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Matthew Cradock (search for this): chapter 1
e town rate, that is, the general tax, was only to supplement other sources of income; and it took many years to make apparent that tuition fees from the rich and free tuition for the poor made class distinctions too pronounced in a new society where in church and state all were equal. We must not forget, moreover, that Medford was small and poor and insignificant, enveloped literally and overshadowed by its larger and more prosperous neighbor, Charlestown. It was scarcely more than Governor Cradock's farm; and in 1700 its population probably did not exceed two hundred souls. In 1686 the county rate contained only fourteen names, and the whole number of polls in 1695 was but twenty-six. While the law passed by the Colonial Court in 1692 required every town of fifty householders to support a school for reading and writing, it was not till twenty-seven years later that Medford made any move to establish such a school. Lying so near Boston, we may feel certain that if she had had t
Martin (search for this): chapter 1
ic schools established in those places. The distance was not excessive, and the boys of those days did not shrink from such a daily walk as this would require. Moreover, the children of those days learned to spell work with a capital W, says Martin in his Evolution of the Public Schools of Massachusetts. If they came trailing clouds of glory, nevertheless the shades of the prison house began early to close about them, and long before they became men they must have perceived the vision spleived, when only the preacher and the politician, the doctor and the lawyer, needed to know more than to read and write; and when, if a girl knew how to spin and to rock a cradle, she had all the education that was good for her. Of the women, says Martin, whose names appear in the recorded deeds of the early part of the eighteenth century, more than sixty per cent. made their mark. In the management of the schools the ministers took a leading part; in fact, when laymen were joined with them as
Coote (search for this): chapter 1
In the management of the schools the ministers took a leading part; in fact, when laymen were joined with them as visitors and examiners, the ministers looked upon it rather as an impertinence. The school was opened and closed with prayer, and when the minister visited the school he never neglected to pray with the children. No one but a church member would have been allowed to keep a school, and no one not a church member would have presumed to do so. Perhaps the following lines from Coote's English Schoolmaster, a famous manual of that day in England, may have been the substance of the School Rules and Regulations: The schoolmaster to his scholars. My child and scholar, take good heed Unto the words that here are set, And see thou do accordingly, Or else be sure thou shalt be beat. First I command thee God to serve, Then to thy parents duty yield; Unto all men be courteous, And mannerly in town and field. Your clothes unbuttoned do not use; Let not your hose ungartered
Early Medford (search for this): chapter 1
ery few, but they sufficed. Reading, writing, and the fundamental operations in arithmetic—the three R's—were all that found a place in the course of studies in those early schools. I will spare my readers an enumeration of the things we are expected to study and teach to-day. Beginning about 1750, at each annual meeting, after voting the minister's salary, the town immediately votes to provide a school for the ensuing year. These were the first matters attended to. Evidently the education of their children was coming to the front. And as we approach 1776, although the records throb with drumbeats and glisten with bayonets, there are no indications of any failing of that deep interest which from that day to this Medford has ever shown in her public schools. The last warrant for town meeting issued in his majesty's name was dated March 6, 1775, signed by Richard Hall, Town Clerk. Thus early it would seem the people of Medford were beginning to dream of complete independen
John Willis (search for this): chapter 1
ee. At another meeting, held on November 30, the same year, the town voted to have a school kept in the house of Thomas Willis, the ensuing winter, and a committee of three men, consisting of Engn Jno. Bradshaw, Capt. Ebenezer Brooks, and Mr. John Willis, was chosen to agree with some suitable person to keep a writing and reading school in town three or four months the ensuing winter, and to make return of their doings to the town at the next town meeting. We note in the action at this meetvoted to choose a committee of five men to select a site for a school-house to accommodate the whole town, and to report at the next meeting in March. This committee consisted of Capt. Peter Tufts, Dea. John Whitmore, Capt. Ebenezer Brooks, Mr. John Willis, and Mr. John Richardson, but no report of their doings appears on the records of the town. The minds of the people seem to have been suddenly turned to the subject of erecting a new meeting-house, and the school-house must wait. The ne
Jonathan Bradshaw (search for this): chapter 1
en men, consisting of Captain Tufts, Capt. Ebenezer Brooks, Lieut. Stephen Hall, Engn Stephen Francis, Mr. Jno. Willis, Dea. Whitmore, and Mr. Jona. Tufts, was chosen to treat with some person to keep said school. Nothing came from the above action, perhaps owing to the size of the committee. At another meeting, held on November 30, the same year, the town voted to have a school kept in the house of Thomas Willis, the ensuing winter, and a committee of three men, consisting of Engn Jno. Bradshaw, Capt. Ebenezer Brooks, and Mr. John Willis, was chosen to agree with some suitable person to keep a writing and reading school in town three or four months the ensuing winter, and to make return of their doings to the town at the next town meeting. We note in the action at this meeting that the people have diminished the size of their committee, have enlarged the curriculum of their school to include reading, have settled on a place where the school shall be kept, and instructed their
Mayo (search for this): chapter 1
d high, they cannot run away; With band of yarn she keeps offenders in, And to her gown the sturdiest rogues can pin. The sanded floor served as blackboard, and the same rod that struck terror to evil-doers made a very good substitute for a crayon, a bit of birch bark or a broad chip made an excellent slate, and charcoal was as good as chalk. The home, which with their descendants seems to be so fast dying out, was the centre and source of their whole life. It was the conviction, says Mayo in his Public Schools in the Colonial Period, that every child born into this world is the child of God, capable of becoming a vital and useful member of society; and the corresponding obligation of the community to give to it the opportunity of that training at home, in the church, and in the school, which should send it forth at early manhood or womanhood a self-directing competent person and a reputable citizen of a self-governed state, that was at work silently and persistently below the
Jonathan Willis (search for this): chapter 1
was a member of the church, and no other person was thought fit to vote, and when spiritual and secular affairs were all one, this seemed the proper thing to do. The first entry in our records concerning schools was on July 20, 1719, when the town voted to hire some meet person to keep a writing school in the town for three or four months in the winter season, and a committee of seven men, consisting of Captain Tufts, Capt. Ebenezer Brooks, Lieut. Stephen Hall, Engn Stephen Francis, Mr. Jno. Willis, Dea. Whitmore, and Mr. Jona. Tufts, was chosen to treat with some person to keep said school. Nothing came from the above action, perhaps owing to the size of the committee. At another meeting, held on November 30, the same year, the town voted to have a school kept in the house of Thomas Willis, the ensuing winter, and a committee of three men, consisting of Engn Jno. Bradshaw, Capt. Ebenezer Brooks, and Mr. John Willis, was chosen to agree with some suitable person to keep a wr
John Whitmore (search for this): chapter 1
me meet person to keep a writing school in the town for three or four months in the winter season, and a committee of seven men, consisting of Captain Tufts, Capt. Ebenezer Brooks, Lieut. Stephen Hall, Engn Stephen Francis, Mr. Jno. Willis, Dea. Whitmore, and Mr. Jona. Tufts, was chosen to treat with some person to keep said school. Nothing came from the above action, perhaps owing to the size of the committee. At another meeting, held on November 30, the same year, the town voted to have a meeting held Feb. 22, 1720, the town voted to choose a committee of five men to select a site for a school-house to accommodate the whole town, and to report at the next meeting in March. This committee consisted of Capt. Peter Tufts, Dea. John Whitmore, Capt. Ebenezer Brooks, Mr. John Willis, and Mr. John Richardson, but no report of their doings appears on the records of the town. The minds of the people seem to have been suddenly turned to the subject of erecting a new meeting-house, an
John Richardson (search for this): chapter 1
osen to find out whether Mr. Davison would accept the town's offer, and Thomas Tufts and Ebenezer Brooks were chosen to collect the above subscription in case it could be collected. At a meeting held Feb. 22, 1720, the town voted to choose a committee of five men to select a site for a school-house to accommodate the whole town, and to report at the next meeting in March. This committee consisted of Capt. Peter Tufts, Dea. John Whitmore, Capt. Ebenezer Brooks, Mr. John Willis, and Mr. John Richardson, but no report of their doings appears on the records of the town. The minds of the people seem to have been suddenly turned to the subject of erecting a new meeting-house, and the school-house must wait. The next winter two schools were kept, one at the east end of the town under Master Henery Davison, and one at the west end under Master Caleb Brooks. Master Brooks was to receive forty shillings a month, and Master Davison four pounds and what he might obtain of his scholars
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