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 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
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 250fH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 OF THE FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL IN 
 
 DORCHESTER. 
 
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 JUNE :22, 1889. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL, CITY PRINTERS. 
 
 1890. 
 
DOKCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 
 •OF THE FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL IN 
 
 DORCHESTER. 
 
 JUNE 22, 1889.' 
 
 BOSTON; 
 
 ROCKWFXL AND CHUECHILL, CITY PRINTERS. 
 
 18 9 0. 
 
v^v 
 
 * 
 
 In School Committp^e, 
 
 Boston, June 25, 1889. 
 
 Ordered to be printed. » 
 Attest : 
 
 PHINEAS BATES, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary- of the establishment 
 of the first public school in Dorchester was celebrated Saturday, 
 June 22, 1889. 
 
 The exercises were held in a large tent located on Meeting- 
 house Hill, and were under the immediate direction of a special 
 committee appointed for the purpose, consisting of Hon. Charles 
 T. Gallagher (President of the School Board), and Mrs. Emily A. 
 Fifield, Mr. Richard C. Humphreys, William A. Mowry, Ph.D., 
 Liberty D. Packard, M.D., and Mr. Richard J. Walsh (the com- 
 mittee in charge of the Dorchester schools). 
 
 Promptl}' at two o'clock the graduates of the Dorchester schools 
 marched into the tent. Each class was preceded by a banner 
 bearing the name of the school. The girls passed to the right of 
 the stage, and the boys to the left, the High School graduates 
 occupying the centre of the stage. 
 
 The Germania orchestra furnished the music for the occasion, 
 and the piano accompaniments were by Mr. Henry G. Carey, the 
 special instructor of music in the Dorchester schools. 
 
 The exercises were opened by prayer by Rev. Arthur Little, 
 D.D., after which the Mendelssohn's Unison Chorus from "Test 
 Gesang " — 
 
 " Learning dawned, its light arose ; 
 Thus the Truth assailed its foes," 
 
 was sung by the graduates. 
 
 The President then delivered the address of welcome, as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
4 DOECHESTER CKLEBEATION. 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES T. GALLAGHER. 
 
 Graduates of the Dorchester Schools, Ladies and gentle- 
 men, Friends, one and all, — In behalf of the School Com- 
 mittee of the City of Boston I extend to you a cordial 
 welcome to this celebration, where we have come together 
 to exchange mutual congratulations that we are enabled to 
 take part in the 250th anniversary of so great an event ; the 
 greatest event in the historv of the New World, if we are to 
 consider it in connection with its consequences. 
 
 " One-fourth of Time's great cycle has o'er the ages passed " 
 since the inhabitants of Dorchester, actuated by the same im- 
 pulses as the people of Virginia, the people of Boston, and 
 the people of Massachusetts, who, as soon as they had pro- 
 vided shelter for themselves and established the first princi- 
 ples of a form of government, proceeded at once to the 
 erection of a school-house, and provided for the education of 
 the young, all being inspired with a common purpose, namely, 
 that in the establishment of a " State without a king," the 
 people, in whom was to rest the sovereign will, should receive 
 the first principles of an education sufficient to enable them 
 to rule and govern. 
 
 Whether the first free public common school was estab- 
 lished in Virginia, in Pennsylvania, or on School street, in 
 Boston, or elsewhere; or whether the collection of the rental 
 from the proprietors of Thompson's Island is to be construed 
 into a general or special tax for the support of the public 
 schools ; whether, also, the original settlers landed on the South 
 side of Mattapannock (what is now South Boston), under the 
 shadow of Dorchester Heights, — these and all other contro- 
 verted points, if any there be in regard to the matter, I will 
 leave to the eloquent discussion of the distinguished gentle- 
 man who is to present to you the historical address later in 
 the day. Certain it is, however, that this was the first time in 
 the history of the whole world where a free public school. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES T. GALLAGHER. 5 
 
 supported by any kind of puhlic tax, had been established, 
 and where a committee had been chosen to look after its in- 
 terests ; the board of wardens, or overseers, as they were 
 styled, being created by the inhabitants of the town of Dor- 
 chester, within a few years after the establishment of the 
 school. These wardens, or overseers, the first three being 
 Deacon Wiswall, Mr. Atherton, and Mr. Howard, being 
 selected from among the people at large, in the same man- 
 ner, in principle, as the school boards and school committees 
 throughout the length and breadth of our land have been ever 
 since established ; the incidents and principles on which they 
 were created being no different to-day from what they were 
 at that time ; and the code of rules and regulations for the 
 government of these wardens in regard to the school being as 
 clearly enunciated and as complete in its details as was the 
 social compact of the Pilgrims written in the cabin of the 
 " Mayflower." So, it is meet and proper that the celebration of 
 so great an event as this should not be confined to the local 
 division committee of the old town of Dorchester, and it is 
 eminently proper that the entire School Committee of Boston 
 should take part in its exercises ; and the wisdom of the mem- 
 bers of the Division Committee of Dorchester has been shown 
 by their desire to join with them the whole School Committee, 
 and make the celebration not a local but a municipal, as it 
 might well be a national, affair. 
 
 And the great lesson of the day should be, that while we 
 meet to congratulate ourselves on the blessings that we and 
 our fathers have derived from these great series of acts per- 
 formed by these people two hundred and fifty years ago, let 
 us exhibit to posterity our appreciation of wdiat they did : 
 they planted a seed whose fruit has been planted again and 
 again throughout the length and breadth of this land, until 
 the public common school system to-day can say, "From 
 eastern coast to sunset sea, the continent is ours." Theirs 
 the privilege to plant the seed of such principles, ours the 
 
b DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 duty to see that those principles are transmitted unimpaired 
 from generation to generation, establishing and creating "an 
 example for the youth of the land, where intelligence shall 
 blend with character, and both be united in one common 
 purpose with unselfish devotion to the public weal." For — 
 
 " What constitutes a State? 
 Not high-raised battlements or labored mounds, 
 
 Thick wall or moated gate ; 
 Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned ; 
 
 Not bays and broad-armed ports, 
 Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride ; 
 
 No; — MEN, high-minded men, 
 With powers as far above dull brutes endued 
 
 In forest, brake, or den. 
 As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude ; 
 
 Men, who their duties know, 
 But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain, 
 
 These constitute a State." 
 
 The Chairbian. — la his discourse at Plymouth on the two 
 hundreth anniversay of the landing of the Pilgrims, Daniel Webster 
 said, " Let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our 
 fathers were brought hither hy their high veneration for the Chris- 
 tian religion. They journeyed in its hght, and labored in its hope. 
 They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their 
 society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, 
 civil, political, and literary. Let us cherish these sentiments, and 
 extend their influence still more widely, in the full conviction that 
 that is the happiest society which partakes in the highest degree of 
 the mild and peaceable spirit of Christianity." I take pleasure in 
 introducing to you Rev. Samuel J. Barrows, the well-known edi- 
 tor of the " Christian Register," who was for many ye.ars located 
 on Meeting-House Hill, as the pastor of the First Church. 
 
ADDRESS OF REV. SAMUEL J. BARROWS. 7 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. SAMUEL J. BARROWS. 
 
 The welcome presence and opening address of the Presi- 
 dent of the Boston School Board remind us that this is, in an 
 official sense, a Boston celebration. But I take it that your 
 committee, in asking a resident and citizen of the Dorchester 
 District to respond to the speech of the chai^-nian, have meant 
 to recognize the fact, that though the town of Dorchester has 
 no longer a separate political existence, yet, in some respects, 
 it was never more alive than it is to-day. 
 
 It is living in the memory, the affections, and the personal- 
 ity of its children, many of whom sit before us to-day ; but 
 still more, as this occasion reminds us, in the institutions which 
 have been bequeathed to them by their fathers. When, in 
 1870, a political union was formed between Boston and Dor- 
 chester, there were many of the inhabitants of this town who 
 felt that instead of Dorchester being annexed to Boston, 
 Boston was really annexed to Dorchester. And if priority 
 of settlement and geographical extent established precedent, 
 Dorchester could make good its claim. Two months before 
 any settlement was formed in Boston, the fathers were al- 
 ready established here, and several weeks before the organ- 
 ization of the First Church in Boston, the fathers of Dor- 
 chester, who, with reverent foresight had organized their 
 church in England, were worshipping God in the grove 
 temples of the plain. Ever since that early date, the name 
 of Dorchester has grown honorable and worthy, and though 
 political convenience may require Boston to cut itself up into 
 wards and precincts, it ought to be a penal otfence, punish- 
 able by six months' tuition in the Mather School, for anybody 
 in describing his place of residence here to substitute the 
 prosaic, uninteresting designation of" Ward 24," " Ward 21," 
 or any other ward, for the grand old name of Dorchester. 
 
 Dorchester has been generous in her gifts to the Common- 
 wealth. She began by giving herself away. She gave 
 
8 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 liberally of her soil. A large slice to Stoughton ; another 
 slice to Milton. Afterwards she gave South Boston and 
 Washington Village to the city of Boston, and at last gave 
 away all she had. So that the city of Boston has 5,000 
 acres of land which once belonged to this old town. She has 
 been generous not only with her soil but with its fruits. 
 There have been geared in her gardens some flowers which 
 never before blossomed on this planet ; some fruits which 
 never before regaled human lips. She has given to the 
 country the still richer fruit of her own life-blood, as yonder 
 monument will testify ; but of all other contributions to city, 
 State, or nation, it seems to me none have such far-reaching 
 and permanent significance as this contribution of a great idea 
 embodied in a great institution — the first free public school 
 in the United States. I will not point out to you the signifi- 
 cance of this great idea, nor must I enter the tempting field 
 of history to trace its development. That office will be ably 
 performed by the gentleman who follows me. It was a small 
 seed to start with ; it has grown to a great tree. It asserted 
 the grand principle that, in the education of its children, the 
 State should make no difference between rich and poor ; but 
 it has developed into still greater liberality. The old fathers, 
 could we summon them from their graves, would be surprised 
 to see the " niaydes " on the platform here to-day, and I trust 
 they would be as proud as their children are that the town 
 of Dorchester is so ably represented on the School Committee 
 by a woman, — the chairwoman of this District Division. 
 
 Many changes are going on in the limits of the old town ; 
 new settlers are swarming here from overcrowded Boston. 
 The old colonial esta.tes are being rapidly cut up. New 
 streets are surveyed, houses are going up like magic, and 
 gradually the old landmarks are disappearing. But this idea, 
 and this institution, will not perish : Dorchester will live in 
 her free public schools, and her free pul^lic schools will live 
 in Dorchester. 
 
ADDRESS OF REV. SAMUEL J. BARROWS. 9 
 
 If the old town has its history, it also has its mytholoo:y. 
 There were giants in those days, and a beloved Boston poet 
 has playfully reported their habits. He has told us how, on 
 a certain election day, a Dorchester giant shut up his children 
 in a pen, and furnished them with a pudding as large as the 
 State-house dome, for their election treat, and then how lib- 
 erally they flung chunks of it over Milton and Dorchester 
 towns. A pretty large lump of it landed on the hill on which 
 we stand. Not far from this spot was the site of the first 
 school. Instead of building on the plain or on the sea-shore 
 sand, they built their school upon a rock. Was not their 
 action suggestive and significant of the permanence of this 
 idea and this institution? What is the messao;e that the old 
 fathers send down to us to-day? It is — 
 
 " We have set our school upon a rock." 
 
 What is the message that we send back to them from town 
 and city, from State and nation, to-day? 
 
 " The forces of superstition and ignorance shall not prevail 
 against it." 
 
 At the close of Mr. Barrows address the orchestra ren- 
 dered some pleasing selections. 
 
 The Chairman. — About the time of the establishment of the 
 first school in Dorchester, the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay 
 banished to Rhode Island Roger Williams, for differing with them 
 on matters of education and faith ; but now, after two hundred 
 and fifty years, we have cause to congratulate ourselves that 
 Massachusetts has received from Rhode Island in return one of 
 her leading educational men, who, although he has resided in 
 Dorchester but a few years, has become so thoroughly familiar 
 with the institutions, traditions, and history of the old town that 
 he has been selected by the School Board of Boston to present the 
 historical address for this occasion. I have the pleasure of 
 introducing to you William A. Mowry, Ph.D. 
 
10 DORCHESTEE CELEBRATION. 
 
 HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, Ph.D. 
 
 This is graduation day. In the public schools of this 
 Moth Division of the city of Boston there are three thousand 
 pupils. To-day more than two hundred of them receive 
 their diplomas, showing that they have honorably completed 
 the course of study prescribed for the Grammar Schools of 
 this city. From the whole city, during the coming week, 
 two thousand will receive like certificates. Our Dorchester 
 High School to-day graduates twenty-seven pupils, and from 
 the entire city five hundred and fifty, having completed the 
 requisite studies, graduate from the various High Schools 
 and the Latin Schools. 
 
 There are at the present time in the public schools of this 
 city alone, in round numbers, sixty thousand children, under 
 the instruction of fifteen hundred teachers. To-day we 
 celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 
 establishment of the first public school in Dorchester. 
 
 Two centuries and a half ago there were no public 
 schools in this country. The little town of Boston had a 
 population of a few hundred. A handful of men lately 
 arrived from the Old World with their families had formed 
 a settlement at "Mattapan." It would probably be difficult 
 to find in the history of the world a greater contrast in the 
 condition of any country at the beginning and end of any 
 period of two centuries and a half than is found in the con- 
 dition of our country to-day compared with its appearance 
 and prospects in 1639. The inhabitants of the little colony 
 in Virginia were making a desperate fight with nature and 
 the savage Indians for .their lives. The Pilgrims at Plymouth, 
 with a heroism scarcely paralleled, had conquered many 
 obstacles, and were now comfortably established in their homes 
 upon that bleak shore. The Connecticut emigrants from Cam- 
 bridge, under the leadership of Thomas Hooker, " an eloquent 
 and estimable man," and from Dorchester under Koijer Lud- 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWEY, PH.D. 11 
 
 low, had driven their flocks before them through the wilder- 
 ness and had founded the colony at Hartford and Windsor. 
 Roo;er Williams had settled at Providence, and Anne Hutch- 
 inson at Newport, each with some followers. New Hamp- 
 shire had a few settlers at Dover and Portsmouth, and Lord 
 Baltimore with his compau}^ had established themselves in 
 Maryland. Perhaps at that time the most important colony 
 was Boston and the group of towns surrounding it. These 
 included Dorchester and Roxbury, Salem and Lynn, Charles- 
 town and Watertown, and the beo:innino-s of other settle- 
 ments. 
 
 Here, then, is the picture of our country as it was in 
 1639. A dozen settlements, more or less, of emigrants from 
 Europe, scattered along the coast from Portsmouth to the 
 James river, containing a total of only a few thousand 
 inhabitants. Behind them the broad, trackless ocean, in 
 front of them an endless wilderness of rank vegetation, 
 savage beasts, and wild Lidians. Two centuries and a half 
 hiter a great republic is here, spanning the continent, 
 and embracing more than forty states and sixty million 
 people, with a free government, " of the people and for the 
 people." In this country the past hundred years has wit- 
 nessed a more rapid growth, a greater development, a larger 
 progress of intelligence, enlightenment, thrift, and culture, 
 than the world has ever seen before in any single century. 
 Intelligence and education are more widely distributed and 
 more universally enjoyed to-day than by any other people 
 the sun shines upon. The causes of so great a change, so 
 rapid a development, so brilliant a history, are varied and 
 diverse. Yet among them must ever be considered, as 
 standing foremost, that original, unique system of educa- 
 tion which we call the American Common School. 
 
 Nor should we neglect to give due prominence to the influ- 
 ence of the New England town-meetino;. 
 
 The compact made in the cabin of the " Mayflower " was 
 
12 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 the beginning of the American Republic, but the democratic 
 town-meetings which sprung up so early in every New Eng- 
 land town, and which are continued to this day, and prob- 
 ably will be to the end of time, may well be called "the cause 
 of the American Republic." 
 
 Mr. Frothingham, in his history of Charlestown, speaks of 
 them as follows' : — 
 
 "These little assemblies, open to all, where debate was as 
 free as thought, were the primary school of freedom. In 
 selecting officers, in deciding about dividing the land, sup- 
 porting schools and the ministry, making by-laws, and 
 discussing parliamentary measures, there was evolved an 
 independence of mind and a manliness of character that 
 constituted a wide and admirable preparation for more 
 important political action. 
 
 "Their influence was decided. Andros, when he sup- 
 pressed them, Hutchinson when he denounced them, and the 
 British Parliament when it prohibited them, knew what they 
 were about. Such action on the part of their enemies is a 
 solid testimonial of their value. One of their friends,^ of 
 the highest authority, assigns to them the credit of " having 
 commenced the American Revolution." 
 
 Edward Everett, in his v^^ell- known Fourth of July address 
 in 1855, said of Dorchester : — 
 
 "It set the example in 1633 of that municipal organiza- 
 tion which has prevailed throughout New England, and has 
 proved one of the chief sources of its progress." 
 
 The History of DorcJiesier has the following : — 
 
 "In October, 1633, the following order Avas passed, 
 establishing the form of town government. This act 
 acquires some importance from the fact of its precedence, 
 and that the example was followed the next year by the 
 other settlements, and led to the law of the General Court, 
 
 1 Page 101. 
 
 2 Judge Story, in Niles' Register, Vol. xlviii, page 169. 
 
HISTOEICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 13 
 
 passed in 1636, regulating town governments, which has 
 continued in force to the present day : — 
 
 "'Monday, Oct. 8, 3 633. Imprimis. It is ordered that for 
 the o-eneral good and well ordering of the afl'airs of the 
 plantation, there shall be every Monday before the court, by 
 8 o'clock A.M., and presently by the beating of the drum, a 
 general meeting of the inhabitants of the plantation at the 
 meeting-house, there to settle and set down such orders as 
 may tend to the general good as aforesaid, and every man to 
 be bound thereby, without gainsaying or resistance. It is 
 also agreed that there shall be twelve men selected out of the 
 company, that may, or the greatest part of them, meet as 
 aforesaid, to determine as aforesaid ; yet, so far as it is 
 desired, that the most of the plantation will keep the meet- 
 ing constantly, and all that are there, though not of the 
 twelve, shall have a free voice as any of the twelve, and that 
 the greater vote both of the twelve and the other shall be of 
 force and efficacy as aforesaid. And it is likewise ordered 
 that all things concluded as aforesaid shall stand in force and 
 be obeyed until the next monthly meeting, and afterwards 
 if it be not contradicted and otherwise ordered at said 
 monthly meeting, by the greatest vote of those that are 
 present as aforesaid.'" 
 
 This was not merely a town-meeting, but an establish- 
 ment of the town- meeting as an institution. It was to be 
 held once a month, "there to settle and set down such orders 
 as may tend to the general good," covering all public mat- 
 ters pertaining to the plantation, and the citizens inserted 
 this specific declaration that " every man is to be bound 
 thereby, without gainsaying or resistance." 
 
 Our system of public schools now prevails in every State 
 of the Union, established by law and supported by taxes 
 from the people. Under our republican government the 
 principle is universally accepted that the safety of the State 
 demands universal intellisrence. We have no orders or 
 
14 DOECHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 classes or castes. We have approached very nearly to uni- 
 versal suffrage, and the proposition is seldom denied that a 
 republican government, especially when based upon the 
 broad principle of general suffrage, absolutely demands for 
 its own safety, at least, the elementary education of all the 
 children. Probably no one thing has contributed • more 
 largely to the progress, the stability, and the prosperity of 
 this country than this principle underlying the American 
 common school. It sfoes hand in hand with relioion. Our 
 own revered poet — may his life be long continued I — has 
 tersely and graphically said : — 
 
 " Nor heed the puny sceptic's hands 
 
 While near the school the church spire stands, 
 
 Nor fear the bloody bigot's rule 
 
 While near the church spire stands the school." 
 
 But this principle antedates the Republic. It was early 
 established by the fathers, the pioneers, the founders of the 
 several colonies, which were in time to develop into this 
 great empire. It is surprising to find how early and how 
 generally schools were established in the several colonies, 
 and what uniformity of action in this respect was early 
 manifested. 
 
 Boston was settled in 1630. Harvard College was estab- 
 lished six years later; William and Mary in 1693; Yale 
 College in 1700; the College of New Jersey, Princeton, 
 N.J., in 1748 ; the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 
 in 1749; Columbia College, New York city, in 1754; 
 Brown University, Providence, R.I., in 1765; Dartmouth 
 College, Hanover, N.H., in 1770; Rutgers College, New 
 Brunswick, N.J., in 1771 ; Hampton-Sidney College, Prince 
 Edward Co., Va., in 1775. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that prior to the Revolution, in the 
 thirteen English colonies, ten. colleges had been established 
 in these new settlements. When we regard the intelligent 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 15 
 
 and enterprising character of the early settlers, this fact 
 appears no longer striking or strange ; but it is surprising 
 that there should have been so early the universal sentiment 
 which is clearly manifest in favor of establishing elementary 
 and secondary schools, and especially at public expense. 
 When John Eliot, who earned the title " Apostle to the 
 Indians," prayed in the synod of the churches assembled at 
 Boston, "Lord", for schools everywhere among us! Oh, 
 that our schools may flourish ! That every member of this 
 assembly may go home and procure a good school to be 
 encouraged in the town where he lives. That before we die 
 we may see a good school encouraged in every plantation in 
 the country," he but uttered the common sentiment preva- 
 lent in the several colonies. " Of his perpetual resolution 
 and activity to support a good school in the town that be- 
 longed unto him," Cotton Mather writes, "a Grammar School 
 he would always have in the place, whatever it cost him, and 
 he importuned all other places to have the like." 
 
 The term " Grammar School " as here used, and as used 
 always in those early days, had an entirely different signifi- 
 cation from its meaning now. At the present day by 
 " Grammar School " is meant a school of an elementary 
 character, above the Primary grade, and below the High 
 School. But in the early days of the New England colonies 
 the appellation was used to signify a school of secondary 
 education, designed to prepare boys for college, where Latin 
 and Greek and the mathematics were taught. This term 
 was brought from England, where it had been in use for a 
 very long time with the same meaning. A " Grammar 
 School " therefore in those early days meant, not an ele- 
 mentary school, but an institution of learning corresponding 
 to our modern High School or academy. 
 
 Another term which is liable to be misunderstood is the 
 use of the word " free " as applied to a school, A " free 
 school "in those days meant a school " free " to all classes, 
 
16 DORCHESTER CELEBRATIOX. 
 
 that is, free to any who paid their tuition. It had no refer- 
 ence to being free from tuition. The term was used in the 
 old English sense of an endowed school. 
 
 The term " public school " also had a different meaning in 
 those days from what prevails now. The endowed schools 
 of Eaton and Harrow and Rugby, in England, were public 
 schools, but this term was never intended to convey the idea 
 that the parent patronizing it was exempt from paying 
 tuition. It is absolutely necessary, in order to a proper 
 understanding of the schools of the early colonial days, to 
 recoonize the exact meaning of these terms. 
 
 "Rev. Patrick Copeland raised by subscription a large 
 sum of money and established a free school in Charles City, 
 Va., as early as 1621. Among the officials of the Dutch 
 A\^est India Co. at Manhattan, in 1633, was Adam Roelandsen, 
 ^ the schoolmaster,' and the school which he taught, it is 
 claimed, is still in existence, in connection with the Dutch 
 Reformed Church.'"' ^ 
 
 Boston took measures for the establishment of a school in 
 1635, which was doubtless commenced that year, and is in 
 existence at this day, with world-wide reputation, the Bos- 
 ton Latin School. 
 
 The records of Charlestown have the folio wins; : — 
 " 1636, June 3, Mr. William AYitherell was agreed with 
 to keep a school for a twelve month to begin the 8th of 
 August and to have £40 this year."^ 
 
 In the report of Mr. A. D. Small, Superintendent of 
 Schools for Salem, 1875, Mr. Small quotes from the inaugu- 
 ral address of Mr. Saltonstall, the first mayor of Salem, the 
 following : — 
 
 " Salem had the honor of leading the way in the establish- 
 ment of public schools. The Grammar School was founded 
 
 1 Bai-nard's Americaa Journal of Education, 1862, page 529, note. 
 
 2 40th Annual Report of the Mass. Board of Education, 1876, page 105; also, 
 Frothiugham's History of Charlestown, taken from the early Colonial Records. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 17 
 
 in 1H36, and has been continued without interruption to the 
 present time." Mr. Small, however, says: "The date of its 
 foundation was 1637, according to the facts given by Felt in 
 his Annals of Salem," and on a previous page of his report 
 he states more specifically: "In 1637 the Rev. John Fisk 
 comes to town, opens a school, which was j)erha])s the first 
 'yree school ' in Massachusetts." ^ 
 
 The town of Newbury, in 1639, granted ten acres of land 
 to Anthony Somerby, " for his encouragement to keep school 
 one year ; " but the first notice of the town's intention to 
 build a school-house and support a teacher at their expense 
 was in 1652. In 1653 it was ordered "that the town should 
 pay £24 by the year to maintain a free school at the meeting- 
 house," against which vote seventeen persons " desired to 
 have their dissents recorded." ^ 
 
 Duxbury established a school in 1655. In Ipswich, a 
 school was in existence in 1651. Newport, R.I., established 
 a school in August, 1640, at which time Rev. Robert Lenthal 
 was "called by a vote of the free men to keep a public 
 school for the learning of youth, and for his encouragement 
 there was granted him and his heirs one hundred acres of 
 land and four more for a house-lot." It was also voted " that 
 one hundred acres should be laid forth and appropriated for 
 a school for encouragement of the person sent to train up 
 their youth in learning; and Mr. Robert Lenthall, while he 
 continues to teach school, is to have the benefit thereof." 
 This was, evidently, from the subsequent entries in the town 
 records, a " Latin School," or " Grammar School," in the old 
 English sense of the term, and this rent was applied to 
 reduce the expense to poor scholars. "The children of the 
 rich were provided for in private schools, or family teaching, 
 and not a few were sent to England for their education." ^ 
 
 1 Mass. Boai-d of Education Report, 1876, page 106. 
 
 2 Coffin's History of Xewbiny. 
 
 3 Barnard's Journal of Education, 1877, page 705; also, Rhode Island School 
 Report, 1876. 
 
18 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 Other schools were established here and there at early 
 dates ; but these already mentioned are all, perhaps, that 
 need our attention on the present occasion. 
 
 Let us now proceed to consider with some care the records 
 of the i'acts connected with the establishment of the first 
 school in Dorchester, — a school which has continued until this 
 day with no serious interruption, and which is represented 
 to-day by the Mather School, its lineal descendant, or, 
 rather, in fact, the very same school itself, although it was 
 more than two hundred years old before it received its 
 name, and whose two hundred and fiftieth anniversary we 
 are now celebrating. The history of this school is of con- 
 siderable interest, particularly to our people. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1635, the General Court of the Bay 
 Colony granted to the inhabitants of the town of Dorchester 
 Thompson's Island, "to enjoy, to them, their heirs & suc- 
 cessors w°'' shall inhabite there forever," on condition that 
 they pay to the treasury I2d. yearly as rent. On the 30th 
 of May, 1639, the town voted to lay a tax on the proprietors 
 of said island for " the maintenance of a school in Dorches- 
 ter," The writer of the "History ot Dorchester" has the 
 following explanation of the word "proprietors": "It is 
 supposed that under the term ' proprietors,' in this connec- 
 tion, was included the principal part of the adult male 
 inhabitants of the town." This explanation is further con- 
 firmed by the wording of a subsequent vote concerning this 
 rental : " Whereas the inhabitants of Dorchester have for- 
 mally ordered, Consented and agreed that a Rente of 
 Tvventie pounds pr ann. shall issue & be payd by the sayd 
 Inhabitants & theirheires from & out of a Certaine porcon 
 of land in Dorchester called Thomson's Hand for & towards 
 the maintenance of the schoole in Dorchester aforesayd," ' 
 etc. It appears certain from this wording that this tax upon 
 Thompson's Island was in reality a town tax, or a tax upon 
 
 1 Page 422. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 19 
 
 the town. The probability would seem to be that when the 
 island was made over by the General Court to the town of 
 Dorchester, the land was apportioned among the principal 
 inhabitants, or "freemen," of the town resident upon the 
 mainland. At all events, this was a tax levied by the town 
 as a direct provision for the school. The author of the 
 "History of Dorchester," quoted before, says : — 
 
 " So far as the writer is informed, this was the first public 
 provision made for a free school in the world by a direct tax 
 or assessment on the inhabitants of a town." ^ 
 
 The following is an exact copy of this important order, 
 taken from the town records, page 83 : — 
 
 "It is ordered the 20th of May 1639, that there shall be a 
 rent of 20Ib a year for eue^ imposed vpon Tomsons Hand 
 to bee payd p"^ eu^y p'son that hath proprietie in the sayd 
 Hand according to the p'portion that any such p^'son shall 
 from tyme to tyme injoy and possesse the''®, and this towards 
 the mayntenance of a schoole in Dorchester. This rent of 
 201b yearly to bee payd to such a schoolemaste"^ as shall 
 vndertake to teach english, latine, and other tongues, and 
 also writing. The said schoole-maste'" to bee Chosen from 
 tyme to tyme p^' the freemen, and yt is left to y'' discretion 
 of the Ide''^ & the 7 men for the tyme beeing whethe'' maydes 
 shalbe taught w*'^ the boyes or not. For the levying this 
 201b yearly from the p^'ticuiar p^sons that ought to pay it 
 according to this order. It is farther ordered that somme 
 man shalbe appoynted p^ the 7 men for the tyme beeing to 
 Keceiue y^ and on refusall to levye y* pr distresse, and not 
 fynding distresse, such prson as so refuseth payment shall 
 forfeit the land he hath in proprietie in the sayd Hand." 
 
 The next necessary step tor the town was to secure a 
 teacher. On the 31st of October in the same year we find 
 this record : — 
 
 " It is ordered that Mr. Waterhouse shall be dispenced 
 
 1 Pase 420. 
 
20 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 wth concerneing that Clause of the order in y® Charge of 
 twenty pounds yeerly rent to be payd ft/ Thompson's Hand 
 towards the skoole, where he is bound to teach to write, it 
 shalbe left to his liberty in that poynt of teaching to write, 
 only to doe what he can conveniently therein." ^ 
 
 It soon became evident that the collection of these rents 
 was attended with too much difficulty on account of the large 
 number of proprietors, each of whom must pay his portion 
 of the tax. It was apparent also that this tax was not suffi- 
 cient in amount to carry forward the school successfully. 
 For these and other reasons it was deemed advisable for the 
 individual proprietors to make a direct conveyance of the 
 land to the lown for the special support and establishment of 
 a free school, that it might be more effectually and better 
 maintained. For this purpose more than seventy persons 
 over their own signatures made over to the town " the sayd 
 Hand and all the benefit & profitts thereof and all their 
 right & Interest in the same shalbe wholy & foreuer 
 bequethed and given away from themselues & their heirs 
 unto the Town of Dorchester aforesayd for & Towards the 
 maintenance of a free school in Dorchester aforesayd for the 
 instructinge & Teachinge of Children & youth in good litera- 
 ture & Learninge." 
 
 This document further says : " It is heerby ordered & the 
 p^sent donours doe heerby declare that it is there mynd that 
 the sayd Hand shalbe lett, assigned & sett Ouer only to such 
 Tenant or Tenants as shall by land or otherwise sufficiently 
 secure the payment of the rent thereof for the vse and 
 behoofe of the schoole as aforesayd in such manner & forme 
 & at such time & tymes of payment as shalbe agreed vppon 
 by & l)etweene the inhabitants of Dorchester or there agents, 
 one the one p''tye & the sayd Tenant or Tenants one the 
 other p^e. 
 
 "And for avoydinge the Trouble that myght arise in col- 
 
 1 History of Dorchester, page 421. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 21 
 
 lectinge and gatheringe the same Kent by so great a 
 Multitude of Tenants that ought to pay the same, &, to the 
 intent that the rents which shalbe-come due for the sayd 
 Hand may be the better and more redylie Collected and payd 
 it is heerby ordered and declared that the sayd Hand shall 
 neuer be lett out to soe many tenants as shalbe aboue tenn in 
 number at once." ' 
 
 This deed of conveyance from the individual proprietors 
 to the town was dated " the Seaventh day of the Twelfth 
 moneth in the yeare 1641." (Feb. 17, 1642.) 
 
 Hon. Joseph White, in the 40th Annual Report of the 
 Secretary of the Board of Education for Massachusetts, 
 says : — 
 
 " This action of Dorchester, which was two years earlier 
 than that of Boston for a similar object, is claimed by the 
 historian of the town, and by other distinguished writers, to 
 be the " first public school in the world supported by direct 
 taxation or assessment on the inhabitants of the town," ^ 
 
 Let us now examine the records to see if this claim can be 
 properly established. 
 
 1. The school established in Charles City, Va., in 1621, 
 was sustained by subscription. It was entirely a private 
 school. 
 
 2. The Dutch school at Manhattan, in 1633, was also a 
 private school. 
 
 3. The Boston Latin School appears to have been begun 
 in 1635, but there seems to be a lack of evidence to show 
 that it received the support of the town till 1641. The first 
 step, however, was taken in behalf of this school by the 
 town, in that it elected the teacher in a legally w^arned town- 
 meeting. But, like many other cases, it appears that the 
 effort at first was to support it on " a foundation " like the 
 schools of Old England, at Eaton, Westminster, Rugby, etc. 
 
 1 History of Dorchester, pages 420 to 423. 
 
 2 Page 112. 
 
22 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 4. So, too, the school at Charlestovvn fails to give us the 
 needed evidence that it was supported by taxation till after 
 the Dorchester people had set the example. If the vote in 
 1636, by which "Mr. William Witherell was agreed with to 
 keep a school for a twelve month to begin the 8th of August 
 and to have forty pounds this year," was passed in town- 
 meeting, and not in a meeting of the proprietors simply, — 
 if the same is conclusive evidence that this school was kept 
 at that time, and that the forty pounds to be paid to Master 
 Witherell was raised by taxation, then Charlestown has the 
 priority. But is this simple vote conclusive? Would the 
 courts render a verdict on such meager evidence? Indeed, 
 if the school were so kept, and the money had been raised 
 by taxation, would there not be, inevitably, various other 
 evidences? But there is, so far as I know, no evidence that 
 the town supported the school by taxation till long after 
 1640. 
 
 5. The school in Salem was, perhaps, begun in 1637, by 
 Rev. John Fisk, but I find no vote of the town on record 
 till that of January, 1640, when at "a general towne meeting 
 yong Mr. Norris [was] chose by this assembly to teach 
 schooie." 
 
 6. In 1639 the town of Newbury granted ten acres of 
 land to Anthony Somerby " for his encouragement to keep 
 school one year;" but the first vote, afterwards, showing 
 that the town was interested in the education of children, 
 was in 1652, 
 
 These are all of the confiictinof claims needful to consider. 
 
 In contrast with this want of evidence in the cases men- 
 tioned, we have the definite record, that on the 30th day of 
 May, 1639 (New Style), the inhabitants of this town, in 
 general town-meeting assembled, did vote to impose a tax of 
 twenty pounds a year forever upon Thompson's Island, to be 
 paid " by every person that hath proprietie in said Island," 
 " and this towards the mantenance of a school in Dorches- 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MO WRY, PH.D. 23 
 
 ter ; " and to be paid yearly to " such a schoolmaster as 
 shall undertake to teach English, Laline and other tongues 
 and also writing. The said schoolmaster to be chosen from 
 tyme to tyme by the freemen, and it is left to the discretion 
 of the elders and the seven men for the tyme being whether 
 maydes shall be taught with the boys or not." 
 
 But the public sentiment was not ripe for granting such 
 privileges to the " maydes," and, as a matter of fact, it was 
 not until 1784, when we had secured independence from 
 Great Britain, that "such girls as can read the Psalter" 
 were permitted to attend a Grammar School, and then only 
 " from the 1st of June to the 1st of October." 
 
 Rev. Thomas Waterhouse was the first teacher of this 
 new school. Subsequently, in 1641, as we have seen, the 
 individual citizens of the town made over to the town 
 directly their interest in the island, " for the special support 
 and establishment of the free school, that it might be more 
 effectually and better maintained." 
 
 Later still, in 1648, John Thompson, son and heir of 
 David, who had been the original proprietor of the island, 
 appeared, and laid claim to the island. The General Court, 
 therefore, after due trial, nullified the grant to Dorchester, 
 and conceded it to Thompson, as its legal owner. 
 
 "In the triall of the case between Mr. Thomas Jones and 
 Mr. John Wisewall, on the behalfe of the school of Dorches- 
 ter, and Mr. John Thompson, respecting the title of the 
 island called Thompson's Island, the Courte, on the hearinge 
 of the case, and examining the evidences brought by both 
 parties, judged the right to belong to John Thompson, and 
 gave him his bill of costs, which was three pounds, seven 
 shillings and sixe pence, against the towne of Dorchester." ^ 
 
 Upon this the inhabitants of the town sent a petition to 
 the General Court, briefly reviewing the matter, and closing 
 with a request that the Court would grant some other island, 
 
 • History of Dorchester, page 432. 
 
24 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 as a help to them "towards the maintenance of a free 
 school." 
 
 Still later, in 1659, the town chose two men to act for it 
 in an effort to either recover possession of the island, or to 
 secure from the General Court other land in lieu of it. 
 
 These men therefore presented to the Court the following 
 petition : — 
 
 " To the Hon'''^ General Court Now assembled at Boston, 
 the petition of the inhabitants of Dorchester 
 
 "Humbly sheweth, 
 
 " That whereas there was many years since granted by this 
 court, as appears by record, a sertaine Hand called Thom- 
 sons Hand w°^^ we the said Inhabitants possest diners years 
 and hopefull to haue euer enjoyed the same for the benefit of 
 o"" seines and posterity (the same being giuen to and for the 
 maintenance of a free scoole In Dorchester) but the s'^ Hand 
 hath bin taken from vs and settled on others to the almost 
 if not totall ouerthrow of o'' free scoole w*^'^ was soe hopefull 
 for posterity, both our owne and neihbors also who had or 
 might haue reaped benefit thereby. 
 
 "Our Humble Request to this hon*''^ Court is, that you 
 would be pleased to reniue yo'' former grant of the said 
 Hand, and confirme the same vnto vs, we conceiuing we had 
 Just title ther vnto, or Elc, that you would bee pleased to 
 grant vnto vs one thousand ackors of land In some conueni- 
 ent place or places (for the end afo'sd, namely, the mainten- 
 ance of o'' dijng scoole) where we shall find it, and in the 
 courts power to grant the same, and yo'" petition""^ shall 
 pray, &c. 
 
 Dor. 18: 8. (October) 1659: 
 
 Roger Clap, ) In the name and by 
 
 Hopestill Foster. S order from y'' towne." 
 
 Action was taken on this petition by the Court as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 25 
 
 " The deputies thinke meets to gniunt this petition vizt. 
 a thousand acres of land for the end mentioned in this 
 petition, where they can find it according to law — with ref- 
 erence to the consent of o'' Hon'"'^. magistrates hereto. 
 
 "Wm. ToRRY, Clerk. 
 "Edwd. Rawson, Secty. 
 "Consented to by the magist's." 
 
 It was not till after the lapse of about sixty years that the 
 town secured possession of this land. In 1717 Mr. Samuel 
 Capen, Sr., and Joseph Hall were appointed to "look after 
 the said lands with all speed wisdom and discretion for the 
 good of the town." 
 
 The land was selected and laid out and assigned to the 
 town. It was located in Fitchburg, afterwards Lunenburg, 
 in Worcester County, and was sold in 1734 to Benjamin Bird, 
 of Dorchester, for the sum of £400. In 1657 the town voted 
 to appropriate one thousand acres of its own land for the 
 benefit of " a free school." This land was afterwards divided 
 between Dorchester and Stoughton. Dorchester, as late as 
 1767, sold a portion of the grant for £420. ^ 
 
 And now we come to another important fact connected 
 with this early school. It is evident that the inhabitants of 
 this good old town of Dorchester were thoroughly in earnest 
 in the matter of a public school, and they took a step forward 
 which evidently had no precedent in America, but which has 
 been fruitful of results wide spread and of great importance. 
 
 It was nothing less than the appointment of a special school 
 committee, charging its members with the entire oversight of 
 the school. These men, three in number, were termed 
 " wardens or overseers of the school e.'' 
 
 The establishment of this earliest school committee of the 
 town was at the "March meeting" in the year 1645. The 
 town at the same time established " rules and orders concern- 
 
 1 For the foregoing facts and statements see History of Dorchester, page 433, et seq. 
 
26 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 ing the school." These rules were confirmed by the major 
 part of the inhabitants of the town present at the meeting. 
 
 They were as follows : — 
 
 " First. It is ordered that three able and sufficient men of 
 the Plantation shalbe Chosen to bee wardens or ou^'see'^'^ of 
 the Schoole, who shall haue the Charge, oue''-sight and 
 ordering thereof, and of all things Concerning the same in 
 such manne"" as is hereafter expressed, and shall Continue in 
 thei'' oflSce and place for Terme of thei'' Hues respectiuely, 
 vnlesse by reason of any of them remouing his habitation out 
 of the Towne, or fo'' any othe*" Weightie reason, the Inhabi- 
 tants shall see cause to Elect and Chuse othe^' in thei'' Roome, 
 in wch cases and vpon the death of any of the same wardens, 
 the Inhabitants shall make a new Election and choice of 
 others. And Mr. Haward, Deacon Wiswall, Mr. Atherton 
 are elected to bee the first wardens o^ ouersee'^^ 
 
 " Secondly. The said wardens shall haue full powe'' to dis- 
 pose of the School stock, whethe'" the same bee in land or 
 otherwise, both such as is already in beeing and such as may 
 by any good meanes hereafter be added ; and shall Collect 
 and Receiue the Rents, Issues and p'fits arising & growing 
 of & from the sayd stock. And the sayd rents. Issues and 
 p'fits shall imploy and lay out only for the best behoof and 
 advantage of the sayd Schoole, and the furtherance of learn- 
 ing thereby, and shall give a faythful and true accompt of 
 thei'' receipts & disbursements so often as they shalbe 
 thearvnto be required by the Inhabitants or the maior p'te of 
 them. 
 
 " Thirdly. The said Wardens shall take care and doe thei"^ 
 vtmost and best endeavor that the sayd Schoole may fro tyme 
 to tyme be supplied with an able and sufficient Schoole master 
 who neu''thelesse is not to be admitted into the place of 
 Schoole m'' w*''out the Generall consent of the Inhabitants or 
 the maior p'^te of them. 
 
 " Fowerthly. So often as the sayd Schoole shalbe sup- 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 27 
 
 plied w**" a Schoole m'" so provided and admitted as aforesayd, 
 the wardens shall fro tyrae to tyme pay or cause to be payd 
 vnto the sayd Schoole m' such wages out of the Rents, Issues 
 & p^'fitts of the Schoole stocke as shall of right Come due to 
 be payd. 
 
 "Fiuethly. The sayd Wardens shall from tyme to tyme 
 see that the Schoole howse bee kei)t in good and sufficient 
 repay re, the charges of which reparacon shall be defrayed 
 and payd out of such rents. Issues and p'"fits of y* Schoole 
 stocke if ther'' be sufficient, or else of such rents as shall arise 
 and grow in the tyme of the vacancy of the Schoole m"" yf 
 ther® be any such — and in defect of such vacancy the wardens 
 shall repayre to the 7 men of the Towne fo"" the tyme being, 
 who shall have powe'" to Taxe the Towne w"^ such some or 
 sommes as shalbe requested fo"^ the repayring of the Schoole 
 howse as aforesayd. 
 
 "Sixthly. The sayd Wardens shall take Care that eu'y 
 yeere at or before the end of the 9th monethther'^ bee brought 
 to the Schoole howse 12 sufficient Cart or vvayne loads of wood 
 fo'' fewell to be fo"" the vse of the Schoolemaste"^ and the Schol- 
 le''^ in winte"^, the Cost and charge of w'''^ sayd wood to bee 
 borne by the scholle" fc/ the tyme beeing who shalbe taxed 
 fo'.the purpose at the discretion of the sayd Wardens. 
 
 "Lastly. The sayd Wardens shall take care that the 
 Schoolm"^ fo'' the tyme beeing doe faythfully p^forme his dutye 
 in his place as schoolm' ought to doe, as well in other things 
 as in these w"^*^ are hereafter expressed, viz. 
 
 " First. That the Schoolem"^ shall diligently attend his 
 Schoole, and doe his vtmost indeavo' fo' Benefiting his Schol- 
 le''s according to his best discretion, w*''out vnnecessaryly ab- 
 senting himself to the p^'iudice of his scholle""* and hindering 
 ther® learning. 
 
 " 21y. That from the begining of the first moneth vntill the 
 end of the 7"\ hee shall eu^'y day beginn to teach at seaven of 
 the Clock in the morning and dismisse his scholle""" at fyue in 
 
28 DOECHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 the afternoon®. And fo'' the othe"" fyue months, that is, from 
 the beginn^ of the S**" month vntill the end of the 12"' month 
 he shall eu^^y day beginn at 8 of the clock in the morning, & 
 [end] at 4 in the afternoon. 
 
 "Sly. Eu'^'y day in the yeerethe vsuall tyme of dismissing 
 at noone shalbe at 11, and to beginn agayne at one, except 
 that 
 
 "41y. Eu'y second day in the weeke he shall call his 
 (Scholler® togeither betweene 1 2 & one of the Clock to examin 
 them what they haue learned on the saboath day p''eding, at 
 w'''' tyme also he shall take notice of any misdemeano'' or out- 
 rage that any of his Scholle''^ shall haue Committed on the 
 saboath, to the end that at some convenient tyme due Admo- 
 nition and Correction may bee admin iste''*''^ by him according 
 as the nature and qualitie of the offence shall require, at w°^ 
 sayd examination any of the Elde""^ or othe"" Inhabitants that 
 please may bee present, to behold his religious care herein, 
 and to giue ther® Countenance and approbation of the same. 
 
 "51y. Hee shall equally and impartially receiue and in- 
 struct such as shalbe sent and Committed to him fo*" that end, 
 whithe'' there parents bee poore or rich, not refusing any who 
 have Right & Interest in the Schoole. 
 
 " 61y. Such as shall be Committed to him he shall dilli- 
 gently instruct, as they shalbe able to learne, both in humane 
 learning and good literature, & likewyse in poynt of good 
 manne''^ and ditifuU behauiou'' towards all, specially there 
 supiors as they shall haue occasion to bee in ther'^ p'sence, 
 whithe' by meeting them in the streete or otherwyse. 
 
 " 7ly. Euery 6 day in the weeke at 2 of the Clock in the 
 after noone, hee shajl Catechise his Scholle""* in the principles 
 of Christian religion, eithe*" in some Catechism w'''' the War- 
 dens shall provide and p'^'esent, or in defect thereof in some 
 othe'-. 
 
 " Sly. And because all man's indeavo''s w^^out the blessing 
 of God must needs bee fauitlesse and vnsuccessful, theirfore 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 29 
 
 It is to be a chief p'te of the Schoolem'"^ religious care to 
 commend his scholle^s and his Labour's amongst them vnto 
 God by praye'' morning and evening, taking Care that his 
 scholle'^s doer eu^'endly attend during the same. 
 
 " 91y. And because the Rodd of Correction is an ordinance 
 of God necessary sometymes to bee dispensed vnto Children, 
 but such as may easily be abused by oue'^much seu''itie and 
 rigour on one hjmd, or by oue'' much indulgence and lenitye 
 on the othe'', It is therefore ordered and agreed that the 
 schoolemaste'" for the time beeing shall haue full powe'" to 
 ministe"^ Correction to all or any of his scholle''^ w"'out respect 
 of persons, according to the nature and qualitie of the offence 
 shall require ; whereto all his scholle'' must bee duly subject ; 
 and no parent or othe"^ of the Inhabitants shall hinde'" or go 
 about to hinde'^ the maste'' therein : neu'"theless yf any parent 
 or other shall thinke there is just cause of complaynt agaynst 
 the maste'^'fo'" to much seue^itye such shall haue liberty friendly 
 and louingly to expostulate w"^ the maste'^' about the same ; 
 and yf they shall not attayne to satisfaction, the matte'^ is 
 then to bee referred to the wardens, who shall imp^'tially 
 Judge betwixt the maste"" and such ComplaynantSc And yf 
 yt shall appeare to them that any parent shall make causelesse 
 Complaynt against the m'' in this behalfe, and shall p^sist in 
 and Continue so doeing, in such case the wardens shall have 
 power to discharge the m^ of the care and charge of the 
 Children of such parents. But yf the thing Complayned of 
 be true, and that the irf haue indeed bene guiltie of minister- 
 ing excessiue Correction, and shall appeere to them to con- 
 tinue therein, notw^'standing that they haue advised him 
 otherwise, in such case, as also in the case of too much 
 lenitye or any othe"" great neglect of dutye in his place p''sisted 
 in. It shalbe in the powe*" of the Wardens to call the Inhabi- 
 tants togeithe'' to Conside"" wdiithe'" it were not meet to 
 discharge the m'" of his place, that so somme othe"^ more 
 desirable may be provided. And because It is difficult, yf 
 
30 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 not Impossible, to give p^'ticula'' rules y' shall reach all cases 
 w'^'^ may fall out, therefore, fo"" a Conclusion, It is ordered 
 and agreed in generall, that, where p'"ticula'" rules are Avant- 
 ing, ther*" it shalbe a p'te of the office and dutye of the War- 
 dens to orde"^ and dispose of all things that Concerne the 
 schoole, in such sort as in ther® vvisedome and discretion they 
 shall Judge most Conducible fo'" the glory of God & the 
 trayning vp of the Children of the Towne in religion, learn- 
 ing, and Civilitie : - — And these orde""' to bee Continued till 
 the maio'' p''te of the Towne shall see cause to alte^ any p^'te 
 thereof." 
 
 So far as is known this committee of " Wardens or over- 
 seers " was the first school committee appointed by any mu- 
 nicipality in this country. 
 
 It is also worthy of notice that these men must be residents 
 of Dorchester, and that they were appointed for life. The 
 town, however, reserved the right to displace any one of 
 them for "weighty reasons." To the "Wardens or over- 
 seers" was assigned " the charge, oversight, and ordering of 
 all things concerning the school in such manner as expressed " 
 in the extensive rules and orders then adopted, and given 
 above. 
 
 Here was the beginning of the public management of 
 schools by the municipality, and here is the essential begin- 
 ning of the American Public School System. 
 
 It is of but little consequence whether the Boston Latin 
 School, or the school in Charlestown, Salem, Newbury, or 
 elsewhere, was the first school. It is of importance that this 
 Dorchester school was supported by taxation, and that its 
 government and oversight and control were not placed in 
 the hands of "the seven men," i.e., the "selectmen;" but 
 that here the example was set which is to-day followed by all 
 America, of the local citizens, qualified by law to vote in local 
 afi'airs, selecting men to have the control and ordering of all 
 matters pertained to the local public schools. We have now 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 31 
 
 all over this country a system of public schools, established 
 and controlled by law, and under the management of school 
 committees or directors of the local towns or cities, city 
 school boards, or county school boards, or officers of equiva- 
 lent power, whatever their local appellation may be. 
 
 When "Mr. Haward, Deacon Wisevvall, and Mr. Atherton 
 [were] elected to bee the first wardens or overseers," then 
 Dorchester had taken the second important step, — the first 
 having also been taken by her in establishing a tax for her 
 first school, the beginning of the American system of public 
 schools. 
 
 The essential element of the public school system is, that 
 these schools are supported by tax. The second feature is, 
 that they are under control of officers appointed by the 
 people for that purpose. 
 
 If, after the fullest consideration, it shall appear that these 
 two steps were first taken by the town of Dorchester, and 
 that she also established the first town-meeting, it will surely 
 be a matter of just pride to the people who live within the 
 bounds of this ancient municipality. If the Boston of to-day 
 can justly claim (1) the establishment of the first New 
 England town-meeting, and (2) can point to her Latin 
 School as the first public school established for secondary 
 education, and to the Mather School as the first school for 
 which the people of a town were taxed, and if she shall 
 receive from the future historian (3) the credit of her School 
 Committee, from the Dorchester District, being the first 
 school committee of this broad land then appointed to over- 
 see the first publicly supported school, — then, surely, we are 
 warranted in considering this occasion as commemoratins: the 
 planting of that seed which has germinated and grown to a 
 great tree, which now furnishes a delio-htful and refreshing 
 shade for the whole nation. 
 
 Our public school system is unquestionably Ihe most dis- 
 tinctively American institution which this country has pro- 
 
32 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 duced, and since that great civil contest between the two 
 civilizations of the North and the South was settled by the 
 war of secession, this system has been growing to a greater 
 and greater importance. 
 
 The prevailing sentiment of the world to-day is, that, for 
 any successful government '' of the people and by the peoi)le," 
 there must be universal intelligence, and hence universal 
 education. 
 
 The only way that this can be accomplished is by schools 
 established by the government, — " the propeity of the State 
 being taxed to educate the children of the State." 
 
 It may not prove uninteresting, and, I am sure, not un- 
 profitable, to consider briefly some of the provisions first 
 made by which to govern this early school. 
 
 It is to be observed at the outset that our system of schools 
 is a gradual growth. 
 
 The schools of this Commonwealth to-day are absolutely 
 free to all the children, and we have a compulsory law to 
 oblige them all to attend either these or other schools. 
 
 But it is really only a few years since this great system 
 became absolutely free. Till the Free Text-Book law went 
 into eflfect, in 1885, there had always been something for the 
 parent to pay. At first there was a " rate bill ; " then the 
 teacher " boarded round ; " the wood was sometimes con- 
 tributed by the parents sending the children, and in propor- 
 tion to the number of children sent. Even after these 
 customs were abolished, and all these things were paid for 
 out of the public money, it still remained that the books 
 were furnished only at the expense of the parent. Now, 
 however, the schools of the Old Bay State 'avq, absolutely free, 
 — and she was the first of all the States to make them so. 
 
 The first step in this road which has brought us on to this 
 full freedom of the schools was the establishment of that first 
 school in Dorchester, over which Rev. Thomas Walerhouse 
 presided as teacher in 1639, and which, a few years later, 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 33 
 
 was placed under the management of the " Wardens," — 
 "Mr. Haward, Deacon Wisewall, and Mr. Atherton." 
 
 Among the " rules and orders " then put in operation is one 
 requiring the wardens " from tyme to tyme to see that the 
 schoole house be kept in good and sufficient repaire," and if 
 necessary to " repayre to the 7 men of the towne for the tyme 
 being, who shall have power to tax the towne with such some 
 or sommes as shall be requested for the repayering of the 
 schoole house as aforesayed." 
 
 Another provision, it will be observed, was "that every 
 year at or before the end of the 9th month there bee brought 
 to the schoole house 12 sufficient cart or wayne loads of 
 wood for fewell . . . the cost and charge of which 
 sayd wood to bee borne by the schollers for the tyme being 
 who shalbe taxed for the purpose at the discretion of the 
 saj^d wardens." 
 
 From March to the first of October the school should be- 
 gin at seven o'clock and close at five, with a recess at noon 
 of two hours, which was from eleven to one. For the re- 
 maining five months it should begin at eight and end at four. 
 
 The fifth article very emphatically hints at that democratic 
 principle which tolerated no caste, or class, or social distinc- 
 tion, which should abridge the legal and political rights of 
 any. It provided that the schoolmaster should receive 
 "equally and impartially such as shall be presented and 
 committed to him for that end, whether theer parents bee 
 poore or rich, not refusing any who have right or interest in 
 the schoole." 
 
 The sixth is also an article of interest to us at this day : — 
 
 " Such as shall be Committed to him he shall diligently 
 instruct, as they shalbe able to learne, both in humane learn- 
 ing and good litterature, & likewyse in poynt of good man- 
 ne"^* and dutifull behauviou'" towards all, specially there supio" 
 as they shall haue occasion to bee in ther^ presence, whithe"" 
 by meeting them in the streete or otherwyse," 
 
34 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 Finally, the article "9thly," of extreme length, discussed 
 the subject of corporal punishment, and voiced the sentiment 
 of the times in saying : " And because the Rodd of Correc- 
 tion is an ordinance of God, necessary somet3aiies to bee 
 dispensed unto children, but such as may be easily abused 
 by one"" much seuritie and rigou'' on the one hand, or by one"" 
 much indulgence and lenitye on the other," hence the good 
 people of the town order that " the schoolemasf " " shall 
 haue full powe"" to minisf Correction to all or any of his 
 scholle''^ w*^out respect of persons." This rule further 
 l)rovides that the parents shall not "hinder the master 
 therein ;" but if they are aggrieved in such regard they can 
 make complaint to the wardens, who shall hear and impar- 
 tially decide between them. 
 
 And now let us pause for a moment and consider the im- 
 portance of this action of the town by which, as we have seen, 
 the whole charge of this important matter, the public school, 
 was placed in the hands of these three prominent citizens. 
 The fathers builded better than they knew. Primarily, 
 they had in mind the proper nurturing of their own children, 
 but they were laying important foundations on which future 
 ages should build a temple, at once Inrge and grand and 
 beautiful. They here established the principle of represen- 
 tion. The elements of a republic were manifest in the selec- 
 tion of three of their foremost citizens, who, as trustees, 
 should act for the body politic in this important matter. Of 
 the three men chosen we know but little, yet they played 
 conspicuous parts in the early history of this town. Deacon 
 John Wiswall was one of the earliest selectmen of the 
 town, having arrived in Dorchester, with the second emigra- 
 tion from England, in 1635. In 1()()5 he was one of a com- 
 mittee appointed by the town and empowered to treat with 
 Joseph, the Indian sachem, who, in behalf of himself and 
 others, had made a demand for land, and this committee were 
 empowered "to make full and conipleat agreement (with 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 35 
 
 the Indians), if they see their demands be but reason." It 
 should be a cause of great satisfaction to us that the historian 
 of the town is able to make this record : " In all their deal- 
 ings with the Indians the town acted honorably and gener- 
 ously and paid a fair compensation." 
 
 Humphrey Atherton, the second on the committee, came to 
 Dorchester in 1635 from Lancashire in the ship "James." He 
 joined the church in 1(336, and was admitted a free man, and 
 made a grantee of Neck lands in 1637. He was a member of 
 the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, and was its 
 captain from 1650 to 1658. He commanded the Suffolk 
 Regiment, with the title of niMJor-general, and was the chief 
 military officer in New England. He was selectman and 
 town treasurer for many years, and was deputy to the Gen- 
 eral Court from 1638 to 1 641 . He was Speaker of the House 
 in 1659. He was engaged in several expeditions against the 
 Narragansett Indians, and the historian of Dorchester says of 
 him : " He was nmch respected for his religious character and 
 public spirit, and often employed by the colonial government 
 with civil and military affairs. He had great experience and 
 skill in the treatment of the Indians, with whom his public 
 duties brought him in frequent contact." His death occurred 
 Sept. 16, 1661, by falling from his horse, and his chaiacter 
 and station are commemorated in the following lines upon his 
 gravestone : — 
 
 " Here lyes ovr Captaine, & Maior of Svffolk was withall ; 
 A Godly Majistrate was he, and Maior Generall, 
 
 Two Trovps of Hors with him heare came, svch worth his love did crave ; 
 Ten Companyes of Foot also movrning marcht to his grave. 
 Let all that Read be sure to keep the Faith as he has don. 
 With Christ he lives now Crown'd, his name was Hvmpry Atherton." 
 
 Robert Howard, the third of this committee, sometimes 
 placed first, was selectman for many years. He, too, came 
 with the second emigration, in 1635. He received a portion 
 of land in the first division, in 1638, and was made free man 
 
3() DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 in 1643. While Deacon Wis wall was absent on a voyage to 
 England, Mr. Howard was Clerk of the Writs. These were 
 the three men chosen by the inhabitants of Dorchester, for 
 the term of their natural lives, to have the full charge of the 
 school thus early established in this town. 
 
 " On the 3rd day of May, 1692, Samuel Clap, Samuel 
 ToplifF and Hopestill Clap select men received of Joseph 
 Capin a Latin Book (dictionary) which doth belong to the 
 town, and delivered said book to Mr. Joseph Lord, school- 
 master, to be improved for the benefit of the school, and 
 said Lord is to deliver it to some of the select men when 
 he leaves the school in Dorchester." Thus reads a record of 
 the town made in the year 1692. This "Latin Book" was 
 entitled " Cooper's Thesaurus Romanse et Britannicae," and 
 was originally presented to the school by Rev. Richard 
 Mather. By a memorandum on the margin of one of the 
 leaves the date of the original presentation seems to be 1669. 
 This book, in good condition, except the loss of the title-page, 
 remained the property of the school for more than two hun- 
 dred years, but unfortunately cannot now be found. The 
 author of this dictionary, Thomas Cooper, was born at Ox- 
 ford about the yeav 1517. He was schoolmaster at Oxford, 
 and afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, and later still at Winches- 
 ter. The dictionary contained, in a bold handwriting, the 
 names of many of the teachers, including all the earlier mas- 
 ters of the school on Meeting-house Hill. A worthy list of 
 masters this has been. 
 
 The following brief mention of these masters is Gathered 
 from the " History of Dorchester" : Rev. Thomas Waterhouse 
 was the pioneer. He was a graduate of Cambridge Univer- 
 sity, England, and came to this country upon the breaking 
 out of the English civil war. He returned to England later, 
 and became master of the public school in Colchester. He 
 died in H)><0, nearly eighty years of age. The historian says 
 of him : " He was a very useful man, of a blameless con- 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY^ PH.D. 37 
 
 versation, and very firm in his non-conformity."^ Menry 
 Butler was the teacher of this school as early as 1648. He 
 received his master's degree at Cambridge University. Later 
 he returned to England where he preached many years and 
 suffered great losses by fines for his non-conformity. He died 
 in 1696, aged 72. The third teacher was Ichabod Wiswall, 
 who was born in Dorchester in 1637, and entered Harvard 
 College in 1654. He was afterwards niinister in Duxbury, 
 and is called "a nearly faultless man." He stood very high 
 in the estimation of the whole Plymouth colony for his tal- 
 ents, piety, and incorruptible integrity. He died in the year 
 1700 in the sixty-third year of his age. 
 
 The following is a copy of the contract, signed by Ichabod 
 Wiswall, and by Edward Bieck in the name of the rest of 
 the selectmen : — 
 
 " First, that Ichabod, w"' the Consent of his Father, shall 
 from the 7th of March next Ensuinge, vnto the end of three 
 full years from thence be compleate and ended, instructe and 
 teach in a free Schoole in Dorchester all such Cheldren as by 
 the Inhabitants shall be Committed vnto his Care, in English, 
 Latine and Greeke as from time to time the Cheldren shall 
 be Capable, and allso insti^uct them in writinge as hee shall 
 be able ; w*''^ is to be vnderstood such Cheldren as are so fare 
 enf®*^ all redie to knowe there Leters and to spell some what ; 
 and also prouided the schoole howse from time to time be 
 kept in good order and comfortable for a man to abide in, 
 both in somer and in Winter, by prouiding Fire seasonably, 
 so that it may neather be preiudiciall to master nor Scholar — 
 and in cause of palpable neglect and matter of Complaint and 
 not reformed, it shall not binde the m'' to Endanger his health. 
 
 "Secondly, that the Selectmen of Dorchester shall, from 
 yeare to yeare, every yeare paye or cause to be paid unto 
 Icabod or his Father by his assignment the full somme of 
 Twentie Five Pounds, two thirdes in wheate, pease, or bar- 
 
 1 Palmer's "Non-Conformists' Memorial." Vol. II., page 408. 
 
38 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 ley, nijirchanlable, and one thirdc in Indian, att or before 
 the first of March, dueringe the three yeares, yearly, at 
 price Currant, w'^'^ is to be vnderstoode the price w°'^ the 
 generall (Jourt shall from time to time appoint." 
 
 AVilliam Pole, an early settler in Dorchester, is the next 
 uf)()n the list, and after him we find Hope Atherton, son of 
 Major Humphrey Atherton, born in Dorchester in 164(j, 
 graduated at Harvard in 1665, and taught the school in 1668 
 and 1669. In 1670 he became minister at Hatfield. He 
 died in 1677, from the effects of severe sufferings and expo- 
 sures in an expedition against the Indians, in which he was 
 chaplain. Then comes John Foster, the son of Capt. 
 Ilopestill Foster, born in Dorchester, 1646, graduated at 
 Harvard 1667, established the tirst printing-house in Boston 
 in 1675 or 1676, was the author and printer of almanacs, and 
 printed many of the leading books written in New England 
 at that day. He died in 1681, at the early age of thirty-three. 
 Then comes flames Minot, another son of Dorchester and of 
 Harvard, and William Denison, who was born in Roxbury, 
 and graduated at Harvard ; and John Williams, another 
 Roxbury boy and Harvard graduate ; and Jonathan Pier- 
 pont, also from Roxbury and from Harvard ; and Edward 
 Mills, boi'n in Braintree and a son of Harvard ; and Jose})h 
 Lord, of Charlestown and of Harvard ; and John Robinson, of 
 Dorchester and of Harvard ; and John Swift, born in Milton 
 and a son of Harvard ; and Richard Billings, of Dorchester and 
 of Harvai-d ; Samuel Wis wall, the son of Enoch, and grand- 
 son of Elder Thomas Wiswall, also a graduate of Harvard ; 
 and Elijah Danforth, son of Dorchester and of Harvard ; and 
 Peter Thatcher, of Milton and of Harvard; Ebenezer Devo- 
 tion, of Brookline and of Harvard ; Samuel Fiske, of Brain- 
 tree and of Harvard ; Ebenezer White, of Dorchester and of 
 Harvard ; Samuel Danforth, son of Rev. John, of Dorchester, 
 and a graduate of Harvard ; Daniel Witham, of Gloucester 
 and of Harvard; Isaac Billinijs, of Dorchester and of Har- 
 
HISTORICAL ADDKESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 39 
 
 vard ; and now have reached the beijinninor of the eighteenth 
 century. Phillips Payson, of Dorchester and of Harvard; 
 Samuel Moseley, of Dorchester and of Harvard ; Supply 
 Clap, of Dorchester and of Harvard , Noah Clap, of Dor- 
 chester and of Harvard ; Josiah Pierce, from Woburn and of 
 Harvard ; Philip Curtis, of Roxbury and of Harvard ; Thomas 
 Jones, of Dorchester and of Harvard ; Edward Bass, of Dor- 
 chester and of Harvard ; James Humphrey, who was the son 
 of Jonas, the son of Hopestill, the son of Elder Jonas Hum- 
 phrey, — I need not say that he was Dorchester born, — he 
 also graduated at Harvard ; Pelatiah Grlover, also Dorchester 
 born ; James Baker, of Dorchester and of Harvard ; Daniel 
 Leeds, of Dorchester and of Harvard; William Bowman, of 
 Watertown and of Harvard ; Samuel Coolidge, of Watertown 
 and of Harvard : Col. Samuel Pierce, of Dorchester; Onesi- 
 phorus Tileston, of Boston and of Harvard ; Edward H. Rob- 
 bins, of Milton and of Harvard; and it must be that we are 
 now reaching modern times, as we find a middle name. 
 Oliver Everett, of Dedham and of Harvard, the father of 
 Edward Everett; Aaron Smith, of HoUis, N.H., and of 
 Harvard, and this is the first instance of a teacher of this 
 school who was not born in the State of Massachusetts, after 
 the time of the masters, who graduated at Cambridge Uni- 
 versity, England ; Samuel Shuttles worth, of Dedham and of 
 Harvard ; Samuel Cheney, of Roxbury and of Harvard ; 
 Joseph Gardner Andrews, of Boston and of Harvard ; Sam- 
 uelTopliff, of Dorchester and of Harvard ; Theophilus Capen, 
 of Stoughton and of Harvard ; and James Blake Howe, of 
 Dorchester and of Harvard. 
 
 The following notice of Mr. Howe is taken from the 
 " History of Dorchester," page 545 : — 
 
 '' James Blake Howe, son of Abraham and Patience 
 (Blake) Howe, was born in Dorchester, March 31, 1773, 
 and graduated at Harvard College in 1794. He was the 
 first teacher in the brick school-house erected on Meetins;- 
 
40 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 house Hill, in 1798, having previously tauofht in the old 
 wooden house on the westerly side of the hill." ^ 
 
 1 EDWARD EVERETT'S SCHOOL RECITATION. 
 
 The preceptors of the Hon. Edward Everett, in the public schools of his native 
 town, were Rev. James Blake Howe and Rev. Wilkes Allen. It was in one of these 
 schools that the youthful Everett recited, at an exhibition, a poem, generally sup- 
 posed to begin with these words : — 
 
 "You'd scarce expect one of my age 
 To speak in public on the stage." 
 
 ; In order to ascertain the fact regarding this matter, which has been a question of 
 doubt for half a century, the editor of this work applied to Dr. Harris, of Gore 
 Library, — a son of the late Rev. Dr. Harris, who baptized the infant Edward, April 
 13, 1794, — and learned that the poem alluded to was not the one spoken by him, but 
 the following, as prefixed to the letter, dated Cambridge, Feb. 1, 1850, in which Dr. 
 Harris stated, " I have seen copies of these lines, differing slightly and variously from 
 the foregoing, which, according to my recollections, agree more nearly with the 
 original than the others. I mean to say that the lines now sent ai-e nearer to the 
 original than other copies [ have seen. The "little orator" has become a great one. 
 The expression " little roan " applied to the color of Edward Everett's hair. 
 
 Lines written for Edward Everett, when a child, by the Rev. Thaddeus Mason 
 
 Harris : — 
 
 Pray how should I, a little lad, 
 
 In speaking, make a figure? 
 You're only joking, I'm afraid, — 
 
 Do wait till I am bigger. 
 But since you wish to hear my part. 
 
 And urge me to begin it, 
 I'll strive for praise, with all my heart. 
 
 Though small the hope to win it. 
 I'll tell a tale how Farmer John 
 
 A little roan-colt bred, sir, 
 And every night and every morn 
 
 He watered and he fed, sir. 
 Said neighbor Joe to Farmer John, 
 
 " Aren't you a silly dolt, sir, 
 To spend such time and care upon 
 
 A little useless colt, sir? " 
 Said Farmer John to neighbor Joe, 
 
 " I bring my little roan up, 
 Not for the good he now can do, 
 
 But will do when he's grown up. 
 The moral you can well espy, 
 
 To' keep the tale from spoiling : 
 The little coll, you think, is I, — 
 
 I know it by your smiling. 
 And now, my friends, please to excuse 
 
 My lisping and my stammers ; 
 I, for this once, have done my best, 
 
 And so — I'll make my manners. 
 
 {From Loring's Ifundred Orators.) 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 41 
 
 Consider for a moment the character of these forty-five 
 teachers of the Dorchester school. Twenty- nhie (^f them 
 became clergymen, many of whom acquh'ed distinction in 
 their profession, and some were among the foremost men of 
 New England. Several of them became physicians, others 
 lawyers, one a distinguished judge, and one lieutenant-gov- 
 ernor of the colony. What a remarkable set of teachers ! 
 A succession of forty- five men, the first two graduates of 
 Cambridge, England, and nearly every one of the others a 
 graduate of Flarvard College. More than half the entire 
 number were natives of Dorchester. What an unusual 
 record for a small town in those early days ! Nor is Dor- 
 chester's record at Harvard any less remarkable. Samuel 
 Mather, son of Rev. Richard Mather, of Dorchester, born 
 in England in 1626, graduated at Harvard College in 1643, 
 and was the first graduate of that college from this town. 
 Prior to the year 1700 Dorchester sent twenty young men to 
 Harvard College; between the years of 1700 and 1800 
 thirty-nine more, and between 1800 and 1850 twenty-nine 
 others. From this record it appears that Dorchester sent to 
 Harvard College eighty-eight young men in two hundred 
 and seven years. These facts speak volumes for the intelli- 
 gence, enterprise, thrift, and high estimate of good learning 
 which characterized from the beo;innino; the inhabitants of 
 Dorchester. 
 
 The extent to which this ancient town of Dorchester is 
 indebted, at the present day, for the thrift, prosperity, and 
 intelligence of her people, to the schoolmasters of the olden 
 times, can scarcely be estimated. 
 
 William Pole taught the school from 1659 to 1668. He 
 was also " Clerk of y*" writs & Register of Births, Deaths, 
 & Marriages in Dorchester ten years." 
 
 ; Samuel Coolidge taught the school for about twenty years, 
 closing his service just, one hundred years ago. "He was 
 noted for his beautiful penmanship ; was distinguished for 
 
42 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 his abilities as a teacher, and for his high classical attain- 
 ments."^ He was a member of the board of selectmen and 
 assessors ten years, being their chairman four years. One 
 hundred and two years ago he was elected both town clerk 
 and treasurer, as the successor of Noah Clap, another school- 
 master, who had held these two offices thirty-eight years, and 
 who for ten years succeeded him as town clerk. 
 
 This Noah Clap taught the school at various times between 
 1735 and 1769 ; eighteen or twenty years in all. Mr. 
 Trask, in the "History of Dorchester," says of Mr. Clap: 
 
 "No one, since the settlement of the town, has had so much 
 to do with its concerns, or was so well acquainted with its 
 interests ; indeed, he knew the history and family relations 
 of most of those who had lived here previous to his day. 
 He was a son of Deacon Jonathan Clap, grandson of Mr. 
 Nathaniel Clap ('a choice man'), and great-grandson of 
 Nicholas, one of the early settlers, all of Dorchester. He 
 was born January 25, 1718, and graduated at Harvard 
 College in 1735, at the age of seventeen. He then studied 
 theology and became a pre.icher, but his health was so feeble 
 that he never entertained the idea of settling in the ministry, 
 although he frequently preached in this and the neighboring 
 towns. He kept the Grammar School in Dorchester for 
 nearly twenty years, and for a generation after his decease 
 was designated as Master Noah. He was selectman, town 
 treasurer, and assessor upwards of thirty years, and town 
 clerk about forty-seven years. While in this capacity, 
 his house was burned ; and although every exertion was 
 made to save the records, at the expense of other property, 
 a part was lost, but was afterwards supplied, in a great meas- 
 ure, through his exertion and perseverance. He had a very 
 retentive memory and could repeat the tales of former years 
 with great interest. He was so conscientious in regard to 
 the truth that he was rarely known to make an assertion 
 
 ^ Hist, of Dorchester, page 531. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 43 
 
 unless prefixed by the term 'may be.' The late Rev. Dr. 
 Harris preached a sermon on the occasion of his death, in 
 which he said: 'I never knew a person farther removed 
 from every appearance of duplicity, or more singularly 
 remarkable for a cautiousness in speech, and inviolable 
 veracity. He was not fond of affirmations, and hesitated 
 even as to the accuracy of his own judgment and the cer- 
 tainty of his own information. This singular cautiousness 
 was the result of the most inflexible reverence for truth. It 
 was accompanied by a meek, humble, diffident, and modest 
 spirit, and a plain, undisguised, unafiected artlessness of 
 manner. A very observable and lovely trait in his charac- 
 ter was his candor and charitableness in judging of others. 
 Of this he gave the most pleasing proofs in his unwillingness 
 even to hear anything to the disadvantage of persons. He 
 would never patiently listen to the reports which might be in 
 ciiculation of the misconduct of any ; and when they were 
 mentioned in his presence he was always ready to palliate or 
 excuse what he could not commend, and seemed averse to 
 believe ill news, flying rumors, and petty scandal. Of 
 course he was never known to repeat them. . . . The late 
 Dr. Belknap found great assistance in his most important re- 
 searches from consulting Mr. Clap ; and such was his won- 
 derful accuracy, even in chronological dates, that his guarded 
 declarations had all the fidelity and certainty of printed 
 documents.' " 
 
 It may well be believed that in such a community the 
 schoolmaster was an honored and an honorable man. The 
 masters of Dorchester were thoroughly educated men, and 
 of high standing in the community. They would compare 
 favorably with Richard Norris, of Salem, who taught there, 
 1640 to 1670; with Elijah Corlet, of Cambridge, who con- 
 tinued in office over fifty years, and except in years of ser- 
 vice, with the famous Ezekiel Cheever, who arrived in this 
 country in 1637, taught in New Haven twelve j^ears, in Ips- 
 
44 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 wich ten years, in Charlestown nine years, and was master 
 of the Boston Latin School thirty-eight years, until his death, 
 in 1708, at the age of ninety-three years, having taught 
 for nearly seventy years. It was in commemoration of the 
 two last named that Cotton Mather wrote the following lines, 
 with more of truth than poetry : — 
 
 " 'Tis Corlet's pains, and Clieever's, we must own, 
 That thou, New England, art not Sythia grown." 
 
 Their salaries averaged well with the minister's, ranging 
 from twenty to fifty pounds a year. A mode of paying the 
 master not uncommon was a fixed sum by the town, with 
 the privilege of charging a reasonable tuition for those pu- 
 pils whose parents were able to pay, but in every case it was 
 expressly provided that no poor children should be denied 
 the privilege of attending the school, the town always assum- 
 ing the charge. 
 
 Eight years after the establishment of the Dorchester 
 school, an order passed the General Court, Nov. 11, 1647, 
 recognizing and sanctioning the public schools, and making 
 their support compulsory upon ever}' town having the req- 
 uisite number of householders. A tovvn of fifty house- 
 holders must support a school for learning to read and write, 
 and a town of one hundred families or householders should 
 support a Grammar School, where the youth could be fitted 
 for the University. 
 
 Hon. Joseph White, in the Fortieth Annual Report of the 
 Secretary of the Board of Education, thus comments on this 
 law and the schools of the time : — 
 
 " This notable law, giving voice, as it did, to the con- 
 victions and the experience of the people, was everywhere 
 cheerfully obeyed. On every side, as the ancient forests 
 gave way before the hardy pioneers, in their slow but sure 
 
 1 Fortieth Annual Report, Mass., page 117. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 45 
 
 advance from the sea-board into the interior, the meet ins:- 
 house and the school-house rose side bv side with the loaf 
 huts of the settlers, thus converting the desolate places of 
 the wilderness into the homes of a Christian people, — the 
 ' seed-plots ' of a higher and purer life for ages yet to 
 come. 
 
 "No grander spectacle is presented in the history of any 
 people than that of these ancient men, thus struggling for a 
 scanty subsistence amid the jnnvations and dangers of border 
 life, and often for itself against the attacks of a stealthy and 
 relentless foe, and yet, as if with a prophetic prevision of 
 the future, sparing no effort in their deep poverty, shrinking 
 from no sacrifice of time and money, needful to plant the 
 pillars of the new Commonwealth — their beloved ' New 
 England,' as they were wont to call it — on the everlasting 
 foundations of universal intelligence and virtue. 
 
 " Thus, within a single score of years from the landing on 
 the shores of the bay, the new State is successfully launched, 
 fully equipped for the voyage, we trust, of all the ages, with 
 a good array of towns, each with a government wisely 
 adapted to its needs, and all bound together by the strong 
 bonds of a vigorous central government of their own crea- 
 tion, and administered for the common good, while the 
 meeting-house and the school-house, in every township, and 
 'v*= Universitie' at Carabridsre, were all workino^ together 
 'for the building up of hopeful youths in way of learning, 
 for the service of the country in future times." 
 
 And Horace Mann says : — 
 
 " As an innovation upon all preexisting policy and usages, 
 the establishment of free schools was the boldest ever pro- 
 mulgated since the commencement of the Christian era. As 
 a theory, it could have been refuted and silenced by a more 
 formidable array of arguments and experience than was ever 
 marshalled against any other opinion of human origin. But 
 time has ratified its soundness. Two centuries now proclaim 
 
46 DOECHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 it to be as wise as it was courageous, as beneficent as it was 
 disinterested. It was one of those grand mental and moral 
 experiments whose effect cannot be determined in a single 
 generation. But now, according to the manner in which 
 human life is computed, we are the sixth generation from its 
 founders, and have we not reason to l)e grateful, both to God 
 and man, for its numberless blessings? The sincerity of our 
 gratitude must be tested by our efforts to perpetuate and 
 improve what they established. The gratitude of lips only 
 is an unhol}' offering." ^ 
 
 The three following propositions describe the broad and 
 everenduring foundation on which the common school system 
 of Massachusetts reposes : — 
 
 The successive generations of men, taken collectively, con- 
 stitute one great Commonwealth. 
 
 The property of this Commonwealth is pledged for the 
 education of all its youth up to such a point as will save them 
 from poverty and vice, and prepare them for the adequate 
 performance of their social and civil duties. 
 
 The successive holders of this property are trustees, bound 
 to the faithful execution of their trust b}'^ the most sacred 
 obligations ; because embezzlement and pillage from children 
 and descendants are as criminal as the same offences Avhen 
 perpetrated against contemporaries. 
 
 Recognizing these eternal principles of national ethics, the 
 constitution of Massachusetts, — the fundamental law of the 
 State, — after declaring (among other things), in the pre- 
 amble to the first section of the fifth chapter, that " the en- 
 couragement of arts and sciences and all good literature 
 tends to the honor of God, the advantage of the Christian 
 religion, and the great benefit of this and the other United 
 States of America," proceeds, in the second section of the 
 same chapter, to set forth the duties of all future legis- 
 
 1 Horace Mann. Tenth Report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of 
 Education. 
 
HISTOEICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MOWRY, PH.D. 47 
 
 latures and magistrates, in the following noble and im- 
 pressive language : — 
 
 "Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused gen- 
 erally among the body of the people, being necessary for the 
 preservation of their rights and liberties, and as these 
 depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of 
 education in the various parts of the country, and among the 
 different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legis- 
 lators and magistrates, in all future periods of this Common- 
 wealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, 
 and all seminaries of them, especially the University of 
 Cambridge, public schools, and grammar schools in the 
 towns ; to encourage private societies and public institutions, 
 rewards and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, 
 arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural 
 history of the country ; to countenance and inculcate the 
 principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and 
 piivate charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctu- 
 ality in their dealings; sincerity, good-humor, and all social 
 affections and generous sentiments among the people."^ 
 
 The following rules for the teachers of the town of 
 Dorchester were first passed August 26, 1805, and with 
 amendments and additions, June 27, 1810. They are here 
 reproduced from a printed copy preserved by the venerable 
 Deacon Humphreys, now eighty-nine years of age, who lives 
 in the same house in which he was born, and out of which 
 he has not slept more than a dozen nights in his life. The 
 place where he lives has been the " homestead " of the family 
 for two hundred and fifty five years, the land being taken 
 by his ancestor, Jonas Humphreys, five years before the 
 first school was established. 
 
 ^ Horace Mann. Tenth Report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of 
 Education. 
 
48 dorchester celebration. 
 
 "Rules and Regulations to be Observed by the 
 Teachers of the Public Schools in Dorchester, 
 1810." 
 
 "I. It is recommended that the several lostructors daily 
 lead in a devotional exercise ; and it is expected that suitable 
 attention be paid by them to the morals of those under their 
 charge, that they be instructed in the principles of Religion, 
 as well as the various branches of human literature, suitably 
 adapted to their age and standing. 
 
 "II. As the Scholars are divided into Classes, it is 
 recommended that the following books be made a part of 
 their studies, viz. 
 
 " For the 4th Class. — Child's First Book, and Mrs. Bar- 
 bauld's lessons. 
 
 " For the 3d Class. — Temple's Child's Assistant, Perry's 
 Spelling book (new edition), Bingham's Young Lady's 
 Accidence, the New Testament, and Bingham's Geographical 
 Catechism. 
 
 "For the 2d Class. — Bingham's Columbian Orator, 
 Morse's Aliridgment of Geography, and the Bible. 
 
 "For tJie 1st Class. — Temple's Arithmetic, Miss Hannah 
 Adams' History of New England, and the Bible. Also, the 
 American Preceptor, and the book directed by the General 
 Court to be used in Schools. For the more advanced. Pike's 
 or Walsh's Arithmetic, or President Webber's Mathematics. 
 
 "III. Should it be found desirable that any other book 
 or books than those above named should be introduced, the 
 assent of the School Committee shall be first obtained. 
 
 "IV. A part of Saturdays shall be spent in the recitation 
 of the Catechism ; and the master shall hear the Children in 
 that Catechism which they shall severally bring with a 
 written request from the Parents ; and they shall repeat, 
 also, Hymns, or other lessons tending to promote Religion 
 and Virtue, at the discretion of the master. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MGWRY, PH.D. 49 
 
 " V. As to School hours, there shall be spent three hours, 
 at least, in the school, each half day ; and the several School 
 Masters in the town are allowed the forenoon of all town 
 meeting days for the choice of public officers ; the after- 
 noons of Saturday and Sacrament Lecture days, and those 
 in which there is a public Catechizing; and two Election 
 days, the Fourth of July, Commencement day; and if either 
 of the Masters have any Scholar to offer to the College at 
 Cambridge, he shall have liberty to attend to that business. 
 
 " VI. Children are not to be admitted to the Schools till 
 they are able to stand up, and read words of itwo sj'Uables, 
 and keep their places. 
 
 "VII. To prevent misconceptions between the School 
 Masters and the School Committee, it is agreed, that if dis- 
 satisfaction should arise in either party,, or if the Instructor, 
 from other motives wishes to retire, three weeks' notice shall 
 be given by either party for the discontinuance of the School. 
 
 " VIII. The teacher, for the stipulated sum agreed on, is 
 to make out his bill quarterly for payment. 
 
 "IX. In case of vacancy in the instruction of either of 
 the Schools, it shall be the duty of that one of the Committee, 
 and of the Minister in whose ward it shall happen, to provide 
 a new Preceptor. 
 
 " X. It is recommended to the Town, that in future, the 
 School Committee be chosen by written votes." 
 
 First passsd August 26, 1805 ; and with amendments and 
 additions, June 27, 1810. 
 
 The little one has become a thousand. In 1849 names 
 were assigned to the several schools in the town. At that 
 time they were called the Everett School, the Mather School, 
 the Adams School, the Gibson School, the Winthrop School, 
 the Eliot School, the Norfolk School, the Washington School, 
 the Neponset School, the Bowdoin School, the Maverick 
 School, and the Butler School. These have undergone va- 
 rious changes, until now we have the Dorchester-Evei*ett, 
 
50 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 th^ Gibson, the Harris, the Mather, the Minot, the Pierce, 
 the Stoughlon, and the Tileston, with the various Primary 
 schools which feed them. The High School was established in 
 1852. William J. Rolfe was the first principal, and remained 
 four years. He was followed by Jonathan Kimball, who held 
 the position nine years. He was succeeded by Elbridge 
 Smith, who has presided over the school with dignity and 
 grace for twenty-four years. He graduated at Brown Uni- 
 versity in 1841 ; was master of the celebrated Free Academy 
 at Norwich, Conn., from 1856 to 1865, and before that 
 achieved signal success as the master of the Cambridge High 
 School.^ For nearly half a century he has been one of the 
 most thorough and accomplished teachers of New England. 
 He certainly has few superiors in the country in his knowl- 
 edofe of Enoflish literature and skill in teaching it. 
 
 Thirty years ago the amount of money appropriated by the 
 town for the public education of each child between the ages 
 of five and eighteen was $13.18. Dorchester was then the 
 third in the Commonwealth in the amount of mone}' per 
 child expended for school purposes, — only Nahant and 
 Brookline expending more. 
 
 Amono^ the earliest text-books in the schools, the foremost 
 place was occupied by the New England Primer. The 
 youngest pupils were taught their letters from a single leaf 
 of coarse paper, with the alphabet and Lord's Prayer printed 
 upon it, and which was pasted upon a thin piece of board, 
 and covered over with horn to keep it from soiling. The 
 horn being transparent, the letters could be seen through it. 
 This was called a "horn-book." 
 
 The elder Deacon Humphreys (the grandfather of Richard 
 C. Humphreys, now an honored member of the Boston School 
 Board) used to say that when he was in what is now the 
 Mather School, between 1759 and 1767, there were three 
 classes in the school. The lowest was called the " Psalter 
 
 ' From 1847 to 1856. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY WILLIAM A. MO WRY, PH.D. 51 
 
 class ; " the next, the " Testament class ; " then the " Bible 
 class." The members of the "Bible class " were required to 
 read about two chapters at the commencement and at the 
 close of the school, to spell the words contained in these 
 chapters, and to write and cipher. There were no other 
 books used in the school until about 1765, when Dilworth's 
 Spelling Book and Hodder's Arithmetic were introduced. 
 Noah Webster's famous spelling-book was not published till 
 1783. In the matter of text-books and supplementary books 
 and various aids and appliances, we have certainly gone far 
 beyond the fathers. In the broadening of the curriculum, 
 and the attempt to introduce a little of everything into the 
 schools, we may possibly have gone farther than is wise. 
 
 It was Edward Everett, a former pupil of the Mather 
 School, who, in his famous oration, delivered in 1856, at the 
 dedication of the new building for the Dorchester-Everett 
 School, used the foliowino: languas^e : — 
 
 "I hold, sir, that to read the English language well, that 
 is, with intelligence, feeling, spirit, and effect ; — to write 
 with despatch a neat, handsome, legible hand (for it is, after 
 all, a great object in writing to have others able to read what 
 you write), and to be master of the four rules of arithmetic, 
 so as to dispose at once with accuracy of every question of 
 figures which comes up in practical life ; — I say, I call this 
 a good education ; and if you add the ability to write gram- 
 matical English, with the help of a very few hard words, I 
 regard it as an excellent education. These are the tools ; — 
 you can do nmch with them, but you are helpless without 
 them. They are the foundation ; and unless you begin with 
 these, all your flashy attainments, a little philosophy, a little 
 physiology and a little geology, and all the other ologies and 
 osophies, are but ostentatious rubbish." 
 
 Probably there never has been a time hitherto in the whole 
 history of the world when so much of the best thought has 
 been given to the principles and methods of education of 
 
52 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 youth as is now given to this subject in our country. We 
 are just beginning to learn something of the fundamental 
 principles of pedigogy. We are now beginning to acquire 
 some knowledge of the applications of psychology to the 
 development of the young mind. "We are now, in this 
 country, just beginning to lay the foundations for a new pro- 
 fession, which may yet be considered the foremost and most 
 important of all professions, — the profession of teaching. 
 Some of the newer portions of our great Republic are perhaps 
 making greater progress than the older sections. It is cer- 
 tainly important for us who to-day represent the oldest of 
 our American civilization, to see to it that we keep in the 
 van, not lagging behind or allowing others to surpass us. 
 The ancient town of Dorchester held a high rank for intelli- 
 gence, thrift, and enterprise among the early settlements of 
 New England. Its schools early gave it a prominent posi^ 
 tion. It is to-day a part of the great city of Boston, — one 
 of the most beautiful sections, — diversified in landscape, 
 beautiful for situation, the garden of the city. Its inhabit- 
 ants are distinguished for intelligence, learning, public spirit, 
 and high character. They should be proud of their history. 
 They should revere the memory of the fathers. They should 
 cherish as the apple of the eye their system of excellent 
 public schools. Let the time never come, let the day never 
 davvn, when they shall hold any other earthly interest in 
 hiirher estimation than the education of their youth." 
 
 At the conclusion of the address of Mr. Mowry, the choir sang 
 Rossini's " Night's shade no longer." 
 
 It was expected that Mr. Hezekiah Butterworth would be 
 present to read the poem prepared by him for the occasion, enti- 
 tled " The Mary and John in Dorchester Bay ; " but being called 
 suddenly away to the Pacific Coast on the morning of the celebra- 
 tion, the poem was read by Professor George W. Blish, of 
 Dorchester : ^ 
 
POEM BY MR. HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH. 53 
 
 THE MARY AND JOHN. 
 
 It was Thanksgiving Day, and the sea-meadows lay 
 
 In long russet curves 'round old Dorchester Bay ; 
 
 The sturdy oak mansions had opened their halls, 
 
 The chimneys had smoked on the Mystic and Charles, 
 
 And Grandfather Minot looked out on the sea — 
 
 The last of the Dorchester Pilgrims was he — 
 
 And he leaned on his cane, and he said, " They are gone, . 
 
 The Pilgrims who sailed on the ' Mary and John,' 
 
 That old Thanksgiving Day, 
 
 Into Dorchester Bay." 
 
 On the settle he sat, and gazed on the sea. 
 And questioning Thankful stood there at his knee; 
 The blue-hirds had gone from the gentians blue, 
 And white clouds'of gulls o'er the white waters flew. 
 " Go, Thankful, and bring me the Bible," he said ; 
 And then, where the Israelites murmured, he read, 
 Then gazed on the sea. " They are gone, all are gone, 
 The Pilgrims who came on thp ' Mary and John,' 
 
 That old Thanksgiving Day, 
 
 Into Dorchester Bay." 
 
 " The Israelites murmured for Egypt," he said. 
 
 'Gainst his locks, silver white, pressed a golden-tressed head. 
 
 And he read the blue eyes, and some strange stories told 
 
 Of Massasoit's feast on the Thanksgiving old ; 
 
 Of the Psalm Day for Liitzen ; then gazed on the sea — 
 
 " They longed for the bondage of Egypt," said he, 
 
 " And looked back to the past. They are gone, all are gone. 
 
 The Pilgrims who came on the ' Mary and John,' 
 
 That old Thanksgiving Day, 
 
 Into Dorchester Bay." 
 
 " Fifty times. Father Minot, you say you have seen 
 The white islands change into islands of green ; 
 Fifty times in the elms seen the orioles' wings, 
 And heard the red woodpeckers number the springs. 
 I love the strange tales of the Pilgrims of yore, 
 And of those who first landed on Dorchester's shore. 
 How they sang on the sea ! They are gone, all are gone, 
 The Pilgrims who sailed on the ' Mary and John,' ■' 
 
 On that old summer dayi 
 
 Into Dorchester Bay." ' ''■ 
 
54 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 " I, too, love the places where good has been done, 
 For the field blossoms long that has victory won; 
 I love old Point Allerton's headlands of pine, 
 And the oak-shaded beaches that Dorchester line. 
 'Twas there, oflf the Bay, on summer's first morn, 
 That our anchor was dropped from the ' Mary and John, 
 Near yonder green isles. They are gone, all are gone, 
 The Pilgrims who came on the ' Mary and John,' 
 
 On that fresh summer day. 
 
 Into Dorchester Bay. 
 
 "The western winds blew through horizons of calm, 
 
 And sweet o'er the waves rose young Maverick's psalms; 
 
 There dropped the white sails, and the anchor was cast, 
 
 And we knelt down to God round the motionless mast, 
 
 And our thanksgiving made, and psalms followed the prayer, 
 
 And the birds sang with us on the spars in the air. 
 
 'Twas our Thanksgiving Daj' ! They are gone, all are gone, 
 
 The Pilgrims who sang on the 'Mary and John,' 
 
 With the land birds that day. 
 
 In old Dorchester Bay." 
 
 " But, grandfather, listen : The islands turned gray, 
 
 And the north winds came down, and the ice filled the bay ; 
 
 Of food there was little ; the women lay low 
 
 With fever and hunger; men wandered through snow 
 
 To buy from the Indian a bushel of corn ; 
 
 And returned not the sails of the ' Mary and John.' 
 
 And what did you then? They are gone, all are gone, 
 
 Who sailed 'neath the flag of the ' Mary and John.' 
 
 What did you that day. 
 
 By drear Dorchester Day? 
 
 " You know that the sad heart turns homeward in pain, 
 
 That murmured the Hebrews for Egypt again. 
 
 And I have a question to ask of you here. 
 
 On this to our homes and old memories dear : 
 
 Did my mother whose grave now the gentians enfold, 
 
 E'er long for old England, ani Dorchester old? 
 
 And did you ever murmur, as those who are gone. 
 
 Who sailed on the deck of the ' Mary and John,' 
 
 From the home lands away. 
 
 Far from Dorchester Bay?" 
 
POEM BY MR. HEZEKIAH BUTTEBWORTH. 55 
 
 " I am glad that you asked me that question to-day, 
 
 And my lips shall speak truly by Dorchester Bay. 
 
 A true life has no secrets, but open it lies, 
 
 As the lips of the sea and the smiles of the skies. 
 
 No; the dark winter's passed and the snow changed to dew, 
 
 And the bliiebirds sang sweet 'mid the violets blue, 
 
 And they never looked back, those pioneers gone, 
 
 They never looked back for the ' Mary and John.' 
 
 In life's darkest day 
 
 By lone Dorchester Bay. 
 
 " All places are pleasant where good has been done, 
 Where freedom and faith have their victories won. 
 And your mother was thankful for that summer day 
 That brought us, the Pilgrims, to Dorchester Bay. 
 'Twas she named you Thankful, one white winter morn; 
 May you never look back for the ' Mary and John ! '" 
 His tears fell on her hair. " They are gone, all are gone, 
 The Pilgrims who sailed on the ' Mary and John.' 
 
 That first Thanksgiving Day, 
 
 Into Dorchester Bay." 
 
 They gazed on the sea, and the white gulls flew by, 
 And the twilight of fire left to ashes the sky, 
 The woods were all silent, the voiceless winds stayed. 
 Till the bell of Neponset rang out o'er the shade. 
 And solemn and slow was the bell's mellow tone ; 
 On the still air resounded each stroke, deep and lone, 
 And its voice seemed to say, " Gone, gone, all are gone; 
 Gone the Pilgrims who sailed on the ' Mary and John.' " 
 
 As its tones died away 
 
 Over Dorchester Bay. 
 
 Oh, let us be thankful for heroes like these, 
 Who warred with the storms on the land and the seas ; 
 Whose faith, overcoming the world and its guile. 
 Ne'er turned from its course to life's palm-shaded Nile ; 
 Who held that the hopes of the future outshone 
 The treasures of fortune, the smiles of the throne. 
 Give thanks for such men on the Thanksgiving morn. 
 Such heroes as sailed on the " Mary and John." 
 
 Let the bells ring to-day 
 
 Around Dorchester Bay. 
 
56 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 The Chairman. —The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, ever 
 watchful of the interests of education, has placed the chairman- 
 ship of her Board of Education in the supreme executive magis- 
 trate, and it was expected until yesterday that His Excellency the 
 Governor would be present on this occasion of congratulations; 
 but in place thereof he has sent the following letter : — 
 
 Boston, June 18, 1889. 
 Mrs. Emily A. Fifield, Boston School Committee, Boston, Mass. : — 
 
 Madam, — I have your favor of the 7th instant, and it would give me 
 pleasure to accept the invitation thereby conveyed, to attend the cele- 
 bration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the opening of 
 the first public school in Dorchester, on the afternoon of the 22d instant, 
 but the condition of my health is such that I must decline the same. 
 
 In all matters that relate to education I take a deep interest, and it is 
 eminently fitting that so significant an anniversary should be properly 
 commemorated, as I am confident it will be. 
 
 I am yours very respectfully, 
 
 (Signed) OLIVER AMES. 
 
 Letters were also received from the Hon. J. W. Dickinson, 
 Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and from 
 Rev. Henry M. Dexter, D.D., as follows: — 
 
 Boston, June 21, 1889. 
 Hon. Charles T. Gallagher: — 
 
 Mt Dear Sir, — It would give me the highest pleasure to hb present 
 at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the first public school in 
 Dorchester, but an important engagement will prevent. 
 
 One of the most memorable events in the history of the Common- 
 wealth is the establishment, for the first time in the world, of free 
 public schools supported by a general tax. The early colonists seemed 
 to have had an intuitive idea that a free State and free public schools 
 hold the relation of dependence on each other. They had no sooner 
 come to land which they had chosen for their new homei and had pro- 
 vided for their immediate physical wants, and had erected their simple 
 places of worship, than they established schools for the free education 
 of all the children. Ever since that day the public school and the 
 church have conti'ibuted each its peculiar educating power in promot- 
 ing the welfare of a free people. 
 
'•^ -LETTERS OF REGRET. 57 
 
 Dorchester may well be proud of having organized the first free 
 common school supported by a common tax, and of having chosen 
 Mr. Howard and Deacon Wiswall and Mr. Atherton to be the first town 
 Common School Committee known in the history of the race. 
 
 May the public schools of Dorchester continue to be the pride of her 
 people and the objects of her perpetual care. 
 
 I am truly yours, 
 
 (Signed) J. W. DICKINSON. 
 
 1 Somerset Street, June 21, 1889. 
 Hon. Charles T. Gallagher, President of the School Board : — 
 
 My Dear Sir, — With many thanks for the courtesy of an invitation 
 to the very interesting services to be held at Dorchester, I am reluct- 
 antly obliged to decline the same because of an engagement previously 
 made which I am unable to put off". 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 HENRY M. dexter. 
 
 The Chairman. — It has been the policy of the State of Massa- 
 chusetts, in the establishment of school boards in cities, to provide 
 that the mayor of the city shall be chairman of the School Board. 
 Such is the case through most of the cities of the State, and such 
 was the case in the city of Boston until within a few years past, 
 until the duties of the executive increased to such an extent that 
 the Legislature in its wisdom thought prOper to relieve the Ma3'or 
 of many of the details of his work; and since the enactment of 
 the new charter of the city of Boston, the Mayor has ceased to be 
 a member of the School Boai'd ; but with that interest in educa- 
 tional matters that has always characterized those who were his 
 predecessors in office, he has always maintained a warm personal 
 interest in the public schools, and comes to-da}- to bring the con- 
 gratulations of the city of Boston on this festival occasion. I 
 have the honor to introduce to you Hon. Thomas N. Hart, Mayor 
 of Boston. 
 
 The Mayor made a brief address, thanking the committee for 
 their invitation, and said that he was always ready and willing to 
 do everything for the benefit of the schools, and hoped the City 
 Council would pass the order to purchase the needed school-sites. 
 
58 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 The Chairman. — I take pleasure in introducing to you Edwin 
 P. Seaver, A.M., Superintendent of the Schools of Boston, the 
 executive head of the School Department, and in addition to that 
 " the brains and right arm," as it were, of the School Board. He 
 was formerly a professor in Harvard University, that institution 
 which furnished a long list of masters for many consecutive years 
 to the school whose establishment we are celebrating. Mr. Seaver 
 came to the Boston schools from there, and was for several years 
 head-master of the English High School, and later for several 
 years Superintendent of Schools. 
 
 ADDRESS OF SUPT. EDWIN P. SEAVER. 
 
 As a descendant of an old Dorchester family I feel that I 
 may have a double right to join in the congratulations of this 
 hour. My words must be brief, and they shall take the 
 form of a corollary or appendix to what Mayor Hart has 
 said. His Honor has justly emphasized the importance of 
 making adequate, even generous, appropriations for the 
 support of the public schools. In deciding, as he must 
 decide under the tax- limit and the debt-limit laws, where 
 curtailment of the city's expenses must fall, he is understood 
 to be of the opinion that the schools should be the very last 
 to suffer from the financial pruning-knife. A new street, a 
 new bridge, a new park may be postponed for a while ; but 
 the education of our children cannot be postponed. The 
 support of the schools must be unremitting ; and it must 
 increase steadily as our population increases, or asit migrates 
 from one quarter of the city to another. We cannot say, 
 this year being financially hard-pressed, we will support 
 fewer schools, and the deficiency we will make up in some 
 future more prosperous year. Occasional deprivation of 
 support the school system cannot bear ; and the reason is 
 obvious. While we have listened to the very interesting 
 historical review of the schools of Dorchester which Mr. 
 Mo wry has given us, what idea has formed itself more dis- 
 
ADDRESS OF SUPT. EDWIN P. SEAVER. 59 
 
 tinctly in our minds than this : that the school system of 
 Dorchester, or of Boston, or, indeied, of any community, is 
 the fruit of a long process of growth, and not a thing which 
 may be built up or torn down in a day. Now, precisely 
 because our school system is a live and growing thing, and 
 not a manufactured article, does it require unremitting 
 attention and a steady supply of that which gives it life — 
 money. 
 
 As to the present condition of our schools, I may say that 
 practically all the children in the city of school age are in 
 school, as much, at least, as the law requires, which, as we 
 know, is twenty weeks a year, from the age of eight to four- 
 teen. I say practically all the children are in school ; for the 
 amount of illegal non-attendance has, by careful investiga- 
 tion, been found to be insignificant — only a few hundreds in 
 a census of seventy thousand children. All our children, 
 then, are in school, and seven-eighths of them are in the pub- 
 lic schools. Again, our children stay in school much more 
 than the law requires, — stay so long that a large proportion 
 of them reach the upper classes. 
 
 There is no large city in the whole land which surpasses 
 Boston in these two respects : first, the large proportion of 
 its population daily attending the public schools, uiid second, 
 the large proportion of those in attendance who are found in 
 the upper cla&ses of the Grammar Schools and in the High 
 Schools. Outwardly, then, our schools show every indica- 
 tion of healthy growth. On the part of the municipality 
 there has been in the past no parsimonious spirit shown in 
 their management. We feel confident that no such spirit 
 will appear in the future. 
 
 But even more cheering to our hearts are the tokens of the 
 strong hold which our schools have on the afiections of the 
 people. Those now in adult life, who have received the 
 training of our Primary and Grammar Schools, recognize in 
 that training a source of their present blessings. 
 
60 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 And should our schools ever need to be defended against 
 unfriendly assailants, — which Heaven forbid, ^ no more 
 devoted defenders will be found than the graduates who real- 
 ize how much the schools have done for them. Surely it 
 is most auspicious that our schools should be so deeply 
 rooted in the grateful love of the whole community. May 
 it ever continue so ! 
 
 The Chairman. — It was expected that Samuel Eliot, LL.D., 
 who has been with us to-day, would speak, but he has been obliged 
 to leave early on account of a previous engagement. 
 
 I take pleasure in introducing to you Rev. Father Ronan, of St. 
 Peter's Church and parish, located on Meeting-house Hill. A 
 Boston public school boy, interested in the cause of common 
 schools and pubUc education, and representing a people who, from 
 their adoption of this country as their home, have received and 
 appreciated the benefits of the common school system and freedom 
 of civil and religious liberty. 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. PETER RONAN. 
 
 After listening to the very thdughtful, exhaustive, and 
 instructive discourse of the historian of the day, little re- 
 mains to be said. 
 
 The graduating exercises of a school are always interesting, 
 not only to the parents and immediate friends of the gradu- 
 ates, but to the general public as well. 
 
 Besides aflfording us an opportunity of judging the quality 
 of the work of teacher and pupil during the school year, those 
 exercises bring our thoughts back to our own school days 
 when we, too, like the scholars before us, vied with each other 
 for intellectual honors, and put forth our best efforts to obtain 
 our diplomas. 
 
 The Commencement Exercises of the Dorchester schools, 
 while always interesting, are especially so to-day, when we 
 commemorate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of 
 
ADDRESS OF EEV. PETER RONAN. 6 1 
 
 Dorchester's first school, and the pioneer in the long line of 
 free public schools in this country. 
 
 On this very pleasant occasion, we find ourselves review- 
 ing history which reflects much credit upon the old town of 
 Dorchester. Two hundred and fifty years ago the first 
 settlers of this town, notwithstanding their great trials and 
 numerous struggles such as fall to the lot of few men, found 
 time to establish here on Meeting-house Hill a school for the 
 instruction of the youth. The spirit of wisdom and fore- 
 thought which filled the minds of the first inhabitants of Dor- 
 chester hjis, it seems to me, greatly animated the heart of 
 this nation ever since on the question of education. 
 
 Almost from the time of the first settlement of Dorchester 
 the school-house has been a favorite structure in our midst, 
 and I hope the day will never come when it will cease to be 
 popular, or the people refuse to support it in the most mu- 
 nificent manner. 
 
 While we may diff*er in our ideas and judgments regarding 
 some of the important questions of the times, there is, how- 
 ever, one great subject upon which we all agree, one plat- 
 form upon which we stand, and from which we proclaim, that 
 the children of this country shall and must be educated up to 
 that standard which good citizenship demands. 
 
 This course of policy is both wise and necessary for us, 
 because experience has clearly shown that next to sound 
 morality, the welfare of a nation largly depends upon the in- 
 telligence of her people. 
 
 As citizens of Dorchester we naturally take a just and 
 special pride in to-day's celebration, and will carry away 
 with us pleasing recollections of it. Before concluding, I 
 wish to congratulate the present graduates upon the time 
 and occasion of their graduation, and I sincerely hope that 
 they will prove worthy successors to the long list of distin- 
 guished scholars who have gone fqrth from the Old Mather 
 School. 
 
62 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 The Chairman. — My first remembrance of a schoolmaster was 
 the mention by my parents of their old schoolmaster, Mr. Vose, 
 who taught on the upper road in Dorchester when they were chil- 
 dren, and although Master Vose is no longer with us, we have one 
 whose experience as an instructor of youth dates back to his time, 
 and who was for many years a teacher in Old Dorchester, and after- 
 wards in Roxbury and in Boston, and who has been for several 
 years past a valued member of the Board of Supervisors of this 
 city. Before the leorganization of the School Board (when their 
 number was reduced from seventy -two to twenty-four members), 
 the examination of teachers and pupils as to qualifications and pro- 
 motions rested almost entirely with the individual members of the 
 School Board ; but with the march of progress, with the annexa- 
 tion of territory to the city of Boston, and with the increased 
 needs of the schools, it was thought proper to employ a board of 
 educational experts, and the Board of Supervisors was established, 
 as a supplement to the legislative work of the School Board, of 
 invaluable assistance to its members, and without whose advice 
 the School Board would oftentimes be at a loss to pass upon 
 educational questions coming before them, and I take pleasure in 
 presenting as a representative of that board in charge of the Dor- 
 chester schools, Mr. John Kneeland. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. JOHN KNEELAND. 
 
 In reaching back along the line of succession of masters of 
 the Mather School, the Committee of Arrangements could 
 get hold of no one who was before my time ; so I suppose 
 they want me to be the connecting link between the past, 
 that has been brought so vividly before us by the orator of 
 the occasion, and the present. 
 
 When I was given charge of the Mather School, in 18.52, I 
 thought that I had been lifted up into Paradise. I thought 
 then, as I think now, that there is hardly a more beautiful 
 spot on the earth for a school than Meeting-house Hill. 
 
 The present Mather building is but a few 3'^ears old. Its 
 immediate predecessor, now used for primary classes, was 
 
ADDEESS OP MR. JOHN KNE ELAND. 63 
 
 dedicated Sept, 4, 1856. The building in which I served 
 preceded that. It was two-story, having one school-room, 
 with an anteroom, on each floor. The lower room was oc- 
 cupied by the Primary pupils, and the upper by the Gram- 
 mar. There were three teachers in all and about one 
 hundred and thirty pupils. Now there are in the Mather 
 district nineteen teachers, and but few less than a thousand 
 pupils. 
 
 But it is not simply the teachers of the Mather School who 
 are the successors of the Rev. Thomas Waterhouse ; all the 
 other teachers of Dorchester are in the line of descent. 
 Their schools are all branchings from the parent stem. So 
 this occasion is theirs ; and it is only in a special sense that 
 the master of the Mather School continues the royal line. It 
 is, therefore, especially appropriate that all are brought to- 
 gether on this occasion. 
 
 I have always remembered with pleasure the admirable 
 manner in which the schools of Dorchester were managed by 
 the School Committee. The Board consisted of business 
 men and scholarly men, and the work was divided among 
 them according to their particular taste and ability. Nothing 
 was neglected. The plan and methods of examination were 
 excellent. One member examined all the schools in reading 
 twice a year ; another member, in grammar ; another, in 
 arithmetic, and so in other studies. I have not known, in my 
 experience, schools more thoroughly examined. I cannot 
 refrain from mentioning some of these men to whom Dor- 
 chester owes so much, because of their advancement of its 
 educational interests : Rev. Nathaniel Hall, for some years 
 chairman of the Board ; Rev. Thomas B. Fox, and Rev. 
 James H. Means, active members ; Increase S. Smith, former 
 preceptor of Derby Academy, in Hingham ; Ebenezer Clapp, 
 to whom much is due for those records that have been so 
 freely quoted to-day; Dr. John P. Spooner, who for many 
 years looked out for the material interests of the schools ; 
 
64 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 William D. Swan, for many years a noted Boston master, 
 and very influential in town affairs. The mentioning of his 
 name brings to mind a whole regiment of Swans ; for Dor- 
 chester had several families of Swans, and every: family fur- 
 nished able teachers. All were actively interested in the 
 Dorchester schools. Though not on the School Committee,: 
 Dr. Edward Jarvis and Samuel Downer, Jr., should not be 
 forgotten. The former, at the request of Horace Mann, 
 prepared an excellent work on physiology for common- 
 school use, and was a sort of pioneer in hygienic study; the 
 latter was always an earnest advocate in town-meetings f<)r 
 liberal appropriations for school purposes. 
 
 Allusion has been made to the pay of the early teachers. 
 Not till 1711 did it reach forty pounds, — and then by the 
 help of the Stoughton fund. Whether any master was able 
 to become " passing rich on forty pounds a year," the record 
 does not state. But I can testify that one master was able 
 to keep poor, thirty-five years ago, on a hundred and forty 
 pounds a year. Instead of the twenty pounds received by 
 Rev. Thomas Waterhouse, the pay-roll of the teachers of 
 Dorchester is now more than twenty thousand pounds a year., 
 
 I want to say to my young friends that I began to teach 
 in the Mather School on the 13th of July. How could that 
 be, do you ask? We are now in June, and your vacation 
 has already begun. Is it possible that a school was ever in 
 session so late in «Tuly ? Yes ; and the school kept all through 
 July and well into August, for the summer vacation then 
 was the three weeks preceding the first Monday in Septem- 
 ber. I am glad to show myself to the teachers as evidence 
 that a man can live .on a vacation of only three weeks. But 
 it had not been many years that the Dorchester schools 
 had enjoyed so liberal a vacation as that. A member of the 
 School Committee stated to me that when he was a boy he 
 attended school on the lower road. The committee came in 
 twice a year tp examine; the school. At the close of the ex- 
 
ADDRESS or MR. JOHN KNEELAND. 65 
 
 amination, the chairman, Dr. Harris, would say, " Scholars, 
 you have done well. The committee are pleased with your 
 behavior and recitations, and, as a reward, will give you a 
 holiday." That was the vacation of seventy-five years ago, 
 and I have no doubt it was exceedingly enjoyed. 
 
 The number of studies pursued in the schools has also 
 been referred to. I want to show my young friends this 
 text-book. It was used in a large town of this State — not 
 Dorchester — just one hundred years ago. What would you 
 say, if, instead of the long list of books you have worried 
 through in school, you were obliged to hav^e only this one? It 
 is a small book of about one hundred and sixty pages, called 
 the " Youth's Instructor in the English Tongue." Spelling, 
 reading, language, and arithmetic were all taught from this 
 book. What a luxury it must have been to go to school ! 
 No wonder vacations were of so little account. 
 
 This is a great day for you, my young friends. You will 
 remember with pride that you received here, under this canvas, 
 your diplomas, on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of 
 the founding of the free schools of Dorche:«ter. Though you 
 are graduates of so many different schools, you are the latest 
 outcome of that free school that opened under the Rev. 
 Thomas Waterhouse. You will value these badges you are 
 wearing, and will preserve them with care. Who knows but 
 some of you, your locks silvered by the touch of Time, will 
 come up here fifty years hence to meet the graduating 
 classes of that day, and join with them in celebrating the 
 three hundredth anniversary. But whatever the length of 
 your lives, and wherever spent, remember that as graduates 
 of this year, as a conspicuous part of this celebration, it is 
 especially incumbent upon you to show the great worth of 
 this system of free schools, by your manifestation of faculty, 
 appreciation of skill and learning, and interest in whatever 
 makes for good; and, to sum up all, by your downright 
 manliness and womanliness of character. 
 
66 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 The Chairman. — M}' first remembrance of a School Committee 
 man was as a pupil in the Grammar School in South Boston, when 
 one day the master of the school told the boys to close their books 
 and listen to some remarks by a member of the School Board, and 
 he introduced a gentleman who comes to us to-day from one of the 
 great, busy, thriving cities of the "West, where he is now engaged 
 in mercantile business. He was for many years a resident of your 
 town, and for several years a member of the Boston School Board, 
 where his reports and orders, culminating in a revision of the rules 
 of the Board, stand as a monument to the zeal and eflSciency of his 
 work. His I'eputation is national under the name of "Oliver 
 Optic," and his reputation here is well-known as William T. 
 Adams, 
 
 Mr. Adams spoke briefly, congratulating the pupils on the day 
 and their appearance, and expressing his pleasure in being present. 
 
 The Chairbian. — It gives me pleasure to introduce to you Mr. 
 George B. Hyde, who fifty-three years ago taught on this spot, and 
 who since that time has been master of schools in Dorchester, 
 Roxbury, and Boston, and for many years subsequent to his teach- 
 ing has been a member of the Boston School Committee, and 
 whom the city of Boston and the School Board have honored by 
 placing in imperishable stone a monument which bears the name 
 of the " Hyde School." 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. GEORGE B. HYDE. 
 
 In March, 1836, fifty-three years ago, I was appointed 
 master of the school on Meeting-house hill by the committee, 
 tvs^o of whom were Rev. Dr. Harris and Rev. Dr. John Cod- 
 man. The school-house was a one-story, one-room, brick 
 building. The salary then paid the masters was $400, a 
 year of forty-eight weeks, and I taught two evening schools 
 a week without extra pay. Now the salary is $2,880 for 
 about forty weeks, and the evening schools are kept by other 
 masters at a separate charge. Then the parents were ex- 
 pected to provide all books and other articles required by 
 
ADDRESS OF MR. CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN. 67 
 
 the pupil; now all is supplied free if desired. Now the 
 schools are greatly aided by laws compelling regular attend- 
 ance, but in former times, and not beyond the memory of our 
 older masters, the teacher depended on his ability to impress 
 upon the pupil the advantages of the education which was 
 then offered. I remained here but six months before findino: 
 a more lucrative situation ; but while here I devoted my 
 whole energy to my schwol. Had I not kept up my interest 
 and acquaintance with the schools, it would be impossible 
 for me to realize the changed condition of thinsfs. Yonder 
 beautiful and commodious structure but gives expression to 
 the wants, expectations, and opportunities of the time, and 
 if these are met, our public schools will prove our safeguard 
 and our g-reatest blessing. 
 
 "O" 
 
 The Chairman. — It gives me pleasure to introduce to you Mr. 
 Charles Carleton Coffin, known throughout the country as the 
 famous war correspondent and journalist, " Carleton." He is one 
 who has ennobled the literature of his country by his patriotic and 
 educational productions, who has always been intei-ested in the 
 cause of education, and was for a number of years one of the most 
 valued members of the Committee on Education of the Legisla- 
 ture of the State. 
 
 ADDRESS OF CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN. 
 
 I doubt if the good people of Dorchester when they 
 established a school upon this spot so long ago, who made it 
 a school for rich and poor alike, had very much conception 
 as to what a power it would be in the body politic in after 
 years : — how this idea would grow, and broaden, and per- 
 meate the community. The common school of New England 
 has been a great educating, uplifting force, and as I look out 
 over this audience — these faces so radiant and benign, illu- 
 minated at this hour by the ceremonies of this occasion, by 
 the thoughts that have been stirred within — one might 
 
68 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 almost say that the common school has brought forth on this 
 western continent and in this free, intelligent community, 
 the consummate flower of civilization. 
 
 Never has there been a better illustration of the truth 
 that knowledge is power than during the late war for the 
 preservation of this government of the people. In the com- 
 mon school the soldiers of the armies of the Union were 
 educated. The Southern States had no such schools. No 
 armies were ever marshalled surpassing or equaling in intelli- 
 gence those that stood in solid ranks beneath the stars and 
 stripes. Some one has said that their weapons were " think- 
 ing bayonets." Certain it is that the soldiers on the march, 
 by the bivouac fire, as in the whirlwind of battle, compre- 
 hended quite as clearly as Cabinet ministers or Senators, the 
 meaning of the gigantic struggle: — that it was brought 
 about by the slave propaganda, and that the conflict must go 
 on till that which caused it was swept from the Republic. 
 In the common school they learned to think for themselves. 
 No other institution of the land has had greater transforming 
 power — for under it the boy born in foreign lands becomes, 
 in thought and feeling, an American citizen. To him the 
 stars and stripes becomes the brightest banner of all the 
 ages. For it he is ready to lay down his life. 
 
 It was at Cold Harbor, where the ground was strewn with 
 Union dying and dead. Seven thousand cut down by the 
 hot-blast blown from the Confederate trenches. Amono; 
 the thousands was an officer w^hose birth was beyond the 
 Atlantic, but who had in his boyhood become a citizen of 
 the Republic. The dews of death were upon his brow. 
 " Bring me the dear old flag, that I may behold it once 
 more," he said, and grasped its crimson folds, pressed them 
 to his lips in a long, afiectionate kiss, as if it were the fair 
 cheek of wife, or maiden, or betrothed, laid the starry field 
 of azure upon his breast and held it till the pulseless fingers 
 loosened and his glazing eyes closed to earthly scenes. 
 
ADDRESS OF MR. RICHARD C. HUMPHREYS. 69 
 
 So died Captain O'Neil, born beyond the sea, transformed 
 by the power of the public school into a lofty citizenship, 
 not of Massachusetts alone, but of the ofreat Republic. 
 
 Such the transformino", energizing power of this beneficent 
 institution, established by our fathers, whose act we com- 
 memorate to-day. 
 
 The Chairman. — The success of this occasion aud these exer- 
 cises is due entirely to the Dorchester committee, the Ninth Divi- 
 sion, as we call it, of the School Board. Dr. Liberty D. Packard, 
 of that committee, has been prevented by illness and absence from 
 taking any active part in the preparations, although he is with us 
 to-day, and has by his counsel and advice assisted on the occasion. 
 You will hear later in the day from your much-beloved and esteemed 
 chairman, Mrs. Fifield, of that comraitteet You have already heard 
 from Dr. Mowry, of that committee, in his elaborate, eloquent, and 
 exhaustive historical address. You see about you, in the decora- 
 tion and preparations for your comfort and convenience, the active 
 work of Mr. Walsh, of that committee ; but for appropriate repre- 
 sentation of everything connected with the occasion, there is one 
 member of that committee who embodies in himself almost all the 
 traditions and associations of the town of Dorchester, and all of 
 whose ancestors, as far as I have been able to learn, came over on 
 the " Mary and John." He has always been actively interested in 
 Dorchester's welfare and her institutions ; in none more strongly 
 than in matters of education, and particularly the development and 
 education of youth ; he has devoted his entire time for the past 
 several weeks to making tliis occasion a complete success, and I 
 take great pleasure in presenting to you Mr. Richard C. Hum- 
 phreys, of the Boston School Committee. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. RICHARD C. HUMPHREYS. 
 
 When I accepted the invitation to speak here to-day, I ex- 
 pected to be able to present something that would be of real 
 value, as well as add interest to this occasion, for I hoped to 
 find a paper prepared by the late Deacon Ebenezer Clapp, 
 
70 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 the historian of Dorchester, of whom it would not be an ex- 
 aggeration to say, he knew more of the history of this first 
 free public school than any person now living. This paper 
 was prepared for the dedication of the Mather School, but it 
 was not delivered, and has been seen only by a few personal 
 friends, but I have not been able to find it. I am, however, 
 happy to stand here to-day, if for no other reason than to 
 mention the name of Ebenezer Clapp in this presence. What 
 an interest he would have taken in this celebiyition ! He was 
 a real antiquarian, possessing the true spirit of the historian, 
 with a pure love for ancient research, and with the good qual- 
 ities of the Puritan without his proverbial harshness. I can 
 see him now, his face lighting up as he argues with some 
 sceptical interrogator who says, " Are you sure this was the 
 first free public school in America?" 
 
 " Sure, certainly I am, not only that it was the first free 
 public school supported wholly by voluntary taxation of the 
 people in this country, but in the whole world." 
 
 Another name which all the old residents of Dorchester 
 will recognize is that of William D. Swan. Born within a 
 few feet of the spot where stood the first school-house, he 
 spent most of his life on Meeting-house Hill. Thirty years 
 ago he was one of the most prominent educators in this country, 
 a noted author and publisher of school-books, a teacher in 
 one of our Dorchester schools, afterwards a principal of one 
 of the Boston schools, a brother of the present principal of the 
 Winthrop, and of a former principal of the Phillips School. 
 
 My friend. Dr. Benjamin Gushing, told me a few days ago 
 a pleasant incident that occurred in Virginia during the late 
 war. As he was on his way to the hospital he saw an aged 
 colored man sitting by the side of the road, very intently 
 reading, or looking at the pictures in a book. His curiosity 
 was excited to know what kind of a book this nesTO was so 
 nmch interested in, and he stepped up to him, and found to 
 his astonishment it was "Swan's Primary School Reader." 
 
ADDRESS OF MR, RICHARD C. HUMPHREYS. 71 
 
 We were glad to see on oar platform to-day a man to 
 whom we are indebted for the conception of this celebration. 
 I refer to Edward South worth, the principal of the Mather 
 School, who, after a serious illness, was able to be with us for 
 a short time. I know I express the feeling of his class, ye.s, 
 of every member of his school, both teachers and scholars, 
 of the School Committee, and his many friends here pres- 
 ent, when I say we hope and trust he will soon regain his 
 usual health and strength, and return in the fall to his post 
 as ])rincipal of the Mather School. 
 
 There is another name ihat should receive honorable men- 
 tion here. I am surprised that it has not already been 
 referred to ; a name that should be as familiar to every grad- 
 uate of our Dorchester schools as those of their own house- 
 hold. I refer to Chistopher Gibson, the man who, in 1680, 
 gave to the town of Dorchester twenty-six acres of land for 
 the benefit of her public schools. I am glad of an oppor- 
 tunity to impress upon these graduates that they owe him a 
 debt of gratitude and respect. Yes, we all, every person 
 who ever attended a Dorchester school, should bear his name 
 in mind with pleasant and thoughtful remembrance. Just 
 think for a moment of the books of reference, the })hilosophi- 
 cal instruments, the many little extras which the Dorchester 
 schools have had from the income of the Gibson fund, which 
 the other Boston schools have not had. And, perhaps, not 
 the least of the pleasure some of you may have received from 
 this man's kindness has been the base-ball ground in the 
 Gibson field which you have used. 
 
 In looking over a memorandum-book of my grandfather — 
 who died in the year 1845, at the age of ninety -two, and 
 whom I remember very well — I found the following: "1 
 often went up. on to Meeting-house Hill to the big rock 
 which stands a few rods north-west of the meeting-house, to 
 see and to show others the ruins of the first school-house." 
 
 And now let us contrast in our minds that first school-house, 
 
72 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 or, perhaps, the second, of which we have a better description, 
 with the school-houses of to-day, and especially with the 
 Boston English High and Latin School building. In 1694 
 the toAvn of Dorchester contracted with eJohn Trescott (the 
 record does not state how many bids were put in for this con- 
 tract, but it does say that the contract was made with this 
 man) to build a school-house, twenty feet long by nineteen 
 feet wide, for the sum of $107.36. Just think for a moment ! 
 A whole school-house complete for $107.36 — not much 
 chance for a "job" there for the town officers. This was a 
 low, one-story, pitched-roof, one-room building, not so large 
 as one of our ordinary school-rooms. On three sides of the 
 room a board was fastened for the boys to sit on, and in front 
 of this a bench, and on the other side of the bench another 
 raised board, so that the boys had to face each other while 
 studying. (The record does not say the boys never whis- 
 pered or poked each other under the bench.) The other end 
 of the building was nearly all taken up in doorway, and fire- 
 place so large that a ffve-foot log could easily be burned in it. 
 I am glad that the contrast is so favorable to the schools 
 of to-da3^ And all the city of Boston asks of you, my young- 
 friends, is, that you appreciate and make a good use of the 
 advantages which they so willingly give. 
 
 At the close of Mr. HiirDphre3''s address the choir sang 
 " America." 
 
 The Chairman. — In the history of Boston and in the history of 
 the advancement of women in higher education and the various 
 spheres of usefulness which she now occupies, there is no one who 
 takes a higher rank than one whom we have with us to-day, who 
 has devoted her energies, her time, and experience in preparation 
 for this event ; who has been for many 3'ears the I'epresentative of 
 the old town of Dorcliester in the School Board of Boston, and 
 who by her strength of character, amiabiUty of disposition, edu- 
 cational attainments, and devotion to the interests of the young, 
 has become endeared to the hearts of teachers, parents, and pupils. 
 
ADDRESS OF MRS. EMILY A. FIFIELD. 73 
 
 and has won the admiration and respect of all her associates on 
 the School Committee. She needs no introduction to a Dorchester 
 audience, but I have taken the liberty of introducing her so that I 
 might express the sentiments of my associates on the School Com- 
 mittee, and the appreciation of her great worth to us as an associ- 
 ate member. I take pleasure in presenting Mrs. Emil}' A. Fifield, 
 chairman of the Dorchester Division Commitee. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MRS. EMILY A. FIFIELD. 
 
 The pleasure with which we celebrate this anniversary is 
 mingled with a good deal of pride. That the work under- 
 taken by those wise and far-seeing men, who believed in the 
 value of learning and the diffusion of knowledge, has con- 
 tinued without interruption and without stint for two hundred 
 and fifty years, is cause for satisfaction and giatitude. 
 
 That our public school system is as vital to our country as 
 life itself is evident. It is, therefore, svith varied emotions 
 that we present to you the graduating pupils of Dorchester as 
 evidence of the mighty proportions to which the first small 
 undertaking has grown. 
 
 To the graduates. — To make every school-boy and every 
 school-girl a true American citizen is the high purpose of our 
 schools, and what greater inspiration could you have than 
 the history to which you have listened to-day ? If you have 
 not before realized the full meaning of those banners under 
 which you stand, the names of Tileston and Stoughton, of 
 Gibson and Minot, of Harris and Pierce, of Everett and 
 Mather, must surely hereafter be incentives to the highest 
 aims and aspirations. 
 
 As Boston, with great generosity, continues the work begun 
 here so long ago, and gives you advantages unequalled by 
 any other country in the world, it is for you, by public use- 
 fulness and personal character, to sustain the principles of free 
 thought and free education that are commemorated to-day, 
 
74 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 and to be sure that no act of yours shall sully the brilliant 
 record of the past. 
 
 You have finished the Grammar School course with credit. 
 By diligence and faithfulness you have earned the approbation 
 of your teachers and the congratulations of this vast as- 
 semblage of admiring parents and friends, and it is vrith great 
 pleasure that the School Committee present to you these tes- 
 timonials of Boston's love and pride, wishing you all success 
 and prosperity, and feeling sure that you will care for the 
 schools as they have been guarded for you. 
 
 At the close of Mi's. Fifield's address, diplomas of graduation 
 were presented to the graduates by Mrs. Flfield. The graduates 
 of the Dorchester High School received their diplomas from the 
 hands both of the chairman, he being a member of the High 
 Scliool Committee, and of Mrs. Fifleld, chairman of the Division 
 Committee. 
 
 GRADUATES OF THE DORCHESTER SCHOOLS, 1889. 
 Dorchester High School. Elbridge Smith, Master. 
 
 Edith r. Abbott, Gertrude J. Chase, Susan J. Clark, Jane T. Cook, 
 Mercy A. Y. Crosman, Mary M. Dacey, Josephine F. Farrell, Janet B. 
 Halliday, Hannah L. Johnson, Emma E. Mitchell, Louise Robinson, 
 Mary Sanford, Etta A. Sheehan, Carrie C. Stecker, Mary Stock, Maud 
 A. Tice, John J. Cunningham, Frank E. Greenwood, Frederick R. 
 Jenkins, Walter P. Jones, Charles F. Phipps, Charles O. Richardson, 
 Frank R. Sewall, Ralph H. Smith, Loring W. Stone, John E. Walsh. 
 
 Dorchester-Everett School. Henry B. Miner, Master. 
 
 Mary E. Breen, Hattie Browne, Helen C. Divver, Lucy A. Gould, 
 Mary E. Ham, Mary E; Hehir, Ida I. Irwin, H. Amy Jaynes, Alice M. 
 Kelley, Mary J. Merritt, Sarah F. Miles, Elizabeth B. Mohan, Florence 
 
 E. Murphy, Mary Nolan, Mary F. O'Doherty, Mary R. Pearson, Annie 
 R. Pope, Mabel F. Robinson, Grace Wilson, Ada M. Worthington, 
 Randolph Bainbridge, Frederick E. Cleaves, Stanley H. CoflS.n, William 
 
 F. Daniels, Alfred F. Hall, George W. Ham, George W. Hill, Ridge- 
 way Holbrook, George F. Holden, Clarence B. Humphreys, Walter 
 
GRADUATES OF DORCHESTER SCHOOLS, 1889. 75 
 
 Humphreys, John T. Igo, M. Leon Ingalls, Fred H. Mann, Elisha H. 
 Moseley, Fred V. Murtfeldt, Joseph F. O'Doherty, George M. Paul, 
 J. Waldo Pond, Otis U. Smith, Louis J. B. Soyard, William H. Spooner, 
 C. Otis Vegelahn, John Walsh, Frederick F. Young. 
 
 Gibson School. William E. Endicott, Master. 
 
 Julia E. Bornstein, Charlotte E. Chittenden, Mary L. Connellj^ Kate 
 F. Cushing, Eva C. Fairbrother, Annie E. Gleason, Fannie D. Halpin, 
 Emma F. Hannon, May M. Henderson, Alice E. Kelly, Mabel E. Mor- 
 gan, Nelly A. Mullen, Lida A. Ourish, Emma L. Ruby, Blanche 
 E. Smith, Alice M. Talbot, Emma A. Vantassel, Elizabeth F. Tobin, 
 Sarah L. Vose, Edith W. Whitcomb, Florence R. Williams, John J. 
 Blue, John H. Burroughs, Albert Percy Chittenden, Roger C. Chit- 
 tenden, Roswell F. Forbush, George F. Haskell, Thomas F. Renney, 
 Martin F. McAndrews, Lewis H. Madore, Lawrence F. Richmond, 
 Fred R. Robinson, Franklin I. Smith. 
 
 Harris School. N. Eosea Whittemore, Master. 
 
 Mary F. Allen, Ida D. Berry, Aimee L. Cromack, Stella M. Far- 
 rington, Sadie S. Hosmer, Blanche E. Lefavour, Elizabeth R. Oates, 
 Josephine P. Peabody, Cora A. Polk, Hortense V. de Saptes, Katie M. 
 Whelton, Owen B. Aldrich, Timothy F. Bradley, Joseph B. Carven, 
 Henry T. Curtis, George S. Foster, Webster S. Knight, William J. 
 Lynch, Peter F. Martin, Jerry A. McCarthy, John F. McCarthy, James 
 J. McMorrow, Charles W. Thurston, Saflford J. Washbmni, Charles H. 
 White, Edward R. Winchester, Josej)h H. Young. 
 
 Mather School. Edward Southworih, Master. 
 
 Katherine C. Berigan, Gertrude C. Buck, Catherine E. Donlan, Emma 
 W. Elms, Gertrude M. Flanigan, Margaret E. Hennessey, Barbara R. 
 Kelley, Mary F. G. MacDonough, Sarah C. Nickels, Ellen V. O'Connell, 
 Annie L. Reddington, Charlotte G. Sewall, Edith M.Tarbell, H. Erminie 
 Wasserboehr, Alice M. Whalen, William H. Boardman, Martin J. 
 Bourke, Edwin A. Brainerd, John D. Brick, George J. Donohoe, 
 George H. Glavey, Henry G. Grush, Uriah R. Harding, Jr., Charles S. 
 McEvilla, John E. Mulroy, John L. Murphy, Joseph F. Murray, John 
 A. Nelson, Joseph P. O'Connell, Maynard A. Parker, Jr., Richard H. 
 Perry, Herbert F. Reinhard, N. Winthrop Robinson, Robert H. Storer. 
 
 Minot School. Joseph T. Ward, Jr., Master. 
 
 Bessie A. Adair, Evvie F. Dalby, Mary J. Dolan, Mary C. Dorcey, 
 Catherine H. Hudson, Mabel D. Kendrick, Anna T. McCloskey, Mary 
 
76 DORCHESTER CELEBRATION. 
 
 E. Minton, Mary O'Brien, Margaret E. Roche, Margaret F. Ronan, 
 Helen W. Safford, Bertha C. Smith, Lydia B. Souther, Mary E. Sulli- 
 van, Frederic H. Adams, John J. Crowne, Isaac Dennison, Herbert E. 
 Ellis, Herbert S. Hayden, Jonathan B. Hayward, Henry A. Hoyt, Wal- 
 ter H. Hoyt, Reuben M. Hyde, Harry G. Jarvis, Frederick I. Mullare, 
 James Murray, Arthur L. Oakman, James Sullivan, Harry W. Tileston. 
 
 Pierce School. Horace W. Warren, Principal. 
 
 Bertha M. Ayer, Elizabeth Brine, Ella F. Frost, Mabel A. Haines, 
 Emily A. Harry, Cora B. Lee, Maude S. Long, Mary L. McEnany, 
 Katharine Merrick, Alice S. Raymond, C. Bessie Stowe, William Batch- 
 elor, William H. Boyd, William A. Dahl, Thomas E. Eaton, James A. 
 Keheo, George H. McCarthy, William J. Mooney, George S. Murray, 
 William O'Brien, Carl E. Paige, Albert S. Pastene, Dennis J. Sullivan, 
 Edward Thompson, Frank R. Tolman, William A. Whitehouse. 
 
 Stoughton School. Edward M. Lancaster, Master. 
 
 Annie M. Bragdon, Mary A. Barrett, Harriet M. Barnes, Elizabeth 
 B. Clark, Nora Desmond, Catherine Dwyer, Louise C. Gigger, Char- 
 lotte M. Hall, Allie L. Hurd, Olive K. Karcher, Alice F. Mahoney, 
 Catherine E. McGovern, Emma L. Merrill, Susan E. Robinson, Helena 
 A. Savage, Annie L. D. Swan, Francis A. Woodworth, L. Mae Wells, 
 Lora E. Willis, George H. Bragdon, John J. Dowling, Frederic A. Gas- 
 kins, Albert E. Gigger, Winthroj) A. Hallett, Frank A. Hamilton, John 
 R. Hiorns, Arthur H. Holway, John P. J. Kidney, Joseph M. Mahoney, 
 Arthur T. Robinson, Charles M. Swan, Judson M. Scott. 
 
 Tileston School. Hiram M. Oeorge, Principal. 
 
 Mary E. Chamberlain, Agnes Fottler, Eva A. Page, Edith B. 
 Starratt, Fred N. Cook, Henry F. Hersey, William H. Parker, Charles 
 S. Shugg. 
 
 At the close of the presentation of diplomas a benediction was 
 pronounced by Rev. Christopher R. Eliot,, pastor of the First 
 Church of Dorchester, located on Meeting-house Hill. 
 
 After tiie exercises in the tent an individual prize-drill took 
 place on the Common, to which tlie large audience repaired. There 
 was an excellent exhibition of the manual of arms, and a sharp 
 competition between the individual soldiers of the Dorchester High 
 School Company. 
 
CONCLUSION. 77 
 
 The judges of the competitive drill were Lieut. Smith, of Bat- 
 tery A, M.V.M., Capt. A. H. Graves, of E. B. H. S., and Capt. 
 Irvin M. Conness, of B.L.S. 
 
 The prizes were awarded as follows : First prize, a gold medal, 
 Sergt. Ralph H. Smith ; second prize, a gold medal. Corporal 
 F. M. Weymouth; third prize, a silver medal, Private E. H. 
 Breckenridge. The prizes were presented to the winners by Lieu- 
 tenant Smith, who complimented the young soldiers on their thor- 
 oughness of drill. 
 
 Thus ended one of the most interesting and instructive occa- 
 sions in the history of Dorchester.