(5) Aggregate length of the Schools, 41 mths. 14 days.-In Summer, 25 21.-In Winter, 15 21. (6) No. of Teachers in Summer-M. -F. 7.—No. of Teachers in Winter-M. 2—F. 3. (7) Average wages paid per month, including board-To Males, $27 50-To Females, $13 25. (8) Average value of board per month-Of Males, $10 00-Of Females, $5 13. (9) Average wages per month, exclusive of board-Of Males, $17 50-Of Females, $8 12. (10) Amount of money raised by taxes for the support of Schools, including only the wages of Teachers, board and fuel, $700. (11) Amount of board and fuel, if any, contributed for Public Schools, $13. (12) No. of incorporated Academies, Aggregate of months kept, -Average number of Scholars, Aggregate paid for tuition, $. (13) No. of unincorporated Academies, Private Schools, and Schools kept to prolong Common Schools, 2.-Aggregate of months kept, 3.-Average No. of Scholars, gate paid for tuition, $19 50. (14) Amount of Local Funds, § .-Income from same, $ -Aggre BOOKS USED.-Spelling-American Expositor, Walker's Dictionary, National Spelling Book. Reading-Worcester's 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th Books, Porter's Rhetorical Reader, Bible. Grammar-Smith's. Geography-Parley's and Olney's. Arithmetic-Smith's, Colburn's and Emerson's 1st Part. All others-Goodrich's History of the U. S., Blake's Natural Philosophy, Watts on the Mind. NO REPORT from School Committee. SCHOOL COMMITTEE.-FREEMAN P. HOWLAND, BOWEN BARKER, ELMER HEWETT. (2) No. of Scholars of all ages in all the Schools-In Summer, 633—In Winter, 669. (3) Average attendance in the Schools-In Summer, 431-In Winter, 451. (4) No. of persons between 4 and 16 years of age in the town, 959.-No. of persons under 4 years of age who attend School, .-No. over 16 years of age who attend School, (5) Aggregate length of the Schools, 114 mths.-In Summer, 60-In Winter, 54. (6) No. of Teachers in Summer-M. 4-F. 6.—No. of Teachers in Winter-M. 5—F. 4. (7) Average wages paid per month including board-To Males, $33 06-To Females, $14 00. (8) Average value of board per month-Of Males, $10 00-Of Females, $6 00. (9) Average wages per month exclusive of board-Of Males, $23 00-Of Females, $8 00. (10) Amount of money raised by taxes for the support of Schools, including only the wages of Teachers, board and fuel, $2,742 10. (11) Amount of board and fuel, if any, contributed for Public Schools, $ (12) No. of incorporated Academies, 1.-Aggregate of months kept, 12.—Average number of Scholars, 89.-Aggregate paid for tuition, $1,000. (13) No. of unincorporated Academies, Private Schools, and Schools kept to prolong Common Schools, 2.-Aggregate of months kėpt, 12.—Average No. of Scholars, 50.-Aggregate paid for tuition, $305. BOOKS USED.-Spelling-Emerson's and Worcester's Primer, National Spelling Book. 1 Reading-Young Reader, Introduction to the National Reader, National Reader, American First Class Book, Classical Reader. Grammar-Smith's. Geography-Worcester's and Atlas, Woodbridge's and Atlas, Worcester's First Book. Arithmetic-Emerson's Part 1, Colburn's First Lessons and Plates, Colburn's Sequel. All others-Colburn's Algebra, Flint's Surveying, Goodrich's History, Supplement to do., Walker's Geometry, Walker's Dictionary Robinson's Book-keeping. REMARKS." Whole expenses of the schools the past year, $3,014 95." "There is an undivided Poor and School Fund, which amounted, on the 1st of January, 1840, to $9,287 63. Interest on the above, paid into the town treasury, $464 22." SELECTIONS FROM REPORT. * The present is a period when it may be emphatically said that the schoolmaster is abroad in the State of Massachusetts. The subject of public instruction in Common Schools has, for a time, engaged the attention of many of the wise and the philanthropic. And the intelligence diffused on the subject, through the medium of conventions, lectures, pamphlets and reports, has been such as to awaken an interest that cannot but operate for ultimate good to the cause. * * * The uniform and steady support which has, for the last ten years, been given to our Public Schools, has been productive of a uniformity of action and harmony of feeling on the subject, which, perhaps, is unprecedented in the annals of the town ;-while, at the same time, it denotes the existence of the true spirit in relation to an institution, which diffuses its benefits with an impartial hand, and which may be said to be the only institution upon which a government, like ours, can rely for effectual support. * * * SCHOOL COMMITTEE.-CALEB BATES, JOHN KINGMAN, Rurus Lowe, Luther STEPHENSON, David Fearing, Crocker Wilder, Jr., Caleb HERSEY. (2) No. of Scholars of all ages in all the Schools-In Summer, 30-In Winter, 40. (3) Average attendance in the Schools-In Summer, 20-In Winter, 30. (4) No. of persons between 4 and 16 years of age in the town, 42.-No. of persons under 4 years of age who attend School, 4.-No. over 16 years of age who attend School, 5. (5) Aggregate length of the Schools, 7 mths.-In Summer, 4-In Winter, 3. (6) No. of Teachers in Summer--M. -F. 1.-No. of Teachers in Winter-M. 1-F. . (7) Average wages paid per month including board-To Males, $30 00—To Females, $12 00. (8) Average value of board per month-Of Males, $10 00-Of Females, $6 00. (9) Average wages per month exclusive of board-Of Males, $20 00-Of Females, $6 00. (10) Amount of money raised by taxes for the support of Schools, including only the wages of Teachers, board and fuel, $84. (11) Amount of board and fuel, if any, contributed for Public Schools, $61. (12) No. of incorporated Academies, -Aggregate of months kept, -Average No. of Scholars, Aggregate paid for tuition, $ (13) No. of unincorporated Academies, Private Schools, and Schools kept to prolong Common Schools, Aggregate of months kept, gate paid for tuition, $ (14) Amount of Local Funds, $ -Average No. of Scholars, -Aggre BOOKS USED.- -Spelling-National. Reading-First Class Book and National Reader. Grammar-Smith's. Geography-American. Arithmetic-Emerson's. All others-Goodrich's History, Jones' Philosophy, Jones' Chemistry, Guy's Astronomy. NO REPORT from School Committee. SCHOOL COMMITTEE.-ROBERT GOULD, MOSES B. TOWER. KINGSTON, {(1) Population, 1,371. Valuation, $277,477 50. (2) No. of Scholars of all ages in all the Schools-In Summer, 266-In Winter, 270. (3) Average attendance in the Schools-In Summer, 171-In Winter, 193. (4) No. of persons between 4 and 16 years of age in the town, 344.-No. of persons under 4 years of age who attend School, 31.-No. over 16 years of age who attend School, 29. (5) Aggregate length of the Schools, 48 mths.-In Summer, 30 14-In Winter, 17 14. (6) No. of Teachers in Summer-M. -F. 7.-No. of Teachers in Winter-M. 4-F. 1. (7) Average wages paid per month including board-To Males, $32 75-To Females, $12 31. (8) Average value of board per month-Of Males, 89 00-Of Females, $5 24. (9) Average wages per month, exclusive of board-Of Males, $23 75-Of Females, $7 07. (10) Amount of money raised by taxes for the support of Schools, including only the wages of Teachers, board and fuel, $800. (11) Amount of board and fuel, if any, contributed for Public Schools, $100. (12) No. of incorporated Academies, .-Aggregate of months kept, .—Average number of Scholars, Aggregate paid for tuition, $ (13) No. of unincorporated Academies, Private Schools, and Schools kept to prolong Common Schools, 5.-Aggregate of months kept, 41.Average No. of Scholars, 74-Aggre. gate paid for tuition, $424. (14) Amount of Local Funds, $ .-Income from same, $ BOOKS USED.D.-Spelling-Emerson's National, Hazen's Definer. Reading Worcester's and Pierpont's Series. Grammar-Smith's. Geography-Smith's. Arithmetic-Smith's, Emerson's 1st, 2d and 3d Parts, Parley's. All others-Worcester's Dictionary, Watts on the Mind, Bascom and Marshall's Writing Books, Parley's First Book of History. REMARKS.-The aggregate length of the Public Schools is too great, as the return states that the time during which they were prolonged, is included in it. As it is not stated how much they were prolonged, the proper deduction cannot be made. SELECTIONS FROM REPORT. * Your committee cannot forbear to congratulate their fellow-citizens, that a more general inquiry has been awakened in our town, and a more lively interest felt on the subject of our Public Schools. We are rejoiced to find that the mothers of our town are beginning to take hold of this matter in good earnest; and who can doubt, that, when the women of Kingston lend their efficient aid to any good cause, it will thrive and prosper. And when we consider, that, in the course of nature, it will be but a few years before the children, who now attend our Public Schools, will come forward to do their part in the active business of life, to discharge the duties of fathers and mothers, of citizens and freemen,-how indispensable it is that they should have their minds rightly directed and properly trained, so as to comprehend and feel the importance and responsibility of those complicated duties and almost infinite relations! How must this truth strike the mind of every reflecting person? "that the character of our town, of our Commonwealth, and of our common country too, during the next half century, will depend upon the education of the youth who now attend our Public Schools." Shall that character be improved; shall the men and women of the next fifty years be better than those of the present day, or shall they remain the same, or shall they grow worse? On the men and women of this generation will depend, in a great measure, the answer to these questions. To what purpose, except for the continuance of their species, will this generation have lived, if they do not do something for the advancement of man towards his high destiny? No one, we think, can be so hardened in iniquity, or so in love with vice, as to wish his descendants to be more so than himself. And there are few, we trust, who do not wish their children to be even better than themselves. In what way, then, can they be made better, and wiser, and happier, except by giving them a more thorough education; not merely by instructing them most carefully in the arbitrary rules of grammar and arithmetic, or to think that their reputation will depend upon their accuracy in striking the balance of an account, or casting the interest upon a note of hand; but to give them more enlarged views of their natures, and the relations which they bear to each other, and to society, to their country and to mankind. Men and women of Kingston, on you rests the responsibility, so far as the youth of our town are concerned. See to it, then, as you regard your duty to your children, as you value their kind remembrance, as you regard your duty to your country and your God, see to it, that you do not neglect to provide the means of instruction for those, whom Providence has placed under your care. * * * Among the recommendations of the Board of Education, the most prominent is that of establishing Normal Schools. And the readiness with which eight thousand dollars have been subscribed by the people of Plymouth County, for the foundation of such an institution within its limits, and also two thousand more, by eight different towns and villages,-and we are proud that our own is among the number,--for the location of the same, shows whether the citizens consider this an exercise of power dangerous to their liberties. The voluntary establishment of District School Libraries is also another of the recommendations of the Board. And they have obtained the services of the most distinguished authors of different religious denominations, and different political parties, to prepare works for a library, which is to be published with their sanction. And no book is to be admitted into the series, without each and every member of the Board shall recommend the same; each member having a veto upon all the rest; and the Board is composed of gentlemen of every political party, and every leading religious denomination in New England. And, after all, no individual or district is under any obligation to purchase the books, unless so disposed. How any man can have any jealousy of such a project as this, we cannot conceive. We do not envy him his confidence in his fellow men. Your committee would recommend to the inhabitants of the several school districts, to avail themselves of the power which they now have, of forming Common School Libraries for their children, as, by such a provision, much of their time may be saved from idleness, and their minds strengthened and improved. * * * We consider the success of this experiment,―of employing a female teacher or the winter school,-as affording encouragement to other districts to adopt the same plan, as by it, they can obtain twice the amount of schooling for their children and that equally as good, at the same cost; and, if proper care be taken in the selection of teachers, and also, if parents would afford them that encouragement and support which they need, and which it is their bounden duty, and we wish it were always their highest pleasure, to extend to them, would not fail to produce the most beneficial effects upon the habits, manners and dispositions of their children. District No. 5. The presence of a larger number of persons at the examination, (most of whom were mothers of the scholars,) than have attended all the examinations of all the schools in town, during the two years which your committee have had the honor of attending to this duty, shows clearly, that in this section of our town, a new interest is awakened for our schools, and one, too, that will, we confidently believe, be the means of correcting many grievous abuses, which now exist in their management. Your committee have no hesitation in declaring, that the visits of the parents to this school, and at its examination, were productive of much good. The scholars felt a new cause and encouragement for exertion, not so much that they might appear better than their fellows, as that they might show to their parents, that they had been industrious and diligent during the winter. Instead of the dull and careless answer, the heedless, headlong indifference, or the stifled, smothered reply to the questions of the committee and instructer at the examination, there was a new life infused into the scholars, and each one seemed ready and willing to answer each and every question. And, if any one was so unlucky as to make a mistake, the whole class, as well as the unfortunate wight, seemed disappointed at the failure. * * * Such, we believe, to be a correct statement of the condition of our Public Schools. Satisfactory, when considered with reference to the disadvantages under which they labor; but, by no means, in the opinion of your committee, what they ought to be, and, sooner or later, will be, if the people have their own, and their children's true interest at heart. * * By statute, it is made a penal offence, with a fine of fifty dollars for each violation, for any corporation to employ any child under fifteen years of age in their manufactories, without seeing to it, that they "have attended a public or private day school, where instruction is given by a teacher qualified according to law, at least three of the twelve months next preceding any and every year in which such child shall be so employed." There have been no violations of this law by any manufacturing establishment within the knowledge of your committee. But what essential difference there can be between children's being employed in a manufacturing establishment without any schooling, and being kept at home idle or at work, by their parents or guardians, without any schooling during the year, your committee are somewhat at a loss to determine. And yet, your committee believe, there have been repeated instances of the latter, and that too within a stone's throw of the schoolhouse. It is a glorious provision of our laws, commencing with the foundation of our colonies, that property shall maintain schools for the education of all. But the right to tax the property of every individual for the support of free schools, carries with it the duty of the citizen to avail himself of those institutions, or provide others equally as good. And, as the maintenance of correct principles, and the preservation of our liberties, depend upon the diffusion of knowledge and virtue among the great body of the people, it becomes all men, who wish to transmit undiminished to posterity, those blessings, which they have received from their fathers, to uphold this corner stone of our republic. In taking leave of this subject, and of the responsible duties which have been committed to our charge for the past year, (which have occupied the time of your committee, in the aggregate, to the amount of two hundred and six half days, or an average of more than forty half days to each one of the committee,) we would say, that, though our doings have not always met with the entire approbation of our fellow citizens, and we are aware, may not always have been correct, yet the consciousness of having discharged those duties with perfect unanimity, and always with a single eye to the welfare of the youth of our town, is a satisfaction, of which nothing can deprive us. And we sincerely hope that the new interest, which has been awakened among some portion of our fellow townsmen, for the improvement of our schools, will have a beneficial influence upon all; and that the day may not be far distant, when our schoolhouses shall become the ornament, and our schools the chief pride, of our town. * * * SCHOOL COMMITTEE.-ELI COOK, W. WHITten, John S. WHITE, J. D. SWEET, JOSEPH J. BEAL. (2) No. of Scholars of all ages in all the Schools-In Summer, 372-In Winter, 396. (3) Average attendance in the Schools-In Summer, 249-In Winter, 297. (4) No. of persons between 4 and 16 years of age in the town, 462.-No. of persons under 4 years of age who attend School, 34.-No. over 16 years of age who attend School, 21. (5) Aggregate length of the Schools, 72 mths. 1 days.—In Summer, 41 21-In Winter, 30 14. (6) No. of Teachers in Summer-M. -F. 8.—No. of Teachers in Winter-M. 6—F. 2. (7) Average wages paid per month, including board-To Males, $27 59-To Females, $10 73. (8) Average value of board per month-Of Males, $7 76.-Of Females, $4 13. (9) Average wages per month, exclusive of board-Of Males, $19 83-Of Females, $6 60. (10) Amount of money raised by taxes for the support of Schools, including only the wages of Teachers, board and fuel, $1,100. (11) Amount of board and fuel, if any, contributed for Public Schools, (12) No. of incorporated Academies, -Aggregate of months kept, -Average number of Scholars, Aggregate paid for tuition, $ (13) No. of unincorporated Academies, Private Schools, and Schools kept to prolong Common Schools, 9.-Aggregate of months kept, 18 mths.-Average No. of Scholars, 178.— Aggregate paid for tuition, $364. (14) Amount of Local Funds, $ -Income from same, $ BOOKS USED.-Spelling-Emerson's National and Introduction to the same. ReadingWorcester's Primer and Second, Third and Fourth Books, Pierpont's Series of Reading Books, |