Class LlA-35§ Book » 0'3 fehtN TO COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND BY CHARLES CARROLL, LL. B., Ph.D. Instructor in Rhode Island Education Rhode Island Normal School PROVIDENCE, R. I. E. L. FREEMAN COMPANY, PRINTERS 1918 L/j ■3 Copyright, 1918 CHARLES CARROLL OCT 25 1913 ©CLA503962 /Vt n I Rhode Island Education Circulars PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND By CHARLES CARROLL Published Jointly by the State Board of Education, the Commissioner of Public Schools and the Trustees of the Rhode Island Normal School STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION His Excellency R. Livingston Beeckman His Honor Emery J. San Souci Hon. George T. Baker Hon. Frank Hill Hon. Joseph R. Bourgeois , Hon. Frederick Rueckert Hon. E. Charles Francis Hon. Frank E. Thompson COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS Hon. Walter E. Ranger, A. M., LL. D. TRUSTEES OF RHODE ISLAND NORMAL SCHOOL consisting of The State Board of Education and the Commissioner of Public Schools PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND This Study of the Evolution and Development of a Social Con- sciousness of Public Responsibility for Education in a Republic in which Individualism was the Guiding Principle of Those who Founded it and Those who Sought its Hospitality IS DEDICATED TO THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS INTRODUCTION. The need of a new history of education in Rhode Island is apparent in view of the fact that the latest historical account of the State's educational enterprise was published forty-two years ago. The development of the principle of universal education and the growth of the public school system during these years have been notable in Rhode Island, and the fruitful educational experience and civic progress of this period make the prepa- ration of this history an important public service. A knowledge of Rhode Island public education, including its history, law and administration, is valuable to every citizen as civic information, but it is indispensable to every teacher and superintendent as professional intelligence and inspiration. Four years ago, Dr. Carroll gave us his work on school law and administration in Rhode Island, and now we are in- debted to him for his generous service in the painstaking and laborious preparation of the history of education in Rhode Island. These two books complete an invaluable exposition of Rhode Island Education, in which are revealed the meaning of public education and the true function of our public school organization. In his thorough study of school education before 1876, for the period for which others wrote, Dr. Carroll collected new material evidently not considered by them, and discovered discrediting misconceptions and misstatements, which unfortunately have been carelessly accepted and reproduced by later writers. A study of the new material and other historical evidence has led 4 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. him to a radically different interpretation of material and to widely different conclusions regarding early educational con- ditions in Rhode Island. The book is an attempt to do real justice to Rhode Island's progress in education. While the book is a new and authentic history of early educa- tion in Rhode Island, it is the only comprehensive and critical account of the State educational experience and progress for the past forty-two years. In that period the number of children in public schools has risen from 39,000 to 90,000, and annual expenditures for public education have increased from $709,000 to $4,136,000. The growth of the Rhode Island public school system has been attended by an increase in public responsibility, an extension of public education to larger numbers and in sub- j ects taught, progressive legislation, and improvement in school instruction and administration. Dr. Carroll has given us a comprehensive survey of this period of accumulative educa- tional gains, in which appear such significant marks of advance as free textbooks and supplies, mandatory maintenance for free public schools, compulsory attendance, state certification of teachers, abolition of school districts, extension of supervision, required provision for high school education, development of opportunities at public expense for higher education extending the public school system from the kindergarten to the college, extension of the public school system by provision of institutions or opportunities for education for those not equipped with normal sensory capacity, establishment and maintenance of uniform high standards for all schools ; improvement of teaching and the economic and professional status of teachers, including the development of the greater Rhode Island Normal School and other opportunities for the training of teachers, the minimum teacher's salary and the teacher's pension; provisions for the safety and health of children, including medical and dental inspection, compulsory physical training, examination of chil- dren for employment, and the establishment of sanitary stand- INTRODUCTION. O ards for school construction; and an unprecedented development of the service of free public libraries, since 1875 a special care of the State Board of Education. Another valuable feature of the work is that it is written with a true conception of public education as a civic interest and public enterprise directed by the people's government to insure the proper instruction and training of all the public's children for a common citizenship. The public school system is rec- ognized as an organization of free government, and public education as for public protection and welfare. Thus in- terpreted, Rhode Island education, in its origin, development, organization and administration, has a character peculiar to itself, and also appears as a genuine and true type of America n public education. Grateful appreciation is due Dr. Carroll, not only for his service as author of a valuable work, but also for his generosity in prefering a free distribution of it to personal gain. His book is published for the sake of those engaged in the public service of education, with the confident hope that it will help us to know better the meaning of public education, to see more clearly the ideals of Rhode Island education, to find in its account of past educational experience the basis and incentive for continued progress, and to recognize the increasing civic obligations of the school. WALTER E. RANGER, Commissioner of Public Schools. PREFACE. The splendid progress that public education has achieved in Rhode Island in the past forty years would warrant publication of at least a volume supplementary to Commissioner Stockwell's "History of Public Education in Rhode Island." The writer has had access to sources of information and to records which either were not available or were overlooked in 1876, and these have led him to reach conclusions that contradict the interpre- tation of Rhode Island educational history presented in earlier books. The writer's thanks are due to the State Board of Education and to the Trustees of Rhode Island Normal School, who have made the publication of this book possible ; and more particu- larly to Honorable Walter E. Ranger, Commissioner of Public Schools, for a kindly interest and a lively encouragement. Intimate association with Commissioner Ranger in the past three years has given the writer a liberal education in democ- racy as well as in public education. CHARLES CARROLL. Rhode Island Normal School, 1918. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page I. Rhode Island Colonial Schools, 1640-1776 11 Settlements, 11; Charter, 12; Alleged Backwardness in Education, 13; Its Refutation, 15; Early Town Records, 15; Rhode Island Theory of Education, 33; An Evalua- tion, 34. II. The Beginnings op a State School System, 1776-1828. ... 37 Evolution of Responsibility, 38; Town and Other Records, 41; John Howland and Free Schools, 58; Two Surveys, 1819, 1828, 73; State and Education, 77; Petition for Free Schools, 77; Act of 1800, 80; Movements That Failed to Function, 82. III. Organization of a State School System, 1828-1844 84 Press and People, 84; Fight for Public Schools, 87; Act of 1828, 91; Effects of Act of 1828, 94; Reorganization in Providence, 96; Record of Statewide Improvement, 102; More School Legislation, 106 ; Critical Years, 107; More Money and Improvement, 115; Act of 1839, 118; State School Committee, 120; Wilkins Updike, 125; Summary, 128. IV. Survey and Reorganization, 1844-1893 129 Barnard Survey, 130; Barnard Act, 136; Aftermath of Survey, 141; Major Problems — Adequate Support, 143; Tuition, 147; Textbooks, 149; Attendance, 153; Training Teach- ers, 162; Administration, 166; Commissioner of Public Schools, 170; Summary, 175. V. Public Schools to Free Schools, 1845-1893 177 Ten Years of Progress, 178; Years of Quiet Development, 180; Opportunity Neglected, 186; Agricultural School, 188; A Vigorous Commissioner, 189; Rhode Island Normal School, 190; State Board of Education, 194; General Assembly and Education, 196; Compulsory Attendance, 198; Other Advances, 209; Free Textbooks, 215; Sum- mary, 216. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 9 Page) VI. Extension and Improvement, 1893-1918 219 Schools for Defectives, 219; Higher Education — Rhode Island State College, 224; Rhode Island Normal School, 228; High Schools, 235; Improvement of Public School System — Compulsory Attendance, 239; Uniform Stand- ards, 243; Improvement of Teaching, 247; Extension of Supervision, 251; Abolition of Districts, 253; Safety and Health of School Children, 256; Other Improvements, 258; Progress of Improvement, 263; Ranger Platform, 265; Chronology of Improvement, 269. VII . Public School Finance 272 Tax Exemption, 273; Auction Dues and Lotteries, 279; De- posit Fund, 286; Supplementary Revenue, 291; Appor- tionment of Public School Money, 29S; Change in Policy, 311; Public Support of Schools, 320; State's Contribu- tion to Education, 325; Philosophy of School Finance, 330. VIII. The Permanent School Fund 333 First Report, 336; A New Policy, 345; A New Law and a Change of Policy, 353; An Investigation oft the Record, 359; State's Unacknowledged Debt, 365; Errors That Favored the Fund, 367; Foundation of Present Law, 369; Great Increase in 1859, 370; Monotonous Increase Re- lieved, 373; Process of Reinvestment, 376; General Summary, 381; How the School Fund May be Vitalized, 384. IX. School Administration 387 Contentious Experience of Providence, 389; Intricacies of the District System, 402; Town School Committee, 420; State Department of Education, 432; Commissioner of Public Schools, 441; The State Schools, 449; Problems of School Administration, 451. X. The School Teacher 461 Qualifications of the Teacher, 462; Preparation for Teaching, 470; Teacher's "Contract," 479; State and Teacher, 484; Ethics of the Profession, 486; Teacher's Pledge of Loyalty, 489. Bibliography 491 Index 495 CHAPTER I. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL SCHOOLS. The first permanent white settlement within the borders of what is now the state of Rhode Island and Providence Planta- tions was made in June, 1636, by Roger Williams and five companions. Williams had left Massachusetts to avoid the consequences of interference by the rulers of that Puritan theocracy with his liberty of conscience. Land was bought from the Indians, and a compact, signed later in 1636 by Roger Williams and twelve settlers, established Providence Plantations. The following year a second band of exiles from Massachusetts settled at the northerly end of Aquidneck, since called Rhode Island. They were joined in 1638 by Anne Hutchinson, who had been their leader in Massachusetts. The island was pur- chased from the Indians and the town subsequently named Portsmouth was thus established. In 1639 religious dissension in Portsmouth prompted a party of the inhabitants to seek the southern end of the island and start a plantation at Newport. One year later Portsmouth and Newport joined in forming a government, with William Cod- dington as the first Governor. The towns were still distinct. Samuel Gorton, in October, 1642, purchased land from the Indians, and in November settled with others at Shawomet, later called Warwick. The four settlements drew to them a large contingent of dis- senters and adventurers. A union under a charter procured by Roger Williams in 1643 for the "Incorporation of Providence 12 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. Plantations in the Narragansett Bay in New England," was short-lived, a feud between Portsmouth and Newport on one side and Providence and Warwick on the other breaking out. Not until 1654 were the differences dissipated through the diplomacy of Roger Williams, who was in that year elected President of the reunited confederacy. THE CHARTER. King Charles II. of England granted Rhode Island a colonial charter July 8, 1663, under which a permanent government was organized. The charter recited that the King had been in- formed that the settlers, "pursuing with peaceable and loyal minds their sober, serious and religious intentions of godly edifying themselves and one another in the holy Christian faith and worship, as they were persuaded, together with the gaining over and conversion of the poor, ignorant Indian natives in those parts of America to the sincere profession and obedience of the same faith and worship," had left their homes in England; and that since their arrival in America, " for the avoiding of discord and those evils which were likely to ensue upon some of those our subjects not being able to bear, in those remote parts, their different apprehensions in religious discernments," had once again left "their desirable stations and habitations" and trans- planted themselves "into the midst of the Indian natives ; " and that "they have freely declared that it is much in their hearts (if they may be permitted) TO HOLD FORTH A LIVELY EXPERIMENT THAT A MOST FLOURISHING CIVIL STATE MAY STAND AND BEST BE MAINTAINED WITH A FULL LIBERTY IN RELIGIOUS CONCERNMENTS* and that the King granted, ordained and declared that "no per- son within said colony, at any time hereafter, shall be any wise ♦Inscription on State House. COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 13 molested, punished, disquieted or called in question for any difference in opinion in matters of religion." The charter incorporated the "Governor and Company of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Planta- tions in New England in America," and set forth a plan for the organization of a government. The colony was described as including "all that part of our dominions in New England, in America, containing the Nahantic and Nanhygansett, alias Narragansett bay, and countries and parts adjacent." The boundaries named included approximately the present area of the state, with the addition of Fall River and with the exception of East Providence and a part of Pawtucket. But if the rival claims of Plymouth on the east and Connecticut on the west had prevailed, Rhode Island would consist of only a line drawn through the channel of Narragansett bay and the Providence and Seekonk rivers. As it was, Rhode Island authority was established east of Narragansett bay and the Providence, Seekonk and Blackstone rivers only in 1747, when a royal decree confirmed Rhode Island's claim to Cumberland, Bristol, Warren, Tiverton and Little Compton. The border dispute with Connecticut was also of long standing. Besides the conflict with neighboring colonies arising from boundary disputes, besides the disastrous effects of Indian wars in which Rhode Island, though having no quarrel with the natives, was a battlefield and a sufferer from Indian depreda- tions, there was turmoil and jealousy and dissension within the colony sufficient to entitle Rhode Island to well-earned credit for having fulfilled the mission imposed upon the colony by the charter — "to hold forth a lively experiment, that a most flourishing civil state may stand." ALLEGED BACKWARDNESS IN EDUCATION. To religious dissension, to the absence of an established church, to Baptist and Quaker distrust of schools as institu- 14 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. tions closely allied with established churches and foes of liberty of conscience, to disgust for schools because Massachusetts and Connecticut maintained schools, to hatred of institutions cher- ished in the theocracies from which many of the Rhode Island settlers had withdrawn, to separatism and extreme individual- ism, to anti-social characteristics, to negro slavery, to civil strife within and conflict with neighboring colonies, to Indian wars, to sparse and scattered settlements — to all of these and some other causes has been laid an alleged backwardness in providing schools in Rhode Island. In this opinion most writers have followed the dicta of Judge Staples and Commissioner of Public Schools Elisha R. Potter, who have given the prevailing tone to the works of Stone, Higginson, Stockwell, Foster, Kimball and Field. Henry C. Dorr and Richman, with more reason, emphasize the obstacle to educational and other progress arising from the selfish interest of the proprietors of Providence, who formed a party within the freemen sufficiently large and influential to dominate the latter. Small belittled Rhode Island's interest in education on the first page of his "Early New England Schools," and in subsequent chapters unconsciously demonstrated the patent error in his statement. Arnold and Rider stand almost alone in contradicting the prevailing heresy. It is positively certain that schools were the least oppressive institutions in Massachusetts and Plymouth from which the early settlers of Rhode Island departed. The Massachusetts law entrusting to selectmen the duty of seeing that children were taught to read and understand the principles of religion and the capital laws was not enacted until 1642, and the School Ordinance of 1647 followed the departure of Roger Williams by a dozen years. The Plymouth Colony made no provision for schools until 1663. /Newport was probably the first town in all English America to establish a public school. The rival claims of Massachusetts towns are for school support rather than the actual establishment of public schools. COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 15 ITS REFUTATION. A complete refutation of the fallacy that early settlers in Rhode Island were hostile to schools is found in the records of the four original towns united into a civil state by the charter. This is the record: Newport, settled in 1639, called Robert Lenthal one year later, in August, 1640, to conduct a school, and at the same time granted to him four acres of land for a houselot, 100 acres for the school, and the income of another 100 acres "for a school for the encouragement of the poorer sort to train up their youth in learning." Warwick, as early as 1652, that is ten years after the settle- ment, had a building used as a schoolhouse and as a hall for meetings. Providence, in 1663, set aside 106 acres of land for a school. For Portsmouth, the fourth town, there is no record earlier than July 30, 1716, when it was ordered that a "new school- house" be built upon one acre of land belonging to the town situated in the north part of the town. A fair implication from the words "new schoolhouse" is that there was or had been a schoolhouse in Portsmouth earlier than 1716, but there is no positive proof, and beyond the implication from the record, no indication of the time when Portsmouth built its first schoolhouse or kept a school. EARLY RECORDS INCOMPLETE AND FRAGMEN- TARY. It is not possible to construct from the early records of Rhode Island towns which have been preserved a complete and con- sistent history of schools. The difficulty arises partly from incomplete and fragmentary records, partly from broken series, partly from destruction or loss of records, partly from the practice of entrusting duties to committees whose reports were 16 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. by word of mouth or if in writing have not been preserved, and partly from the fact that education was not in most Rhode Island towns a municipal undertaking. Indeed, it is probable that, in some instances at an early date, the incorporation of towns served public expediency or political convenience rather than community interest and a municipal need. There were in 1708 three towns with less than 50 families — East Greenwich including West Greenwich, with 240 inhabitants; Jamestown, with 206, and New Shoreham, with 208 — which, if in Massachu- setts, would not be, under the Ordinance of 1647, obliged to maintain schools. Of dame schools, of more pretentious schools kept in private houses or commodious barns, of home schools maintained for their children by the wealthy planters of the Narragansett country, of the schoolmaster who taught John Brown to cypher in Providence between 1749 and 1752, of village schools sup- ported by public subscription and by tuition charges, of school- houses erected by subscription of proprietors on land leased or let at' will, perhaps put up by the common, joint labor of the proprietors, there are no public records. Only when a town set aside land for school purposes, or built or repaired a school- house, or leased a town schoolhouse, or engaged a teacher, or let the town schoolhouse to a teacher, or supplemented the teacher's earnings by a salary grant, was the matter recorded, and the phraseology of some entries indicates that other items of school business had been omitted. Following is a record from 1663 to the Revolutionary War, as it has been discovered: EARLY TOWN RECORDS. Providence— Population, 1446 in 1708, 3916 in 1730, 3452 in 1748, 3159 in 1755, 4321 in 1774, and 4355 in 1776. From the original town were set off Glocester and Smithfield in 1730, Cranston in 1754, Johnston in 1759, and North Providence in 1765. COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 17 In 1683 John Whipple complained that the order previously passed, to set aside school lands,* had not been complied with. There was at least one schoolmaster in Providence at that period, for in 1684 William Turpin, who described himself as the town schoolmaster, asked that the school lands be set out to him. Of William Turpin Judge Staples wrote that his interest in education was a stepping-stone to honor, if not to fortune; that he represented Providence in the General Assem- bly in 1722-23, was Town Clerk in 1727, and died in office while Town Treasurer in 1744. But William Turpin, school- master, died in 1709, leaving a son named William, whose record of public service Judge Staples ascribed to his father. The similarity of names no doubt misled the Annalist. John Dexter, William Hopkins, Epenetus Olney, William Turpin, Joseph Whipple, John Smith, Philip Tillinghast and Joseph Smith, in 1695-6, asked for "a small spot of land to erect a schoolhouse upon in some place in the town about the highway called Dexter lane or about the Stampers Hill." "A spot of land 40 feet square" was granted "where it may be most con- venient." Dexter lane is now Olney street, and the name of Stampers Hill is still preserved by Stampers street, a narrow thoroughfare almost at the crest of Constitution Hill, as North Main street crosses Olney street. The grant was to be null and void if no schoolhouse was built within a considerable time. Hemy C. Dorr says the enterprise failed because the proprietors neglected to grant, along with the land, timber, of which the petitioners stood in need. There is no record of any kind to indicate that a schoolhouse was built, although Henry R. Chace located a schoolhouse site on Olney street, between North Main and Stampers street, on his map of Providence in 1770. The report' of the committee on school property in 1768 did not mention a schoolhouse in the north section of the town. *The order of 1663 setting aside 106 acres of land for a school. 18 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. The name of a second schoolmaster appears of record in 1735, when George Taylor was given permission to keep a school in one of the chambers of the Colony House at Providence, "on condition that the glass of said house should be kept in con- stant good repair," and that he should "erect a handsome sundial in front of said house, both for ornament and use." Taylor was an Englishman. That he tarried in Providence appears from the town record for 1753, when George Taylor was given leave to use the town schoolhouse, on condition that he "school or teach one poor child" recommended by the town schoolhouse committee, "gratis, or for nothing." From the reminiscences of Samuel Thurber we learn that Taylor's school was kept for church scholars, and that perhaps he received some compensation from England. In 1754 Stephen Jackson, schoolmaster, leased the town schoolhouse for £45, old tenor, which the town ordered applied for repairing the building. Here is a characteristic example of the incompleteness of old town records. When was the school- house built? When was the land on which it stood set off as a school site? There is no record to fix the date of location or building. A plat of warehouse lots on Town street, made in 1747, shows a school lot west of the street, which is now called North Main street. In 1752 the town granted to the colony for a new jail "the flats in the Salt river, being the west end of the lot that was formerly granted for the use of a school whereon the town schoolhouse in said Providence standeth." This entry fixes the time of building earlier than 1752, although the first school committee is named in the record for 1752. That the school kept was not a free school appears from the nature of the agreements with George Taylor and Stephen Jackson. In 1764 the Town Clerk was authorized to lease the schoolhouse to another schoolmaster, and in 1765 the property was sold in exchange for the Colony House lot, the Colony House having been destroyed by fire in 1758. COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 19 In 1751 Gideon Comstock, Alexander Frazier, James Field, Thomas Angell, Barzillai Richmond and Nehemiah Sprague, citing an agreement between themselves and others and a sub- scription of money for the purpose, asked for permission to build a schoolhouse "on the vacant land at the Sowdy Hill, a little above Joseph Snow, junior's, dwelling house, there being room to set it on and leave the road feet wide on each side, which will oblige us the subscribers and others the inhabitants who are willing to spend their money for leiming and for the publick good." The request was granted, but the lot was found to be too small for the proposed schoolhouse, and the propiietors located their school upon other land, at what is now the northwest corner of Chapel and Mathewson streets, the latter formerly known as School street. This was the first schoolhouse west of the river. There was still another schoolhouse in Providence earlier than 1768, located by Chace at the southwest corner of Power's lane and Back street, now Power and Benefit streets. It was referred to in the report of the committee which recommended public schools in 1768 as "the schoolhouse down-town," which should not be purchased by the town because it would cost too much. Among other indications of an awakened interest in educa- tion in Providence in the middle of the 18th century was the purchase of a library in London by Stephen Hopkins and other subscribers, who obtained permission to keep the books in the Colony House, an arrangement that "would provide a real ornament to the house and afford an agreeable amusement to the members in their leisure hours." The library was destroyed by the fire which razed the Colony House in 1758, and in 1759 the subscribers were granted a lottery to raise money to replace the books, on condition that they should thereafter be accessible to the members of the General Assembly. In 1762 William Goddard printed the first Providence newspaper, the Gazette. Gregory Dexter, a companion of Roger Williams, was the first 20 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. printer in Providence. He printed Roger Williams's key to the Indian language in London; he did not set up a press in Provi- dence. In 1764 Rhode Island College, later known as Brown University, was chartered and located temporarily at Warren. Providence, Newport, Warren and East Greenwich became rival candidates for the honor of becoming the permanent home of the college, which fell to Providence through the enterprise of inhabitants who raised about $15,000 as an endowment. Affecting schools more directly, Joseph Olney, Esek Hopkins, Elisha Brown and John Mawney were elected a school com- mittee in 1752, to care for the town schoolhouse and to appoint a master. Perhaps this committee and other early school committees should be designated schoolhouse committees; their duties were stated explicitly in 1756 as being "to have the general oversight and care of the town schoolhouse, as well as for repairing the schoolhouse, appointing and consulting with the master, or doing what else may be needful about the same, provided that the town be put to no expense thereabout." This record makes clear also the general attitude of the town of Providence in 1756 toward school support. There was no inclination to assume the burden of school support beyond providing a schoolhouse. The centennial of the Charter, the year 1763, was reached with probably three schoolhouses in the town of Providence — ■ the town schoolhouse, by that time in poor repair; the school- house on the west side of the river, and, possibly, "the school- house down-town." The town boasted also a newspaper and a library, and preparations were being made for the chartering of a college. The town voted in 1767 to provide four schoolhouses and to place the schools under control of a school committee. Com- mittees on school property and for the preparation of regulations were appointed. Both committees reported Jan. 1, 1768. COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 21 The committee on school property had examined "the school- house down-town," but found that it would cost too much. While the schoolhouse on the west side of the river was found convenient, some of the proprietors refused to sell their interests to the town. The committee recommended the building of two schoolhouses, 26x18x10 feet, east of the river, one at the upper and the other at the lower end of the town, but that until after the annual town meeting no further action be taken west of the river. The committee recommended also the construc- tion of a larger brick schoolhouse, to cost £485, on the old Colony House lot. The committee on regulations presented an elaborate report in the form of an ordinance providing that the proceeds of the sale of the old schoolhouse property should be applied to con- struction of new schoolhouses; that the additional cost of the new enterprise should be assumed by the town; that £520 be raised by tax; that schoolmasters be provided at the expense of the town; that a school committee be appointed, repre- senting all sections, with ample powers to conduct town schools, engage and dismiss schoolmasters and ushers, but with no power to repair schoolhouses (a power still denied the school com- mittee of Providence and retained by the city council). The report continued thus: " That every inhabitant of this town whether they be free of the town or not, shall have and enjoy an equal right and privilege of sending their own children, and the children of others that may be under their care, for instruction and bringing up, to any or all of the said schools. And that each and every scholar, before they be admitted into any of the small schools, shall have learnt their letters and acquired some acquaintance with spelling. And before they be permitted to enter the larger school, they must have gained considerable knowledge in reading and writing, and that all those who may be thus qualified shall and may be admitted to all the advantages of education that may be taught in either of the respective schools. And in case any dispute should arise, touching the qualifications of any child the same may be determined by the school committee. 22 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. " That not exceeding two hours in each day shall be taken up in the large school in perfecting the scholars in reading, accent- ing, pronouncing and properly understanding the English tongue. That the remaining school hours shall be employed in teaching the children and youth in writing, arithmetic, the various branches of mathematics and the learned languages. The whole to be taught in one or separate apartments in said house, under the direction of said committee, as the circum- stances of said school, from time to time, shall require, and as will have the best tendency to increase and spread knowledge and learning. "The children under the care of non-resident freeholders shall be admitted into said school, provided said freeholders shall pay the sum of twelve shillings, lawful money, in the school tax annually; and also those inhabitants of the town who pay twelve shillings annually to the support of the school, if they have no children or apprentices of their own, shall have liberty to send the children of any friend or relative of theirs living out of this town."* The town meeting rejected both reports. Moses Brown, of one committee, wrote this comment upon the town's action: " 1768, Laid before the town by the committee, but a number of the inhabitants (and what is most surprising and remarkable, the plan of a free school, supported by a tax, was rejected by the poorer sort of the people), being strangely led away not to see their own as well as the public interest therein (by a few objectors at first), either because they were not the projectors, or had not public spirit to execute so laudable a design, and which was first voted by the town with great freedom." The town meeting that rejected the reports did, however, resolve to build a two-story brick schoolhouse, 30x40 feet, near the court house out of the proceeds of the sale of the old town schoolhouse, a tax of £100, and £182 17s, to be raised by public subscription, and to support a free school in the building. Public subscriptions twice failed to reach the amount desig- nated, but in July, 1768, a list was completed and building was undertaken. The subscribers were incorporated in 1770. A *Small, Early N. E. Schools, p 198, cites this last paragraph, omitting reference to the earlier paragraphs in the report, and to the disposition which was made of the report. S COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 23 two-story structure was erected, the lower floor controlled by the town, the upper by the proprietors. The building still stands on Meeting street close to the Friends Meeting House. Both floors were occupied in 1770, the upper by Rhode Island College, and the lower by the University Grammar School, while the college, which had removed from Warren, awaited the completion of quarters in University Hall. Benjamin West, the astronomer, kept a school in the building afterward, receiving "his reward for educating from the parents of those that he shall teach." Stephen Hopkins, Jabez Bowen and Moses Brown, the last two proprietors, were appointed a committee, in 1772, "to draw up regulations for the town schoolhouse, and to procure and agree with suitable persons to keep the same at the expense of those who sent their children and youth to said schools, and to do everything necessary toward rendering said school useful." Except that the town owned part of a new school- house, little progress toward free schools had been made. The movement that failed in town meeting in 1768 bore other fruit, however. Another company of proprietors was chartered in 1768, and in November a schoolhouse, designed for two schools, was built on upper Benefit street, on the site at the corner of Halsey street, now occupied by a brick primary school building. This schoolhouse was named Whipple Hall, for Captain Whipple, who donated the land. The school was a graded school, opening with George Taylor, Jr., in charge of the upper grade, and Sally Jackson the lower. E. M. Stone gives the following list of teachers who succeeded Taylor: John Barrows, Nathan Downe, Sumner Wood, Joseph Balch, Solomon Bradford, Abner Tucker and John Dexter. The Revolutionary War terminated school activity in Provi- dence. The college was closed, University Hall serving as a barracks for French soldiers. Whipple Hall became a powder magazine and meeting place for a revolutionary committee, and 24 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KHODE ISLAND. the Meeting street schoolhouse became a chemical laboratory for the manufacture of explosives. Portsmouth:— Population, 628 in 1708, 813 in 1730, 992 in 1748, 1363 in 1755, 1512 in 1774, 1374 in 1776. Besides the new schoolhouse already referred to as ordered built in July, 1716, another school was built in the south part of the town in September, 1716, on recommendation of a committee which reported that it had considered "how excellent an ornament learning is to mankind, and the great necessity there is of a public schoolhouse on the south side." The town made an appropriation and appointed a committee to build the school- house and solicit contributions for finishing it. Commenting on the phraseology of the committee report and the designation of a special necessity on the south side, Arnold concludes that there was an earlier schoolhouse in some other part of the town. He had overlooked the vote of July, 1716, which proved his inference correct. Other schoolhouses were erected in Ports- mouth as follows: Two in 1722, one in 1746 near Bristol Ferry, one in 1763 on Prudence Island, and one in 1733 in the southern part of the town, the last upon the petition of William Brown and others, who undertook the expense additional to £30, which the town was asked to appropriate. Newport— Population, 2203 in 1708, 4640 in 1738, 6508 in 1748, 6753 in 1755, 9209 in 1774, 5299 in 1776. Middletown was set off from Newport in 1743. Newport was the largest town in the colony. The early records of Newport were ship- wrecked in Hell Gate while being taken to New York during the Revolutionary War. Although the books were subse- quently recovered, a large part of the records were damaged irreparably. The early records preserve the names of two successors of Robert Lenthal, each of whom had the use of the schoolhouse, and the profits of the school land. They were John Jethro and COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 25 Thomas Fox. In 1661 the school land set apart in 1640 was exchanged for other land. An additional grant of school land was made in 1697. Little is known of the first schoolhouse in Newport beyond that it was standing in 1685 and had fallen into decay in 1700, though the timber in it was such that Ebenezer Mann asked and received permission to take some of it for use in building his new house. In 1700 the town sold land to finish the "school- house in or near the market place in Newport," This probably was the schoolhouse that the town voted to build in 1704. The vote to build was subsequently rescinded, when land was granted to Samuel Cranston and others for the purpose of a schoolhouse. Had the proprietors abandoned their enterprise in 1706? A tax of £150 was laid to supplement the proceeds of the sale of lands, and the inhabitants of the north part of the town were exempted because they lived too far off to send their children to the school. The town council was ordered, in 1708, to take the schoolhouse into their hands, to manage all the prudential affairs belonging to the school, always reserving to the quarterly meeting of the town the power of choosing the schoolmaster. William Gilbert was chosen schoolmaster in 1709, receiving "the benefit of the school land, viz., the chamber and sellar and the profits arising from the school land in this part of the town, and some conveniency for keeping of fire in the winter season." The year following William Gallaway was granted "the liberty of teaching a Latin school in the two little rooms in the schoolhouse of this town." The first schoolmaster elected in town meeting was John Callender, June 3, 1746. In 1748 Mr. Callender died; his successor was Terrence Donally. Another schoolhouse was ordered built in 1713, and 106 acres of land were granted in 1723 for a school in the eastern part of the town, called the Woods, now Middletown. "All the public schoolhouses in the precinct of Newport," including "par- N 26 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. ticularly the great schoolhouse," were ordered repaired in 1726 and "paid out of the treasury." The order for building in the Woods in 1723 may be interpreted as providing for two school- houses; a vote in 1729 of £10 each for two schoolmasters in the Woods section lends color to the interpretation. Schoolmasters were appointed from time to time, and it is fair to presume that schools were kept in Newport with some approximation to regularity. James Franklin, elder brother of Benjamin Franklin, set up the first printing press in Newport in 1727, and began publishing the Rhode Island Gazette, the first Rhode Island newspaper, in 1732. James Franklin* established the Newport Mercury in 1758. The Redwood Library was incorporated in 1747. A sale of school land was authorized in 1763. Higginson, Stockwell and Field report the school land as divided into lots and sold or leased in 1663, the proceeds to be applied to educa- ting poor children. The same authors report a similar division and sale of land in 1763. Field follows the narrative of Higgin- son and Stockwell closely. Higginson and Stockwell cite Henry Barnard's Journal of the Rhode. Island Institute of Instruction as authority for a sale in 1663. Barnard does not mention the sale in 1763. If Barnard is not in error, the town of Newport in 1663 did exactly what it voted in precisely the same language to do again in 1763, just a century later. There is no existing public record of a sale of school lands in Newport in 1663. The language of the ordinance of 1763 follows: "That the monies arising from the sale of said lots and also the annual quit rents forever, shall be paid to the town treasurer for the time being, and that the same shall be ' a fund for the schooling and educating of poor children, according to the discretion of the town council, for the time being, who are hereby empowered to direct, regu- late and manage the said charity in behalf of said town to the best advantage, according to the true intent and meaning *Son of the James Franklin already mentioned. COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 27 thereof.' " The language quoted by Henry Barnard is placed within single quotation marks. One may venture to guess that the date as given by Barnard results from a typographical error, and that it was intended for 17G3. And, besides, it seems altogether unlikely that land in houselot parcels would be in demand in 1663, whereas in 1763 Newport was a thriving commercial centre and probably compactly built in some sec- tions. Higginson, Stockwell and Field, however, report both the quotation from Barnard and the full text of the ordinance of 1763. The proceeds of the sale in 1763 were used many years later to start Newport's venture with free public schools. The public schools of Newport were tuition schools, with special provision for free education for poor children. Side by side with them nourished private schools. There were, besides the public schools, at least two other opportunities for education open to poor children. By the will of Nathaniel Kay of London, Trinity Church received land and over £400 in currency with which to establish a school, on condition that it "teach ten poor boys their grammar and mathematics gratis." Mary Brett in 1773 kept a school on High street for young negroes. The school had been endowed by benevolent clergymen of the Church of England, living in London, with a "handsome fund" to instruct 30 negro children in reading, sewing, etc. The town schoolhouse was destroyed by fire in 1774; it was not rebuilt. The Revolutionary War, and the occupation of Newport, first by the British, and subsequently by the French, closed the first chapter of the history of public schools in New- port. Nearly half a century was destined to pass before New- port as a town again undertook public education. Warwick.— Population, 480 in 1708, 1178 in 1730, 1782 in 1748, 1911 in 1755, 2438 in 1774, 2376 in 1776. Coventry was set off from Warwick in 1741. A schoolhouse, used also for town meetings, was built in Old Warwick in 1716. It was a proprietors' school. The town voted in 1716: 28 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. " Whereas a hous hath lately bin built upon the towne orchard for a schoole hous, and a great part of the expense hath bin paid by some partickular persons, thereupon, upon further con- sideration, it is surrendered up to be for the use of the towne meetings upon such occasions only, reserving the liberty that it may be still for the use of a schoole hous for themselves and the rest of the towne that shall see cause, and remaining part of the cost and charge to be paid by a rate levied upon the whole towne, the sum of £130 in money or pay equivalent to be paid to those that built the hous as above, s'd to be paid out of the next towne rate, therefore, we, the proprietors, for further encouragement of the said schoole, we doe by these presents ennex the the above said lot and orchard thereunto for the use of said schoole." The vote of the town meant that the proprietors of the schoolhouse had agreed to permit the town to use it for town meetings, and that the town had assumed the burden of the cost of building to the extent of £130, and had granted the use of the lot on which the school stood and the orchard for use with the school. Except for the special use as a meeting place, the arrangement was of a type frequently observed in early Rhode Island school history — a land grant and some assistance for the encouragement of proprietors undertaking the building of a schoolhouse. The town meeting that voted thus met at the home of James Carder, father of Joseph Carder, one of the early teachers. Other teachers in colonial times in Warwick were Charles Morris, Thomas Lippitt and Ephraim Arnold. Warwick closes the list of four original towns. All had made some provision for schools or the encouragement of schools. East Greenwich was incorporated in 1677; West Greenwich was set off from East Greenwich in 1741. No record has been found of town provision for schools before the Revolution. In 1774 the General Assembly granted a lottery to inhabitants of East Greenwich for the purpose of raising $600 for schools. Smithfiel'd was taken from Providence in 1730-1731. It comprised the territory now occupied by Smithfield, North COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 29 Smithfield, Lincoln, Central Falls and part of Woonsocket. In 1771 a meeting of Friends at Woonsocket voted : " It is thought necessary that poor children be schooled." The Friends in 1777 appointed a committee to draw up a plan for establishing a free school among the Friends. The plan adopted provided for the appropriation of a donation made by Rebekah Thayer toward the support of a school. The school was migratory, the committee having charge to keep it from time to time in different places. The committee was empowered to select and hire a teacher, to raise subscriptions for the support of the school and to select among the youth in the families of Friends those whose circumstances entitled them to schooling without charge under the donation. Exeter was set off from North Kingstown in 1742-1743. In 1696 Samuel Sewall of Boston donated 500 acres of land in Exeter to maintain a grammar school in the district, but no action was taken by the town until 1766, when the General Assembly authorized the town to accept the gift and to build a schoolhouse on the Ten Rod road. Middletown, the "Woods," was set off from Newport in 1743. As early as 1702 six acres of land were set aside in what was to be Middletown, as school land. More land was set aside for school purposes, later, and Newport provided at least one school- house for the section in 1723, though the records indicate the possibility that two schoolhouses were to be constructed, it being ordered that £20 apiece be paid out of the town treasury for the building of the schoolhouse in the Woods." At the first town meeting in 1743, a motion to repair the schoolhouse was presented,, and in 1753 repairs were ordered on the Eastmoss (possibly eastmost) schoolhouse. In 1754 the town appointed a school committee, w ith authority to hire or agree with a good schoolmaster to keep school, one-half time in the east school- house, and one-half time in the west schoolhouse. The school- 30 PUBLIG EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. master was to receive the income from the school land, tuition from his pupils at a rate to be fixed by the school committee, and from the treasury the balance necessary to make up the salary agreed upon. Two years later the school committee was abolished, and power was given the town council to rent the school lands and hire a schoolmaster, an important change if it meant that the schools were to become free public schools in fact. The town receded from its advanced position, however, and in August, 1747, Edmund Tew was engaged as schoolmaster, to keep school for two months, receiving tuition and £5 out of the rents of the school land. Edmund Tew was succeeded by Ebenezer Reed. Varying terms were made with successive schoolmasters, some paying rent for the schoolhouse. In 1754 the town was divided into school districts. THE DISPUTED TERRITORY. By royal decree in 1747, confirming Rhode Island's claim to the eastern boundary line described in the charter of 1663, Cumberland, Bristol, Tiverton, Little Compton and Warren, including Barrington, were added to the colony. Bristol, Warren and Barrington had schools when they became Rhode Island towns. No record of early schools in Tiverton or Little Compton has been found, Massachusetts law to the contrary notwithstanding. Cumberland, perhaps, participated in the activity of the Woonsocket Friends, already mentioned under Smithfield. Barrington was set off from Warren in 1770. School activity in Warren began in the Barrington section while Barrington was held as part of Swansea, Bristol county, Massachusetts. In 1673 John Myles, pastor of the churchy was employed as schoolmaster in a school for "the teaching of grammar, rhetoric and arithmetic, and the tongues of Latin, Greek and Hebrew; also to read English and to write." His salary was fixed at £40 per annum in currency. The school was not a free school. COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 31 The town records show a long line of successors to John Myles and indicate that schools were kept in Barrington regularly. Barrington was divided into three school districts in 1770. Warren was the first home of Rhode Island College in 1764, and of the University Grammar School, which Dr. Manning established as a preparatory school and conducted in the parsonage of the Baptist Church. The General Assembly granted a lottery to provide money to complete the parsonage for use by Dr. Manning's students. Bristol was settled in 1680. Two years later the town voted: "That each person that hath children ready to go to school shall paj>- three pence a week for each child's schooling to the schoolmaster, and the town by rate, according to each ratable estate, shall make the wages to amount to £24 the year. The selectmen to look out a grammar schoolmaster, and use their endeavor to obtain £5 of the Cape money granted for such an end." A houselot, ten acres of land and commonage were voted for the schoolmaster's use. The Cape money was the revenue that Plymouth Colony derived from profits arising from fishing with nets or seines at Cape Cod for mackerel, bass or herring, which the colony in 1670 granted "to be improved for and toward a free school in some town in this jurisdiction, for the training up of youth in literature for the good and benefit of posterity." In 1677 the colony ordered the Cape money dis- tributed "to such towns as have such grammar schools, not exceeding £5 per annum to any one town." Because Bristol does not appear in the list of towns which received Cape money, Small concluded* that probably no school was established in Bristol pursuant to the vote in 1682, The records of Cape money distribution do not extend beyond 1684. At least as early as 1685, perhaps earlier, Samuel Cobbitt was serving as town schoolmaster in Bristol. •"Early N. E. Schools," p. 17. 32 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. In 1699 Bristol was divided into two school districts, and in 1700 £20 was voted for the south district on condition that it "improved a schoolmaster" eight months of the year, and £10 to the north district for a four months school. In 1709 the same schoolmaster served both districts, teaching three winter months on the Neck and the balance of the year in "the town." At the beginning schools in Bristol were taught in rooms in private houses, hired and paid for by the town. The first appropriation for erecting a town schoolhouse was made in 1702, when £20 was voted for a schoolhouse in the compact part of the town. Twenty-five years later £50 was appropriated to build a schoolhouse, 26x20 feet, in the town, and the same year, 1727, the town paid £20 for a schoolhouse already built on the Neck by private parties. The school on the Neck was sold in 1765. Nathaniel Byfield's gift of school land in 1714 "for and in consideration of a due regard which he had for the advancement of learning and good education," made simple the problem of school support. The Byfield land yielded an almost unfailing income, which relieved the people of the burden of direct taxa- tion for schools and likewise removed any temptation to back- sliding. Beginning in 1718, money collected for licenses for entertainments was appropriated to school support. The town records contain a long list of names of teachers, engaged from time to time, and show that schools were kept regularly in the town down to 1772. In 1751 Bristol appointed its first school committee, and probably the first school committee in Rhode Island.* St. Michael's Church, Bristol, like Trinity Church, Newport, received a legacy from Nathaniel Kay, to be used for the education of poor boys. For Westerly, incorporated in 1669; New Shoreham, 1672; North Kingstown, 1674; Jamestown, 1678; South Kingstown, 1722; Scituate and Glocester, 1730; Charlestown, 1738; West Greenwich and Coventry, 1741; Cumberland (except Woon- ♦Providence, 1752; Middletown, 1754. COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 33 socket, see Smithfield) , Little Compton and Tiverton, 1747; Richmond, 1747; Cranston, 1754; Hopkinton, 1757; Johnston, 1759, and North Providence, 1765, records of public school support before the Revolution have not been found. These towns had a combined population of 31,719 out of 55,011, for the colony, in 1776. For the most part they were towns of large area, and their population was scattered. Before the war the interests of Rhode Island were agricultural and commercial; the era of industry and the factory village had not come. The absence of town records does not prove that these towns were without schools. Viewing the colony as a whole, in 1770, in provision for public education, the three towns on the Island of Rhode Island — Newport, Portsmouth and Middletown — and Bar- rington, Warren and Bristol were leading. The situation in Providence was hopeful, though far from being all that could be wished for. Providence was not satisfied with "public schools" in the sense in which the term was commonly used in the eighteenth century; the movement molding public opinion there and pressing for expression aimed at public schools free for all children without respect to ability or inability to pay tuition. THE RHODE ISLAND THEORY OF EDUCATION. The early town records show that, while no town undertook responsibility for the provision and maintenance of schools exclusively at the expense of the taxpayers, there were four ways in which public education was assisted and encouraged, viz. : 1. By land grants of school sites, houselots for school- masters and tracts the income of which was devoted to school support.* 2. By building schoolhouses as public property, to be rented or leased, or let rent free to a schoolmaster. It seems likely ♦Providence, Newport, Middletown, Bristol. 34 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. that in some instances the schoolhouse was a dwelling for the master, as well as a schoolhouse.* 3. By the employment of a town schoolmaster and the guaranty of some part of his salary, or the part thereof necessary to raise his receipts from tuition from his pupils or other sources to a fixed minimum salary. f 4. By grants of school sites or money to groups of inhabi- tants organized as school societies to maintain quasi-public schools.! The schools thus assisted and encouraged were not free schools, except that provision sometimes was made for free instruction for poor children. Responsibility for the training of the children of the community rested upon individuals, parents or families, primarily. Towns recognized an obligation to contribute to and encourage so desirable an institution as a school for the youth. As for the colony— that is, the govern- ment exercising legislative functions through the General Assem- bly — Rhode Island became a patron of education on lines somewhat similar to those already adopted by the towns. The earliest measure of an educational character permitted use of a room in the Colony House in Providence for library purposes; when the library was destroyed by fire, the owners were granted a lottery franchise to assist in replacing the library. The charter of Rhode Island College in 1764 ex- empted the college estate from taxation, a privilege of increasing value as years rolled by and the college endowment grew, and worth in the nineteenth century not less, it is estimated, than $80,000 annually. AN EVALUATION. The unfavorable estimate of Rhode Island's school history which has prevailed generally, arises largely from the error of ♦Providence, Newport, Portsmouth, Middletown, Bristol. tNewport, Middletown, Barrington, Bristol. JProvidence, Newport, Warwick. COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 35 studying school progress exclusively in legislation. The his- torians of the past who found general school laws in Massachu- setts and Connecticut in the middle of the seventeenth century, and none in Rhode Island before 1828, reached the conclusion that Rhode Islanders were baclavard in providing schools, ignoring the fact that there were 193 schoolhouses in Rhode Island in 1828. It is, and has been, characteristic of Rhode Island school history that progress and improvement precede legislation; that experiments have been worked out in some towns before the enactment of laws. Indeed, some Rhode Island school law has aimed to prevent retrogression from standards already attained without general laws. Following the original error arising from comparison of legislation, without the saving grace of studying its enforcement or observance, historians have invented reasons for their con- clusions that should differentiate the cradle of American d emocracy from jtsneighbors. It is positively certain that the Massachusetts and Connecticut ordinances did not build a single schoolhouse or establish a single school, and that the early legislation in both colonies did not provide ways and means for aiding schools, whereas the first Rhode Island general school law was an appropriation measure. 'Small's "Early New England Schools" demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that school beginnings in Massachusetts and Connecticut did not differ materially from school beginnings in Rhode Island. The Massachusetts law of 1647, requiring every town of 50 families to provide a school, exempted towns with 49 families. It is clear, also, that provision for schools did not follow imme- diately the establishment of settlements in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Schoolhouses in the neighboring colonies were neither better nor worse than those in Rhode Island; teachers were no better paid for their services; the length of the school year did not vary greatly. There was one important difference between 36 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. Rhode Island and her neighbors. Massachusetts and Con- necticut were theocratic; Rhode Island was the home of com- plete religious freedom. The Massachusetts law of 1642 would have violated the basic principle of liberty of conscience for which Rhode Island has always stood. The type of school first founded in Massachusetts and Connecticut would have been an anomaly in Rhode Island. The people of Rhode Island began, in the earliest years of the colony, to work out — in their own way — the problem of educating the youth. The unimpeachable evidence of records and the fair presumption of continuity amply warrant the conclusion that Rhode Island has not deserved a reputation for backwardness in education. There is much in the history of colonial education of which Rhode Island may well be proud. CHAPTER II. THE BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SCHOOL SYSTEM. Interest in education was revived and extended in Rhode Island almost immediately after the close of the Revolutionary War, although the establishment of a state system of free public schools under general laws still lay far away in the future. In the half-century after the war the foundations of a state system were laid securely in the towns. Private schools nourished, maintained by the patronage of those who as in- dividuals realized the advantages that education would secure for their children. This period witnessed the rise of the school society, wherein individuals combined and co-operated in pro- viding education for the children of the group. The organiza- tion of the school society varied in form, from the elementary, almost primitive combination of individuals who co-operated to hire or furnish a room for a school and to engage a teacher for a few months, to the incorporated society which built a schoolhouse and provided instruction regularly. In several towns the school district organizations under the state school laws recognized the existing school societies, and society school- houses became the homes of public schools. In towns where public schools had been maintained previous to the Revolu- tionary War, further progress was made, as a rule, after the w r ar. In two towns free public schools were established and maintained before the state made provision for the support of public schools. 38 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. Between 1775 and 1800 the following books, mostly text- books adapted for use in schools, were published by Rhode Island printers: Four editions of the New England Primer, in 1775, 1782, 1785, and 1800; two editions of the Pennsyl- vania Spelling Book, in 1782 and 1789; Ross's American Latin Grammar, in 1780; Burr's American Latin Grammar, in 1794; the Universal Spelling Book, in 1784; the American Youth's Mathematics, in 1790; Wilkinson's "The Federal Calculator," in 1795; the Young Ladies' and Gentlemen's Preceptor, in 1797. Fox's " Instructions for Right Spelling" was published in Rhode Island in 1737. THE EVOLUTION OF RESPONSIBILITY. Regarding the education of the child, consistently w,ith early Rhode Island school history, as primarily a responsibility resting upon the individual, parent or family, there were, until educa- tion became socialized and the state provided free public schools, several ways in which this obligation might be fulfilled : First, the parent, himself or herself, might become the family teacher, the latter exemplifying the school of the mother's knee, prototype of the dame school, familiar even less than a century ago, in which the versatile housew r ife divided her attention betwixt household economics and the instruction of the youth of the neighborhood. Secondly, the teacher might be a professional instructor, exercising his calling as an individual entrepreneur, or perhaps combining a vocation and an avocation, as did William Turpin, the innkeeper-schoolmaster of Providence. Possibilities in this category range from the pastor of the church, whose business was the saving of good souls, to the village cobbler, a mender of bad soles, or perhaps an itinerant tinker, who could rehabilitate pots, pans, kettles and other household paraphernalia, while he tarried in the neighborhood teaching school a few months in the year. The latter half of the eighteenth and the early half BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 39 of the nineteenth centuries witnessed the coming to New Eng- land of itinerant Irish schoolmasters, many of whom settled down and became permanent residents, leaving memories still cherished in connection with early American school history. Thirdly, co-operation is one of the most economical solutions of the problem of supplying a common need, and this rule applies to education as well as to other necessities. In some instances in Rhode Island co-operation functioned as a broad- ening of. family responsibility to embrace a larger family, such as the combination of the four Kenyon brothers in Richmond.* In other instances co-operation developed in neighborhood groups, such a movement producing the first schoolhouse west of the river in Providence.f The Society of Friends was the first religious organization to provide a school for its children. Fourthly, out of the co-operative school organization nat- urally developed the incorporated school society, when the property interest became sufficiently important to warrant an organization that should have a legal personality and rights and privileges distinct from the personal rights and privileges of its members. The advance from co-operation to incorpora- tion was merely a matter of form. The organization was still voluntary. Fifthly, voluntary co-operation tends to become, ultimately, involuntary co-operation. When this development is reached the obligation to educate the young becomes communal instead of individual; the obligation rests, not exclusively upon the parent as regards his children, but upon all citizens, whether parents or not, as regards all the children of the community. The burden rests primarily upon the taxpayer and not upon the parent. A student of purely theoretical social evolution encounters no serious difficulty in recognizing universal involuntary co- operation as the fifth term in a series the third and fourth of ♦Infra. tSupra. 40 PUBLIC .EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. which had demonstrated that voluntary co-operation was advantageous. These are the prime factors: 1. Public rec- ognition of the desirability of education with precedents from 1640. 2. Similar precedents for public support of education. 3. Co-operation at a highly developed stage, though still largely voluntary, and aiming at a purpose rhythmically con- sonant with the public good. 4. A public need — education for all — not supplied by existing agencies under private control. 5. Democracy broadening in a new republic, experiencing in the nineteenth century a clear appreciation of the spirit of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity which had dominated the French Revolution more than its American prototype. 6. A period in which the theoretical and idealistic democracy of Thomas Jefferson was ripening into the practical democracy rough-hewn by Andrew Jackson and perfected by Abraham Lincoln. The evolutionist can find only one solution of this problem, and he can prove his solution accurate by the verdict of history that it actually happened. This chapter is, however, a pragmatic study aiming to present for each town and for the state, as nearly as has been found, a complete record of the educational activity that es- tablished the foundations for universal co-operation and a state system of public schools. Precedents before the fact are more impressive than sanctions after the fact. It is not possible to trace in any town's experience all the stages of the development of consciousness of society's duty and responsibility in supplying the means of public education; the movement was natural. Like Topsy, it "jest done growed" and the line of progress is irregular, unconventional, asymmet- rical, and uneven. In some towns little advancement was attained ; in others full florescence was reached before the state made its first appropriation for the support of public schools. In many towns only crude beginnings were made; in others the start was more propitious. All accomplished something. BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 41 The entire period was alive with educational activity, wanting, however, central direction and control; the movement was sporadic at first, but gradually it combined to produce a general uplift. It is surprising, indeed, when the facts are collected, that Rhode Island acquired a reputation for backwardness; it was not entirely deserved, certainly. When the state as a whole is viewed, variations appear somewhat less pronounced, and four movements may be dis- tinguished: First, the liberal extension of educational oppor- tunities and the increasing number of schools; second, the growth of co-operation, evidenced by the development of the school society; third, an unmistakable trend toward town free public schools; fourth, a movement for state support, to sup- plement the town systems. The towns were first in order. BARRINGTON, BRISTOL AND BURRILLVILLE. Barrington was divided into three school districts in 1770. There were two schoolhouses in the town in 1819 and three in 1828. The buildings were owned by inhabitants and held by joint ownership. The schools were not town schools. The Barrington Library Association was incorporated in 1806. Bristol, in 1781, engaged Samuel Bosworth to teach a school, hiring a room for the purpose while the town schoolhouse was being made fit for occupancy. The old schoolhouse, which was dilapidated and needed almost constant repairs, was replaced by a new building in 1809, after six years of agitation and endeavor. The movement was undertaken in 1803, when a committee was authorized to solicit subscriptions. The building was erected finally jointly by the town, which made an appropriation, and by St. Alban's Lodge of Freemasons, which owned and occupied the upper story as a lodgeroom. After the sale of the schoolhouse on the Neck in 1765, there was no schoolhouse in that section until 1802, when Peter Church, William DeWolf, William Coggeshall and other inhabitants 42 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. were granted permission to build a schoolhouse on the ten-acre lot on the main road to Warren, part of the Byfield donation.* The dimensions of this building were 22x20 feet. The town was divided into three school districts in 1811, but the North district was without a schoolhouse until 1818, when certain of the inhabitants erected a building at their own expense on a lot owned by the town. The Byfield school land was leased for a long period of years in 1811, and the rents were reinvested; the districting of the town was principally for the purpose of insur- ing an equitable division of the annual income. In 1828 Bristol had three public schoolhouses, and the annual appro- priation for school support amounted to about $350, the money being derived from the income of the Byfield donation, rents, and licenses for entertainments. The town schools were not free schools. The Bristol Female Charitable Society pro- vided schooling for indigent girls. The state granted a lottery in 1797 to aid an academy in Bristol, and chartered Mount Hope Academy in 1806. A private school on the Lancaster plan was conducted in the Academy building in 1826. Burrillville was set off from Glocester in 1806. The early schoolhouses were built by proprietors, and the teachers were paid by the parents of their pupils. There were ten school- houses in Burrillville in 1819, and eleven in 1828, rated as public schools, although the town appropriated no money for school support. The Burrillville Library was incorporated in 1821, and the Burrillville-Lafayette Library Company in 1826. CHARLESTOWN, COVENTRY, CRANSTON AND CUMBERLAND. Charlestown was set off from Westerly in 1738, and from Charlestown Richmond was taken in 1747. In 1804 the Gen- eral Assembly granted a lottery to build a schoolhouse and meeting house in Charlestown. The earliest public school- *See Chapter I. BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 43 house in the town was that of the Narragansett Indian school, maintained for the members of the tribe. The town took no action to provide schools or schoolhouses previous to 1828. There were ten private schools in Charlestown in 1819, and about the same number in 1828. Coventry, as a town, made no provision for public education previous to 1828. Tradition places the establishment of thiee proprietors' schools in the town soon after the close of the Revolution. There were eight schoolhouses in Coventry in 1819 and ten in 1828. The Coventry School Society was incorporated in 1814, and the Mill Brook School Society in 1828. Cranston was part of Providence until 1754. There were six schoolhouses and a library in Cranston in 1819, and eleven schoolhouses in 1828, although schools were not kept regularly in all cases. The town made no provision for public education. Cumberland School Society was chartered by the General Assembly in 1795, Cumberland Academy in 1800, Cumberland Union School Society in 1814, and Cumberland Literary Society in 1819. There were nine schoolhouses in the town in 1819, and thirteen in 1828. The Cumberland schools were described in 1828 as well housed, well taught and kept regularly. Cumberland school districts were authorized in 1838 to acquire the proprietors' interests by purchase. EAST GREENWICH, EXETER, FOSTER AND GLOCESTER, East Greenwich inhabitants, in 1774, received a lottery grant, wherewith to build a schoolhouse; in 1780 the grant was re- newed, the amount of money to be raised increased, and the purpose designated as the building of two schoolhouses. In 1804 still another lottery was granted by the General Assembly, to build a schoolhouse in East Greenwich, near Cory pond. Kent Academy was chartered in 1802, and opened in 1804. 44 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. The bell from Kent County Courthouse was given to Kent Academy in 1806. Frenchtown Academy, to be located in the western section of the town, was chartered in 1803, 1806 and 1820. As a town East Greenwich did nothing for public school support prior to 1828. In that year there were four school- houses in the town, besides Kent Academy and a private school in the compact village. The Charitable Society of East Green- wich was established in 1815 to clothe and school poor children. Exeter was set off from North Kingstown in 1742-3. There were two schoolhouses in the town in 1819 and three in 1828, in which winter schools were kept. Foster was taken from Scituate in 1781. There were eleven schoolhouses and a library in the town in 1819, and fifteen schoolhouses in 1828. Glocester was set off from Providence in 1730. Burrillville was taken from Glocester in 1806. There were twelve school- houses and a library in Glocester in 1819, and eleven school- houses, in which fifteen schools were kept, in 1828. HOPK1NTON, JAMESTOWN AND JOHNSTON. Hopkinton was taken from Westerly in 1757. In 1805 the General Assembly granted a lottery to build a meeting house and schoolhouse in Hopkinton. There were six schoolhouses in Hopkinton in 1819, and other schools were kept, but not regu- larly in all instances. In 1828 the number of schoolhouses had increased to nine, in three of which schools were kept through the year, while six were winter schools. Jamestown, on the Island of Conanicut, was incorporated in 1678. The first schoolhouse of which there is positive infor- mation was erected on the island about 1802. There were two schoolhouses in 1819 and three in 1828, when the population was 448. BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 45 Johnston, the west end of Providence, was incorporated in 1759. There were seven schools and a library in Johnston in 1819, and four schoolhouses, in which six or seven schools were kept in winter and three in summer, in 1828. LITTLE COMPTON AND MIDDLETOWN. Little Compton was one of the five towns transferred to Rhode Island by royal decree in 1747. Of early schools in the town no records have been found. Seven schools were kept in Little Compton in 1819, and in 1824 there were eight schoolhouses, in which schools were kept regularly. Middletown had displayed more enterprise than most Rhode Island towns in maintaining schools under town management before the Revolution. Unfortunately the ordinance for dividing the town into school districts, adopted in 1754, trans- ferred control and responsibility for school maintenance to the districts, it being provided "that each squadron (district) shall have the sole power of managing their own schoolhouses and lands, by leasing out the same, and employing schoolmasters as it shall be most agreeable to them." Nevertheless the town provided a "well crotch and sweep to the well at the east schoolhouse" in 1759, and in 1776 repaired the eastern school- house at an expense of $48.25, which was paid out of the town treasury. The eastern schoolhouse was destroyed by fire in 1786, and the town offered a reward of £30 "to any person or persons who will give information of the principal or accessory in wilfully setting fire to the east schoolhouse." The east school land was rented in 1787 for "six bushels of good Indian corn," and in 1789 it was rented for "thirteen bushels of good mer- chantable Indian corn, to be paid and delivered into the treas- ury." Probably corn was preferable, as legal-tender, to post- Revolutionary paper money. In 1789 the rents of the east school land were appropriated to the use of schooling poor children, and in 1790 the beneficiaries were limited to poor 46 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. children in the east end. In 1792 it was voted that the rents from the " eastermost " school land "be collected and put on interest in order to be employed toward building a schoolhouse." Although the town records did not mention the specific cause, it seems likely that the question of responsibility for rebuilding the east schoolhouse aroused a controversy that has left a trace upon the records in the foregoing and subsequent votes of the town. The districting ordinance of 1754 proved to be a stumbling block for those who favored rebuilding at the expense of the town as a whole. If it remained in effect, the inhabitants of the east end probably must rebuild their own schoolhouse with- out material assistance from the other district. In May, 1789, the district ordinance was repealed, although it was still provided that "all persons who send children to the west school shall have the full power of chuseing a schoolmaster to keep schoole in said house, and all other persons who have no children to send shall be excluded from any vote in chuseing said schoole- master." The ordinance was broad enough to exclude resi- dents of the east end, which probably was intended, as well as bachelors and benedicts who had no children, from partici- pating in the choice of the schoolmaster for the west end. The next month, however, west end interest was stronger in town meeting, and the ordinance of 1754 was revived, only to be repealed again later in the year. In 1790 a committee was appointed to "inspect into the rights of the town to the west schoolehouse and land, if any they have." The committee's report has not been found. Another committee was appointed in 1807, to "see how the east and west school land stands," and it reported: "We have searched the proprietors' records and find that the east school land was granted for the benefit of the proprietors in that part of the town, and the west school land for the benefit of the proprietors in that part of the town, but in searching the town meeting book of records we find by the votes of the freemen in several town meetings, said school lands BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. • 47 have been managed by the town in many ways." From 1819 to 1853 district No. 1 controlled the school land in its district and received the income. The Supreme Court, in 1856, con- firmed the right of the district.* In 1810 and in 1819 land was granted to two companies of proprietors to erect school- houses. Thus there were at least three schoolhouses in Middle- town in 1819, although five schools were kept; in 1828 there were five schoolhouses in the town. Middletown claimed tax remission under the state law of 1800 on account of its free school, presumably the west end school. NEWPORT. Newport suffered more than any other Rhode Island town during the Revolutionary War, although Bristol was bombarded by the British. The British destroyed Long Wharf in Newport in 1779; revival of the commerce that had made Newport one of the most prosperous seaports on the Atlantic coast before the war awaited its rebuilding. In 1795 the General Assembly named 36 petitioners, citizens of Newport, as trustees and granted them a lottery to raise $25,000 toward rebuilding Long Wharf and for building a hotel, upon condition that all profits arising from the wharf and hotel should be appropriated to building one or more free public schools.f The lottery yielded, it is estimated, $12,000; the wharf was rebuilt and the work was completed in 1800. The hotel was not built. Under date of May 16, 1795, Simeon Potter of Swansea^ wrote to two members of the board of trustees: *Gould vs. Whitman, 3 R. I. 267. tSmall, "Early N. E. Schools," p. 210: "Newport had a lottery from which a wharf and hotel were to be built, the proceeds of which were to support a public school. The result is not known." Comment seems unnecessary. JSimeon Potter was born in Bristol about 1720. Of poor parentage, he went to sea as an humble seaman, and returned to Bristol after a career as a privateer captain, one of the richest men in the town and colony. From 1752 to 1777 he represented Bristol in the General Assembly. He commanded a boat from Bristol which joined the Gaspee party on June 10, 1772. He was Major General of Rhode Island troops in 1776. He claimed residence in Swansea after 1780, it has been said, to escape taxation in Bristol; but he retained his membership in St. Michael's Church in Bristol until he died in 1806. He was buried in Bristol. 48 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. "Gentlemen: I saw in the Boston Centinel a scheme of a lottery, for the laudable intention of rebuilding Long Wharf in Newport, the building of a hotel, and, more especially, estab- lishing a free school, which has determined me to make a free gift of my estate on the point called Easton's Point, which came to me by way of mortgage for a debt due from Hays and Pollock, if you will accept of it in trust to support a free school forever, for the advantage of the poor children of every denomination, and to be under the same regulations as you desired the free school should be that you design to erect. If you, gentlemen, will please get a deed wrote agreeably to the intentions here manifested, I will sign and acknowledge the same and send it to you for recording. I would only mention that if the situation is agreeable to you, the house and garden would do for a school- master, and the oil house, which is large, might be fixed up for a schoolhouse. This as you may think proper. There is no person here that understands writing such a deed, or I would have sent it to you completely executed. "I am, gentlemen, with respect, Your humble servant, " SIMEON POTTER," The gift was accepted. The deed recited the terms of the trust thus: "Now I, the said Simeon Potter, moved by the regard I have for the good people of the said town of Newport, and by the afflictions which they have suffered in the late war, and wishing to promote their rise and prosperity, and the educa- tion of their children of the present and succeeding generations, do hereby, in consideration thereof, give, grant," etc. The Potter property stood at the corner of Washington and Marsh streets in Newport. The house was rented by the trustees and the first income was applied to repairs. The trustees, in 1800, tendered the use of the property "to the town for a schoolhouse, on condition of the town repairing the same and paying such rent as may be agreed upon, provided it is appropriated for a school, conformably to the act of the Assem- bly for establishing free schools, and that it be called the Potter school." But Newport took no action to provide free schools under the act of 1800. In August, 1814, a committee of the trustees was authorized to devise a plan for the commencement of a school. The com- BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 49 mittee recommended renting the Potter house to a suitable person to keep a school for a number of boys belonging to families m the town who are unable to educate them, and that they be instructed in reading, writing and arithmetic necessary for ordinary business and navigation. The committee found a room m the house, 15x40 feet, with two fireplaces, which could be fitted up to accommodate 50 or 60 scholars, and that Capt Joseph Finch and his wife, "who occupy the chambers keeping a school," "will undertake to instruct 20 or 30 children in reading and find the necessary firewood, at $1.80 each per quarter." The record sanctions the conclusion that the house was even then in use as a private school. The committee also advised that Job Gibbs, a carpenter, who occupied the first floor and was largely in arrears for rent, be employed for making the necessary repairs for the accommodation of the pupils "on enlarging the establishment under the direction of an instructor in the higher branches." A committee was appointed to carry the plan into effect, and a school was opened October 10, 1814, with 21 small boys as scholars. From the report of the school committee of May 1, 1815, it appeared that Elizabeth Finch, wife of Capt. Finch, was the teacher, as the committee found that the boys "have made greater progress with their learning than was anticipated, and that Mrs. Finch, with the assistance of her husband, had done ample justice to the pupils » At a meeting of the trustees in April, 1815, the committee was authorized to enlarge the school to accommodate 40 pupils The September gale of 1815 prostrated Newport and damaged Long Wharf. The trustees were compelled, in 1817, to reduce the school to 10 pupils. The schoolhouse was repaired in 1823 and school committees were appointed from year to year. The trustees in 1827 employed counsel to ascertain their rights under the will of Constant Taber. It was found that a codicil to the will had revoked a legacy of 30 shares of United States Bank stock. Capt. Finch died in 1829, and Mrs. Finch was engaged 50 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. to conduct a school for small children of both sexes, in lieu of payment of rent. In July of the same year the widow Dennis rented the house on the same terms, remaining until 1832, when the Potter school was discontinued. The Potter estate was sold in 1834 for $505, and the proceeds were placed in a savings bank. Long Wharf was leased for 100 years, in 1860, to the Newport and Fall River Railway Company at an annual rental of $1400. The trustees had in the savings bank $2293.38, accumulated from the Potter donation. In 1863 a new two- story brick schoolhouse, which cost $13,000, was built by the trustees and presented to the city of Newport. A second schoolhouse was built by the trustees at a later date, and the city of Newport is still frorh time to time a beneficiary of the trust. Fifty years after the destruction of the central town school- house, that is in 1824, interest in public education revived sufficiently in Newport to make the question of providing public schools one of the most important topics for discussion in town meeting. In 1825 the General Assembly, upon petition, au- thorized Newport to raise a tax of $800 "for the education of the white children of the town who are not otherwise provided with the means of instruction." A lottery granted for school support was not taken up by the people of Newport. The town made its first annual appropriation, under the new dis- pensation, in 1825. To the annual appropriations in 1825 and 1826 were added the proceeds of the sale and rent of school land; and the building of a schoolhouse, "60 feet long and 36 feet wide, of brick and stone, two stories high," was undertaken at a cost of $3000. Provision was also made for the accumula- tion of a school fund from the proceeds of sales of school land under earlier grants, and $1500 was added to the fund by bequest of Constant Taber. In March, 1827, the town authorized the opening of a school for boys in the upper story. A school on the Lancaster or BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 51 monitorial plan began on May 21, 1827. The school was in charge of a school committee, which had power to appoint schoolmasters and assistants, to regulate the admission and discharge of scholars, to provide books, stationery, etc., and in general to superintend and manage the school. The school was not an absolutely free school. It was provided: "In order that the benefit of the school may be extended not only to the most indigent of our citizens, but to those also whom industry and economy place above want, the following low rates of tuition shall be established, viz.: For the alphabet, spelling and writing on slate, 25 cents per quarter. Contin- uance of ditto, with reading and arithmetical tables, 50 cents per quarter. Continuance of the last, with writing on paper, arithmetic and definitions, $1. The preceding, with grammar, geography and the use of maps and globes, book-keeping, etc., $2^ No additional charge for fuel, books or stationery. "The object of the foregoing scale of prices for tuition is to foster and encourage the praiseworthy feeling of independence m those parents who wish to educate their children at their own expense, but whose limited means are insufficient to pay the customary rates. But it is at the same time expressly pro- vided that no child shall be excluded from the benefits of the school merely from inability to pay for his tuition." There were 337 applicants for admission to the school, 279 pupils were admitted, and 217 were in attendance at the end of the first year. The school committee found that the tuition paid was insufficient to defray the expense of books, slates, etc., a consideration which should, perhaps, entitle this school to rank as a free school, since free schools generally did not provide free books or stationery for their pupils. In Providence pupils could be assessed for fuel until 1833, and were required to furnish their books and ink for writing. The Newport school committee praised the Lancaster system as the best available for a large school. The instructor received $600 a year. A school for girls on a similar plan was opened in the lower story of the schoolhouse in 1828. It is estimated that there were in Newport in 1828, besides the public schools and the Potter school, 42 private schools, which accommodated 1100 pupils. 52 * PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. NEW SHOREHAM AND NORTH KINGSTOWN. New Shoreham made no provision for public schools earlier than 1828. In that year there was one schoolhouse on the island; four schools were kept four months in winter and six months in summer. North Kingstown elected its first school committee in 1828. Of schoolhouses in the town earlier than 1800 no record has been found. The General Assembly in 1806 granted a lottery to build a schoolhouse at the Four Corners in North Kingstown. In that year a schoolhouse, 24x26 feet, was built by Thomas Allen, John Wightman and Thomas G. Allen at Quidnesette. Tradition says that it was furnished with a pulpit and desk, and that it was used for meeting and school purposes until 1837. Another schoolhouse was built in 1808 by William Reynolds, a factory owner ; this, according to the American, was the only schoolhouse in North Kingstown in 1828, but the American probably was in error in this instance. A third schoolhouse was erected near Davisville before 1810 by Ezra and Jeffrey Davis. The Rhode Island Register of 1819 declared that 12 schools were kept in North Kingstown, while the American of 1828 placed the number at six. No town or other records to verify either estimate have been found. The General Assembly chartered Washington Academy at Wickford in 1799. Nicholas and Ann Spink, and John and Hannah Franklin donated four acres of land for a site; Samuel Elam presented $100 cash, and the General Assembly, in 1803, endowed it with a lottery. The stockholders subscribed $2000. The academy was opened in 1802, and had a long, though somewhat precarious existence. It was sometimes called Elam Academy, by which name it was mentioned in the American in 1828. NORTH PROVIDENCE AND PORTSMOUTH. North Providence was set off from Providence in 1765. The earliest school in the town of which a record has been found was BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 53 opened at Pawtucket in 1791 for mill children, under the patronage of Samuel Slater, founder of the cotton spinning industry in America.* Samuel Slater himself was a teacher in a secular Sunday School for mill operatives. What was known as the Red Schoolhouse was erected at Pawtucket in 1793; it was a proprietors' school and received pupils from both sides of the Blackstone river, which at that time marked the boundary line at Pawtucket between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The Pawtucket School Society was chartered in 1795, and the Pawtucket Union Academy in 1801, and again in 1805. The academy, when built, stood on what is now Pleasant street. At the western end of the town, near Centredale and the Fruit Hill section, Nathan Angell, Olney Angell, Benjamin Whipple and Roger Olney built a schoolhouse on Smith street between 1802 and 1805. The General Assembly, in 1808, granted a lottery for an academy in North Providence on the Smithfield pike. There were eight schoolhouses and two academies in North Providence in 1819, and seven schoolhouses, an academy and four other schools in Pawtucket, in all eleven schools, in 1828. Portsmouth had been well supplied with schools before the Revolution; there is little reason to believe that schools were not kept regularly in the town, except in war times. There were seven schools in Portsmouth in 1819, and four school- houses, accommodating four winter and one or two summer schools, in 1828. PROVIDENCE Rhode Island College was the first school in Providence to resume its sessions after the war. Dr. Manning issued a call for a reopening in 1780, and the General Assembly ordered the Quartermaster to remove the public stores from the Brick *The first American-made spinning jenny was constructed in Providence in 1787- the first American cotton factory was started by Samuel Slater in Pawtucket in 1790 ' Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793. 54 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. schoolhouse and put it in order for use by the students of the college, in July, 1780. But just then came the French, who took possession of University Hall as a hospital and barracks. In 1782, after the departure of the French, upon petition of the college, the state repaired University Hall, and the college reopened in October of that year. Providence furnishes an illustration of the development of voluntary co-operation into involuntary co-operation. Interest in schools generally revived in Providence almost immediately after peace was restored. There were three schoolhouses in the town, the Brick schoolhouse on Meeting street, owned in part by the town and in part by a company of proprietors, and Whipple Hall and the school west of the river, both proprietors' schools. Early in 1785 a committee appointed to draw up a plan for school government reported, in words which recognize the public need and state the logical conclusion: "They have endeavored to suggest some general outlines for the regulation of schools, as they are now supported by in- dividuals, but are of the opinion that no effectual method can be devised for the encouragement of learning and the general diffusion of knowledge and virtue among all classes of children and youth, until the town shall think proper to take a matter of so much importance into their own hands, and provide and support a sufficient number of judicious persons for that purpose." In town meeting June 29, 1785, a school committee was appointed "to take the government of the town schoolhouse undei their direction, and to appoint proper masters, and to give their direction for the government of the schools," with power also to "take charge of such other schoolhouses in town as the proprietors may think proper to resign into the care of the town, and also of such funds as may be hereafter provided by the town for the support of schools," and to negotiate with the proprietors for a surrender of their schools into the charge of the town school committee. The purpose of combining existing agencies under public control is clearly indicated. BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 55 Negotiations with the proprietors of Whipple Hall and of the upper floor of the Brick schoolhouse on Meeting street resulted in an agreement satisfactory to the school committee. The town appropriated for school support the money to be recovered from the United States for war damage to the Brick schoolhouse, the rents of the Market house cellar and stalls, and wharfage on the Market house lot The Rev. Enos Hitchcock, a member of the school committee, delivered an eloquent "Discourse on Education" in the First Congregational Church on November 16, 1785, which was printed in pamphlet form by Bennett Wheeler and had a wide circulation.* The school committee endeavored zealously to improve the schools committed to its care. A report of a meeting of this school committee held on on January 16, 1786, was printed as a broadside by John Carter.f The committee examined and approved a "method of teaching the rudiments of arithmetic," and recommended it to the schoolmasters. The discussion of content and method was thorough, and the committee report might serve as an excellent syllabus. While the treatment of arithmetic advised was not modern, the report insisted upon rational methods. The schoolmaster was advised to "illustrate all you say by easy and familiar examples, taking care to make yourself per- fectly intelligible, not merely contenting youiself with having explained what you teach so that an expert mathematician shall be able to comprehend your meaning, but so that the child to whom you speak may understand you." President Manning's Plan. — Almost six years later, June 6, 1791, a petition for the appointment of a sufficient number of schoolmasters to instruct all the children in the town at the public expense was referred to the school committee with direc- tion to report at an adjournment of the meeting to June 13. The committee being unable to report, a second adjournment *One of the pamphlets is in the Rider collection, Brown University. tA fac-simile is in the John Carter Brown Library, Brown University. 56 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. was taken to August 1, 1791, when a report written by President Manning of Rhode Island College, chairman of the school committee, who had died suddenly one week before the meet- ing, was presented. The committee recommended the pur- chase of the proprietors' interests in the Brick schoolhouse and Whipple Hall, and the erection of two new schoolhouses, one on the west side of the river, and the other at the lower end of the east side. A master and assistants were to be provided for each school, as necessary, to provide for the attendance estimated by the committee on the basis of an enumeiation which placed the number of white males under 16 years of age in Providence in 1790 at 1256. The committee asked liberty to resign and recommended that the freemen choose a school committee annually to manage the schools. Inasmuch as the Society of Friends had a convenient schoolroom of their own and chose to educate their children under the tuition of their own members, the committee recommended that the town pay to the Society of Friends a share of the public school money based on the proportion which the scholars in the school of the Friends bore to the whole number educated out of the town's fund, the school committee having the right of inspection and advice. The report was adopted by the town meeting, except as to the resignation of the school committee, which was con- tinued in office without change The town council failed, however, to carry into effect the vote of the town meeting. Writing in 1876,* Rev. E. M. Stone attributed the failure of this plan to vigorous opposition to the provision for public aid to a sectarian or parochial school; but his conclusion seems scarcely warranted by the facts. The plan was endorsed in town meeting in 1791, and essentially the same plan was ap- *Stone was writing contemporaneously with a legislative investigation of the subject of tax exemption affecting parochial schools. One who reads his discussion of the movement of 1791, with full knowledge of the factors affecting public opinion in 1875-6, readily can understand that the reverend gentleman's opinion might be influenced and his paragraph emphasized by his own view of the merits of the controversy of 1S75-6. For Stone's comment see Stockwell's History of Public Education in Rhode Island. For a record of the tax exemption controversy, see Chapter VII, School Finance. BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 57 proved in town meeting in 1795, when it again failed to function. The fundamental error in the plan was the omission of pio- vision for an appropriation, or for a tax for school purposes, or some other provision for adequate support of schools. The votes in town meeting had the weight of resolutions addressed to the town council rather than ordinances. The Brick schoolhouse was repaired in 1794 by agreement with the proprietors. There were, according to Chace's map, five schoolhouses in the town of Providence in 1798: The Brick schoolhouse, on Meeting street, near the Friends' Meet- ing House; Whipple Hall, near the northerly end of Benefit street; Neighbors' school, on the southerly side of George street, close to what is now Magee street; Neighbors' school, on the west side of the river, at the corner of what are now Mathewson and Chapel streets; and John Dexter 's, or Sheldon's school, on the lower east side, near Benefit street. Until almost the end of the eighteenth century agitation for public education in Providence was largely the work of the clergy, the learned professions, the wealthy, and representatives of the rising commercial interest and of the college. Witness the school committee of 1785: Rev. President Manning, Rev. Enos Hitchcock, Rev. Joseph Snow, Rev. Thomas Fitch Oliver, Hon. Jabez Bowen, Esq., Dr. Thomas Truman, Nicholas Brown, Esq., John Innis Clarke, Esq., and Moses Brown. Of this number and associated with them were many men who had become members of the existing school societies Moses Brown lamented, in 1768, the apathy, indifference and opposition of citizens of the poorer classes, which defeated the movement for free schools in that year. Success ultimately crowned the efforts of a combination of the wealthy and educated classes with the more enterprising mechanics of the town. A man and an organization supplied the stimulus. The successful movement was largely created by the man; the organization became his accessory before the fact, and the wealthy and professional classes joined freely in promoting his enterprise. 58 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. Enter John Howland. — Home from the war marched a soldier boy. Not yet 20 years old, he had been with Washington at Trenton. Ragged, but probably not unkempt — his vocation forbade that; almost barefooted, weary and hungry, he trudged along over the country roads from New York, through Con- necticut; for the Continental Congress was in dire straits for money and could not furnish transportation for soldiers dis- charged from the service. His narrative of his journey home arouses patriotism, makes the throat gulp, grips the heart and sends thrills of emotion through every muscle and fibre. Lex- ington, Bunker Hill, Trenton, Saratoga and Yorktown, brilliant as they were, yield place to Valley Forge in glory. The sac- rifices of the American patriots are more inspiring than their military successes. The soldier boy was John Howland, a barber. Born in Newport in 1757, he was apprenticed to a hair-dresser in Provi- dence when 13 years of age. He joined the Continental army when 18. His shop in Providence became, after the war, a resort for the leading townsmen; but he retained always his associations with the mechanics and more humble tradesmen. He rose to be Town Treasurer, member of the school commit- tee for a generation, President of the Rhode Island Historical Society, President and Treasurer of the Providence Institution for Savings. He led the movement which established free public schools in Providence, and he lived to see the system spread throughout the state. This was the man. The organization was the Providence Association of Me- chanics and Manufacturers, founded February 27, 1789, "for the promotion of home manufactures, the cementing of the mechanic industry and for raising a fund to support the dis- tressed." John Howland became an active member of the association and an earnest advocate of free schools. He urged upon the association the importance of public education as a means of improving their condition; he was a frequent con- BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 59 tributor to the public press as well, always advocating schools free for everybody. In 1798 he was appointed a member of a committee of the association to "inquire into the most desirable method for the establishment of free schools." He wrote for the association a petition for free schools, which was presented to the General Assembly in 1799. He drafted the resolutions through which the town of Providence, in an advisory referen- dum, instructed its representatives in the General Assembly to support the petition. He rallied influential members of the General Assembly to his cause, and secured the enactment of a state fiee school law in 1800. Providence Acts. — Thefieemen of Providence, in town meet- ing, on April 16, 1800, appointed James Burrill, Jr., John Corlis, Richard Jackson, Jr., John Carlile, Joel Metcalf, William Richmond and John Howland a committee to draw up and report a plan for carrying the act of 1800 into effect. The com- mittee reported the four-schoolhouse plan, familiar to the town of Providence since 1767 — Whipple Hall and the Brick school- house to be purchased, and two new schoolhouses to be built, one on the west side of the river, and the other on the lower east side. The committee also advised the appointment of four schoolmasters, at an annual salary of $500 each, and so many assistants as should be found necessary; that the town be one district for school management, and that a tax of $4000 be imposed, to be appropriated exclusively to the erection and support of free schools. An attempt to defeat the plan by presenting an amendment raising the amount of the tax to $6000, was frustrated by Howland's acceptance of the amend- ment and the speedy taking of a vote Otherwise than that the amount of the appropriation was increased, the plan was adopted as presented, and the town council prepared to carry it into execution in compliance with the act of the General Assembly. Two new schoolhouses, on what are now Transit street and Claverick street, were ordered built by ordinance of May 15, 60 PUBLIC EDCUATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 1800, "like the new schoolhouse on George street." The dimensions were 50x30 feet, two stories high, but only the lower story was to be finished. Sixty double desks for each school- house weie ordered. Subsequently it was voted to construct the schoolhouses of brick, at a cost of $2097 each. A fifth schoolhouse, of stone, one story high, was elected in 1819, at Summer and Pond streets. The town council called the town school committee into conference October 13, 1800, "for the purpose of advising and consulting with the council relative to said public schools." A sub-committee, consisting of Rev. Enos Hitchcock, President Maxcy of Rhode Island College, Joseph Jenckes and John Howland, was appointed to draft rules and zegulations for the discipline and government of the schools, but this work fell ultimately to John Howland. The regulations provided for keeping school all the year around, six houis a day from October to April, and six and one- half hours a day from April to October. Scholars were " excused from attending on Saturdays, on Christmas Day, on the Fourth of July, on public fasts and thanksgivings, on Tuesday, Wed- nesday and Thursday of Commencement week, on the day succeeding each quarterly visitation, on the last Monday in April, and on the regimental training day in October." The principal part of the instruction was to "consist in teaching spelling, accenting and reading in both prose and verse with propriety and accuracy, and a general knowledge of English grammar and composition; also in writing a good hand accord- ing to the most approved rules, and arithmetic through all the previous rules, and vulgar and decimal fractions, including tret and tare, fellowship, exchange, interest, etc." The scholars were to be graded, but boys and girls were not to be heard in the same class. The town was districted, but only for the purpose of determining the school that children in various parts of the town should attend. BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 61 Additional rules and regulations, adopted October 24, 1800, display an enlightenment in matters of school discipline re- markable for the period. These rules "recommended to the schoolmasters that, as far as practicable, they exclude corporal punishment from the schools, and in particular that they never inflict it on females; that they inculcate upon the scholars the propriety of good behavior during their absence from school; that they consider themselves in the place of parents to the children under their care, and endeavor to convince them by their treatment, that they feel a parental affection for them; that they never make dismissal from school at an earlier hour than usual a reward for attention or diligence, but endeavor to lead the children to consider being at school a privilege, and dismissal from it as a punishment; that they never authorize one scholar to inflict any corporal punishment on another ;* that they endeavor to impress the minds of their pupils with a sense of the being and providence of God, and the obligation they are under to love and reverence Him, their duty to their parents and masters, the beauty and excellence of truth, justice and mutual love, tenderness to brute creatures, the happy tendency of self-government and obedience to the dictates of reason and religion, the observance of the Sabbath as a sacred institution; the duty which they owe to their country, and the necessity of strict obedience to its laws; and that they caution them against the prevailing vices." Free Schools Opened.— The schools were opened October 27, 1800, with 988 pupils, 180 at Whipple Hall, 230 at the Brick schoolhouse, 240 at the Transit street school, and 338 at Clav- erick street. After November 1, 1800, five ushers, at $200 per year, were appointed, two for the west side school, and one each for the other schools. The salaries of ushers were raised to $250 each in 1818. On March 27, 1801, Henrietta Downer and her *A practice of the period. 62 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. sister were permitted to improve the upper story of the Transit street schoolhouse for a school for small children, "provided that they are at the expense of the glass that may be broken in consequence thereof." Lucilla Downer received permission to keep a summer school in the same building in 1804, on the same condition. Ink was ordered supplied at the expense of the town in 1800, but in 1803 the order was countermanded, and thereafter scholars must provide their own ink, or pay the master for it if supplied in school. In February, 1804, the town council which was the body actually in control of the schools, the school committee having merely visitorial and advisory powers, voted : "Whereas many inconveniences arise in the public schools by reason that many of the scholars attend therein without having the necessary books: Decreed, therefore, that the several masters receive no scholars into the same unless they are severally furnished with such books as are studied in the several classes to which such scholar belongs; and furthermore, that all such scholars whose parents or guardians may not be able to furnish them with the necessary books as aforesaid, the parents or guardians of such children are requested to report the same to this council, and the kind and number of books wanted." The clerk of the council was ordered, on February 22, 1804, to purchase "half a dozen of Testaments, half a dozen English readers and half a dozen Alden's Spelling Books, 1st part, for the use of such scholars at the public schools whose parents or guardians are not sufficiently able to provide their children with the same." In 1818 John Dexter, schoolmaster, was authorized to procure books for his indigent scholars. The textbook question was troublesome and continued to be so; the council dealt with it only as occasion required. Scholars were taxed for fuel, the task of collecting this assessment proving irksome for schoolmasters. On February 28, 1804, the scholars in the west side schoolhouse, where two schools were kept, were BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 63 ordered taxed "for wood consumed in the same and for re- placing of all windows that may be broken." The council found it inexpedient to attempt to divide the cost of fuel be- twixt the two schoolrooms, or to investigate and determine responsibility for every pane of glass broken. Such were the taxes assessed on scholars in free schools; only tuition was free. The town council continued to be the controlling adminis- trative body until 1827. No existing record has been found of a meeting of the school committee as a distinct body earlier than October 14, 1813, when sub-committees in charge of the several schools, and a committee on rules and regulations were ap- pointed. The quarterly visitation required by the rules and regulations of 1800 was made by the town council and school committee jointly. In October, 1816, the town council and school committee voted to place the schools in the interim between quarterly visitations under the supervision of clergy- men, one being named for each school building. This was the beginning of professional supervision in Providence; it de- veloped in 1839, into the appointment of the first superintendent of schools in America. The inhabitants of the west side district having protested, in 1821, against the appointment of a school- master, the town council resolved that the school committee's participation in the appointment was illegal, and thereupon itself chose another schoolmaster. The incident was significant, as it clearly indicated the relations of school committee and council, and the custodian of the power to control. The free- men in 1827 surrendered to the council the right to elect the school committee, and the council elected a committee of 36 members, headed by President Wayland of Brown University. This committee immediately assumed actual control of the schools. The long-standing controversy between council and school committee opened at a later date; the details of the struggle are told in the chapter on "School Administration." 64 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. "A committee for the purpose of examining into the qualifi- cations of candidates for preceptorships of the public schools" was appointed by the town council in April, 1813. The privi- lege of selecting ushers, sometimes exercised by the school- masters, was curtailed in 1815 by a resolution "that in future no person be employed as usher in any of the public schools in this town except they have undergone a previous examination of the sub-committee of said respective school, and such com- mittee's approbation obtained; and that in future no person shall presume to act as an usher in any of the public schools in this town without first having been presented by the perceptor and appointed by this council, and that no person acting as usher in any of the public schools, without being so presented and appointed, shall be entitled to pay for his services." Thus the council assumed the appointive power and the power to determine qualifications. In 1819 the council received and ordered a hearing on a petition praying for the dismissal of the master of the west side school. The petitioners were "willing to allow" that "the preceptor is a gentleman of strict and upright moral principles, and that he labors in the duties of his station with the best of motives; yet they are sorry to say the success of his labors has not been commensurate with the wishes and reasonable ex- pectations of the parents and guardians of his scholars." The alleged failure to succeed, in the opinion of the petitioners, was caused by, "First, a deficiency in literary attainments; and, second, a deficiency of wholesome and vigorous government." The master was, in the opinion of the petitioners, "and (what is of itself ruinous to the school), in the opinion of the older scholars, very ignorant of geography, giammar and arithme- tick." Curiously enough, this was the same schoolmaster who in 1820 reported that he had found no current textbook in grammar satisfactory, and that he had distributed to his pupils a grammar of his own composition. The petitioners also com- BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 65 plained that "the government of the school is deficient. . . The government of a numerous school is a task of difficulty. It should be maintained by a systematick and steady per- severance, which will render severe examples unnecessary." Friends of the schoolmaster presented a counter-petition pray- ing for his retention, and the council probably decided to allow it, though there is no record of a vote. A second petition by the opponents of the schoolmaster was presented to the council January 27, 1820, which then and there voted "that the peti- tioners have liberty to withdraw the said petitions." Still another complaint against the same master was dismissed in 1821, but the master then gave notice of his resignation. The council harkened to the demands of the inhabitants of qne of the districts in the instance already related as occurring in 1821, when an appointment by the council and school committee jointly was revoked. The textbooks adopted for the schools in 1800 were Alden's Spelling Book, first and second parts; the Young Ladies' Accidence, a grammar, by Caleb Bingham; the American Preceptor, Morse's Geography Abridged, the Holy Bible, and an arithmetic to be agreed upon by the masters. Daboll's Arithmetic was in general use in 1820. A committee on rules and regulations, in 1820, requested schoolmasters to report their methods of conducting schools, school programmes, text- books used, and suggestions for improving the schools. The masters' reports showed a variation in curricula, school pro- grammes and even in textbooks. One master recommended uniform textbooks; one, that all pupils be required to have books; one, that the fuel tax be abolished. The emphasis placed upon reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling appeared in every report so clearly that there is no mistaking the principal aim of the early public schools. The committee selected a list of textbooks to be used, as follows: Alden's Spelling Book first and second parts; New Testament, American Preceptor' 66 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. Murray's gequel to the English Reader, Murray's Abridge- ment of English Grammar and Daboll's Arithmetic. As a standard for pronunciation John Walker's Critical Pronouncing Dictionary was adopted. The teaching of composition was excluded, but punctuation and the " latest letters" were added to the uniform curriculum. Geography was dropped, but was restored in 1822. The committee condemned the introduction of new studies, thus: "The committee are convinced that much evil has resulted to the schools from the introduction of too many branches of instruction, but more particularly those which are termed the higher branches. These can be taught effectually only by means of a well-digested and an increased expensive system of instruction, requiring a more constant and exclusive attention of preceptor and scholar than is consistent with the original designs of our public schools." There was sound common sense in the committee's comment, so far as it was a criticism of the prevailing system of instruction. No schoolmaster could do justice to an extended curriculum, or even to a very limited curriculum, while the number of pupils under his charge averaged close to 100, allowing one master and one usher for 200 pupils. That was the "original design" and the surviving, prevailing notion of the public school of the period. President Francis Way land, as chairman of the school committee of 1828, recommended introduction of the monitorial system as the most practicable method of instructing classes which must continue to number from 100 to 150 pupils. But the time was to come when the people would demand and support a better type of school, in which there would be ample opportunity for instruction in the higher branches. In justice to President Wayland it should be noted here that he recom- mended the establishment of a high school in Providence in 1828. The first public school under a woman teacher was opened in April, 1827, on the west side, with Miss Carr in charge. It was for children from five to eight years of age. Previously six BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 67 years had been the minimum age for admission to the public schools. Recapitulation. — Recapitulating briefly, the free public schools in Providence were housed in substantial buildings owned by the town, which also furnished free instruction. The total cost for free instruction (after 1818) was $3750 annually, for five schoolmasters and five ushers. Scholars were taxed for fuel and ink, and must furnish their own books and supplies, except when unable to do so; the town was parsimonious in providing free textbooks for poor children. Schools were kept the year around, five days a week, six hours a day Teachers were handicapped by large classes; the monitorial system was not in vogue. Instruction as a rule was confined to reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic and grammar. The schools were admin- istered by the town council. Wanting standards and accurate measurements, it is im- possible to estimate the efficiency of the free public schools of Providence in the first quarter-centmy. A fact that indicates a popular estimate unfavorable to the schools was the absence of growth in attendance commensurate with the increase in population. Three attendance reports are condensed in the following table : 1800. Jan. 27, 1820. Oct. 25, 1820. Total. Girls. Boys. Total. Girls. Boys. Total. First District 180 230 240 338 80 102 60 62 88 80 117 112 104 128 160 219 172 166 216 62 69 36 82 60 59 121 Second District 97 ififi Third District 108 111 76 144 P'ourth District 193 Fifth District 136 Totals 988 392 541 933 309 451 760 The table shows a better attendance record in winter than in summer, the dates being quarterly visitation days at the end of 68 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. quarters. Boys exceeded girls from almost 40 to 50 per cent. The average attendance for the whole year was 830 in 1819, 846 in 1820, 796 in 1821, 845 in 1822, 812 in 1823, 852 in 1824, £06 in 1825, 744 in 1826, 886 in 1827, 1000 in 1828. The popu- lation of Providence was 7614 in 180O, 10,071 in 1810, 11,767 in 1820, 16,836 in 1830. The gain in average attendance in 1828 was due to a reorganization of the school system undertaken in that year. Besides the public schools, there were six academies and 80 or 90 private schools in Providence in 1828. The amount paid for tuition in private schools was estimated at $15,000, or four times the town's annual expenditure for teachers' salaries. RICHMOND, SCITUATE AND SMITHFIELD. Richmond was incorporated in 1747. No schoolhouse is known to have been built in Richmond earlier than 1806. In that year Caleb Barber erected a stone building, which was called Barber's Academy, and Amos Lillibridge, George Perry, David Kenyon and Sprague Kenyon built another schoolhouse. The latter was destroyed by fire in 1825. Other schoolhouses were built as follows: About 1810, by Judge William James; in 1812, Clark's schoolhouse, near Stanton's Corners, and the Kenyon schoolhouse, built by Samuel, Silas, Benedict and Cory Kenyon; in 1826, the Bell schoolhouse. In these houses schools were kept from year to year. The town did nothing to aid public education. The General Assembly in 1825 granted a lottery to build a schoolhouse in Richmond. There were three schoolhouses in Richmond in 1819, and other schools were kept in other buildings in the town. Scituate was set off from Providence in 1730; Foster was taken from Scituate in 1781. The Union Schoolhouse Com- pany of Scituate was chartered in 1808; Scituate and Foster Academy in 1817. There were seven schoolhouses and two libraries in Scituate in 1819, and ten schoolhouses in 1828. BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 69 Smithfield, as incorporated in 1730, comprised the territory now included in Smithfield, North Smithfield, Lincoln, Central Falls and western Woonsocket. Tradition relates the building of schoolhouses at Greenville, in the Angell district, at Allendale and Stillwater earlier than 1776, but no records to verify the dates assigned have been found. Other schoolhouses were built, in the Dexter district, in 1816; by Philip Allen, in 1820; by S. A. Nightingale, in 1820. The last-mentioned schoolhouse was rebuilt in 1827. Smithfield was settled by Friends, who estab- lished a free school for children of their own denomination in 1777. This was the migratory school mentioned in Chapter I. Smithfield was one of the few towns in Rhode Island which undertook to provide free schools under the state law of 1800.* In 1799 Philip Mowry, William Buffum, Joel Aldrich, Elisha Aldrich, Duty Winsor, Edward Medbury and John Jenckes, 3d, were appointed a committee to examine and report on the free school act, then pending before the General Assembly. The general opinion in Smithfield at that time was hostile to the act, because it was believed to be better suited to the coast and compact towns than to rural towns like Smithfield. Neverthe- less, the committee report was favorable, and in 1800 and 1801 Smithfield appropriated $1000 each year for the support of free schools. Again in 1802 an appropriation was made, but at a special town meeting in September, 1802, the vote was re- scinded, as it is chronicled, by votes of the backwoodsmen. Twenty-four district schools had shared in the distribution of the appropriations. Smithfield School Society was chartered in 1808, and Woonsocket Public School in 1810. The Smith- field Female School Society for some years about 1820 main- tained a free school for poor children; in 1819 this school had 47 pupils. The members of the society contributed 50 cents apiece a year for support of the school, which was kept only in ♦The statement in the author's "School Law of R. I.," 1914, p. 9, that Providence was the only town that complied with the act of 1800, needs correction. 70 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. the summer months. Of academies Smithfield had three in early times. From some time subsequent to his marriage, in 1773, for 20 years Elisha Thornton kept an academy at Slaters- ville. In 1808 the General Assembly chartered Smithfield Academy Society, and in 1810 granted it a lottery. The academy continued until 1853. Greene Academy in Smithfield was chartered in 1812, with a lottery. The schoolhouse was surrendered to the district in 1843, and the academy became a district school. Twenty schools were kept in Smithfield in 1819. In 1828 the townspeople supported .two academies and 19 schools; there were then 13 schoolhouses in Smithfield. SOUTH KINGSTOWN, TIVERTON AND WARREN. South Kingstown was incorporated in 1722. Little is known of early schools in the town, which occupied a rich farming country, dotted with scattered plantations. In 1801 the Gen- eral Assembly granted a lottery to build an academy in South Kingstown. Samuel Sewall of Boston, in 1695, conveyed 50 acres of land at Pettaquamscutt in special trust "for the pro- curing, settling and supporting and maintaining a learned, sober and orthodox person, from time to time and at all times forever hereafter, to instruct the children and youth as well of English there settled, or to be settled, as Indians, the aboriginal natives of the place, to read and write the English language and the rules of grammar." In 1781 a schoolhouse was built on Tower Hill, pursuant to the grant, and in 1819 the academy was removed to Kingston. The General Assembly, in 1823, incorporated the academy as Pettaquamscutt Academy, but the name was changed to Kingston Academy in 1826. The academy lost control of the Sewall foundation in 1840; it survived, through a somewhat precarious existence, until 1863. Four schools were kept in South Kingstown in 1819; in 1828 there were, besides the academy, seven schoolhouses, in which schools were kept winter and summer. BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 71 Tiverton was one of the five towns transferred to Rhode Island in 1747. The town appointed a committee in 1799 to consider the proposed free school act, but no action was taken to carry the act into effect. There were 10 schoolhouses in Tiverton in 1828, in which schools were kept regularly, and a few other small schools Warren was part of Swansea, Massachusetts, until 1747, and included Barrington until 1770. Of early schools in what is now Warren, no record has been found. The Liberal School Society of Warren was incorporated in 1791. The General Assembly in 1803 granted a lottery to aid Warren Academy. The town had one schoolhouse and the academy in 1819. The Warren Female Charitable Society furnished relief for the poor and instruction for poor childien. Warren had three quasi- public schools, one private school and an academy in 1828. WARWICK, WESTERLY AND WEST GREENWICH. Warwick citizens obtained three charters for school societies in the ten years from 1794 to 1804. These were the Warwick North School Society, incorporated in 1794; the Warwick West School Society, 1803, and the Warwick Central School Society, 1804. A schoolhouse was built in 1798 one mile east from what is now Crompton on land given by Judge Stephen Arnold; this schoolhouse was removed in 1828 across the road to land owned by Waterman Clapp. It housed a tuition school, which served the village of Crompton and the surrounding country. The first teacher was James Pollard, an Englishman. The school was continued for a few years after 1828, and the house was then altered into a dwelling. It was blown down about 1865. Other schools were kept in rooms at various places in Crompton after 1810, but there was no other building in Crompton devoted exclusively to school purposes until 1845. A schoolhouse was built at Centreville in 1803, though schools had been kept in the village previously. This was the school- 72 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. house of the Warwick West School Society. Early teachers were Joseph B. Pettis, Samuel Greene, Sabin Lewis and Oliver Johnson. Miss Amey Gorton taught school in Phenix as early as 1818, but no school building was constructed there earlier than 1827, when the Lippitt and Phenix Sabbath School Society was chartered and built a schoolhouse. Schools were kept in a store in Lippitt some time previous. The Phenix schoolhouse was sold to the school district in 1847. All these schools and schoolhouses were in the western section of Warwick, in or close to the mill villages along the banks of the Pawtuxet river. The General Assembly, in 1823, granted a lottery to inhabitants of Old Warwick to erect houses of worship and for the education of youth. There were seven schoolhouses in Warwick in 1828; ten winter schools were kept by men, and six summer schools by women. Westerly school history earlier than 1828 is largely a matter of tradition. Some time about 1800 what was known as the Red schoolhouse was erected, though there are stories of school- masters, particularly a Mr. Slattery, at an earlier period. Pawcatuck Academy was chartered in 1800, and Union Academy in 1816. In 1828, besides the two academies, Westerly had six schoolhouses, in which schools were kept regularly the year around. West Greenwich had two schoolhouses in 1828. Both had been built by subscription. Eleven schools were kept three months in the winter, and three of the eleven nearly the year around. TWO SURVEYS. The General Assembly, in 1821, appointed a committee to inquire into the state of education in the several towns of the state, with instructions to report at the October session The committee did not report. Two attempts to collect school statistics for the state, systematically, were made before 1830, BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 73 one in 1819 by the Rhode Island Register, and the other in 1828 by the Rhode Island American and Gazette. Informa- tion for the statistics of 1819 was obtained by inquiries directed to the town clerks; several failed to make returns, and the list of towns was, therefore, incomplete. The second estimate was based upon " statements gathered from the Representatives of the towns named,* the general correctness of which may be relied upon, though the statement is not as full as could be wished," according to the American and Gazette. The news- paper subsequently corrected its first statement with reference to Scituate The information collected by the Register and by the Ameri- can and Gazette was not presented in tabular form. In the Register the school statistics for each town reporting were printed in a paragraph following a directory of the town's officers. The American and Gazette devoted a paragraph to each town, including with school statistics the town's popula- tion according to the census of 1820. Both surveys are pre- sented here, condensed in the form of a table. The census figures for 1820 are placed with the statistics for 1819, and the census figures for 1830 have been added for purposes of com- parison, as more nearly representing conditions in 1828 than the older census figures. The blanks under 1819 indicate that no information was obtained by the Register rather than that there were no schools. In both , surveys figures that were obviously incorrect have been corrected, but the departures from the original figures, and figures supplied from other sources for the survey of 1819, are indicated by bold type. Under 1820, whole-year schools are carried exclusively in* that column; that is to say, a whole-year school is not listed also as a summer and as a winter school. The table, which appears upon page 75, shows the number of schools kept and academies in the several towns in 1819, and *Presumably attending the General Assembly. 74 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. the population in 1820; the number of schoolhouses, whole- year schools, winter schools, summer schools, the total number of schools and the number of academies in each town in 1828, and the population in 1830. The figures for 1819, with few exceptions, are from the Rhode Island Register; those for 1828 are from the American and Gazette. Unfortunately the figures in the two surveys are not based upon exactly similar sources of information, and only the most general comparisons are warranted. These facts stand out clearly, however : No town reporting in 1819 was without schools. No Rhode Island town was without schools in 1828. There were 193 schoolhouses in the state in 1828. The number of schools kept in 1828, 294, exceeded the number kept in 1819 by 100, a gain of more than 50 per cent. Popu- lation in approximately the same period increased only 16 per cent. Education was a " lively experiment" in Rhode Island. BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 75 RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL STATISTICS, 1819 AND 1828. Barrington Bristol Burrillville . . : . . . Charlestown. . . . Coventry Cranston Cumberland East Greenwich. . Exeter 2 Foster Glocester Hopkinton Jamestown Johnston 2 Little Compton . 2 Middletown 5 3 Newport .... New Shoreham . . . 4 North Kingstown . . i 12 5 North Providence . Portsmouth 6 Providence 14 5 Richmond 3 Scituate Smithfield 20 South Kingstown . . 4 Tiverton 2 11 12 6 2-3 7 Warren Warwick Westerly West Greenwich . 634 3,197 2,164 1,160 3,139 2,227 2,653 1,519 2,581 2,900 2,504 1,821 448 1,542 1,580 949 7,391 955 3,007 2,420 1,645 11,767 1,423 2,834 4,678 3,723 2,875 1,806 3,643 1,972 1,927 7 Totals | 192 13 83.059 193 167 9S 19 294 16 97,210 3 3 11 1 10 11 13 5 3 15 11 9 3 5 8 5 2 1 1 7 4 5 2 10 1! 7 10 4 5 6 2 Schools, 1S28. 1 16 13 ';; 3 1 8 5 2 4 3 11 4 8 2 o o o :; "61 1 1 3 12 12 9 21 16 13 10 3 15 15 9 3 9 8 5 2 4 6 11 4 8 2 10 17 7 10 17 Ki 6 11 612 3.034 2,196 1,284 3,851 2,652 3,657 1,591 1,383 2,672 2,521 1,777 415 2,115 1,378 915 8,010 1,185 3,036 3,503 1,727 16,836 1,363 3,993 6,857 3,663 2,905 1,800 5,529 1,915 1,817 1 — The sixteen schools kept in Cranston in 1828 were not kept regularly. '—Whole-year schools in Foster, Little Compton, Middletown and Portsmouth were not kept regularly in summer. 3 — The Newport report covers only public schools. The American omitted the Potter school. 4 — The report for North Kingstown, 1828, probably is wrong. ■ — Not full time schools. "—Only public schools and academies are listed in 182S. The estimate of 9 private schools in 1819 is too small; it included probably only well-organized schools occupying buildings of their own. In 1821 there were 44 schools in Providence kept by women. In 1828 there were 80 or 90 private schools in Providence. The American estimated .$15,000 as the amount paid for private tuition. '—The totals for 1828 include 10 Scituate schools not classified. 76 PUBLLC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. Commenting on its survey, the American and Gazette of January 18, 1828, said: "We refer to an article on the outer page showing the present state of education in Rhode Island. Probably there are some errors in it, though great pains have been taken in making it as accurate as possible. For .instance, we are informed that there are ten, instead of five, schoolhouses in the town of Scituate. Should there be any other similar errors we should be much obliged to the Representatives, or anyone who would point them out. A statement like this is worth pre- serving, and would be a curious document if published 20 years hence, when we shall have free schools in every district in the state. We have another reason for publishing this statement — to show our sister states that there is by no means an indiffer- ence to the subject of education in this state. The greatest deficit is the want of a regular, well-digested system, an exten- sion of the present means of education, and an equalization of its burdens." The information is even more impressive nearly 90 years after it was first printed than after the lapse of only a generation. It demonstrates beyond a doubt that Rhode Island was not indifferent to education in 1828. The survey for 1819 shows that the progress recorded in 1828 was not a sudden growth. Providence and Newport had established free public schools before 1828. Bristol supported public schools by an annual appropriation of money derived in part from the income of school property held in trust, and in part from taxes levied in the form of license fees. In Portsmouth and Middletown school buildings occupied town land, and schools were supported in part from the income of town land. Smithfield had main- tained free schools for a brief period. Education was not entirely a private concern in other towns. Almost every town in the state had two or more schoolhouses erected by companies of proprietors and supported by subscription and tuition. These schools scarcely could be, and were not, generally, classed BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 77 as private schools. For the most part they were community schools, in the sense that the inhabitants of a village or district co-operated to supply a common school for their children. The great movement for exclusively public support of schools, for equalization of the burden of school support — the movement that finally placed the burden upon taxable wealth, assessed whether the taxpayer had children or not, or whether his children attended public or private schools — in short the move- ment that made education a public instead of a private under- taking and concern, was well underway in 1828. In that year the state became an active participant in the movement for public support of education. THE STATE AND EDUCATION. Previous to 1800 the state's assistance to education was con- fined to exempting school property from taxation, to granting charters of incorporation for institutions of learning and to granting lotteries to assist in building 01 maintenance. The Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, in 1799, presented its petition to the General Assembly, asking for the establishment by law of free schools throughout the commonwealth. The petition, drawn, as already related, by John Howland, declared that for want of public attention and encouragement in providing schools an essential part of the social duty of the state had been neglected — thus reaching the most liberal modern conception of the state 's relation to educa- tion. Let John Howland speak for himself: A Petition for Free Schools. — "To the Honorable General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Planta- tions, to be holden at Greenwich, on the last Monday of Feb- ruaiy, A. D. 1799: "The Memorial and Petition of the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers respectfully presents — "That the means of education which are enjoyed in this state are very inadequate to a purpose so highly important. 78 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. "That numbers of the rising generation whom nature has liberally endowed, are suffered to grow up in ignorance, when a common education would qualify them to act their parts in life with advantage to the public and reputation to themselves. "That in consequence of there being no legal provision for the establishment of schools, and for want of public attention and encouragement, this so essential part of our social duty is left to the partial patronage of individuals, whose cares do not extend beyond the limits of their own families, while numbers in every part of the state are deprived of a privilege which it is the common right of every child to enjoy. "That when to that respect which as individuals we feel ourselves bound to render to the representatives of the people we add our public declaration of gratitude for the privilege we enjoy as a corporate body, we at the same time solicit this Honorable Assembly to make legal provision for the establish- ment of free schools sufficient to educate all the children in the several towns throughout the state; with great confidence we bring this, our earnest solicitation before this Honorable Assem- bly, from the interest we feel in the public welfare and from the consideration that our society is composed of members not originally of any one particular town, but assembled mostly in our early years from almost every town in the state. "That we feel as individuals the want of that education which we now ask to be bestowed on those who are to succeed us in life, and which is so essential in directing its common concerns. That we feel a still greater degree of confidence from the con- sideration that while we pray this Honorable Assembly to estab- lish free schools, we are at the same time advocating the cause of the great majority of children throughout the state, and in particular of those who are poor and destitute — the son of the widow and the child of distress. "Trusting that our occupations as mechanics and manu- facturers ought not to prevent us from adding to these reasons an argument which cannot fail to operate on those to whom is committed the guardianship of the public welfare, and that is, liberty and security under a republican form of government depend on a general diffusion of knowledge among the people. "In confiding this petition and the reasons which have dictated it to the wisdom of the Legislature we assure ourselves that their decision will be such as will reflect on this Honorable General Assembly the praise and the gratitude, not only of the youth of the present generation, but of thousands the date of whose existence has not commenced. "Respectfully submitted by John Howland, Joel Metcalf, William Richmond, Peter Grinnell, Richard Anthony, Grindall Reynolds, Samuel Thurber, Jr., and Nathan Foster, committee." BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 79 A Favorable Report. — The petition was received and referred to a committee, which reported June 7, 1799, in part as follows: "The committee to whom was referred the memorial of the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, on the expediency of making provision by law for the support of free schools, respectfully report: That they have given to the subject the attention and consideration which its importance so justly demanded, and have prepared a bill which, with such alterations and amendments as the wisdom of the General Assembly may suggest, they recommend to have passed into a law. > "Your committee would beg leave to observe that no institu- tions of the kind proposed existing at present in the state, and the want of local divisions or parishes, of school committees and a system of school taxation, and especially superintend- ence, render the establishment more difficult than it may at first appear, and offer obstacles to the complete execution of it in the first trial which the committee hope may be overcome by time and experience. They have no doubt that actual experi- ment will show many defects in the act now recommended, but they believe it will at the same time suggest the proper reme- dies. In the operation of a novel and extensive system diffi- culties will arise which, though they may be reasonably appre- hended, cannot at present be distinctly pointed out, and which the wisdom of the General Assembly will, from time to time, discover and remove. . . . "The encouragement which the General Assembly can give to the wide diffusion of the means of education will, in the opinion of the committee, not only produce its proper and immediate consequence, but by exciting a spirit of exertion and liberality in the several towns and school districts, would exceed all present calculations in the important effect of informing, improving and moralizing the people. "The attention which the subject of education has lately awakened in the people, and the paternal care of the General Assembly to gratify the wishes and remove the grievances of their constituents, excite in the committee a pleasing expecta- tion that the period is not distant when this state may rival in knowledge and morals the most refined and enlightened in the nation." The report was signed by Moses Lippitt, Richard Jackson and James Burrill. With the report of the committee was a draft of a free school act drawn by James Burrill. Certain sections of the act follow: 80 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. The Act of 1800. — "Whereas the unexampled prosperity, unanimity and liberty for the enjoyment of which this nation is eminently distinguished among the nations of the earth are to be ascribed, next to the blessing of God, to the general diffusion of knowledge and information among the people, whereby they have been enabled to discern their true interests, to distinguish truth from error, to place their confidence in the true friends of the country, and to detect the falsehoods and misrepresentations of factious and crafty pretenders to patriot- ism, and this General Assembly being desirous to secure the continuance of the blessings aforesaid, and moreover to con- tribute to the greater equality of the people by the common and joint instruction and education of the whole — "Be it enacted by the General Assembly and the authority thereof, and it is hereby enacted: That each and every town shall annually cause to be established and kept, at the expense of such town, one or mere free schools for the instruction of all the white inhabitants of said town between the ages of six and twenty years in reading, writing and common arithmetic, who may stand in need of said instruction and apply therefor. "2. And be it further Enacted: That it shall be the duty of the town council of every town to divide said town into so many school districts as they shall judge necessary and con- venient, provided no town shall be divided into more than four such districts. "3. And be it further Enacted: That each of the towns of Newport and Providence shall cause to be established and kept so many free schools and for such term as shall be equivalent to keep three schools eight months each; . . . South Kings- town, Glocester and Smithfield, three schools six months each; . . . Portsmouth, Tiverton, Little Compton, Scituate, Cum- berland, Cranston, Johnston, Foster, Westerly, North Kings- town, Charlestown, Exeter, Richmond, Hopkinton, Bristol, Warwick, East Greenwich, West Greenwich and Coventry, three schools four months each; . . Middletown, Johns- ton, New Shoreham, North Providence, Warren and Barrington, one school four months." Section 4 provided for remission to towns complying with the act of twenty per cent, of taxes paid by the town to the state; section 5, that money so remitted should be used exclusively for school support; section 6, for forfeiture by neglect to keep schools; section 7, for annual reports to the General Assembly. Section 8 permitted any school district at a meeting of freemen called for the purpose, seven freemen being a quorum, to assess a tax on ratable estates in the district for building, repairing or improving a schoolhouse or for extending the school term. BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 81 Section 9 required teachers to be citizens of the United States,* certificated by town councils. Section 10 made the town council in each town a school committee. In the House of Representatives, June 12, 1799, it was "voted and resolved that 500 copies of the report of the com- mittee on the expediency of establishing free schools, and of the bill for that purpose by them reported, be printed, and a copy of the same be delivered to each member of this House and of the Senate, and another copy transmitted by the members to the several town clerks, and that further consideration of the subject be referred to the next session." The Senate concurred June 14, 1799. The Act Passed and Repealed. — The House of Representatives passed the bill at the October session, 1799, but the. Senate postponed consideration to the next February session, when concurrence was unanimous. Providence immediately organ- ized its first free schools under the act. Smithfield complied with the act for two years. Middletown claimed tax remission on account of a free school. Bristol probably could have qualified for tax remission. Otherwise the towns did not comply with the law; several protested. The act was repealed in 1803. Providence continued the free schools established under the act, in spite of its repeal. The almost complete failure of the act of 1800 might have disheartened its proponents had they not accomplished one of their primary purposes — the establishment of free schools in Providence after 33 years of agitation. As it was, the vigorous opposition developed in the towns proved decisively that the movement for statewide public schools was premature. The General Assembly continued to charter academies and school societies, and to grant lotteries for educational purposes ; citizens of the towns continued to organize, to build school- houses and subscribe for the maintenance of teachers. Interest *The State Board of Education in 1917 added to the requirements for certification an oath or pledge of loyalty to the state and nation. 82 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. in education produced a wholesome growth of opportunitites for schooling. Governor Knight's Message. — Governor Nehemiah R. Knight, in a message to the General Assembly in October, 1818, rec- ommended provision of public schools for youth employed in factories, thus : "While the general Government protects and encourages agriculture, commerce and manufactures, the legislatures of the several states are the immediate guardians of the public morals and education; to them is more particularly entrusted the duty of providing for the cultivating and enlightening of the mind, a trust so essential in all good societies and especially so in a government where all power is vested in the people, and all the acts of the public functionaries are weighed and tested by public opinion. It is true that many persons have done much by establishing Sunday schools* in the neighborhood of the manufacturing villages of the state; but when we reflect how small a portion of time is appropriated to education by Sunday schools alone, we must be sensible that the acquirements of the youth who labor in these factories must be extremely limited. And it is a lamentable truth that too many of the rising genera- tion who are obliged to labor in those works of almost un- ceasing application and industry, are growing up without an opportunity of obtaining that education which is necessary for their personal welfare, as well as the welfare of the whole com- munity. "I am well assured that a plan can be devised and carried into effect by the aid of the Legislature, and without any expense to the state, that shall educate them in a manner that will make them not only useful to their country, but also to themselves, and will enable Ithem, not only to exercise the privileges of freemen, but be capable of estimating these blessings." A committee appointed to consider the recommendation reported that it was inexpedient to establish public schools for persons employed in manufacturing establishments. | A Committee That Did Not Report. — The General Assembly, on June 21, 1821, "voted and resolved that C. Ellery Robbins, Philip Allen, Nathaniel Bullock, Nathan F. Dixon and Charles Brayton, Esquires, be a committee to inquire into the state *Early Rhode Island Sunday schools were devoted to secular education. BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 83 of education in the several towns of the state, and that they make their report to this General Assembly at the ensuing October session. "Voted and resolved that the town clerks of the several towns be, and they are hereby, directed to make a correct return to the chairman of said committee of the number of schools in their respective towns, and the branches of learning taught therein; of the number of months of the year in which the schools are opened, the average expense of tuition for said schools, and the number of pupils attending the same, and they are further hereby directed to furnish to the chairman of said committee a correct statement of the number and condition of the several schoolhouses in their respective towns, specifying at whose ex- pense they were built and at whose charge they are kept up, and generally such other information with respect to the public and private schools in the state as the committee may think fit to require. . . ." The committee did not report. Exactly three years after the appointment of this committee, a constitutional convention, which met at Newport, adopted a proposed constitution, which the freemen did not ratify. The proposed constitution con- tained an article entitled "Education," which provided foi the accumulation of a permanent school fund, the income of which, when sufficient, was to be applied to the support of free schools in every town in the state. Four j^ears later the General Assembly enacted a general school law, providing an appropriation of $5000 to and the accumulation of a permanent school fund, and the distribution of $10,000 annually for the support of public schools in the several towns. The story of its enactment and the changes which it wrought in Pthode Island schools belongs in another chapter. CHAPTER III. ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SCHOOL SYSTEM. The public press of Rhode Island has generally advocated schools and the extension of school facilities. Educational leaders and educational reformers usually have had the hearty support of editors. If, indeed, the finger of editorial criticism has pointed sometimes at schoolmen and school methods and school conditions, the purpose has been, almost without excep- tion, to stimulate improvement by change; such criticism is wholesome and benign. Cause and effect are difficult to unravel, so closely are they in- terwoven ; who shall determine whether a newspaper has created public opinion, or has merely voiced public sentiment? The answer of philosophy is an attempt to reconcile the notion of a free idea with determinism, in the doctrine of pragmatism applied to social psychology. The newspaper is the voice of the group; when it fails to speak truly the opinion and feeling of the group, it wants adaptation and is doomed to failure. The test of truth-speaking lies in long-time perspective and accom- plishment; for newspapers sometimes weather temporary storms aroused by unpropitious utterances. There was no serious opposition to the leadership assumed by the press of Rhode Island in 1827 and 1828. Consequently it is logical to conclude that the newspapers, which unanimously advocated state support of education, spoke for the people of Rhode Island. And this it is possible to do without detracting in any way from the credit due the Rhode Island American and ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 85 Gazette and its able editor, B. F. Hallett, for their part in fostering the movement which resulted in the general school legislation of 1828. Reviewing earlier events briefly: A free school law enacted in 1800 was repealed in 1803. A committee of the General Assembly in 1818 reported as inexpedient Governor Knight's proposition to establish free schools for youth employed in factories. A committee of the General Assembly, appointed in 1821 to collect school statistics, failed to report. A constitution that provided for a permanent school fund was rejected by the freemen in 1824. The General Assembly, in 1825, referred a proposed "act for the establishment of lotteries for the purpose of raising a fund for the support of free schools" to the next session. The American and Gazette printed on October 16, 1827, and the Microcosm on October 19, 1827, repeated, an editorial which declared : "No man who knows anything about the subject will deny that there are a less number of schools and vastly a less number of children engaged at school in this state than within the same extent and among an equal number of population in any state in New England. The consequence must be, unless it can be shown that learning is intuitive, that the youth of Rhode Island are not so well educated as the children in any other state, where free schools are established. . . ." The editor modified his view subsequently. On January 18, 1828, he wrote: "Theie is a much larger number of school- houses erected than has been generally supposed, and but few additional ones will be required." In the interval he had come into possession of the facts concerning Rhode Island schools— facts neglected by those who have written the history of education in Rhode Island apologetically. " It would be a fine opportunity, calmly and seriously, to take up the subject of free schools, and provide a fund from lottery patronage and other taxes or surplus revenue. There is on the 86 PUBLJC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. docket no business of great importance," said the American and Gazette on October 20, 1827. A bill to raise a fund for public schools by lottery was included in the unfinished business at the October session, 1827. On October 30, 1827, Representatives Tillinghast of Providence, Lapham of Burrillville and Waterman of South Kingstown presented memorials urging free schools. These were referred to a committee, consisting of Representatives Tillinghast of Providence, Trevett of Newport, Howe of Bristol, Waterman of Warwick and Dixon of Westerly. Other memorials had been received from Smithfield. Cumberland, Johnston and East Greenwich. Representative Waterman of Warwick presented a set of resolutions, as follows : "Resolved, That it is highly expedient that a fund be created and established, to be denominated the school fund. "Resolved, That it is expedient that the sum of dollars be appropriated out of the money now in the treasury to the object of the foregoing resolution. "Resolved, That a committee be appointed, together with such as the Honorable Senate shall appoint, for the purpose of maturing and representing to each of the houses of the Assembly an act embodying the object of the foregoing." The resolutions, which, if adopted, would have created a school fund, but, incidentally, would have defeated the movement for the establishment of free schools immediately, were tabled. Waterman was leader of the opposition to free schools; yet so strong was public sentiment he dared not venture openly to oppose what he probably realized was inevitable. First Draft of the Act of 1828. — Representative Tillinghast, on Thursday, November 1, 1827, reported from committee a bill, which was read the first time. It provided that all money accruing to the state from lottery taxes and auction fees should be paid to the several towns at the ratio of taxation in 1824 — not to exceed a blank sum in any year — the towns receiving their ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 87 proportion first erecting, at their Own expense, or otherwise pro- viding schoolhouses, not less than two in each town, and raising in such way as they thought proper an annual sum equal (or such proportion as may be determined when the act passes) to the sum received out of the general treasury, to be put in the hands of a free school committee of not less than seven nor more than twenty-one, who should have power to draw the town's portion from the state treasury, and to provide teachers and generally to superintend the schools in their respective towns. Towns neglecting to provide schools forfeited any right to participation in the distribution of state money, and money thus forfeited was to be added to the sum to be dis- tributed by the state in the year following. The proposed act also appropriated a blank sum for a permanent school fund, to which was to be added all revenue from lotteries and auctions in excess of the sum annually distributed to the towns for school support. This bill was the first draft of the act of 1828; it made no further progress until the January session, 1828. THE FIGHT FOR FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. The American and Gazette in 1828, took up the fight for free schools in earnest. January 4, it said: "There is one subject of much more importance to Rhode Island than the election of a President, and that is the estab- lishment of free schools. To be sure, those who would favor a military depotism would not be anxious to disseminate educa- tion, but this is a question involving the dearest interest of present and future generations, and all others ought to be made to yield to it." Anticipating the opening of the January session of the Gen- eral Assembly, the same newspaper, on January 11, said: "Among all the subjects which will come before them (the General Assembly) the bill for establishing free schools stands pre-eminent. This deserves an early and deliberate considera- tion. Happily no real difference of opinion exists as to the expediency of establishing free schools, and we do not believe 88 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. that if the question were taken by ayes and noes, a single mem- ber of the House would answer in the negative. There are three or four members in the Senate we should anticipate a negative vote from, in accordance with their uniform objection to every measure of public opinion and improvement. The only question that will produce difference of opinion is the mode of establishing schools, the ways and means by which they are to be supported — whether it shall depend upon a somewhat precarious revenue derived from lotteries, etc., or whether to this sum shall be added an equal or proportional amount raised by the several towns in such manner as they may think proper. As to the plan proposed by Mr. Waterman,* the benefits of which are to be experienced by the children of the great- grandchildren of the present generation, no man who is a father can listen to it a moment. We do not believe in the maxim 'Let posterity take care of itself/ but it surely is a correct principle that we should first provide for the present rising generation. Let free schools be established to the extent our present means will allow, and future generations will provide for preserving and enlarging the system. There is no instance in which a system of free schools, once fairly established, has been abandoned. It can, moreover, be plainly shown that the voluntary tax to be raised by each of the towns to entitle them to an equal or larger sum from the treasury, will not exceed the amount they already pay for the schools kept within their limits. Under the contemplated bill they will, therefore, receive double the benefits they now experience, at no greater expense than they already voluntarily incur for the education of their children." The Movement in 1828 Co-operative. — One who reads the editorial in the American and Gazette without an understanding of the conditions actually existing in Rhode Island at the period incurs the danger of serious misunderstanding. It may fairly be inferred from the trend of the editorial that the proposed law imposed upon the towns of the state no greater burden than they had already taken for education. As a matter of fact, only two towns, Newport and Providence, were supporting free public schools. With respect to all other towns the editorial must be read as referring, when it speaks of "the amount which they already pay for the schools kept within their limits," to schools maintained privately, by school societies and other ♦The school fund proposition of October, 1827. ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 89 voluntary co-operative agencies. There can be no question or doubt that the state's first definite venture with provision for public schools aimed to unite quasi-public agencies and bring them as far as possible under public control. All that was necessary to comply with the terms of the act and earn the right to participate in the distribution of state money was the transfer of school control from private agencies to the town school committee. Property rights and titles might remain unaffected. The Debate in 1828. — The Tillinghast bill was read a second time January 15, and the House of Representatives made it a special order for Thursday, January 17. An animated debate continued through morning and afternoon sessions until after 5 o'clock on Thursday. Representative Waterman of Warwick again urged a substitute bill providing for the accumulation of a school fund, subject to action by a future General Assembly. He was supported by Representatives Potter, Hazard and Bull. Representatives Tillinghast, Dixon, Simmons, Allen and Bicknell opposed the Waterman proposition. It was rejected, only nine members voting for it. By this test vote the sup- porters of immediate action proved their strength. The House then proceeded to consider the proposed act by sections. The basis of apportionment was changed from taxable wealth, or taxes paid, as*in the act of 1800, to population under sixteen. The amount to be appropriated by the state annually was fixed at $10,000. Unfortunately the section re- quiring towns to build or provide schoolhouses and to supple- ment state support by town taxation failed; instead, a sub- stituted section permitted towns to raise by taxation not ex- ceeding twice the amount paid by the state, but established no minimum requirement. Expediency, perhaps, made discretion the better choice; the friends of the free school movement realized that the act was least likely to fail if it imposed no burden immediately and directly upon town taxpayers. Close- 90 PUBLIC. EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. fisted ratepayers could interpose no valid objection to an improvement which cost them nothing. The amended bill was then sent back for revision to the committee, to which Repre- sentatives Bull and Bicknell were added. Moulding Public Opinion. — The American and Gazette of January 18 published a communication signed "Hopkins," which urged immediate action and opposed the Waterman plan for a school fund for five reasons: 1. Because it does not provide for the present generation. 2. Because the money from lotteries (paid by poor people, which it is proposed to apply to school support) is in hand and should be distributed. 3. Because it is impossible to tell what a General Assembly of the future may do with the money when the school fund has accum- ulated and is providing a handsome revenue. 4. Because it is dangerous to wait until $300,000 shall be accumulated. 5. Because five dollars in a mental savings bank is worth one hundred dollars in silver. The third reason was almost pro- phetic of the future history of the permanent school fund. "Hopkins" advocated election of a General Assembly that would provide schools, if the Legislature then in session failed to act. He felt certain of public opinion. On the same day, January 18, the American and Gazette printed a survey of school conditions in the state,* the data having been solicited from Representatives of the towns. Com- menting on the survey, the newspaper said, in words which emphasize the desirability of establishing public control over educational agencies : "From an examination of the above statement, it will be seen that there is a much larger number of schoolhouses erected than has been generally supposed, and but few additional ones will be required. It is obvious, too, that the expense to all the towns to keep up the schools they now maintain is a much greater sum than they will be required to assess in order to entitle them to their proportion of any money that may be appropriated out *The survey is tabularized in the preceding chapter. ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 91 of the treasury, thus giving them, at a less expense than the inhabitants of these towns now voluntarily incur, nearly double the advantages of education they are now receiving. "The total number of schoolhouses located in all the towns in the state (exclusive of Providence and Newport) are 181, and 10 academies. The number of winter schools averaging at least three months a year, maintained by the inhabitants of these towns, is 262. A winter school for three months must cost at least $100, which gives $262,000, the sum now annually paid by the inhabitants of the towns above alluded to, for the education of their children, besides the expense of keeping female* schools in summer. If the blank in the bill now before the General Assembly is filled with $10,000, the proportion which those towns will receive from that sum will so much diminish their expense of education; or if they add to it what they now pay within themselves, will greatly extend the means of in- struction among their children, without one cent additional burden, the only effect being to equalize the payment of the sums now voluntarily raised in the several towns." The American and Gazette published a verbatim report of the debate on the school bill, written by its editor, B. F. Hallett. The newspaper advocated the taking of all votes by ayes and noes, so that each member of the General Assembly might be put on record for the information of his constituents. When the roll was called in the House of Representatives on . the final division, only Almy of Little Compton and Gray of Tiverton voted no. Smith of Scituate was excused from voting. Arnold, Alien, Bailey, Bull, Potter, Peckham, Simmons, Stone and Waterman were "absent" when the roll was called. The Senate concurred unanimously, after making a few amend- ments. The act adopted was a compromise measure, but only in the sense that it incorporated provisions both for a per- manent school fund and for free schools immediately. The friends of free schools had won a decisive victory. THE SCHOOL ACT OF 1828. The school act of 1828 provided (section 1) that all money paid into the general treasury by managers of lotteries or their ♦Female schools" in 1828 meant schools taught by women; not schools for women or girls . 92 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND- agents, and also all money accruing to the state from auction duties, should be set apart and paid over to the several towns, in proportion to their respective population under 16 years of age, " to be by said towns appropriated to and for the exclusive purpose of keeping public schools and paying expenses thereof, the sum, however, hereby appropriated to be paid over in any one year not to exceed $10,000." Sec. 2. That each town shall be and is hereby empowered to raise so much money by tax in each year as a majority of the freemen in town meeting shall judge proper to be appropriated to the purpose of public schools, not exceeding, in any one year, double the amount to be in that year received by such town out of the general treasmy by the provisions of this act; provided that notice be inserted in the warrant issued for calling the town meeting at which such tax shall be laid that such tax will be acted upon at such town meeting. Sec. 3. That at the annual town meeting holden for the choice of town officers, each and every town in the state shall, after passing of this act, appoint a committee, which shall be called the school committee, and shall consist of not less than five nor more than twenty-one persons, resident inhabitants of each of said towns, to act without compensation. . . . Sec. 4. That the school committee of each town shall have power to make all necessary rules and regulations which they may deem expedient, for the good government of the public schools in their respective towns; shall appoint all school- masters and schoolmistresses to be employed in teaching the schools, taking care that such masters and mistresses are qualified for the task; shall have power to dismiss a schoolmaster or schoolmistress in case of inability or mismanagement; shall determine upon the places where the schools shall be located in the respective school districts in the towns. . . . Sec. 5 required the General Treasurer to keep a separate account of money paid into the treasury by lottery managers and auctioneers and to report annually to the General Assem- bly. Sec. 6 required town councils to certify annually that the money received the previous year had been faithfully applied to the objects contemplated by the act, as a condition precedent to sharing in current and subsequent apportion- ments. Sec. 7 fixed June 1 as the date for the annual appor- tionment. Sec. 8 appropriated $5000 for a permanent school fund, to which should be added annually the excess of receipts from lottery managers and auctioneers and the income of the fund itself over $10,000. ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 93 Sec. 9. That whenever in any year the money paid into the treasury from the sources provided in this act shall fall short of said sum of $10,000, the deficiency for said year shall be made good from any money in the treasury not otherwise appro- priated. The act of 1828 thus provided an unfailing annual appro- priation of $10,000 for support of public schools, to be main- tained by the towns, and placed the control of town public schools in the hands of school committees to be chosen by the freemen in town meeting. The act of 1828 differed from the act of 1800 in eight essentials : 1. The amount appropriated was fixed at $10,000, whereas the amount to be distributed under the earlier act might fluctuate under, but never could exceed $6000. 2. The ratio of apportionment was based approximately upon school population, instead of upon ratable wealth. 3. The act imposed no duty upon towns to supplement the state appropriation, whereas the act of 1800 required the towns to maintain free schools. 4. The act limited the amount which a town might raise by tax for school support, whereas the act of 1800 imposed no limitation, but rather provided a simple machinery for extension of school support. 5. Control of town schools was vested in school committees chosen by the freemen, instead of in town councils. 6. The act of 1828 provided for a permanent school fund; the act of 1800 did not. 7. The act of 1828 designated the schools to be maintained "public" schools, instead of the "free" schools of the earlier act. 8. The act of 1828 sanctioned the creation of school dis- tricts, but made no provision for school district meetings and separate school maintenance by school districts, as had the act of 1800. Neither act, however, sanctioned the control of district schools by trustees, an unfortunate innovation intro- duced in Rhode Island by Henry Barnard. 94 PUBLIC feDUCATION IN EHODE ISLAND. EFFECTS OF THE ACT OF 1828. John Howland reviewed the new act caustically, thus: "By the new state law for the encouragement, or rather for the discouragement of schools, each town is to receive a small sum annually from the state treasury and are allowed to assess a small sum, I don't recollect how much, in a town tax for the same purpose. This limitation, beyond which the towns are prohibited from assessing, was passed in the General Assembly by the influence of members who were opposed to the general instruction of children throughout the state, and wished to confine it to paupers." The state was divided into 323 school districts* under the act, and the state appropriation thus averaged $30.96 per district. The American and Gazette estimated the cost of keeping a three-months school at $100, that is $8.33 per week for 12 weeks, or $7.69 per week for 13 weeks. Teachers could be tired at such figures; Providence paid only $500 annually for schoolmasters who taught all the year around, or less than $10 per week, while ushers, or assistant teachers were paid $250 per year, or less than $5 per week. The state and town appro- priations, if the town appropriated up to the limit permitted by law, amounted to the cost of keeping a free school at least three months in every district. This was a small beginning, but it was a good beginning, and it produced results and bore good fruit immediately. The Towns Act. — Burrillville, a new town, set off from Glocester in 1806 and named for James Burrill, who wrote the school act of 1800, appointed a committee of 23 members to divide the town into school districts, and a school committee of 21, which it reduced to 16 in 1829. The town appropriated $300 to supplement the state apportionment, which amounted to $199.80. Charlestown was divided into six school districts in ♦Counting attendance districts in towns not actually divided into school districts. ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 95 1828. East Greenwich appointed a school committee in 1828, divided the town into five districts, and conducted a three months school in each district, at the expense of the town beyond the money received fiom the state. In 1829 the town voted to appropriate $100 for each district which built a school- house. In 1831 application to the General Assembly was made for authority to build schoolhouses in, all districts at the expense of the town; granted in 1832. The schoolhouses were erected at an expense to the town of approximately $1500 for five schoolhouses, individuals contributing beyond the appropria- tion. Parents of scholars were required to furnish wood for fuel and to board the teacher, though the very poor were excused from all burdens. Glocester voted, in 1828, to raise by taxation an amount for school purposes equal to the money received from the state. The Jefferson School Society of Glocester obtained a charter from the General Assembly in October, 1828. Hopkinton appointed a school committee, which divided the town into 11 districts without reference to schoolhouses already built, and elected teachers for each district. In 1829 Hopkinton was ordered by the General Assembly to provide schoolhouses on penalty of forfeiting its share of the state appropriation. Johnston appointed a school committee, districted the town and located schoolhouse sites. Middle- town, in 1829, voted a tax of $119 for school support, to supple- ment the state money. Newport continued its free public schools, already established. By special act of the General Assembly Newport was permitted to expend its share of the state school money for completing the town schoolhouse and supporting another school. North Kingstown elected a school committee of 15 members. The town was divided into 10 districts, in which schools were kept 12 weeks. The state school money was supplemented by a town appropriation equal in amount, and the school committee apportioned the total amount available amongst the districts in proportion to actual 96 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. attendance. Providence received permission to raise by taxa- tion for school purposes any amount approved by the freemen, unhampered by the restriction imposed by the school act. The free school system was reorganized and improved as described in later paragraphs. Warwick appointed a school committee and supplemented the state appropriation. One district in Warwick and one in Cranston were united by special act of the General Assembly in 1828 under a joint school committee as Pawtuxet school district; the union was discontinued after a short trial, the law being repealed in 1832. Westerly, in 1830, was authorized to build and repair schoolhouses at town ex- pense. The list here is suggestive rather than exhaustive. School committee and town records are in such condition that a complete statement may not be collected from them. REORGANIZATION IN PROVIDENCE. . In Providence a reorganization of the public schools occurred contemporaneously with the new state movement. It needs little thought to reach the conclusion that the establishment of free schools in Newport, the enactment of the school law of 1828, and the marked advance in Providence all resulted from the operation of the same general social force. Elsewhere it produced a beginning; in Providence, where a beginning had been made years before, it caused a revival and an advance. The advance in Providence was easier to accomplish than the beginning in other towns elsewhere, and it attained a some- what earlier start. The town council and school committee, in 1826, requested schoolmasters to report "their opinions whether any improve- ment may be made, in the mode of instruction, and if so, to give their views of such improvement in the art of writing among the scholars of the several public schools." In the same year new textbooks were approved. A school for small children, under a woman teacher, was opened in 1827. It was resolved ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 97 on January 24, 1828, that Francis Wayland, President of Brown University, Thomas F. Waterman and William T. Grinnell be "requested and directed to visit all the schools under the care of the common council, report the books used in each school, the studies pursued, the age at which the scholars are admitted, the average amount of absence, and whatever else may seem to them important, and suggest such alterations and amendment in the general system of instruction, and such regulations for the general government of the schools as they may deem expedient." Wayland's Report—The following extracts from the report of the committee show the trend of this important school docu- ment, drawn by Francis Wayland, and indicate reasons for dissatisfaction with the public schools of the period: "There should be furnished a number of schools sufficient to accommodate all who wish to avail themselves of their advan- tages. Everyone sees the injustice of taxing the whole com- munity to support one or two schools, to which not more than one-tenth of the whole number of children can find admittance. The same injustice will evidently occur if the number of scholars imposed upon a teacher be so great as to render his instruction of so little value that a large portion of the community is obliged to resort to private schools. The same principle would dictate that there be established various grades of schools suited to the wants of the public. If there be but one description of schools, it must either be so elevated that many of the parents cannot prepare their children to enter it, or else so elementary that none would avail themselves of its advantages for any con- siderable length of time, or else everything of necessity would be so imperfectly taught that a very small portion would be benefited. In either case but a small portion of the community would receive the benefit of that provision, which all were taxed to support. " It may here be properly suggested whether equity does not demand that the system of public education in this town should make provision for at least one school of high character, a school which should provide instruction in all that is necessary to a finished education. If it be said that such a school would be of advantage only to the rich, it may be answered, as the rich contribute in an equal proportion to education, why should not they be entitled to a portion of the benefit. But it is far from being the case that such a school would be only for the rich. It would be as much a public school, as open to all, and as much 98 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. ' under the government of the public as any other. But it would evidently be of most peculiar advantage to the middling classes, and the poor. Such an education as we propose the rich man can give, and will give to his son by sending him to private schools. But the man in moderate circumstances cannot afford to incur the heavy expenses of a first-rate school, and if no such provision be made, the education of his children must be re- stricted to the ordinary acquisition of a little more than reading and writing.* With such a school as we have contemplated, he would be enabled to give his child an education which would qualify him for distinction in any kind of business. "And, lastly, the principle of equity to which we have alluded would dictate that the public schools of every description should be well and skillfully taught. . . . "The schools now number on their books as many pupils as can receive advantage from the labors of the present instructors. Yet it will not, we presume, be denied that a very considerable portion of the children about our streets attend no school whatever. It would, therefore, seem proper that the school committee, joined with such persons as the town council may add, be empowered to increase the means of instruction from time to time as the wants of the population may require. But it has appeared to your committee that one part of this object may be accomplished immediately, and with very little addi- tional expense, by establishing a sufficient number of primary schools in different parts of the town. The effect of these will be to provide a grade of instruction as much needed by the public as any other, to elevate the character of the grammar schools, and to enable the teachers of these schools to devote their attention to a larger portion of those who are prepared for in- struction in the more advanced branches of education. . . . "If in addition to these two grades of schools a single school for the whole town should be established, of a more elevated character, to enter which it shall be necessary to have been proficient in all the studies of the grammar school, and in which should be taught a more perfect and scientific knowledge of geography, bookkeeping, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, naviga- tion, moral and natural philosophy, natural history, the elements of political economy, and the Constitution of the United States, and the Latin and Greek languages, we think that our system of education would be such as to do honor to the public spirit of this commercial and manufacturing metropolis, but not at all beyond what is demanded by the advanced intelligence of the age. Whether a high school, of somewhat the same char- acter, for girls might not also be desirable and expedient would be a matter for future consideration. *One argument for the modern public high school and the state college could not be better stated. ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 99 "Granting that if a teacher were limited to 20 or 30 pupils, he would teach better by personal instruction than upon the monitorial system — what has this decision to do with the case? Are we prepared to establish such schools? Are there an}' such public schools? The plain fact is that we must con- struct a system upon the supposition that there will be from 150 to 200 scholars to a teacher, or to a teacher and an assist- ant. Now for such schools as these we are inclined to believe that the monitorial system is preferable. So far as our obser- vation has gone, we frankly declare that the proficiency of scholars, under the same circumstances in other respects, when taught under the monitorial system, has been decidedly superior to that of those taught upon the common system. But although these have been the views of your committee, they are far from recommending that the monitorial system be at once adopted in all our grammar schools. . . . "In closing this report your committee feel obliged to assure their fellow citizens that it is utterly in vain to hope for a valuable course of public instruction without a thorough and active system of supervision on the part of the community. Unless the schools be visited frequently and examined thor- oughly, and unless the school committee determine to give to this subject all the attention and reflection and labor necessary to carry the system of education to as great a degree of per- fection as the case admits, everything will be fruitless. With- out this every plan of education will fail, and with it almost any may be made to succeed. If a sufficient number of gentlemen can be found, who will devote to the interests of the rising generation a half-day every month, and who will so combine their labor as to produce the effect of a particular and general supervision, all that the most benevolent could wish can be accomplished. If such men cannot be found, nothing of value will ever be done." The faults which the committee found were insufficient schools to accommodate the school population; inadequate instruction, largely due to an insufficient number of teachers; want of grading; want of supervision. The report recom- mended: 1. Division of the school committee into primary and grammar school committees, which, with the town council, should have general charge of all public schools. 2. The estab- lishment of primary schools for young children. 3. A test of the monitorial system in one grammar school. 4. Establish- ment of a public high school for boys. 100 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. Reorganization. — In June, 1828, the school government was reorganized under the school act, and the freemen resumed the election of the school committee, which, until Providence became a city, in 1832, was no longer under control of the town council. Asa Messer, who had resigned the presidency of Brown University in 1826, became President of the school committee. Upon petition of the town, in 1828, the General Assembly exempted Providence from the restriction upon taxa- tion imposed by the school law. Had Providence been limited to raising twice its share in the state school appropriation, the entire amount available for school purposes would have been less than the town had been spending annually for school sup- port for a quarter of a century. The limitation not only would prevent progress, but it threatened seriously the continuance of the schools already established. The obstacle removed, the schools were reorganized on the plan recommended by Francis Wayland and his colleagues, except that the opening of a high school was postponed indefinitely. Primary schools, taught by women were opened, and a separate school for colored children was established in the Brick schoolhouse on Meeting street. The scale of wages for grammar school teachers was continued at $500 per annum for masters and $250 for ushers, while the women teachers in the new primary schools received $175 per year, or $3,363^ per week. The teacher could collect the half- cent, for at that time a copper coin of that denomination was in circulation. New rules and regulations adopted by the school committee preserve the best available description of the new grading of schools. The branches taught in the primary schools were reading and spelling, and the books used were the New York Primer, the first and second parts of Alden's Spelling Book, Easy Lessons and the New Testament. The primary schools admitted children of both sexes four years old and upward. Upon reaching seven years of age and attaining ability to read ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 101 fluently in the New Testament, after examination by a visiting committee of the school committee, the child was promoted to the higher grade of school, called a "writing" school. In the writing schools the branches taught were spelling, reading, the use of capital letters and punctuation, writing, arithmetic, the rudiments of bookkeeping, English grammar, geography and ' epistolary composition." The textbooks used were Alden's Spelling Book, the New Testament, the American Preceptor, the Brief Remarker, Murray's Sequel to the English Reader, Smith's Arithmetic, Murray's Abridgement of English Grammar and Woodbridge's Small Geography. All the prim- ary school textbooks except the New Testament were super- seded in 1830 by Oliver Angell's series of Union textbooks, Nos. 1, 2 and 3, which were sold to pupils for 8 cents, 14 cents and 17 cents, respectively. In writing schools Angell's Unions Nos. 4 and 5 succeeded Alden's Spelling Book, the American Preceptor and the Brief Remarker. Oliver Angell was master of a Providence writing school, and the Union textbooks were prepared especially for use in the schools of the town. They were adopted in many other Rhode Island towns. The report of the quarterly visitation of schools for May 29, 1830, showed an attendance of 1,257 pupils, a gain of 25 per cent, over 1828. The report follows: Writing Schools. Teacher. Mr. Angell . Mr. Baker. Mr. Lee. . Mr. Peters. Mr. Ferris . Totals Primary Schools. *-" >, A *03 1 **" P0 i O Eh 1 Q 68 73 141 1 48 62 110 2 86 86 172 3 80 62 142 4 60 68 128 5 6 342 351 693 Teacher. Miss Pratt Miss Church . . . Mrs. Davis Miss Lockwood. Miss Fisher Miss Delano.. . . 68 Totals. 66 37 79 55 305 50 219 118 40 116 78 125 87 564 102 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. Providence was incorporated as a city in 1832, and under the charter the election of the school committee passed from the freemen to the city council. The fuel tax was abolished in 1833, the committee reporting that payment of it could be enforced only by excluding delinquents from school, and that such a course seemed inconsistent with "the spirit of the law, or the great object of it." The schools of Providence thus became absolutely free schools. A RECORD OF STATEWIDE IMPROVEMENT. The process of state school organization under the act of 1828 extended no further than the distribution of financial assistance. The law made no provision for the collection of school statistics; the only reports of the operation of the law required by the General Assembly were certificates from town councils that the state school money had been expended for school support, as a condition precedent to further participation in the apportion- ment thereof, and an annual report by the General Treasurer of the receipts of revenue appropriated for school purposes. Consequently there are no public statistics available by which to measure progress or retrogression. There has been preserved, however, the report of a survey made in 1831 by Oliver Angell, author of the Union textbooks, which was undertaken under auspices and circumstances which warrant its acceptance as made without prejudice, although not strictly accurate. In May, 1831, President Wayland presided at a public meeting of gentlemen interested in the cause of education, who assembled in the Town House in Providence. It was resolved to appoint two committees, one to take into consideration the general subject of lyceums and similar institutions designed to promote the cause of popular education, and to report generally thereon at an adjournment of the meeting, and the second committee to take into consideration the present state of schools and to report generally thereon, and also what improvements if any ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 103 can be made in the description and instruction thereof. To the first committee Messrs. Farley, Webb and Greene were appointed, a"nd to the second, Messrs. Angell, Curtis and Harts- horn. At an adjourned meeting Professor Alexis Caswell, afterward President of Brown University, presided. The report of the second committee, prepared by Oliver Angell, was received and ordered printed and distributed.* The most valuable part of the report was a table, which showed for each town in the state the number of public and private schools, the numbers of pupils attending public and private schools, the amounts appropriated by the several towns to supplement the state apportionment of public school money, the length of the school year in each town, and for the state the total numbers of men and women teachers in public and private schools. The figures in the following table have been taken from Oliver Angell's table, with the exception of the number of schools in each town in 1828, a column which has been added for purposes of comparison by which to measure the progress made under the state school law : *The report is in the Rider Collection. 104 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND.