jonas Rice, Daniel Heywood, Benjamin Flagg and Ephraim Curtis, whose plan was of such public-spirited sort as to warrant the giving here of their names. Their proposition was that the famili.s living in the outskirts should have the use of their own school money as paid by them, and that the families in the centre should make up, by subscription or in some other way, a sum which, with their share of the tax, should be sufficient to maintain a grammar school (what we now call a High School) in the centre. It was proposed also that the families remote from the centre might send any of their children to the grammar school without paying therefor, and the outlying families were divided into rows, quarters or skirts, as they were indifi'rrently called. No action in the way of approval was taken upon this report. It was doubtless too liberal in its scope to meet the favor of men who, in order to live at all, must live with a degree of economy that closely approaches penury. Yet it had an eff'ect, for we find the town two years later voting to allow the quarters that shall keep schools their proportionate share of the tax, and two years later yet, in 1749, a committee, raised for the purpose, reported several localities in the outskirts where school-houses might be suitably buiUt. Thus things went on in the new settlement with slow but manifest improvement. We may imagine the situation, if we will. In a valley not far from a mile wide, and on a ridge of land lying parallel therewith, was scattered the new and straggling town. It was as nearly as may be a homogeneous community, there being little intermixture of other strains w'ith the original English type. As early, indeed, as 1718, some families of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians had come to settle in the new town - a class of people whose characteristics were not unlike those of the previous settlers, though their traditions and point of view were distinctly different. It would seem that these two sets of people should have readily assimilated ; and indeed, after a few of the more strenuous Presbyterian families had moved away to New Hampshire, being provoked thereto by the destruction, under cover of night, of their partly-built meeting-house, the remainder grew together with the rest of the settlers, and were among the most useful of the citizens. With the exception of this admixture, the town of Worcester was as purely English as any in old England, and so continued well into the present century. That it was a community deeply religious is true ; it but it was a religion not of the Puritan type, however harsh was its exterior. To be industrious, orderly, decently religious, with education enough, seems to have been their notion of a good life, as different from our modern freedom as from the too close-fitting habits of the Puritan days. The forest that topped the hills was primitive, the intervales were virgin to the plough, the world was far away, whether of fashion or governmental authority. Labor and thoughts of peace made up the daily round, except as occasionally some straying Indian, begging for a bit of food, led to a recital of the dangerous times of old. So the village throve, its peaceful annals unbroken by any greater disturbance than the petty differences of the town-meeting.

When the summer of 1755 came on, the minister, the Rev. ThaddeusMaccarty, bethought him, as usual no doubt, to go to the Commencement at Harvard College. This annual pilgrimage, as to a Mecca, every good minister, especially if a son of Harvard, made as a matter of course. Beside his errand of pious reverence to the shrine of culture, the reverend minister had another commission of particular moment. The grammar school at Worcester needed a teacher, and Mr. Maccarty was given authority to find a suitable person. Among the graduates of that summer was one, who seems to have attracted the approving notice of the Worcester clergyman, for he forthwith engaged him for the post. This youth of twenty was no other than John Adams, afterward President of the United States, and the first of a family distinguished for essential greatness. What Mr. Maccarty thought of the young man whom he had employed, and whom he had frequent opportunities afterward to observe, would be interesting to know ; what young John Adams thought of the Reverend Maccarty, as well as of several of his chief parishioners, may be read at length in the diary and letters that form part of the second volume of his works, edited by his grandson, Charles Francis Adams. It is not amiss to delay in the course of our sketch, in order to speak briefly of these things. Mr. Adams says of himself that he was " somewhat remarked as a respondent " at the Commencement, and that he was not twenty years of age when he set out for Worcester to be a Latin master. He was sent by the selectmen to board with Major Nathaniel Greene, in whose house he found a book on moral philosophy. He soon learned that the principles of deism had made some progress in this vicinity, and was gratified thereat, for he himself had grown in a liberal soil. However dull the town may have been, he seems to have found men to his taste among the inhabitants. Major Greene told him - in a prosy way - that the matters of the divinity and resurrection of Jesus Christ are very mysterious. Doubtless, Adams was too polite to do more than yield assent to bis elder, but he entered in his diary that "mystery is a cover for absurdity." At Major Chandler's they talked of religious things also, and seemed to be agreed that liberal thoughts and good men are the world's need. When he took tea with the eminent lawyer, Attorney-General James Putnam, the talk turned again on such things, and Mr. Putnam remarked that the early Christians seemed to him enthusiasts, - an opinion upon which the diarist makes no comment. The occupation of teacher, no doubt, drew upon the spirits of the future great man. Writing to his friend Cranch in Boston, he speaks of the dreadful solemnity of the pedagogue on bis throne, of the cringing multitude before him, and declares himself glad when he can escape from the scene to smoke his pipe in quiet. The trade was not to his mind, and it is no surprise to find that he shortly began the study of the law with Mr. Putnam. It appears that he continued to be the schoolmaster for three years, when, having been admitted to the practice of the law, he removed from Worcester to Boston.

During several years following the mastership of John Adams things pertaining to schools in Worcester went on, as we may suppose, in a somewhat humdrum fashion. There was a committee for the Centre, and another for the quarters, and what was necessary got itself done in some way. In November, 1759, the inhabitants of Baggachoage (Packacho'ag) petitioned for the privilege of hiring a schoolmaster, to be approved by the selectmen, so that they might have school kept all the year. It does not appear whether the petitioners proposed to tax themselves an additional sum for this purpose. If they did, so reasonable a request could hardly be neg'atived. It is, however, not unlikely that the town was fearful of allowing what might be a precedent for all the other quarters, and preferred to ' snub the over-topping Baggachoage people. At all events the proposition did not meet favor. The time was approaching, however, when private enterprise was to come to the assistance of the public in matters of education. Such a period is inevitable as a community grows prosperous. Certain of the more conspicuous citizens, men of cultivation, according to the standard of the day, desiring, no doubt, better advantages for their families, as well as the common good, asked and received, in the year 1763, permission to erect a school-house on the town land where the selectmen might approve. Among the petitioners were James Putnam, referred to above, and the distinguished Judge John Chandler. A building was accordingly set up on a part of the land held for ministerial uses, eastward from Main Street, and not far southerly from what is now Foster Street. It was a modest building, having but two rooms in its single story. It is difficult to think that, as a specimen of educational architecture, it was any great improvement on the iittle school-house between the courthouse and the bridge. Such as it was, it was, doubtless, sufficient, and by the judicious control which its proprietors exercised, the confidence of the townspeople was gained. We find the evidence of that in the following record :

1709, March 17tb. A Com. on Schools report: That they Lftve proposed to the proprietors of the Grammar school that the town allow said proprietors £10 the current year, said proprietors engaging that the said Grammar school shall bo free for all persons in said town desirous of learning the languages (who shall) be admitted by said proprietors to have the same privileges and upon the same terms in said school, as the children of said proprietors, which proposals the said proprietors have accepted-and your committee are of opinion that the method of keeping English school in said town (should bo) each part of the town draw the money they pay toward the whole sum raised the current year, and each have their proportion of the interest money belonging to said school - to be kept in the several parts of the town in such season of the year as shall be agreed on by the major part of said quarter. Your committee have divided the town into eight parts :

This report was favorably received, and the division into parts or quarters was thereafter followed as proposed. The system thus inaugurated was the same, substantially, as was urged twenty-four years before, by the committee of Jonas Rice and others. From the terms used, we may infer that a Grammar School meant then the same as we now understand by High School. The "grammar" was that of Latin and Greek, referred to as " the languages," and the English, or non-language-teaching schools, were distinctly set off from the Grammar Scliool. This was, of course, the popular and ordinary use of the terms. The words "high school" were probably not then used, except in a pleasant derision ; and they are not found in the laws of the Commonwealth, in their present meaning, until a very recent time. Common usage has given them a special and accepted significance; and the term "grammar school" has been

The troublous times of the War of the Revolution being now not far distant, the signs of coming disturbance were only too apparent to reflective minds.

Life, however, went on with that calmness, which is so marked a characteristic of English-speaking communities. The farmer ploughed, the artisan wrought, the trader continued his trading. Townmeetings, often of a peppery sort, were held as usual, and in none of them was the care of the schools slighted. Moneys were appropriated, committees named; the Grammar School and the rest were matters of concern, while all men talked of war and feared the worst. The customary annual appropriation for schools was, as it had been for a generation, about £100.

Before he has found himself a reason for this sudden doubling of the amount, he is surprised to observe that in the next year £600 are appropriated. In 1780 the amount increases, without comment, to £3000, and in 1781 the ipunificent sum of £4000 is appropriated. This extreme lavishness in a country village is inexplicable, until we remember that these sums were payable in the swiftly depreciating Continental money. The appropriation, thus expanded forty times in volume with the years of war-time, suddenly becomes again, in 1782, a plain £100.

Peace was at hand; the Continental money, instead of appreciating, had become entirely worthless, and presumably the £100 were made up of hard money that had been hidden away in stockings and corners l)y the thrifty villagers.

It is probable, nevertheless, that no little disorganization crept into the schools during these years of uncertainty and the critical times that followed. The town was presented once more by the grand jury, in 1785, for not maintaining a Grammar School. The semi-public Grammar School, erected on town land in 1763, was doubtless in operation ; but some unreasonable tax-payers would insist on the town giving them Latin and Greek in its own schools.

To meet the wishes of these complainants, or, more strictly speaking, to save the town further trouble, it was decided that the committee should agree with the proprietors of the Grammar School now keeping ; bargain with them, in fact, to instruct all who might come at the town's charge. No mention of further presentment of the town occurs ; and we may infer that, henceforth, Worcester had always a public school at which any aspiring youth might fit himself for Harvard College, according to the requirements then made. These may be found in " The Laws, Liberties and Orders of Harvard College" as follows:

" When any scholar is able to read TuUy, or such like Latin author, extempore, and make and speak true Latin in verse or prose, suo, ut aiuni, Marte, and decline perfectly the paradigms of nouns and verbs in the Greek tongue, then he may be admitted into the College ; nor shall he claim admission before such qualification."

The constant desire for proper means of education led to the building, some years before the close of the last century, of another and more pretentious schoolhouse. That before referred to as owned by an association of proprietors was of too small capacity, and, indeed, had now been put to other uses than it was meant for. A new undertaking was engaged in, not unlike the former. Elijah Dix, Joseph Allen, Levi Lincoln, John Green, Palmer Goulding and other citizens, having formed a stock company, erected a building, which contemporary writers describe with much appearance of pride. It stood on the west side of Main Street, at a point some two hundred feet north of what is now the head of Central Street, and on the spot covered by the Chadwick Building. The structure had two large rooms below, one for a grammar and the other for an English school ; while above was one large hall, intended for occasions of display and exhibition. In the great hall there was a fire-place at each end, and on the roof was placed a cupola and bell. This building, smaller than thirty that Worcester has to-day, became the boasted "centre school-house." In 1801 the proprietors sold it to the inhabitants of the Centre District, by whom it was used for more than forty years.

During the first quarter of our century the affairs of the schools went on somewhat listlessly, yet with apparent increase of usefulness. The moneys appropriated grew from thirteen hundred dollars in 1803 to twenty-five hundred dollars in 1824, but there was evidently need of the intelligent control of a special or expert committee. Such committees as were from time to time raised were in earnest, but their sphere was limited and their advice held cheap. Thus the committees frequently advised that the grammarschool should be no longer a "moving" school, but fixed ; but so practical a suggestion was long disregarded, and the peripatetic policy seems to have been followed until 1810 or later. In fact, the administration of the schools was a part only of the general management of town affairs. The selectmen, or such special committee as might be named, directed all things. Under this system the schools were likely to and did receive the same attention as any other town matter required by the general laws. Some thoughtful persons must have seen the need of expert control of the schools, and must have often reflected that the democracy of the town-meeting were not likely to permit any interference with the domain of their selectmen. If A, B, C or X could order the matters of the town roads, the town pound, or the town pump, why could be not also direct the schools? To this question silence was the easiest answer. A community usually escapes from a period of mediocrity by some seeming accident that puts the right persons in authority. So it happened in Worcester, and the occasion which led directly to a most important advance, arose at a school-meeting of the Centre District, held in 1823. A committee was constituted to report in general what the schools required. The membership' of this committee was of an order much beyond the common. There were Samuel M. Burnside, a lawyer of distinction ; Rev. Aaron Bancroft, a learned minister, father of the historian ; Levi Lincoln, also a lawyer and a man marked for greatness ; Otis Corbet and Samuel Jennison. These gentlemen were able to agree on a report of important character and to secure its adoption by the people of the district. The essence of their report lay in the third recommendation as follows:

In tlie third place, Your Committee recommend, that a board ot twelve overseei-s be cliosen annually by ballot, \vho86 duty it shall be, in conjunction with the Selectmen, to determine upon the ciualiflcations of instructors and to contract with them for their services; to determine upon the attainments of scholars to be admitted into said schools respectively; to prescribe the course of instruction therein, and all necessary rules and regulations for the government thereof ; to determine upon all complaints of instructors, of parents or of scholars, which may arise in relation to said schools, or either of them ; to visit and examine said schools respectively, at stated periods during the year ; to encourage, in every suitable manner, both instructors and scholars in the performance of their relative duties ; and to make a report in writing annually to the District, of the condition of said Schools during the period of their office.

The recommendations of this committee, being once put into effect, made the schools and their management by overseers almost a co-ordinate branch of the government with all the other affairs of the town as ordered by the selectmen. Samuel M. Burnside, chairman of this committee, being sent a few years later to the General Court, laid before that body a scheme for the control of schools similar to this, embodying it in a general law. The Legislature passed the bill, and thus was established that iwperium in imperio, which the school system of the Commonwealth is to-day.

The limits set for this sketch will not permit any detailed statement of the operations of the schools. The eminent men who constituted the committee of 1823 became forthwith, with one exception, members of the Board of Overseer?. That abounding interest in the public weal which had inspired their recommendations equally animated them in the application of the system. From year to year their names appear in connection with school affairs, but more particularly those of Aaron Bancroft and Samuel M. Burnside. In 1825 the good minister, desirous no doubt of a little innocent pageantry, which should at once arouse the youth and please the eye of the elders, proposed that there should be an annual address before the assembled schools, each with its teacher at its head. It was to occur at the end of the scholastic year, was to be in some church, was to be on the importance of education, and should be followed by prayer. The proposition was acceptable to the overseers, and the first of a long series of addresses was made by Mr. Bancroft himself. The address in the following year was by Mr. Burnside. This agreeable mode of ending the year's work continued for some ten years, during which time several of the most eminent citizens of Worcester did duty as orators of tlie day. In the number were the Rev. Alonzo Hill, Isaac Davis, Alfred D. Foster, John S. C. Abbott, Stephen Salisbury, Ira M. Barton and William Lincoln. A custom so innocent and profitable might well have been continued indefinitely, but it is probable that the increasing number of pupils made it inconvenient to assemble them in one place. At all evrents, the annual address seems to have been last given in 1836, at which time there were said to be twelve hundred pupils in the schools. The sum expended for school uses in that year was about five thousand dollars, and the number of teachers was thirty.

The Centre School-house, in due time, was found too small for the uses required of it. It was decided, therefore, to erect a separate building for the grammar or Latin department. Accordingly a brick schoolhouse, the first one in town, was built in 1832 on Thomas Street, at the corner of Summer Street. This was, specifically, the " Latin school for boys," the girls yet receiving their higher tuition, which did not in general include the languages, in the Centre Schoolhouse.

The pupils of the Latin school who yet remain have very tender recollections of Charles Thurber, who was the principal during several years ending in 184:0. He was a true teacher of the type of fifty years ago, severe, exacting, learned, yet withal lovable. Elbridge Smith, a later princi)>al, was also a revered teacher, and remained with the Latin school until, and after, it was merged with the coming High School.

It was a very important step in the history of the Worcester schools when, in 1844, it was decided at a town-meeting to establish a " High School," in the modern sense, sufficient for the needs of one hundred and seventy-five pupils, and intended for the use of the whole town. Many persons had doubted the expediency of affording to girls the same advantages of a classical education as were given to boys. That doubt was laid aside by this time, and a building was projected on a liberal scale, to be styled the " Classical and English High School," and used for both sexes. Twelve thousand dollars were appropriated for the purpose, and a suitable structure was raised at the west corner of Walnut and Maple Streets. It was a brick building, with a basement for general uses, and two stories above, with three large rooms on each floor. Those on the first floor served for the English High School, those above for the classical departinen . This school met the wants of the growing city fur almost a generation ; but in the years of unusual prosperity that followed the War of the Rebellion it was found too small. The building was, therefore, moved, as it stood, across Walnut Street to the north side, where it yet remains in use as a grammar school. Many of the most cherished recollections of the men and women now of ripe age in the city are tied up with this old building. Elbridge Smith, coming from the Thomas Street Latin School, was the first princijjal. Of those who served as principals or assistants, mention may be made of several who afterward became distinguished. Such are Nelson Wheeler, later a professor of Greek in Brown University ; George P. Fisher, now professor in Yale University; James M. Whilon, eminent as a Greek scholar, and Daniel H. Chamberlain, Governor of South Carolina in the troublous times of reconstruction.

In 1848 the town of Worcester, leaving its village life, became a chartered city. There were then fiftytwo teachers, something less than three thousand scholars, and the annual expenditure was about fifteen thousand dollars. All the powers and duties of the several school districts and their overseers now passed into the control of a School Committee, of which the mayor is, ex-officio, the head.

The present High School building was dedicated to public use in the year 1871. The need of greater accommodation having long been apparent, it had been suggested that the old building be taken for other uses and a suitable structure erected. After some J ears of delay the matter was approved by the School Committee, and their report, accompanied by a petition signed by more than a thousand citizens, was laid before the City Council. This body, by its committee on education, forthwith entered on the duty of erecting a building which, it was hoped, would answer the public needs for many years. The old building, as has been said, was removed, and the new one put on the same lot, but a few feet farther west. The city was then passing through an era of great prosperity, and the views of the committee in charge of the work were of a liberal order. It is not to be doubted that the comprehensive mind of the then mayor, James B. Blake, largely shaped the plans that were adopted. By a happy fortune the preparing of a design was entrusted to Mr. H. H. Richardson, who, though then but little known, was soon to achieve fame as America's great architect. He was the junior of Gambrill & Richardson, architects, of New York. In this early work the breadth of treatment and leaning toward the classic, so characteristic of Richardson's later productions, are easily observable. To relieve the expansive front he proposed a square clock-tower, which, rising to nearly twice the height of the main building, sh uld end in a very graceful and slow-tapering spire. Four smaller spires, set on the corners of the chief structure, gave correspondence to the whole work. The material being brick, various colors were introduced, and to some extent a whitish sandstone, that harmonized well with the rest. This striking design was accepted, and the work committed to builders, the Norcross Brothers, who have since carried to completion many of the most remarkable works of this gifted man. The designer and the builder, the mind and the head, thus fitly came together. The building has three floors, on the upper of which is a large hall used for assembling, for general purposes, all the pupils. There are, beside this, nineteen lofty and well-lighted recitation or lecture-rooms, with proper accommodation for five hundred scholars. At the present writing the number in attendance is much beyond that, and it is plain that before many months other arrangements will need to be made. The original division into a classical and an English department is observed, and the course of study is such that a graduate is quite competent to make unlimited advance thereafter in the way of self-culture without recourse to any college. The modern languages receive special attention both as literatures and colloquially, and the instruction in physics, the general sciences and mathematics, is justly regarded as very good. From the classical department the pupils go with honor to a dozen different colleges. The present principal, Alfred S. Roe, an alumnus of Wesleyan University, has had charge of the school during eight years, and has the aid of an able corps of teachers. They are twenty-two in number, - nine men and thirteen women, - sixteen being graduates of college, and all of some collegiate training.

The interest of the people in the High School is well indicated by the many gifts which liberal citizens have made from time to time for the purpose of adding to its eificiency or beauty. At the opening of the old High School building, in 1844, Stephen Salisbury purchased, for the use of the pupils, a set of philosophical apparatus that was very complete for the time. In 1859 Alexander H. Bullock, afterward Governor of the Commonwealth, established a fund for the purpose of giving medals annually to proficient students. This fund was later, by consent of the donor, changed to a fund for the benefit of the library and the purchase of apparatus. When the present building was dedicated other free-minded citizens gave a clock for the tower, a bell, bronze fountains and works of art. Of late years, too, the custom has become established for retiring classes to put on the walls, or in the lobbies of the building, some portrait or bust of famous men, of the ancient or modern days.

Many other noble gifts have been added, and a fine memorial tablet placed on the walls, testifying to the service of the High School boys in the armies of our country.

The present situation of the schools may be briefly described. The city owns over forty buildings, used exclusively for school-keeping, ranging from the elaborate High School to the humblest suburban school-house. These are valued, stating it roundly, at one million dollars. More than three hundred teachers are employed, and the total enrollment of pupils is over fourteen thousand. The expenditure for school purposes last year was two hundred and forty thousand dollars, being about one-fifth of all the taxes paid in the city. These figures are drawn from the annual report of 1887.

The care of the schools is vested, as before said, in the mayor and a committee of twenty-four persons. Each ward of the city has three members in the committee, the term of office being three years. One member is chosen by ballot at the annual election, in each ward, and thus no more than a third of the committee are new to the work at any one time.

Certain standing sub-committees are named by the mayor in January of each year. These consist of five or six persons each, and have certain special matters left to them. Thus, there are at present five standing committees, - i.e., on school-houses, on books and apparatus, on teachers, on appointments and on finance.

There are also minor committees of visitation, named by the committee on appointments, whose duties are specially to visit and oversee the doings of the school to which they are assigned. Thus, in theory, at least, every school has frequent visits by its special committeeman, and is also open to the calls of any and all members of the committee. Both the minor and the standing committees report their doings and recommendations to the full committee, at a stated monthly meeting.

It; would appear readily, from the foregoing, that the citizens chosen to these honorable and responsible duties are in daily close touch with the schools. But it is a truism that in these busy and material days few citizens are found able, even if willing, to give their time freely to the public concerns. It is therefore fortunate that the Commonwealth has provided a medium between the School Committees and the pupils, in the person and office of a superintendent of schools. The appointment of such an agent, being first authorized by law in 1854, has become habitual in all the larger towns of the State. Three men, before the present incumbent, have held that office in Worcester, viz.: Rev. George Bushnell, in 1858 ; Rev. J. D. E. Jones, during seven years up to 1865 ; and Col. B. P. Chenoweth, during two and a half years following the late war.

The present superintendent, Albert P. Marble, Ph.D., entered upon duty in October, 1868. He is a graduate of Colby University, and is, at present, president of the National Educational Association. During the twenty years of his service the cares of the office have more than doubled with the increase of the school population.

There was a time, fresh in our memory, when the duty of a committeeman, after the teacher had been engaged and sent to his work, was to attend at intervals, look important and ask a few hard questions. Everything else took care of itself.

To-day the superintendent of schools in Worcester is the chief of a' greaf bureau of administration. He is a director of hundreds and thousands who unite in work as he orders.

Far from being able frequently to visit one teacher after another, and supervise his or her particular mode of teaching, he must sit in the centre, and see that the great business goes on in all its departments. The danger is, that a " machine " will be created, and individuality of teacher and pupil be everywhere impaired. Such a result is especially to be feared where, as here, the schools being of necessity graded, the pupils go from one to another by stated examinations. A distinct effort to avoid this evil, and to promote originality rather than system, has been a characteristic of the present superintendence of the Worcester schools. Among the means to this end have been the frequent assembling of teachers iu conference, the urging upon them of private culture and the finding for pupils subjects of study or reading supplementary to the usual books, and designed to enliven their mental frame. In the matter of examination for promotion, while there is a formal exercise of that nature in the schools, both teacher and pupil are aware that the final test is the judgment of the teacher, based on daily notice of the pupil during the term past. Thus the much -complained -of strain of examination day, and the weeks before, is to a large degree avoided. Thus, too, the schools become a field of training for the many, and the average scholar, apt to be slow, is not made to suffer that the few brightest may shine forth.

A most useful adjunct to the public schools is found in the State Normal School. This is one of several schools established in different parts of the Commonwealth, in order to teach the teachers the art of teaching. It is doubtless true in this art, as in that of poetry, that the greatest is born, not made. Nevertheless, as it is possible to teach the elements of the poetic art, so it must be to show the moderately well-equipped scholar what it is to teach, though nature may not have given him the grand secret for himself The State Board of Education, by a resolve (of the General Court), which went into effect in June, 1871, were authorized and required to establish a Normal School in the city of Worcester ; and the trustees of the Worcester Lunatic Hospital were authorized and required to convey, for this purpose, a tract of land of not more than five acres, to be located by the Governor and Council, within certain limits. An appropriation of sixty thousand dollars was made, upon condition that the city of Worcester should pay the Board of Education, for the purposes named in the resoive, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars. This condition was promptly complied with. The tract was located by the Governor and Council September 2, 1871, and a few days later the conveyance was made by the trustees of the hospital to the Board of Education and its successors, in trust, as directed.

The Normal School was opened to pupils in Sepber, 1874, the present principal, E. Harlow Russell, then assuming charge. The tract of land taken was a part of what had been called Hospital Grove, on a hill of considerable height, and with ledges of rock cropping out here and there. The stone for the building was quarried on the spot, and a massive and sufficiently imposing structure prepared. From any part of the grove one looks down on the bee-hive of Worcester, where, within a stone's throw, every kind of industry, iu wood or iron, is pursued, and from the top of the building an extensive view may be had, ranging over several neighboring towns. The inner arrangements of the building are of a specially convenient and liberal sort, being devised by the principal, according to comfort and good sense.

The design uf the Normal School is strictly profession,!], that is, to prepare in the best 'possible manner the pupils for tlie worii of organizing, govoruiug and teaching the pnblic schools of the Commonwealth. To this end there must be the most thorough knowledge, tirst, of the branches of learning required to be taught in the schools ; second, uf the best methods of teaching these branches ; and third, of right mental training. The time of one course extends through a period of two years, of the other through a period of four yeais, and is divided into terms of twenty weeks each, with daily sessions of not less than Ave djiys each week.

The Studies of the two years' course are such as properly to fit the ordinary scholar for usefulness in the lower grades of the public schools, and a diploma to that effect is awarded. The four years' course being much more comprehensive, the student is required to take up Latin and French, with the privilege of German and Greek. During both courses very special attention is given to the science of education and the art of teaching, and the graduate goes forth a wellfitted teacher for any school whatever. The required age for admission, in young men, is seventeen years; in young women, sixteen years. If the applicant proposes to teach in the Massachusetts schools, his tuition and all text-books are free ; otherwise there is an annual fee of thirty dollars. The principal is ass'sted by seven accomplished teachers, and the number of pupils iu the last year was almost two hundred. Since the opening of the school there have been three hundred and forty-five graduates. A feature of the Normal School, which attaches it closely to the city public schools, is the apprenticeship .system, so called. This is described in the annual catalogue, as (bllows :

The student, after three terms, or a. year and a half in the Norma School, is allowed to go into one of the pnblic schools of the city of Worcester to serve as assistant to the teacher of that school ; to take part in the instruction, management and general work of teaching under the direction of the teacher ; and even to act as substitute for the teacher for an hour, a half-day or a day, at the discretion of the latter and with the approval of the superintendent. One student only at a time is assigned to any one teacher ; but each student serves iu at least three grades of schools in the course of his term of service, the duration of which is six months or half a school year. After finishing his apprenticeship the student resumes his course at the Normal Sclioul, speudinganotber half year there before receiving his diploma.

Regarding this system, it is not, of course, claimed that it is new. On the contrary, it is drawn from the experience of European countries. In its application here it has fully met expectation, and receives the constant approval of the School Committee. It should be said that the apprenticeship is voluntary - but those who look forward conscientiously to teaching are glad usually of the opportunity to see what they

The anniversary of the Normal School, with its ] accompanying address, is one of the most interesting occasions that the round year ofl'ers to Worcester residents. Among those who have made formal addresses have been William T. Harris, LL.D., Rev. Thomas Hill, D.D., Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, President G. Stanley Hall, now of Clark University ; Charles Dudley Warner, Professor E. S. Morse, of Salem, and John Fiske, of Cambridge. Thus is the graduate, ;is he takes leave of the still home of delightful study, cheered on his road to culture by the persuasions of ripe minds and bright wits.

Ii. Incorporated Institutions

College of the Holy Cross. - The inspiration to the founding of this institution came from the Right Reverend Benedict Joseph Fenwick, second bishop of Boston. It had long been a wish cherished by him to establish within his domain an institution for higher secular culture. The opportunity seemed to be at hand when, in 1842, the Rev. James Fitton, who had built a seminary for young men on the slope of Packachoag Hill, in Worcester, offered to give what he had there, with sixty acres of land, to the bishop. The site and the oflTer were altogether such SLS were desirable, and steps were at once taken towards the carrying out of the great project. The Fathers of the Society of Jesus, being asked to assume charge of the enterprise, did so in the autumn of 184.3. Rev. Thomas F. Mulledy was appointed president, and temporary occupation was made of the old seminary and other small buildings, pending the erection {which was at once begun) of an imposing structure of brick and granite. With few students, and amid much financial distress, the work was urged forward. In 1846 the founder. Bishop Fenwick, dying, his body was brought and laid in the small cemetery, almost within the shadow of the college. In 1849, a class being almost ready to graduate, it was thought well that a charter of incorporation be asked from the State, so that the customary degrees might be granted. The application was refused when laid before the General Court, but another expedient presented itself. The young men being certified as worthy of a degree, in whatever department, the Georgetown College, in the District of Columbia, granted them the corresponding degrees, and so continued to do for many years.

being almost entirely destroyed by an accidental fire. The loss was said to be fifty thousand dollars, with no insurance. Not enough remained of the buildings even to shelter the students, so that one hundred of thera were billeted in various friendly houses in tLe city on the night following the fire. This calamity led to a temporary suspension of the college, and many feared a permanent abandonment of the enterprise; but such was not the mind of its faithful friends. They came promptly to the rescue, money was contributed, new buildings begun, and in October of the year following Holy Cross was again ready to receive its students. During the fourteen months that had passed since the fire the students had scattered into many other institutions, and the number that ] returned was small. The opening was really a begin- I ning, as if on a new foundation. The college, however, ! throve and grew, though slowly, and began to gain, as i an institution, the favorable regard of many who were not Catholics. Among these was the great Governor, John A. Andrew. He visited the college in 1862, and attended the annual Commencement of the vear following. It would appear that he was much impressed with the value of the training given, for he personally suggested to the faculty the wisdom of again applying for a charter of incorporation. The Legislature of 1865, when a charter was asked for was found to be of different mind from that of 1849, and the much-desired instrument was obtained without opposition. It gives the faculty power to confer all such degrees as are usually conferred by colleo-es in the Commonwealth, except medical degrees.

The present situation of things at Holy Cross may be briefly described. One vast brick building, three hundred and twenty feet long, contains the lecture and recitation rooms, the library, chapel, dormitories for two hundred students, and the necessary apartments for the president and faculty. The president, Samuel Cahill, S.J., is assisted by a corps of twenty professors and instructors. The schedule of studies is in accord with that usually approved by the Society of Jesus, the course being ordinarily completed in seven years. The student is made familiar with the best Latin and Greek authors, while, side by side with these studies, goes a course in mathematics, extending to the highest branches. The modern languages receive special attention, as well as history in its manifold relations. In the last year of a student's stay he is especially trained in rational philosophy and the natural sciences. It is obvious that the product of study, as here pursued, is an exact and careful scholar, of high general culture. As might be naturally supposed, a considerable share of the graduates turn towards the priesthood, yet far the larger part are found to engage in the secular professions and in the varied employments of the day, whereby wealth and station may be secured. The Worcester Polytechnic Institute. - This institution originated in a fund of one hundred thousand dollars, given bj' John Boynton, of Templeton, in Worcester County. His purpose was to found a school, free to all residents of the county, wherein young men might learn, in addition to the ordinary subjects of study, some or all of the useful mechanic arts. The project commended itself to other men of philanthropic mind, and epecially to the Hon. Stephen Salisbury and the Hon. Jcbabod Washburn, both of whom added large sums to the original gift. The citizens of Worcester united also in a liberal subscription, so that, at length, the endowment amounted to nearly a half-million dollars. The institution was incorporated in 18G5, and the work of preparation so pushed on that in November, 1868, the doors were thrown open to students. The charter gave the name of the institution as " The Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science; " but this somewhat cumbrous title, however expressive of the founder's intention, was changed in 1887, by special act of the Legislature, to that given above. Two theories were entertained as to the proper scope of the school. Should it be chiefly a school of the manual arts, adding thereto some knowledge of the scientific side of -industrial processes ? Should it, on the other hand, be a school of science, adding, however, a sufficient manual knowledge to enable the student intelligently to direct or engage in industrial processes? Probably most persons expected the former theory to be adopted, and looked forward to the production of a class of skilled workmen, but the second view prevailed with the governing body of the institute, and remains to-day the policy of the school.

Charles 0. Thompson, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and a specialist in chemistry, returning from an examination of the best European polytechnic schools, was placed at the head of the faculty. He proposed a three years' course of study, afterward extended to four years, with a standard of s^cholarship higher than most young men who at first came for instruction could attain. The proportion of graduates was therefore small during several years, and some persons doubted if the aims of the principal were not unreasonable. Fortunately his views prevailed, though the future of the Institute was for several years ar matter of grave doubt. As the grade of scholarship required became known, more capable students presented themselves, and the weaker stayed away ; so that at length the high ideal was met, and the graduates began to be everywhere allowed the first rank among men of scientific ability. Professor Thompson retired from the post of principal in order to assume the organization of a similar institute at Terre Haute, Indiana, from which post he was soon unhappily removed by death. He was succeeded by the present principal. Homer T. Fuller, Pli.D., who assumed duty in 1883. The institute has now fifteen professors and instructors, and one hundred and fifty students. The buildings, used exclusively for instruction and practice, are four in number. BoyntoD

Hall contains the oflices of administration, the chapel, lecture, recitation and drawing-rooms. In the Washburn machine-shop, work is practically done in wood and iron, certain machines of which the institute has the control being sold to all parts of America. The Salisbury Labratory, a new building, contains the mechanical, chemical and jjhysical laboratories, and the lecture-rooms connected therewith. This building is a gift to the institute by Stephen Salisbury, who has also devoted to public uses a considerable piece of laud, the Institute Park. In a fourth building is the magnetic observatory, with special appliances for isolation and accuracy. The established course of study is mainl}' scientific, with competent instruction in the modern languages. Those students who purpose to become mechanical engineers are taught practically the art of construction, being required to devote a specified part of their time to practice in the machine-shop.

Schools like the Polytechnic Institute are obviously a result of the material development of our country. The world is over-grown with wealth, and all the wealth only stimulates to the discovery of new ways of adding to the accumulation. Mines must be opened, ores reduced by new methods, the secrets of chemistry laid open, bridges built where our fathers would have deemed it impossible, mountains burrowed, and canals constructed that the navies of continents may pass by short-cuts from one ocean to another. That all this may be best done, requires just the kind of man that may be found in the institute graduates. "Studies," said my Lord Bacon, " serve for delight, for ornament and for ability." At the institute, it may be said that they serve for ability. The careless young man, whose parents want him to get a taste of cultivation, finds this school uncongenial. The ordinary levity of student life has little lodgment, and ability to do has more weight than all other considerations. The graduate goes forth a capable director in the special industry he has chosen for himself, a good chemist, engineer, constructor, a cajitain of industry.

The Clark University. - Though favored much above most cities with the means of culture, Worcester is about to add to the existing institutions one of the greatest promise, not only for her own citizens, but for the country at large. Mr. Jonas G. Clark, a wealthy and liberal-minded man, announced two years ago his intention to establish a university, and to endow it to tlie extent, at least, of one million dollars. In response to a petition signed by him, and by Charles Devens, George F. Hoar, Stephen Salisbury, John D. Washburn, William W. Rice, Joseph Sargent, Frank P. Goulding and George Swan, a charter of incorporation was granted to the Clark University, with all the powers usually given. In May, 1887, the Board of Corporators was organized, with Jonas G. Clark, president, and John

D. Washburn, secretary. Steps were at once taken toward carrying out the project, and at this writing two very large brick buildings are almost finished, on land conveniently located in the southern part of the city. It is expected that students will be received ate of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, has been chosen president, and is now visiting, for the purposes of observation, various universities in several countries of Europe. What final shape as regards its scheme of work the Clark University will take, has not been made known. It is, however, presumed that the first object of the corporation will be to establish what the name signifies in its highest meaning, to wit : a school of liberal culture for men who have already completed the ordinary college course, or have otherwise acquired an equivalent thereto. With that accomplished, the establishing of under-graduate courses will be easy, if considered desirable.

The Hon. Charles Devens, justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth, presided on the occasion of the laying of the corner-stone of the principal building, October 22, 1887. The communication, then read, from the founder, contained these words :

Broad in its scope, liberal in its methods and comprehensive in its teachings, ... we dedicate this University to Science, Letters, Art and human progress, in their best and most valuable forms.

A university ... is a place where the highest instruction is to be obtained, . . . where libraries are to be found, which show the existing boundaries of human knowledge, and workmen and apparatus are found fitted and employed to e.xtend them. These institutions have ever been among the most beneficent forces in American history. . . . The University is the natural ornament, the bright, consummate flower of democracy. It is the greatest of all levellers. ... It is devoted to no sect or creed or statement of doctrine in which human presumption has sought to imprison the free spirit of truth, and to bar its onward pathway.

The Woecester Academy. - This school was projected, two generations ago, by persons of the Baptist faith, who desired an educational institute under their own control. After much conference, it was thought well to leave the organization with certain trustees, who in 1832 bought fifty-nine acres of land, with a building thereon, worth in all ten thousand dollars. This land lay, as then described, onehalf mile south of the village; as the city now is, it was east of Main Street, and on the high land extending from Lagrange to Hammond Streets. In 18.34 the institution was incorporated under the name of the " Worcester Manual Labor High School." Operations were begun then in earnest, and we learn by the catalogue of 1836 that there were in that year one hundred and thirty-five pupils in all, living in or attending the school. Isaac Davis was the president of the trustees, a post which he held until age and infirmity forbade him. Otis Corbett was then secretary, and Ichabod Washburn treasurer. It was intended that the pupils should, by manual labor, pay a part of their living expenses; but no labor, except on the farm, was convenient, and as the prices for all things furnished were very low, the school was in continual financial straits. In 1846 the Legislature permitted the name to be changed to the " Worcester Academy," and the notion of manual labor was then abandoned. In that year there were one hundred and eighteen students, who were charged for board $1.30 to $1.50 per week, according as they did not, or did, use tea and coffee. The total necessary expenses of a term of eleven weeks were from $23 to $29. Such were the statements of the annual catalogue.

Under the new name things went on somewhat as before. In 1850 the total of pupils for the year was one hundred and seventy-six, and preparations were made for a new building of brick, one hundred feet long and four stories high. But the work only involved the academy more deeply in debt, and a proposition to change the location met with favor, more especially as it had a savor of financial gain. It was. proposed to sell the lands of the academy, now appreciating in value, and buy, with the proceeds, the old Antiquarian Hall, it being then for sale. This was done in 18.54, and the school was moved without delay to the new place, on the corner of Belmont and Summer Streets. The academy had thus, as said the catalogue of 1856, a sufiiciently-equipped building, all paid for, and twenty-five thou>and dollars beside, profitably invested.

Under the new state of things more was doubtless expected than came to pass. The pupils no longer lived in the academy, but where it suited them, in or out of town, and thus, perhap.-i, the esprit de corps was, to some extent, injured. Young women were also then admitted to the academy, a policy which, in a modified degree, is pursued to the present day. But the aftairs of the school went on with reasonable efliciency until the time came for a more important change than the last. A large building and some acres of land were for sale on Providence Street. This had been (1850-53) a medical college, but afterward was used, first, for a ladi&s' collegiate institute, and then, during the war, for an army hospital. The trustees of Worcester Academy, having always a prudent financier in their president, bought this property in 1869 for the sum of forty thousand dollars.

The academy was forthwith moved to that spot, and there remains. The institution has never lacked benefits from its friends, although it has had times of severe pecuniary stress. To-day it is on a prosperous basis, the result of gifts made or pledged for its use, by friends in many parts of New England. Aside from the Hon. Isaac Davis, the most constant friend and contributor to the academy's funds has been the Hon. Joseph H. Walker, now president of the trustees. The present principal, D. W. Abercrombie, A.M., a Harvard graduate, has had charge since 1883. There are now eight teachers and one hundred and thirty students, most of whom live in the buildings. The academy has two courses of instruction, - a college preparatory and a scientific, in both of which the various liberalizing studies of our moJern days are carefully pursued.

Although the school is professedly under denominational control, it is contended that no limited views prevail in the management. The teachers are chosen from the graduates of several colleges, and the young men are likewise fitted for many different institutions. In view of its age and usefulness, the Academy is justly regarded with pride and interest by the citizens.

The Worcester Medical Institutiox. - This medical college was incorporated in 1849, chiefly through the efforts of Dr. Calvin Newton, a wellknown divine and physician. In 1850 and 1851 imposing buildings (now the Worcester Academy) were raised on land given by John W. Pond, and a full .course of instruction was established. The training was of the eclectic, Thompsonian or botanic order. There were fourteen graduates in 1851, and the future was bright, but difficulties arose that need not be detailed here, and the college ended its existence in a very few years.

Ladies' Collegiate Ixstitute. - This institution received a charter from the State in 1854. Its early status is not clear to one who investigates at this distance. It was held up as a project worthy the notice of wealthy philanthropists in February, 1855, though, doubtless, then a scheme only. The Rev. E. A. Curamings, signing himself " financial secretary," published a pamphlet detailing what was proposed, but which allows us to believe that the Collegiate Institute was not founded as yet. A later prospectus shows that the trustees had acquired the lands of the defunct medical hospital, of which possession was taken in 1856. Here was then set up a fully organized women's college, with power to grant degrees. It was, to some extent, befriended, if not directed, by persons of the Baptist faith. In 1857-58 there were in all one hundred and fifty pupils, for whom an elaborate course of study, linguistic and other, was provided. In 1860 the annual catalogue contained a cry for funds, as the income did not meet the outgo. Notwithstanding the appeal, matters did not improve with the institute, and it appears to have been closed soon after. The property entered upon a period of legal complications, from which it emerged to be bought by the trustees of the Worcester Academy, as before said.

Oread Collegiate Institute. - In 1848, Eli Thayer, having been before a teacher in the Manual Labor High School, established a seminary for young ladies. The name, Oread, was fancifully adopted from Virgil's line, " Hinc atque hinc glomerantur Oreades'' (Aen. 1,500), and had special reference to the woody hill on which the building was placed. The institution was incorporated four years later, with power to grant degrees, and presently gaiaed a high standing in the community. Its patronage and affiliations were mainly with the Baptist denominations, but with no purposed sectarian bias. The studies pursued were of a liberal order, with much that made for true culture. The Oread flourished for many years, and its doings were a conspicuous part of the social life of the city. After a varied history it at length fell into a stage of less prosperity, and the school has been of late discontinued. The picturesque building - a castellated structure of the olden time - still dominates from its height a good part of the city ; but its lawns and groves are giving place to rows of modern brick houses.

The antiquary, delving into musty records, will learn of Thomas Payson's seminary for young ladies, in 1791, and of the school that this same person undertook in 1795, "near Dr. John Green, Jr." He will find, also, that in 1805 Mrs. Nugent had an academy for young ladies. It appears, too, that in 1828 Samuel M. Burnside, spoken of before, projected a law school, but with what success is not clear. It is l^robable that his prospectus, preserved among the treasures of the American Antiquarian Society, was the beginning and end of his project.

In the year 1831 Rejoice Newton, Levi Lincoln, Isaac Davis, Pliny Merrick, Thomas Kinnicutt and others - eleven in all - wishing to establish a school for young women, bought the old Chandler mansion on Main Street, nearly opposite the head of Park, where now a large business block stands. A school was opened the next year, under care of Mrs. Wells, who was succeeded by John Wright. The undertaking, however, came to an end in a very few years, and left little trace of its usefulness. But the details of any of these projects, if at hand, would not overmuch interest us.

There are, to-day, several private schools, but only one which justly calls for mention here. Caleb B. Metcalf, M.A., who had for several years been master of the Thomas Street Grammar School, left it in 1856 to establish, on Salisbury Street, a school that presently developed into the Highland Military Academy. The institution yet flourishes, with promise of long usefulness, Mr. Metcalf having of late yielded the active control to Joseph Alden Shaw, M. A., head master. The Scholars received, being usually from twelve to sixteen years of age, live in the buildings and are under supervision. An established course of study prepares them for entrance to any college or similar institution, or for a general business life. The object of the mili tary department is to teach habits of promptness and a good carriage.

More than one thousand pupils have gone out from this institution, and they may be found in every State of the Union, exemplifying, in all lines of life, the training received at the academy.

Of the many institutions in the city not properly scholastic, but which aim at special culture in one way or another, it is not necessary to attempt detailed mention.