PIROFE-SSOI PACKAIRD9'S
DISCOURSE ON.THE DEATH OF'WVILLIAM  SMYTH9 DoDo












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ON THIE
LIFE AND CHARACTER
OF
WVILLIAM SMYTH9 D, D,9
LATE PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATI'ICS AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHIY
IN BOWVDOIN COLLEGE j
DELIVERED BEFORE THE ALUMNI OF THE COLLEGE,
JULY 7, 1868,
BY ALPHIEUS So PACKARD, Do Do
BRUNSWICK:
JOSEPH  GRIFFIN,
1 868.








BRUNSWICK, APRIL 30, 1868.
PROFESSOR ALPHEUS S. PACKARD, D. D.
MY DEAR SIR);
Arrangements have been made with the Athensean and
Peucinian Societies to waive their usual public exercises on Tuesday afternoon of Commencement week, and I earnestly invite you in the name of
the Alumni to deliver before them at that time a Discourse in commemoration of the life and character of our lamented Professor Smyth. From
your long association with him and with us, we feel that this would be
a peculiarly befitting and acceptable service.
In the belief that such a discoulse would be beneficial to many who
may not have the privilege of hearing it, and of permanent historical
value, I trust you may also be able to furnish a copy for publication.
I am, my dear sir,
Your friend and servant,
J. L. CHAMBERLAIN,
President of the Association of Alumni,
Bowdoin College.
BRUNSWICK, MAY 1, 1868.
GOVERNOR CHAMBERLAIN, LL. D,
MY DEAR SIR;
Your note of yesterday has been received requesting
mne to deliver a Discourse in commemoration of the life and services of
the late Prof. Smyth before the Alumni at the next Commencement. I
cannot well decline such a service in memory of the colleague of so many
years and a life-long friend, and will endeavor to meet the wishes of my
brothers of the Alumni as I best can.
With sincere respect and regard,
Ever yours,
At S. PACKARD,








BROTHtERS ALUMNI.:
THE office, which through your President has been
laid on me and which under the circumstances I could
not well decline, I never anticipated. It never occurred to me, that I remember, that I should be called
to bury my life-long friend and colleague. Boys together at Wiscasset, our acquaintance and friendship
continued until he entered college, when, as one of the
Tutors, I assisted in his examination for admission. A
single year passed after his graduation and we were
Tutors together, then colleagues in the Professorship.
We began married life the same year, 1827, built together the dwelling which was our common home for
forty years, our families growing up around us in undisturbed harmony, sympathizing in each others labors, joys, trials and bereavements until the sundering
of life-long ties cagme so suddenly without a mom.euts
premonition. And therefore it is, that the duty of
this day seemed to faill upon me, of testifying, so far as




i may, in behalf of the college and the community, to
the eminent claims of that steadfast friend, the faithful officer of government and instruction, the citizen
of the highest tone of public spirit, and the true man,
to the affectionate respect of us all.
It was his expectation, as it was yours, that at this
Commencement an important meeting of Alumni
would be held, at which he would present a report of
what had been done in the work of the Memorial
Hall and a new impulse be given to the most signal
enterprize  yet undertaken  by and for our Alma
Mater since the corner stone of her first Hall was laid.
His report, with his own inspiriting enthusiasm to give
it effect, we cannot hear. But, what is more eloquent
than any words his living voice could utter, the facts
of his life, his works are to speak for him to day. I
do not stand before you to eulogize the departed.
Happily for us, and for me, a plain simple statement
of the facts of his life is such a eulogy as few can receive.  Unassuming and with the simplicity of a child,
he was emphatically a man of mark here, and would
have been any where. No graduate of the forty or
more classes that have passed under his instruction but
has some distinct recollection and characteristic incident to recall of their instructor.  Estimated by what
he has done for the college, or the parish, or the town,
or for yet wider interests, in teaching, in preparing
text-books of the highest class, in efforts and positive
labor f'or the church and religious society of which he




7
was a member, or for the public schools of the State,
truly a great life,-a vast amount of self-denying,
earnest, honest, whole-souled, energetic, vigorous, noble
living has, almost without premonition or warning
even to himself, come to its end for this world.
Professor Smyth was born in Pittston, February 2,
1797, in a house now standing on the eastern bank of
the Kennebec a mile below the city of Gardiner; but
in his childhood his parents removed to Wiscasset
which was his home until about the time of his entering college. His father was a mechanic, a shipcarpenter, and at the same time a skilful musician and
teacher of music. His mother was of excellent christian life, whose influence in forming his early character he always acknowledged. At the age of eighteen
he was bereft of both father and mother and was left
with a young sister and brother and nothing but kind
friends and himself to depend upon, two other sisters
having been otherwise provided for. It was charac.
teristic, as we shall see, of his mind and heart, that
during the war of 1812-'15, self-moved and solely
to relieve an emergency in the scanty means of
his home, he enlisted in the army and gave his
bounty money  to  his mother. He, however, did
not serve in the ranks, but was detached by the
officer in command at the fort near the mouth of the
Kennebec, Col. McCobb, to be his private secretary,
and so, as he used sportively to remark, he was a solb
dier for a year without firing a gun. He would add,




that he never in his life discharged a gun, and could
not understand the amusement which so many find iin
sporting.
After his discharge from the army he became a
clerk of one of the well known Wiscasset merchants of
that day, Hon. Moses Carleton, and a member of his
household.  His earliest ambition was to qualify
himself to teach school.  He had no means, and
such was his spirit, he would not be dependent on
others. But, as was always the case with him, where
there is a will, there is a way.  Many an hour was
spent by him, after his day's work was done, in rather
a stealthy way, often stretched on the floor in the
light of the kitchen fire brightened now and then by
pitch-pine knots, sometimes on the grass under the
light of the moon, studying for that to him high aim.
Stealthily I say, for, as was characteristic, he was shy
of its being known that he had such aspirations. Before those days, in lack of better opportunities, when
sent to the ship-yard for chips he would carry his
book with him and, at resting places, would put it on
his basket or barrow and study his school lesson; or
at his father's work-bench would fasten it open on the
wall before him, so that, as he plied his tools, he could
catch a look at it, and commit to memory or master
what he was studying. An incident may be related
as showing the early developement of his persevering,
resolute spirit. When he was fourteen, a sister was
twenty miles away on a visit, and he was sent on horse



9
back to bring her home behind him, a common fashion of riding at that day. lie had scarcely ever mounted a horse. The boy was up betimes for his journey
and accomplished it in good time; but the sister had
met with an accident to the arm which she would
need to cling to her brother on tlhe horse, and it was
decided that he must return without her.  He thought
of the spelling- match which wvas to be the  last
school exercise of the day.  i[e was at the head, and
if by absence he should forfeit his standing, there
were good spellers in the class and it would cost him
a struggle to regain his position.  He resolved to return without delay, and after a lunch for himself
and a brief bating for his horse posted back, accomplishing his forty miles for that day's work, and was in
his place in time for the spelling.  The boy kept the
head at some risk of his own head, and for some days
had painful reminders of his achievement.
That first ambition, of which I have spoken, was
soon attained and young Smyth gave out modest proposals for a private school. Mr. Carleton, wuhose mercantile business had been ruined by the non-intercourse and embargo measures and by the war, allowed him the use of his large counting room, now
desertedcl for this purpose.
But now three or four of his village acquaintance
had gone to college, and thus a new and higher ambition was awakened in his susceptible nature.  The
idea got locdgment in his mind that he too must go
2




10
to college, and at- once he began a new work.  Grathering text-books as he could, he commenced the study
of Latin and Greek. Without a regular teacher-he
never had one in his work of preparation-asking
help of boys more advanced in the study, (the late
Rev. Charles Packard, then a member of college, used
to boast somewhat, it may be, that he gave Prof.
SmMytlh his first lessons in Latin; and I can recall instances of being posed in my own college vacations
with questions on obscure passages in the Herodotus
of the Groeca Majora,) he prosecuted the now  all
absorbing object of his life, filling for college. After
his day's teaching and in his school-room he would
work far into the night on his Latin and Greek; often,
as he' has told me, walking up from that counting
room on the wharf through the Wiscasset street at
two in: the morning to his bed at Mr. Carleton's. To
add to his burden of care and anxiety after the loss of
his parents, the, young sister and brother, already referred to, must, as he felt, be looked after, His
characteristic independence of spirit and heroic self-re-.
liance would not allow them to be a burden even on'the kindest friends; and he rented a house, still standing on the southern side of Wiscasset Point looking.
out upon that beautiful bay, himself and these two
children constituting the little household.  And so
he kept school; soon, however, under the enlarged
convenience of a more commodious apartment in
-what had been the Brooks' Hotel, and then again in




11
the brick Academy-a school which had a name in
the town for thorough teaching and discipline; at odd
hours by day studying for college far into the night,
and all the while overseeing the needs of his little
household even to their weekly washing with his own
hands. But those studies by firelight and by moonlight, and those long evenings subsequently with
Greek, came near ruining his eyes and caused him
years of trouble.
In 1817 he was brought to the notice of Rev.
Reuben Nason, (Harv. 1802) Principal of the Academy
at Gorham, Me., a superior classical and mathematical scholar, who needed an assistant; and, though he
had employed recent graduates for the position, lhe
ventured to take young Smyth to fill the vacancy,
who fully met the demands of the situation and always regarded it a kind Providence that directed his
steps thither. He remained with Mr. Nason a member of his family nearly two years, doing his duty'faithfully and efficiently as a teacher, hard at work all
the time on his Greek and Latin and Mathematics under the most competent council and aid, so far as needed, of his excellent friend, and winning the high esteem and respect of that superior scholar who used to
speak of young Smyth as his Greek giant. For the
tastes of the student were decidedly for Greek. It
was several years before he detected in himself any
peculiar turn for mathematical science.




12
He at length attained his second object of ambition and entered Bowcloin College in Junior standing September 1820.  Such an example of studentlife as was then to be exhibited is rare and worthy of
record.  It may encourage some toiling, heart-sick
one, who may imagine his lot to be peculiarly hard,
and is tempted to give up in despair, to hear of the
efforts and self-denials of one of a former generation
on these grounds, under the shadow of these Halls
and these pines, for an education now worth much
more than it was then. IHe occupied with a townsman and classmate, Boynton, a room in the building,
afterwards burnt down, which stood on the sight of Mr.
Henry C. lMartin's residence opposite the College Halls.
I have referred to the serious injury done to his eyes
by those firelight and moonlight studies and long evenings over Greek and Latin.  Through college he
was compelled to wear a green shade and to study by
another's eyes.  His room-mate read his lessons to
him, he occasionally raising his blinder to glance for
*a moment at a Mathematical formula or a diagram or
a phrase.  What all studlents would regard as a grievious misfortune and trial he used to speak of as
probably an advantage in one respect, as it contributed to form in him habits of abstraction and concentration, for which he was so remlarkable and in which
much of his strength lay.
After getting settled in college life the independent, self-denying spirit of which I have spoken led




13
him to bring to his side the young brother and sustain both as he might.  This self-sacrificing college
student often deprived himself of a dinner for the
sake of that brother; lived day after day on bread
and water; not unfrequently did not know one day
where the next day's meals were to come from; and
thus, studying with the eyes of another, often at his
wits' end for support, with that care of the brother upon him part of the time, he soon took the lead of an
able class and held it to the end, graduating with the
English valedictory in 1822.
It ought to be distinctly understood, that Professor
Smyth was unusually reticent about himself, his feelings, or experiences, or his personal history.  Some
of these particulars no living person has heard him refer to.  Some of them I myself knew, or remember
distinctly as reported at the time; some I have heard
him rather incidentally mention.  He rarely referred
to himself. He left not a scrap of autobiography,
though urged to do it by his children.  What he did
for himiself or friends or for the public good he did for
the sake of the object, not to be seen or talked of.
After graduating, Mir. Smyth taught a school for a
short time in what used to be called Pres. Allen's
Academy, designed to be preparatory for the college, a gothic structure near the site of the dwellingwhich stands next to Capt. Samuel Skolfield's, south
westerly from  the college yard.  IHe then spent a
year in the Andover Seminary, throwing all his en



14,thusiasm into the study of the Hebrew and the Greek
of the New Testament under the eminent Prof. Stuart.
In 1823 he received an appointment from his Alnma
iMater as Proctorand Instructer in Greek; then became Tutor in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy;
in 1825 adjunct Professor in Mathematics and Natural
Philosophy, and so his life's work began.
It has been already remarked, that his predilection was for Greek. When he came to be a teacher
in that branch, nothing could have been more to his
taste.  He loved Greek, and has since confessed to
friends a sort of regret that he accepted the offer
which consecrated his life to mathematical science
and that he had not adhered to his first love. In truth,
we may say, it was almost an accident that revealed
to himself, as well as to others, the peculiar talent and
power, genius it may be called, which has given him
so much of a name and reflected so much reputation
on the college. His success, as a Tutor of Algebra,
quite unexampled with us, led to the somewhat singular application to him of a large representation of a
college class who had completed their usual course in
Algebra the year before, to hear an extra recitation
in that branch with the black-board which he had
first introduced into the recitation room.  Quite an
enthusiasm was excited for a study not apt to be popular, was reported of by students wherever they went,
and thus was made known the eminently fit person;to relieve Prof. Cleaveland, (who from' the opening of




15
the college had been sole Professor in that departnient and for several years had added to his charge
Chemistry and Mineralogy,) of part of his duties, and
one who, as an author in Mathematical Science,
was to win a name known extensively in our own
country and in other lands. In 1828 Mr. Smyth became Professor in full of Mathematics and Natural
Philosophy and devoted himself with his peculiar ardor to a branch which, as we have said, came unsought
into his hands.
Reference has been made already to the enthusiasm of his nature and his unusual power of concentration. His imind was quick to kindle and his powers
to arouse themselves to seize on some engrossing subject, and, while the occasion demanded, hie was totls
til illfs. As soon as he came to the chair of his dcepartment he set about studying the French systems.
He read and nmastered the Mecanique Cleste, and his
private manuscript will show formulse which he carefully elaborated while that great work was in
hand. At that time it was quite an achievement, I
think, it being stated that but three or four individuals in our country had accomplished it. A somewhat amusing instance of his power of concentration
I recall to mind. An occasion of some disturbance
had required the intervention of the College authorities. At a late hour they returned harried and wearied to their homes and needed rest. The next morning he told me, that before he took his bed he went




16
into his study and took a turn at the Mecanique
Ce]este which composed his nerves and ensured him
a good night's sleep.
As the result of these studies he soon set himself
to the work of supplying a need which he felt of textbooks for his classes, and, as the first fruits, issued a
small work on Plane Trigonometry, availing himself
of the ingenuity of the late Mr. L. T. Jackson of this
town in preparing blocks on a novel plan for striking off the diagrams.  The first edition of his Algebra from  the press of Mr. Griffin of this town appeared in 1830, which first adapted the best French
methods to the American mind, received warm com1mendation from  Dr. Bowditch, and was adopted as a
text-book at Harvard  and  other Institutions.  It
passed through several editions and then gave place
*to two separate works, the Elementary and the larger
Algebra.  Then followed an enlarged edition of the
Trigonometry and its applications to Surveying and
Navigation, and  treatises  on Analytic Geometry,
and on the Calculus, the last being so clearly and
satisfactorily developed and with so much originality
as to receive emphatic approval in high quarters, particularly from  the late Prof. Bache, and constituting,
it has been said, quite an era in the means of instruction in this profound and, as heretofore reputed, difficult branch. And all this, while he was hearing two,
often even three, recitations a day, besides preparing
and delivering Lectures on Natural Philosophy and




17
more recently, on Astronomy. His classes will remember the interest of his Lectures on Steam.  Cyrus
Hamlin (of the class of 1834,) now Rev. Dr. Hamlin
of Constantinople, spent his long winter college vacation in constructing with his own hands a small locomotive, which the college added to its apparatus, and
which the Professor has constantly used to illustrate
the subject with pleasing effect. Those who have
heard these Lectures, as well as those on Astronomy,
have testified to their interest and value. Beside being scientific, they were discursive in a proper degree,
sometimes eloquent, always earnest and instructive.
"I wish I was not so much a man of one idea"!
he often exclaimed when he camne back from the village street without doing his errand, or left the day's
mail where he happened to have called on his way.
And so he was in the less common application of the
phrase, which was one result of his power of abstraction. Whatever subject of high interest got possession
of his mind, if it did not refuse admission to any other
claimant on his attention for the time, it was abstracted and distant towards it. It was in some respects
his misfortune, the absorbing interest of some one
matter engrossing his thoughts and activities to the
neglect of whatever else he happened to have in hand.
His recitations on this account were perhaps shortened; or in some other way we could detect that his
nind and interest were engaged elsewhere. But no
3




18
one that knew him ever attached to his conception
of Prof. Smyth the thought, that he was a iman of
but one idea in the ordinary sense of the expression.
For thirty years at least he bent his efforts to the
main work of his life; and yet all along his toilsome
path were by-ways of deep moral, or social, or public
interest, often of positive self-denying labor, which drew
him aside. I-Ie was a whole-souled, large-hearted man.
Personal interests occupied with him an inferior place.
Had it not been so, lhe would have accumulated competency from his published works, whereas, had that
been his only resource, the fruits of his years of labor
would have left but a pittance for his children. To add
to the lack of what may have been the best management for his own interest, he lost the stereotype plates
of the more important of them in the Portland fire of
1866.
But any real object of philanthropy, of national
or of town interest, any thing that touched the life
of the College, was sure to find one mind and heart
ready to respond to its demands. Some recall how
his enthusiasm was fired by the bloody, but fruitless,
struggles of the Poles for national life; how eagerly he
watched the progress of the conflict, seeking for the
best maps to detect their stragetical movements, making himself familiar with every phase, political or
military, of the unequal contest and with the name
and qualities of the leaders. Then his deepest sympa



19
thy was awakened in the Hungarian revolt and its
disastrous and ignominious result. The case of the
Cherokees and their compelled removal from their own
lands, in its turn, enlisted his feelings, not in its paltry aspects as a political question, but as a question
of right and wrong involving high principles of national justice and honor. In the late civil war during
the operations of the national forces on Missionary
Ridge and the vicinity in Georgia, lie could not help
thinking of the retribution which a righteous Providence seemed to be visiting on a people who were the
means of inflictin  on a poor Indian nation, just imlmerging into civilized life through the instrumentality
of christian missionaries, a grievous wrong and outrage.
Prof. Smyth was among the first members of the
Temperance Society formed in this town when Rev.
Dr. Justin Edwards promulgated and advocated with
~:so much effect the doctrine of total abstinence from
intoxicating drinks. It was indeed one instance of
the energy with which lie seized on a principle, that
at the age of sixteen, when he saw the direful effects
of intemperance around hini in all classes, he deliberately formed the determination that he would never
indulge in a customl which he saw to be the cause of
unmingled wretchedness and woe, and adhered steadfastly to this resolution through life.
A debate in the Brunswick Lyceum made of him
an anti-slavery man, or rather turned his thoughts to
that subject and inspired a sentiment and opinions




20
which he maintained his life through. The claims of
the American Colonization Society were made a subject of debate occupying several evenings. Prof
Smyth hapCpeecd, somewhat accidentally as it seemed
to me at the time, to take the adverse side of the
question. With his accustomed ardor whenever a
moral element was involved, he went to the bottom
of that subject, reading every thing of importance
within reach, whether speech or document, whether
foreign or domestic, and came out fully persuaded in
his own mind. Henceforward for several years he
gave himself with great earnestness to that cause so far
as he could do so without neglecting official duty; delivering public addresses sometimes at the risk of public disturbance and outrage. He was Corresponding
Secretary of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society and prepared some of the ablest Reports which the cause
produced; for a year edited the Semi-monthly Advocate of Freedom printed in this town; and carried on
a controversy in the Christian Mirror with Rev. Rufus
W. Bailey of South Carolina on the main points at
issue. He undoubtedly took high ground on the subject and was deemed by many to be of the extremists,
as he was not one to compromise with what he believed to be error or wrong.  But it cannot be said
of him justly that he could see but one side of a question. In the height of the conflict, with opinions as
decided and thorough as any man's, he would not go
with some of his brethren in denouncing the Ameri



21
can Board of Commissioners because they would not
take what was deemed an advanced step in the matter
of slavery as involved in some of the Indian Missions,
and maintained a controversy in the public papers in
defence of the Board with able and adroit champions
of the more radical view. Were these articles collected they would make quite a volume and would be
a valuable contribution to the anti-slavery literature
of the times. He never swerved, no not for an hour,
from his allegiance to the cause of human freedom
and the rights of man. Though exposed to reproach
and annoyances, to hard speeches and harder looks, he
was not a man to be deterred from his purpose or to
quail in whatever he regarded a matter of right,
truth, and duty.
Then came the subject of Public Schools. The
method of graded schools for the large Central District of Brunswick was proposed to the inhabitants,
and  awakened  violent opposition  from  quarters
whence opposition to such schemes of public good
usually comes. The project soon engaged his earnest
co-operation. He was chosen on the Board of Agents
successively for seventeen years; most of the time was
chairman, and exercised vigilant supervision of the
schools. The amount of labor he performed in securing and perfecting the system, in building the large
brick school-house for which he furnished the working
plans, and in general superintendence, few can conceive; and all, with no other remuneration than the




,c1onsciousness of rendering an important public service.
He took great interest in children and once declared,
-that he desired no other inscription upon his tombstone than the simple words, 1 T/ze Friecd of Itie CzildreC."' The town owes a tribute of gratitude, respect
and love to this friend of its schools and its children.
And not this town only, but every town in the State.
By personal atdvocacy of the 1 gra(led syTsteum" in different towns by public lectures; and yet more before a
Commlittee of the Legislature with a force of argu-ment and earnest, eloquent persuasion, that nade
some of our Legislators marvel that a College Professor could labor so heartily and so efficiently even for
common schools,-he was instrumental in effecting
that a particular provision in relation to the schools
of the  Village l)istrict of Brunlswick  became  a
general law  for the State.  Hon. Phinehas Barnes,
whom we shall refer to again in this connection, in a
letter to the writer states, that he witnessed the presentation of the case before the Commllittee, and that
his argument and appeal in favor of the system  was
one of the best pieces of reasoning and eloquence he
ever heard.  Moreover subsequently, when a case was
made by those in Brunswick opposed to the graded system in order to test the legality of certain proceedings
under the act, and it was carried up to the Supreme
Court, Prof. Smyth  thoroughly studied  the  case,
searched the legal! authorities, drew up a paper containing what seemed to him the principles of public




policy involved, and put it into the hands of the counsel for the Board of Agents, Hon. Mr. Barnes, who
found it embraced the mlain points at issue. The opposing counsel was lion. Samuel Fessenden.  Mr.
Barnes was successful in the trimnphant vindication
of the constitutionality of the Act.  The mneimory of
Prof. Smytll will be a cherished tradition in the
school-history of Brunswick.. le was for many years one of the Trustees of the
first Parish fund; and for forty years or miore an active
member of the Congregational Church and Society in
Brunswick.  HIe was for a long period also one of the
Parish Assessors or Commnittee; a teacher in the Sabbath School; ever watchful of the interests of the
Church; jealous of its good nai le; until within a few
years uniformly present at its private uneetings; and a
liberal contributor of his means, often beyond his
means, for the support of the institutions of religion
and of every good work. When the present church
edifice was erected he was the working member of the
building conlmittee, giving important counsel in its
plan, even to the framning of the building, and constantly supervising the work.'When subsequently it
was deemed expedient to mnake a change in the
heavy tower of the structure, he furnished the working plans for a spire which for grace and beauty was
not surpassed.  Indeed mechanics gave him the credit
of being a master mechanic and deferred to his judgment and taste in nice points of architecture and con



24
struction.  None knows the amount of time and labor he expended on this enterprise; and, after its
completion, for the convenience and comfort of word
shippers, even superintending the care of the furnaces
and in other ways invading the sexton's privilege.
We come now to speak of the last public work
of Prof. Smyth's life, the measures for erecting a Menorial Hall for the college. No one else was thought
of to take this matter in hand.  His patriotic spirit,
his long-tried devotion to the college, his unsurpassed
energy and indomitable resolution, the inspiring enthusiasm of his character, and his mechanical and architectural skill and taste, marked him out as the only
man for the occasion.  One even most conversant
with him and who had most free access to his thoughts,
purposes, and plans, can scarcely enumerate the extent of his correspondence on the subject; his journeyings to and fro from  Bangor to New  York for subscriptions; his long walks in Brunswick and its neighborhood to obtain contributions, to consult mechanics
and contractors, or to engage hands for the work; his
visits to other towns to examine public buildings
in order to ascertain dimensions of buildings reported of well or ill for public speaking, that ~his own
audience-room  might not fail in this respect; to inspect quarries of building stone; or his careful study
of architectural designs, sketches and plans in the
college library; or his personal labor in meditating
and drawing  plans himself, that architects might




26
readily. conceive the idea and object of the proposed
structure. For the last two  years his mind  and
thoughts have been intent on what he often said was
to be his last labor. Every dollar of the thirty thousand on his subscription book he solicited, and had
collected nearly twenty thousand of the amount, in
person. Not that he coveted the credit of the work;
but such was the man.  Had the project been to survey a piece of land, or to set a post by the road-side,
when determined upon by competent authority, he
would set about it at once, whether a committee were
with him or not; more especially in such an enterprise as this, not waiting for others, or thinking of
others.  His friends sometimes thought it would have
been better for him, if not for the cause, if he would
invite others to co-operate at least in a part of the labor.
These various activities of Prof. Smyth's busy life
were exercised outside of his official relations.  The
resources of the College have always been so restricted as to impose on its Professors, for the most
part, an unusual amount of tutorial duty; for many
years three daily recitations, or an equivalent, four
days at least in the week; a heavy draft on the Instructors, we may say in passing, but perhaps to the
advantage of the style of teaching. If lectures were
given they were the result of extra labor.  In later
years Prof. Smyth heard two daily recitations, and
gave experimental lectures as were required by his
4




26
de]?artment.  During the last year or two, arrangeinents were mladce to relieve him farther, that he might
devote himiself to the work of the Hall.  Still he had
his annual course of recitations and lectures in Astronomy, and had completed it just before his death.
As before intimated, it is just to say that these calls of
public service were. felt in the recitation room. His
abstracted manner at times made an impression of a
mind pre-occupied, so that a student might take advantage of exemption from  the usual scrutiny.  But
let a, second experiment be tried of the Professor's abstraction, the experimenter would be likely to find
himself at once exposed to an eye which no error or
subterfuge could escape, and perhaps uncomfortably
exposed to others, Pupils may thus occasionally have
suffered loss, but the College doubtless gained by the
contribution it freely made to a public interest.  Moreover, as years grew upon him it would not be strange
if he accommodated himself with less facility to less
quick or less diligent pupils.  But his ability as a
teacher was never called in question.  In explanation
he was precise, simple, and clear. He had great
power of inspiring interest; his own enthusiasm,
which often kindled, especially in certain branches of
his department, at the blackboard, being communicated to his class. Later classes will carry through
life his setting forth of what he termed the' poetry
of mathematics," as exemplified in the, Calculus.




27
As an officer of government he was energetic, fearless, and resolute; decided, though often moderate in
counsel, and unwavering under severest trials of firmness. Pupils seldom ventured to trifle with him.  He
had great power of rebuke aLnd command, and often
by a sharp turn or a stroke of wit restored good humor.  His fertility of resource availed him in defeating the most ingenious devices for interrupting or
evading a recitation.  It is thought that no combination ever gained an advantage over him.  EIe always
gave an impression of reserved power.  College officers experience fluctuations in the favor of their pupils; but no one probably is remembered with more
universal interest or ever has been greeted with imore
cordiality by the Aluinni than Prof. Smyth.  Every
graduate kiiew his devotion to our Alma lMater. It
was earnest, constant, and self-sacrificing.  Jealous of
its reputation and honor he was vigilant and active in
promoting its welfare.  His daily prayer ascended in
its behalf; ihe contributed according to his ability to
its pecuniary relief; lie was active in improvements
of the college premises, laying out avenues and planting trees with hlis own hands. We cannot but think
that in his last work for it his life was the sacrifice;
for few can know, as we have said, his various and
exhausting labors  during the last two years.  HI-e
repeatedly  declared  that  had  he  foreseen  the
anxiety  and labor which it wouldl cost, he iwould
not have undertaken it.  Were the spirit which anim




mated him to pervade the body of alumni, not only
would the Hall at once arise to grace the college
grounds, but other pressing needs of the College be
speedily satisfied.
I have only to add to the enumeration of Prof.
Smyth's various public services, that until within two
years he was Treasurer of the Me. Branch of the Am,
Education Society, almost, I think, from its establishment; and was thus brought into contact with a large
number of young men with whom his own experience
had taught him  to sympathize, and who always regarded him as a friend in need,
Such were the prominent activities in the remarkable life that has now passed away. It only remains
to indicate the leading intellectual and moral traits of
character which marked the man who has moved and
acted among us these forty-five years; and this does
not demand special elaboration or particularly nice
discrimination, since the absence of concealment or
simulation in him was so entire, that he was seen and
read of all that had to do with him.
Of the qualities of his mind no one conversant
with him could dofibt that his Creator endowed him
with a power of intense application, of wide compass
and great clearness of thought, of strong grasp of
principles, and of exhibiting truth, often massive"truth,
with great precision and force, He had a peculiar




29
faculty of seizing on the salient points and the fundamental elements of allny subject he approached.
One could not but give him the credit of childlike
simplicity. He was simple in his tastes, in his manners, and in his desires. There was no pretence or affectation in his nature. Better had it~been for him
sometimes, it may be, if he could have masked,or concealed his feelings. Who did not know where or how
he would stand on any question of college life, or of
the day?  Who was not sure that he spake what he
meant and meant what he spake?  His influence was
always for the real in things, and has been a most
valuable lesson of life for those who came under its
power. No charge of insincerity or false-heartedness
was ever laid upon him.
One could not be long associated with Prof. Smyth
without discovering that, when aroused, he was a man
thoroughly in earnest. The account we have given
of him has been from  childhood to his last hour an
exemplification of the deep earnestness and enthusiasm of his nature. It brought out of him an amount
of work both of body and mind of which the world
affords rare instances; an example to be commended
to young men of one great element of success in
life's work.
Those who were connected with Prof. Smyth in social life had abundant proofs of his profoundly sympathetic nature. They cannot forget when the daughter of a brother Professor was prostrated, as was




30
feared, by fatal disease, how  his sympathies were
stirred, as if she had been his own child; how he
watched for her and over her, almost taking the place
of a nurse. Neighbors did not live long by him
without delicate, considerate manifestations of tender
care and solicitude. In his own household his love'was wonderful, passing the love of women."  IIHow
with all the persistence of his strong nature he contended with disease which within these few years has
invaded his family; ransacking the medical library for
-authorities, studying cases until Mledical Professors
-came to the conclusion that he understood them as well
if not better than themselves; and when all was in
vain, how the strong man was shaken, though submissive as a child under the blow! He bore with him to
his grave the anguish of those sorrows. We who
knew him best thought the care of the Memorial Hall
was a merciful provision for his relief in those troubles,
as it gave him  an engrossing object for his mlind to
work upon. But the dark shadow scarcely ever lifted.
A few minutes before he expired, referring to the distress he felt, he said: C"It is hard to bear pain, but
how much more that dear child (his daughter) had to
bear."
During the war of the Rebellion news came of the
battle at Chickamauga, and soon after, tidings that a
son was on that bloody field; then that he had fallen.
All appliances of telegraph and mail were employed
to ascertain the truth. Assurance, doubly sure, seemed




31
to come at last that he would never see that son again,
and by the same mail which brought a few lines from
the son himself, announcing that he was taken prisoner
in the battle, and was then in the Libby prison. But
the anxieties, the suspense and agony of those days!
It seemed as if it would kill him.
The facts of Prof. Smyth's life reveal most clearly a
singular self-sacrificing spirit. What reward or remuneration, what personal advantage could he have expected from his labors for schools, or for the church,
or for the Memorial I-all?  What self-interest could
have prompted him to furnish working plans for
school-house or church-spire; or to rise from his bed
and go down to the school-house in a drenching stormn
to see that the rain did not undermine the wall or
flood the cellar; or at midnight in a driving southeaster to go over to the church then in building, to
make more fast an ill-secured transept window; or to
serve as a tender to the mason who was putting up a
chimney in the tower? I asked him why he did not
hire a man to do that work. He replied, he thought
it easier to do the work himself than to go over the
village to find a suitable hand for it. Or within this
year, what gain to himself in walking two or three miles
twice the same day, to see a man he wished to employ
in some stone work for the foundation of the Hall;
and then in other directions, as far, or farther, to inspect quarries of stone! I asked him why in the
world he did not hire a conveyance. The answer was,,




32.he did not wish to abridge the memorial fund a single
dollar.
Another element in the character of Prof. Smyth
was true magnanimity of spirit.  One like him, a man
of strict views of discipline in school or college, of
decided opinions and fearless, determined spirit, could
not pass through life without encountering opposition, sometimes ill temper or even outrage. But he
never harbored resentment, or remembered injuries.
The excitement of conflict passed over his spirit and
left no ripple behind.
I may add that he was blessed with a'genial, buoyant spirit. He never betrayed a moody or sullen temper. There was in him a vein of fine humor. He
enjoyed it in others, and no one could turn a witticism or convey a compliment with more delicacy or
grace.
It remains to bear testimony to Prof. Smyth as a
christian man. In this character he left the record of
nearly fifty years in his daily life, in the free intercourse of friends, in the social meetings of the church,
in college halls, in his relations to public philanthropic
movements of his time, and in the pulpit of the sanctuary.  He came to experience the power of religious
faith and hope while an assistant in Gorham Academy
under the faithful and heart-searching ministrations
of Rev. Asa Rand.  He once communicated  to me
something of his experiences at that time, from which




33
of Rev. Asa Rand. He once communicated to me
something of his experiences at that time, from which I
judged that a deep and thorough work of divine grace
was wrought in his heart. When under conviction of
his sinfulness and ruin at the preaching of the word,
as he once told me, in his characteristic simplicity and
honest dealing with himself, he felt as if the preacher
was aiming at him personally; and as he went home
from the sanctuary he felt that others must know that
he had been the subject of the discourse. He was
abashed and shy and walked by the roadside to avoid
public notice. He then suffered from such mental distress as one of his strong nature may experience,
until he fell sick of a typhoid fever. He was brought
down to the gates of death; for hours was thought to
be dying; but at length was raised to health. As
new life was gradually restored, his anxieties concerning his religious state were revived and he passed
through a severe conflict, as we have been informed
by one who had the best opportunity to know the
circumstances. In the depth of his mental distress and
darkness, his friend, Rev. Mr. Nason, sat with him a
whole night endeavoring to quiet the anxious inquirer.
With the morning light (as this friend writes,) his
darkness was dispelled and hope and joy beamed
upon him; the garment of praise was given him for
the spirit of heaviness. He seldom spoke of his personal religious experiences. He never had exstatic
joys or peculiarly buoyant hopes. He once declared
5




34
that he anticipated his sun might go down in a cloud.
At the outset, however, he took his stand as a christian young man and became connected with the Congregational Church in Gorham. He seized with the
strong grasp of his intellect and heart on what are
termed the doctrines of grace. It was at the time
when the religious controversy between Drs. Woods
and Ware was attracting the attention of the christian public, and he was led by his discussions with a
gentleman with whom he boarded, while he kept a
winter school, to study and ponder over the points at
issue and defend what he regarded to be the truth.
He entered college as a christian young man, and always, as an undergraduate, adorned his christian profession. His design and expectation being to enter
the christian ministry, after graduation he spent a
year. at the Andover Seminary. But Providence
otherwise ordered. In 1825, however, he received
license from the Cumberland Association, and for several years preached with acceptance in Brunswick
and neighboring towns. Of late years he has, with
rare exceptions, declined this service, chiefly on account of his want of voice. Many can remember his
discourses as marked by weighty thought, clear exhibition of truth, simplicity and vigor of style, and
earnest and eloquent enforcement of the motives of
the gospel and the issues of life and death.
Of later years it has been plain to all that observed
him, that the heavy discipline of domestic bereave



35
ment and sorrow has tempered and deepened his tone
of piety. None but those intimately associated with
him knew how bitter a cup of affliction he drained
to its dregs. It was affecting to witness the childlike
submission of his spirit in family prayer, in which he
never failed to make mention of his children in their
dispersion, of all afflicted ones, of the College, the
Church, the Nation, a world in sin, of the rest which
remains, and the glories of God's everlasting kingdom
of blessedness and joy. Not long before his departure
he was heard, when walking the room by himself,
humming the hymn, "Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer
to thee."  He requested a member of his family, in
her morning care of the sitting-room, always to leave
the bible on the mantel, that when he came in wearied from his work he might have it at hand to take
down and read as he sat by the fireside. Among his
last sabbath readings was Pilgrim's Progress, particularly the closing chapters of that wonderful allegory,;
and his mind was deeply interested and impressed by
the scene of Standfast crossing the river. And here
was another Standfast in actual life, himself so soon
to receive his summons to cross the river!
Repeatedly within the year he spoke of his day of
labor as drawing to its close; often expressed a doubt
whether he should see the last great work of his life
completed; and often said, that he should not live t
enjoy the new Hall, though his eyes might be glad



36
dened by the sight of its majestic proportions and its
attractive interior and appointments. His last morning, a gentleman from another college called at an
early hour upon him and spent some time in inspecting the plans of the Hall and in conferring with him
on the acoustic properties of the proposed audience
room. At eleven he went out on the ground to meet
a contractor with reference to the foundation work,
and was there seized with severe distress in the breast,
faltered and sat down, pale and ill. The man observed it and told him he ought to go home at once,
offering him assistance, which he however declined.
With great difficulty he reached home, and staggering
with help from one of the family to a lounge threw
himself upon it. After such applications as could be
devised he seemed to be relieved; but remarked that
he believed his work was nearly done. He expressed
a doubt whether he should be able to take the afternoon train for Lewiston, whither he had arranged to
go to inspect a Hall with a view to its dimensions.
He soon came to the conclusion to go to his chamber
and his bed. He walked up stairs unassisted, but at
the top told his son, who was at his side, to hasten as
his strength was fast failing. As soon as possible he
threw himself into the bed; seemed to revive, told his
son that he wished he would go for the afternoon's
mail and to get a liniment for his pain in the chest.
There were indications, that within a few days he had




37
been using a liniment, though no explanation would
he give for what purpose. The son left the room for a
few moments; he was heard to breath heavily; they
hurried to his side; he was unconscious, his eyes were
fixed, and he expired.
His work was indeed done;-a life-work; scarcely'
with intervals, almost without vacations, as he often
said. Yes, done, so far as his living, active, present
energy is involved. But his work lives. He helped
to lay foundations. The influence of such as he, and
in his position, lives through generations. The work
is done and the workman has gone to be seen no more.
Fellow teachers, brothers Alumni, Students, let us
renew our diligence, each in his work, for are we not
taught that we know not when the master will call,
whether at midnight, at the cock-crowing, or in the
morning?








A STUDY
OF
The    tt:ral Schools  of  Maine
BY THE
State Superintendent of Common Schools.
1895.




STATE  OF MAINE.
EDUCATIONAL DEPARTM3ENT,
Augusta, August 1, 1896.
The authorized edition of the Report of this department, for
1895, is exhausted.  There have been so many calls for that
portion of the report describing the condition of the rural schools
that it has been decided to issue these pages of the volume in
pamphlet form for distribution among the teachers and patrons of
the public schools of the State.
W. W. STETSON,
State Superintendent of Comgmon Schools.




A UNIQUE EXAMPLE OF INTERIOR DECORATION.
The rough, bare, unplastered walls changed to an attractive room
by ornaments furnished by the good taste and deft fingers of teacher
and pupil s.








VISITS TO RURAL SCHOOLSS.
GENERAL STATEMENTS.
During the summer and fall of 1895 the state superintendent visited two hundred rural schools in eight different
counties of the State.  This tour was undertaken because it
is believed that the schools cannot be improved until it is
known whatthey are, and that this knowledge can only be
gained by a careful study of the schools themselves. It was
felt that no one had a right to pronounce judgment in so
important a matter except upon the most reliable testimonvy.
On the following blank a record was made of the facts
learned about each teacher and school visited.
NOTES ON SCHOOLS VISITED.
Date............................
Name of teacher....................Age..............
Permanent P. 0. address..............................
Name of school.........Town......... County.........
Length of term.....No. enrolled.......No. present..
She has attended Colmmon Schools....terms.,,,',,            "...Hih.  Graduated...'6 SC   SC    Norlnal   CC'.       C..
Acadcl'y or Sem'y..   ".., ",   "College or Un'ty....years,..,, cc " other schools....... terms,. 
She has taught in Rural Schools.................. terms.,C,,,,  Primnary ".................. 
Grammar ".................
CL cc  (c  Normllal   c..................




4
She has taught in  High  Schools..................terms.,,,c          6,  Academy  or  Seminary............ ",,,            C,, other  schools.....................,,c,,  C         this  school...................... "
List of books she has read  on Pedagogy.................
Names of educational papers and magazines she is reading................................   I...........
Number of visits by  Superintendent.....................
"c " S. S. Committee......................
C;;'      parents..............................
She is a member of the following educational associations...
O.......... ~ ~ ~  ~. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~.  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~.. ~ ~.  O
Number of meetings attended  within  the  year.............
She has attended Summer School............ terms.
How  was Reading   taught?............................
" Spellinug "..................,, Penmanship............................'     Number''...o................
"      Geographv............................
" History                 "............................'Language..................;      Physiology............................
i,  Book-keeping  taught?........................
" Civics                          "...............
I6 Music...............'      Drawing                   c,........................'      Map Drawing                "........................
Number of books in library............................
Number of papers and  magazines in  library...............
List of apparatus.....................................
o       ~  ~ ~ ~...............,.....,,,..o................
Kind  of house................... Condition............
" desks................... ~~~~~~~~~~~ 
" outhouses............,. ~ ~~~~~~~~ 
gounds.................  "............




Kind of fences................... Condition............,, ventilation...............Value.............
Was the room tidy?..............
Was the room attractive?..........
What has the teacher done in these directions.............
Strongest point about the teacher.......................
Weakest        "     "......... 
Strongest feature in the work.......................
Weakest    "............. 
Does the school pay?............Vhy?................
It will be noticed that this outline is so complete that two
hundred of these documents furnish sufficient data for averages which may be trusted to tell the story as to what the
schools are.  It is believed that a careful study of so large a
number of schools, representing the extreme limits of the
State, and including some of the sparsely settled sections, as
well as the oldest portions, furnishes facts for a reliable estimate of what the best schools are doing, and of the condition
and work of the "poor" schools in different sections of the
State.
No attempt will be made in this report to give a detailed
statement of the work found in the best schools, nor will
extended comments be made on what was seen in the average
school that deserved commendation.  The statements found
in another section of this report must suffice in these particulars.  While the general object of these visits was to learn
what the schools are, still the particular purpose was to ascertain the facts which would enable the visitor to give a detailed
description of those schools in which incompetent teachers
were found, and to offer some suggestions as to the methods
by which they may be improved. It is to be understood that
the criticisms found beldw apply, in full, only to those schools




6
which are ranked as "poor" or'6Very poor."  They are true
only in a limited sense of those which are rated as'"fair,"''gooC" 01or "excellent."
I wish the above paagragraph might be re-read each time the
reader comes to any new description of poor teachinT.
Of the schools visited six per cent. are ranked as 9"excellent," twenty-one per cent. as "'ood," thirty-twvo per cent. as
"fair," and forty-one per cent. as "poor" or "very poor." These
terms are used to represent the different kinds of schools
found and to arrange them in classes so that they may be conveniently referred to in the subsequent portions of this report.
In my comments onl the teachers and the work they are
doing I wish to say, at the outset, that in point of scholarship,
in quality of methods, and in the thoroughness of the work
done, I found teachers who compare favorably with those
who rank highest in our graded schools.  They know the
facts they are required to teach and are familiar with the
subjects in which they should give instruction. They emphasized the essentials and gave but little time to the nonessentials. They were conversant with the work done in the
best schools and it was clear that their methods were the
result of reading, study, observation, adoption, adaptation.
They possessed unusual energy, strong personality and great
power of control.  They despatched the details of the work
expeditiously and quietly.  Their manners indicated culture
and breeding.  The mental and moral atmosphere of the
school was inspiring and wholesome.
The above sentences fairly express my judgment as to these
teachers and their work.  Htaving said this much in commendation I feel- free to state, with equal frankness, other facts,
which I regret it becomes my duty to place in this record.
For this report to be of value to the State, or service to the
teachers, it must be based on facts which fairly represent the
condition of the schools inspected.
It is a matter of some interest to note that no one portion
of the State has all of the good schools, and that no one sec



~     111iiii iiii~   i  ~.
ii~!iiiiiiiii?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~........i,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..............e~e  ~ le~~~ ~~
~~~~  ~~~~~~'~~~~~~~~~~:~~~~~~-:-:` —-:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-~~~~~~:-i —-— ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~::-::::;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ —----
i~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~i'ell'l'~ll~l~e~~~~~~~~~!~,.....i
~ ~ ~     ~      ~     ~      ~     ~    ~     ~    ~::li~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.....................
~~~~~~~~:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.....
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i. 3:I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i I~~.........
"I        i?                                                                                                                                     ar,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~......... 
icliil                                                                                d~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.............   








tion is suffering from all the poor schools, but that the good
and the poor are about evenly distributed.
Some of the best were discovered in what might properly
be called "back districts."  It is also true that some, which
were ranked as "'very poor," were found within a few miles of
the larger centers of population. These facts have both their
encouraging and discouraging aspects.  It is encouraging  to
know that there are no sections so far in advance of all the
others that any need be discouraged by the contrast.  It is
gratifying to find that some of the best schools are maintained
in parts of the State where apparently there are but few things
to assist in making a model school.
It is discouraging to know that there are communities in all
parts of the State that are so little interested in their children as to be willing  to tolerate such teaching as to clearly
indicate that parents, teachers, and children are destitute of
the desire to have schools which can be of any service to them.
It is as astonishing as it is discouraging to see teachers in
our schools who claim to be graduates of institutions of considerable standing, who cannot pronounce familiar words
correctly, or give the children any information in regard to
matters which come within the range of their observation or
experience.  They cannot read intelligibly, they  cannot
speak or write grammatically in continued discourse, and they
know comparatively little about the facts contained in the
text-books used. In a word, they are grossly and densely
ignorant.
Any one who is familiar with school work knows that it is
possible for students to graduate from an institution of a high
grade and yet be unfit in point of scholarship to take charge
of any school.  They have neither the capacity nor the desire
to master the studies which they have pursued, but by some
skill, which would do credit to persons of greater ability,
they have worried their way through the course and secured
their diplomas, while in point of attainment they are not
scholars, in any sense of that term.




8
It is to be regretted that some of our higher schools are
willing to allow students to enter their classes and take the
sciences and advanced work in language and mathematics,
when the instructors in charge of these institutions know that
they have little knowledge of the common English branches.
It is hoped that the time is not far distant when the examinations for admission to our secondary schools will be of
such a character as to force candidates to have a reasonable
mastery of the studies pursued in the common schools before
they are allowed to take this more advanced work. The
authorities of these schools should protect themselves and the
common schools by insisting upon a rigid examination in the
common English branches before students are admitted to
their regular courses.
One is shocked to see glaring advertisements of some
favorite brand of tobacco in so many of our school-rooms. It
is not easy to understand why a teacher is willing, either to
bring such pictorial illustrations into her school, or allow them
to. remain if found there.  It is vastly better to leave the
walls bare than to have them covered with pictures which will
interest children in things about which they should not be
thinking, or will place objectional matters in such a light as
to give them a tacit approval.
If it is impossible for the teacher to provide pictures of
merit she would better not make the mistake of disfiguring'
the walls of the school-room with advertisements of a questionable character. When reproductions of some of the finest
works of art can be bought at a nominal price, the excuse
that one cannot obtain good pictures is seldom a legitiimate
one. The fact that children are so vitally influenced in their
tastes, judgments and conduct by things placed before them
in a pictorial form justifies one in speaking decidedly on this
subject.
The fact that there are so few children in the common
schools over thirteen years of age should alarm all who believe
that the safety of the republic depends on the education of




6~~~~~~~
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the citizen.  Eighty-seven per cent. of all the children found
in the schools visited were under the age named above. This
fact means that children are leaving school at a much younger
age than formerly.  As far as could be learned, those who
have left school are not attending other or higher schools.
The tendency to leave school and engage in some work, or
waste the time in idleness, is increasing, each year.  If these
tendencies are allowed to control the children, the rural
schools will soon be made up of pupils who belong in the
primary grades only.  T'he law provides that all persons
between five and fifteen years of age shall attend school for at
least sixteen weeks each year.  It is evident that this law is
evaded in a large number of instances.  It is not necessary to
state that it is of the highest importance that school committees and truant officers see that this law is enforced.
It was gratifying to find some schools with so large an attendance.  One school in Cherryfield, Washington county, had
seventy-two pupils enrolled and sixty-nine present.  In this
school there were only ten pupils over thirteen years of age.
The record shows that the average attendance in the schools
visited was twenty-one, the average length of the terms was
ten weeks and the average age of the pupils was between nine
and ten years.
These figures, considered in connection with other facts,
indicate that the weakest place in our schools is not in
the number attending any one school, but in the fact that
pupils leave school before they have had time to acquire the
elements of an English education.  It is not possible for the
average child to so master the subjects taught in our common
schools, before he is thirteen years of age, as to give him the
education he will need in performingn the duties which fall to
the lot of the average citizen.
TEACHERS.
The criticisms found in this section of the report are to be
undlerstood as applying in full to those teachers who are
ranked as"'poo'r" or 9"very poor."




I()
There is a feeling on the part of some patrons of the public
schools that many of the teachers of the State are too young
to be able to perform  properly the duties devolving upon
them.  The statistics collected during these visits show that
the age of the youngest teacher found in charg'e of a school
was fifteen years, the oldest forty years.  The average ague
was between twenty-four and twenty-five years, and a comparatively small number was found under twenty years of
aoge.  These figures make it clear that this criticisml  on
teachers is not well founded.
But the record reveals an educational and professional
standard which is to be deplored.  Fifty-two per cent. of the
teachers visited acquired all the education they have in the
common schools.  Thirty-eight per cent. have attended academies or seiminaries for about one year.  Ten per cent. are
graduates of normal or training schools, academies, seminaries
or high schools of a standard g'rade.   It was disappointing
and discouraging to learn that only twenty-three per cent. of
the teachers have read or are reading works on teaching, and
that about an equal per cent. have read or are reading educational papers or maoazines.  Less than thirty per cent. are
attendants on the meetings of any educational association.
It is not encouraginog to have to make record of the fact
that ninety-four per cent. of these teachers have taught only
in district schools.  These figures show a lack of experience
that helps to explain many criticisms muade on the work done
by so large a per cent. of these teachers.
While it is true that some of the teachers who are superior
scholars were inferior instructors, it is also true that no
teacher was discovered who was deficient in scholarship who
was successful as an instructor.  In this particular, at least,
the theory held by leading educators and the facts as found in
the school-room agree.  There have been times when people
believed if a teacher had muscle enough to subdue the big,
boys and frighten the small ones, he was fit to teach the
averag'e district school, although he might be as innocent
of scholarship as his instruction was destitute of usefulness.




11
It would be impossible to convey to any one, who is not
famliliar with the facts, a full appreciation of the extent to
which some teachers are ignorant of the matter contained in the
text-books from which they are supposed to give instruction.
But a small number are familiar with subjects outside of the
text-books, while those who have an appreciative knowledge
of the forms of nature by which they are surrounded, the
events or the persons who have made or are umakiling history,
are so rarely seen as to attract attention when found.
It is mortifving' to the visitor to see so little ability to
devise new iways of conducting the recitation, to use new
illustrations and explanations, and give a larger and more
intelligent view and conception of the lessons.
In not a few schools there was little to indicate that the
teacher had any special place of beginning the work, or any
reasons for beginning at the place where she did.  The lessons were assigned without any apparent thought, attention
or care as to the assignment.  The recitation, too often, was
simply a stupid recital of woidcs in which the teacher did a
large part of the work, and the pupils divided the suffering
with the visitor.  There was little to indicate an assured grasp
of the subject discussed, or an intelligent comprehension of
the thought expressed.  There was no evidence that any
lnethocl was being used, and in many cases the fact that there
is such a thing as a method did not seem to have dawned upon
the teacher.   One teacher asked what was meant by this
word "methods" she heard used so often recently.
A  few things have come to be accepted by intelligent
people who have attended the public schools, who believe in
them and who make a study of their work.  It is their decision that no one is fitted to take charge of the education of
children who has not mastered the facts which she is expected
to teach, and that in addition to this knowledge, professional
training and experience are' needed to make the best teacher.
It is to be regretted that these simple facts, which are so
generally known, are so little influential in the selection of




12
teachers.  It is passing strangle that superintending school
conmittees and superintendents are willing to employ teachers without attempting to ascertain if they have any of this
fitness to teach.
It should be understood that the teachers are not entirely
to blame for their incompetency.  Many of thei have been
trained in schools of the same character as those they are
"keeping;" they have been urged to take charge of schools
before they were fitted to do so, and they have been tolerated
in school when they and those who employed them knew they
were not doing satisfactory work.  The attempt to place all
this responsibility on the teachers is to do an injustice
without helping' to correct a serious evil.
The State will have good teachers when parents and school
officials demand more preparation for the work and better
teaching.  As long as superintendents are willing to employ
the teacher who will work for the lowest salary, so lonog will
a large number of incompetent teachers be employed.  If
parents would cordially assist in consolidating, schools, these
officials would feel justified in paying reasonable salaries, and
they would exercise greater care in assuring themselves that
the teachers employed are fitted by nature, training and
experience to teach a school of a quality that will win the
approval of an intelliigent and progressive community.
But it is only just to state that all of the incompetent teachers
are not to be charged to the common schools.  Some who have
received all of their training in these schools show a very fair
grade of scholarship, while those who have "been through"
institutions which are supposed to specially fit them for their
work exhibit a lack of knowledge which seems incredible.
The virility of the children is sapped by the practice of
so many teachers who are trying to do the work for the
children, instead of being willing  to think sufficiently to
induce the children to do the work themselves.   Usually
it is a small matter for a teacher to solve a problem  and
give a crude analysis of the work done, but it is quite a
different thing to have the children ask and answer such




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13
questions as will compel them  to think out the solution.
There is but slight appreciation of the fact that it is a
sacred duty which the school owes the pupils to furnish
such training as will make it a pleasure for them to work,
think, dig.
The visitor is impressed with the extent to which teachers
and children fail to appreciate the fact that books talk about
real things, about men and women who have lived, forms of
nature that surround them and things that have happened.
In many schools, books are used in such a way as to warrant
the feeling that they treat of a different world, and have to
do with something entirely separate and apart from the life
and experience of the teacher or the child.
It is pitiful to see the extent to which children are rendered
torpid, stupid, incapable of intellectual or emotional activity
by being forced to say things which they do not understand,
to study and recite technical terms and definitions, which are
beyond their comprehension.
The average child cannot think in the la(nguage of the
average text-book.  In spite of this fact, he is required to
commit to memory and recite words, year after year, when
the recitation means nothing but a slavish (grind.  The child
infers from his experience that what is said in books has
nothing, whatever to do with the men, or things with which
he comes in contact.
It is strange that teachers will permit children to interrupt
and render practically useless the recitation, by allowing pupils
who should be studying, to ask help in finding answers to the
simplest questions in their lessons.
In too many schools there wvas a stream of pupils from the
desks to the teacher, and from the teacher to the desks, askintg foolish questions, questions which the children could
themselves answer with a little study, and  which when
answered by the teacher are of no benefit to them  whatever.
The extent to which the children are injured by all this
blundering is manifest in their lack of the power of applica



14
tion, the ability to study out things unaided by others; and
these facts account for their l)eiln  limp, careless, helpless,
heedless.
One is shocked to see the manifestations of boorishness,
clownishness, slovenliness, which a teacher will permit in her
presence without comment, certainly without reproof.  There
is but little evidence that the children have yet been inspired
to want to do better than they are doing.
One can but be impressed with the frequency with which
he hears teachers speaking in loud, shrill, harsh tones, a key
much above the natural one, and with a force entirely disproportionate to the demands made upon the voice.
Many teachers are not careful enough in their manners, in
their intercourse with the children.  Their tone, appearance
and carriage are not always creditab)le to an instructor. They
do not seem to realize that their personality may count for
much in helping the children to better ideas and ideals of life
and living.
PUPILS.
It is difficult to convince the public of the extent of the
ignorance of pupils in the schools which are ranked as ",poor"
or "very poor" about things with which they come in daily
contact.  One can hardly realize that it is possible for children to cultivate and handle flowers all their lives, to  stul)
their toes evely day against rocks, to care for animals regularly, without knowing something about what they are, and
having some appreciation of their beauty and usefulness.
They are equally ignorant concerning the men and women
who have attained distinction in New England.  Who they
are, what they have done, the character and value of their
services, are things which have never come within the rangye
of their reading  or instruction.  The blank stare which
mantles their faces when they are questioned concerning these
matters is painful to witness.
In their regular work they are allowed to stumble through
sentences of which they have no comprehension, guess at




15
answers and becolme dazed and lost in a labyrinth of mysteries
of which they have but the slightest knowledle.  The recitations are vague, blunderiing, unintelligible, because they are
unintelligent attempts to talk about things of which they
know but little, in terms of which they know less.  That
they fail to add to the child's stock of ideas or increase his
store of facts is not strange.  They have not been trained to
see, discriminate, contrast or compare.  They cannot speak
or write. English with facility, correctness or force.
The extent to which teachers permit children to speak in
indistinct, drawling', mumbling, hesitating' tones is surprising.
A laroge proportion of them  close their sentences with the
rising inflection, as much as to say, "Have I given the correct answer?"  Alany of the questions are so worded that the
child can answer them by yes or no, and he is often allowed
to guess twice on each question.
In mlany cases the teacher, after askino' a question, will state
the answer, and ask the pupil if his answer does not agree
with hers.  It is not necessary to pronounce judgment on
such teaching; it condemns itself.
There is not that evidence of self-respect and desire to excel
on the part of the children which it was hoped would be seen.
They are not only lacking in these thingos, but they are wanting in grasp, tenacity, power to assimilate thought, and indicate that they have not done the work and carried the responsibility which develop fiber and vigor.  They are unwilling
to apply themselves and are willing to be dependent upon
others.  They show a lack of resolution, strelngth, sturdiness,
and are blind and deaf to sights and sentiments of b)eauty.
They are wanting' in alertness and accuracy and are deficient
in eagerness, enterprise, ambition.
When the visitor looks at the reverse side of the shield,
he i iimpressed with the energetic, wide awake, progressive
quality of the children who are found in rural schools which
are in charge of competent teachers.  They are not always
courteous, and are sometimes wanting   in thoughtfulness.




16
They. frequently speak in tones that grate on your ears and
are not always careful about the way they stand, sit, or
walk. They are frequently boisterous, sometimes a little
coarse, occasionally rude, but seldom vulgar. Even a brief
study of them and their work will convince any one that their
eyes are open, that their minds are receptive and acquisitive,
and that their hearts and heads are being attuned and trained
to see and enjoy beauty in life, literature and art.
It is not necessary to visit many schools to discover that
there is no class of people in the State who can be more benefited by physical training, than the children in the country
schools. They have to engage in manual labor in such a way
as to develop strength of muscle without giving a correspondinog ease and grace of movement.  Such physical exercises
should be given as will enable a child to gain absolute control of his muscles.  If a child can do this, he has an advantage over his untrained companion which can be appreciated
only by those who have attempted to make their way in the
world'amongo men and women of refinement and culture.
There never was a time when grace and ease of movement
were not useful.  The present makes larger demands in this
direction than any previous time. As the children of to-day
are to be the men and women of to-morrow, and are to associate more largely with all classes than any previous generation, the importance of this matter cannot be overstated.
The rapid introduction of improved means of transportation will not only permit, but make it necessary for people
living in the remotest parts of the State to come into immediate
contact and intimate association with people from all parts of
the world.  To meet these larger requirements satisfactorily
the children must get from the. common schools something
more and something better than they are receiving to-day.
Many children have an unwise and unreasoning ambition.
They feel that if they are reading in the sixth reader, recitinog from the large geography and struggling with the intricacies of cube root, they are being educated.  Many pupils




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17
in the rural schools are floundering in these subjects, who
should be studying the third reader, m'astering fractions and
learning the geography of their own State.  It is a great
mistake to allow children to attempt work which their previous trainin   d and  present abilities do not fit them to study.
These mistakes account for the unwelcome facts that they
are wanting in thoroughness, lacking in application and destitute of the power of comprehension. And much of this
disgrace is due to the feeling that the book the children study
and not what is learned is the all important matter.
Children must be led to see that it is necessary for them
to master the studies assigned to the common school course
in order to be fitted for the duties and responsibilities of life;
that they must be able to read understandingly, write intelliiibly, talk with ease and cipher with certainty; that they
must be able to,appreciate the beauty and the wisdom of the
works of art of some of the masters, whether they be given
them  in the form of pictures or poems.
It would be unjust to close this section of the report without malking record of the fact that in the schools of Northeastern Aroostook the boys and girls are noticeably courteous.
WVhenever a visitor enters the school-room, the pupils rise in
their places, and after bowing, remain standingo until a sitgnal
firom  him  gives them  permission to sit.  Whenever and
wherever met, outside of the school-room, the boys lifted
their hats and the girls courtesied.  All these things were
done with an ease and grace which show that they inherit the
instinct from their parents, and that they have been carefully
trained in the home and at school.  When the majolity of
the people of a community are thoughtful and courteous, it is
simply yielding to an unconscious impulse that makes the
children conform to the forms and usages of good society.
ARITHMETIC.
The work in arithmetic in forty-three per cent. of the
schools is characterized by a senseless committing and reciting
2




18
of rules, and an unreasoning explanation of problems, with
little or no attempt to connect this work with the daily experiences of the children.  Much of the work consists of puzzles
to be guessed, and analyses which were parrot-like recitals of
words that would convey as much meaning if their order were
reversed.
Too much work is assigned for each lesson.  Not enough
is done in the way of illustrating, explaining, testinog the
principles taught.  When the lesson is assigned and the
words are recited, it is assumed that the work in done.  The
children are grossly deficient in their knowledge of the four
fundamental rules and common and decimal fractions.  They
do not understand the principles, they cannot apply them
and they are lamentably lacking in the ability to perform the
processes.
In most of the schools but little time is given to mental
arithmetic. The average child is dependent on his book,
his pencil and his slate in solving the simplest problems.  If
he is asked to multiply 25 by 5 he laboriously works out the
result on his slate. Teachers fail to understand that at least
one-third of the time given to this subject should be devoted
to mental arithmetic; that the children during this recitation
should not be supplied with books; that the teacher should
read the problem, the pupil should repeat it, solve it and
give a simple, intelligible analysis, and that during all this
time he should rely entirely upon his memory for his facts
and his mental processes for his results.  Such training will
develop the memory and power of concentration, and give
speed and accuracy in the work.
In many of the schools but little time is spent on the work
which gives the child a clear idea of number and of its simple
combinations.  But few  children are so taught that they
know what 1, 2, 3 and 4 are.  They do not seem to conlprehend their values, or what purposes they serve.  The Grub6
system of developing the idea of number is used in but few
schools.  The child is left to think of figures as hieroglyphics
Zn           Zn




19
the mleaning of which it is not a part of his business to know.
He stumbles through the fundamental rules and is pulled
through fractions without knowingo much about them, and
passes on to work in percentage and square and cube roots,
and with these he struggles and flounders for years.  The
solution of simple, practical examples which are within his
comprehension, and that have to do with his daily life, is a
form  of work thtat does not seem  to have occurred to the
teacher, or come within the experience of the child,
Great changes must be made in this matter of instruction
in arithmetic.  The work in the four fundamental rules, fractions and the simple application of percentage must be so
thoroughly done that the children can add columns of figures as
easily as they can read a line of print, perform the combinations
as rapidly as they are announced, combine fractions as readily
as whole numbers and use percentage as familiarly as they do
the addition tables. Parents, teachers and children must come
to appreciate the fact that these are the topics in arithmetic
for which they w ill have the greatest use in life, and that fiom
the study of these they can gain as much power as from any
part of the subject.  When a child has finished arithmetic, he
should be able to perform all the combinations with speecd
and accuracy, he should be able to apply all of the principles
learned and formulae,given in the ordinary experiences of
life, ancd he should be able to use what he has learned in an
intelligent, intelligible manner.
The objects to be sought in teaching arithnzetic are the
ability to understand and the power to use.  The child must
first be taught the significance and value of the symbols
which he uses, and then he must be so instructed as to be able
to combine these readily and accurately.
He should begin to reason as soon as he has acquired a sufficient store of facts and such a imastery of principles as wvill
enable him to derive benefit from the process.




20
READING.
One realizes what a school is not doino when he heairs
pupils and teachers saying Edinburg for Edinboyo', asslumn
for asylum, Cy-clees for Cyclades, im-pi'-ous for im'-pi-ous,
re'-cess (intermission) for re-cess'. stip-u-lees for stip-ules,
ep-i-tome for e-pit'-o-me, es-cen-tric for ec-cen-tric, and so
on through a list that might be extended to almost any limit.
Some teachers and most pupils do not know  how to use a
dictionary.  The diacritical marks, the marks of accent and
the hyphen are cabalistic symbols which convey no meaning
to them.  They do not know the names or values of these
characters and therefore do not know how to apply them to a
given word.  They do not seem to realize that the words in a
dictionary are arranged according to their spellings.  The
ability to use a dictionary efficiently is limited to a comparatively small number of the pupils in the public schools, a
much smaller number than many people suppose.
In forty-five per cent. of the schools the recitations in reading, were exercises in pronouncing words without an intelligent attempt to discover their meanincg, beauty or force.
The thought, and the skill with which it is expressed, are items
which did not seem to interest the children and this conception of reading had not yet dawned upon the teacher.  They
failed to get ideas from the words, the sentences, or paragraphs.  They could not see the pictures painted in poems,
the portraits sketched in selections, and there was no appreciation of the richness of the thought of the author.  They
failed to feel the warm life that throbbed in his words alnd
burned in his sentences. It was a monotonous, profitless grind.
The children did not realize that what they were reading had to
do with anything which had been, or anything that existed at
the present, or anything that was to exist in the future. They
seemed to think, so far as they thougoht atall, that it was something outside of their relations and interests. It did not touch
their lives, oratinylife at any point. It was unsympathetic,want



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21
ing in joy, destitute of human interests. It was dreary, heavy,
laborious.  It was weariness to the teachers, drudgery to the
chilcren and productive of imbecility to both.  Some of the
masterpieces of English were read in such a way as to give
none of the zest, inspiration, breadth of view, range of vision,
grasp of thought and inspiring and toning' influence which
are redolent in these selections.
Children fail to sense things.  They do not see the beauty,
the force, the impressiveness of the selection studied, or the
means used to express them.  There are no poems in pictures,
no pictures in poems for them.  They fail to hear as well as
to see.
In some cases children seem  to have the power to call
words rapidly and easily, without being able to grasp the
thought expressed.  The ability to convey in their tones
some suggestion of the thought which the selection contains
is something which they have not realized can be done.
For a teacher to reveal to a pupil the beauties, wisdom and
inspiration of literature, she must have an appreciation of and
love for literature.  Its force, beauty, richness, strength
must appeal to her and not appeal in vain. She must possess
the artistic instinct, the ability to see and express, and have
breadth of vision and power of appreciation.  The most the
average child needs is simply to be introduced to things, but
for an introduction to be of any service, to result in any help
to him, it must be given by one who fathoms the thing introducecl.
It is the silent, subtle, immaterial quality of the teacher
that is most influential with the child.  It is this quality
which moulds, guides and controls him long after the teacher
has ceased to instruct.  These are the things that are hardest
to put into words, but are most potent in life.
LANGUAGE.
It is difficult to describe the work done in Language in the
schools classed as "ppoor," or''very poor."  As far as could




22
be ascertained the efforts of the teacher were limited to askinyg the questions found in the book and listening to recitals
of the words of the text.  The extent of the work was narrower than the book used.  There was little or no attempt
made to have the children talk about the subjects studied.
Incorrect forms of speech used by the children did not attract
the attention of the teacher, at least, no attempt was made to
correct them, and the knowledge of the pupils in this subject
did not make it possible for them  to tell in what the errors
of a faulty construction consisted, nor enable them  to give
the correct form.  The study period was evidently devoted
to memorizing' definitions and rules.
That this study should assist the pupils in enlarging their
vocabularies, or help them in the correct use of language did
not seem to be thought of.  The pupils were not asked to
talk, or write about things of which they had some definite
knowledge.  No attempt was made to reveal to them  the
force, beauty, or peculiar meaning of words.  As a rule,
words were not subjects for study, but symbols, the value of
which they sometimes understood, but more frequently did
not.  Sentences were collections of words the significance
and force of which they sometimes realized, but usually failed
to apprehend.
The work in grammar failed to assist the children in writing and speaking in continuous sentences with ease, force
and propriety.   Much of the written and oral work was
characterized by elliptical, ungrammatical and  meaningless sentences.  It was not definite, accurate, helpful,
nor did it train the children in the fine choice of words,
happy forms of expression, and striking sentences which
characterize clear thinking, interesting tallking' and attractive
writing.  The time was almost entirely devoted to a study
about language instead of practice in language. The meagerness of the children's vocabularies was painful to witness.
They knew but few words and these they seemed to know
more throuoh an act of the melnory than through any proper
comprehension of their leaning.




23
This subject can never be taught successfully unless the
teacher is able to select the root, prefix and sufix of words,
and give the meaning of each and combine them in such a
way as to express the thought which the word conveys.  The
children must be so directed and assisted in their observations of and talks about things that they will develop the
ability to see, know and express, in the happiest way, the
idea which their study has given them.  It takes years of
training to fit one to select and arrange the words which will
clearly described and forcibly voice the thing seen, heard, or
thougoht by the speaker.  In its written form more attention
imust be given, not only to the construction of the sentence,
but to its mlechanical features.  Indenting and parag'raphing,
the use of capital letters and marks of punctuation should be
taught, by having the children use them properly in all their
written work.  When pupils are prepared for the high school
they should be able to talk and write intelligently about any
subject of which they have an accurate knowledg'e.
The best work in languauge will be done when it is taught
in every grade, in every recitation during the entire course;
when all lessons are lessons in language; when the teacher
uses correct and vigorous English, and is able to train the
children to do likewise.
There is, in the common schools, no study which yields so
slight a return for the time devoted to it as the subject of
grammar.  It is often disliked by the pupils, dreaded by the
teacher and firequently a mortification to the visitor.  If it is
ever to be raised to the plane it should occupy, the teacher
must fit herself thoroughly for the work and must help the
children to such a command of langruagge as comes only from
observation, reading, study, practice.
GEOGRAPHY.
The most of the time devoted to geography is spent in
learning the location of small towns, insignificant rivers and
unimportant mountains, capes, bays, etc. Much time is given




24
to the geography of Africa and Asia and the Islands of the
Sea.  But few  teachers nzake any use of the fact that the
most of the physical phenomena of the world are found within
the immediate vicinity of the school-rooms in which they
teach.  To make a diagram of the school-room, a picture of
the school-house, a map of the school yard, town and county
has not vet occurred to the average teacher. But few teachers make a careful study of the location of the objects in the
school-room, school-house and school yard.  Children read,
talk and recite about islands, lakes rivers and mountains,
without realizing what these things are, or discovering that
they have in their immediate vicinity small islands, tiny
rivers and low hills.
The teacherl should make a careful study of the boundaries
of the town in which she is teaching, its physical features,
the industries followed by the people, the places of note or
interest, and all those items which go to make up the history and present condition of the community.  The schoolroom is an epitome of the town, the town of the county, the
county of the state and the state of the nation.  The county
and state should be studied in the same general way as the
town has been.  These should be followed by a careful study
of the United States and Europe, and then something should
be learned of the general features of Africa and Asia.
Beginning at home lead the children to learn about things
in the vicinity of the school, then aid them in getting adequate
ideas of things at a distance.  By this plan they will be able
to understand and appreciate what they study, because they
will have something at hand with which they may compare,
contrast and measure the thing studied.
HISTORY.
A large part of the time devoted to the study of history is
given to committing to memory unimportant dates and
describing and locating  unimportant events.  History is
taught in such a way that children fail to comprehend that it




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25
is siluply a record of past efforts.  They somehow get the
idea that the men who have lived, the things that have been
done, belong to another and a different world.  They do not
understand that we are making history in the present, that it
does not deal entirely with the plast. Too much timle is oiven
to details, and not enough to studying great events-the causes
producing them and the results flowing from them. None of the
teache'rs seemed to have made a careful study of the men who
have given color to history. Who they were, who their ancestors were, when they were born, where they,were born, the
schools they attended, the experiences through which they
passe(l, their vocations, their avocations, the influence which
they exerted, the things they have tried to do and failed to
do, the things they have succeeded in doing'; their quality,
character, personality, strength, weaknesses; their talent,
genius; the ways in which they have served the world, the
wvays in which they have injured the world, occupy but little
of their time and less of their thoufght.
If one knows the ogreat events and great men of the past,
he is able to stand upon mountains from  whose summits he
canll survey the surrounding country. The details will cluster
around these men and these events so that he can see the
genesis, the relations, the harmony, the progress of history;
he can see where we started, along what roads we have colle,
what point we have reached and in what direction we are
going.
When studied in this way history means something, says
something.  It becomes an inspiration, an aspiration.  It
develops, it strengthens, it moulds, it purifies.  Taught in
the usual way it is dwarfing, benulmbing, stupefying; it gives
the children false ideas of men, wrong, ideas of events and
paralyzes where it should inspire.  To teach history in this
better way the teacher must have a love for, an appreciation
of the subject.  She must know  something more thain a list
of dates, a catalogue of names, an outline of events.  She
must know something, of the philosophy and range of history;
in a word, she must have the instincts of the historian.




26
SPELLING AND PENIANSHIP.
It is very gratifying to be able to state that the work in
oral and written spelling and penmanship was fairly credit:tble, when the ages and training of the pupils are taken into
consideration.  This statement contradicts the aIccepted theories concerning these two studies.
BOOKIS AND MIATERIAL FOR SUPPLEMIENTARY WORK.
Of the schools visited but a small number were supplied
with books for supplementary work in any of the studies. It
cannot fairly be said that any of the schools had a sufficient
collectionl of books to justify one in dignifyino' it by the name
of a library.  It is to be regretted that not a single school of
all those visited was supplied, or had supplied itself, with
papers or magazines for the pupils to read in connection with
their regular work.
About ninety per cent. of the schools were supplied with
nlaps, some of them of recent issue, most of them so old as
to be practically valueless.  About fifty per cent. had some
kind of a chart, either the Complete Chart or a language chart.
About one-half of these were of an issue that made them of
some service to the schools.
Any one who is at all familiar with this workl must see that
the schools are fatally defective in certain lines because they
are not supplied with books and papers for the pupils to read,
or charts, maps, globes and simple apparatus for illustrating
the regular work.
While it is unwise to spend a large sum of llloney at any
one time for material of this kind, yet it is the highest wisdom
to buy some inexpensive helps which will give the schools an
opportunity to do sollethingo outside and beyond wVhat can be
done with text-books alone.  No school can do reasonably
creditable work unless it is supplied with some of these
things.  Books are so cheap that a few may be furnished for
each school at a small expense, and these may be passed
from one school to alnother, and in this way all the pupils




27
may have the benefit of all the books purchased by the town.
Superintendents would render their schools a great service
by purchasing cheap editions of the English classics instead
of buying so many fourth, fifth and sixth readers.  The
expense would be much less to the town if this plan were
follow ed and the. opportunities for the pupils would be vastly
increased.
It is hoped that this question will be carefully considered,
and such steps taken as will remedy the evils which exist in
these particulars.
GENERAL ITEMS.
These visits revealed some startling facts.  In on3ly two
per cent. of the schools is instruction given in book-keeping;
in four per cent. civics are  studied; in about an equal
per cent. instruction in music and drawing' is given; in
thirty-two per cent. mlap drawing is used, and in less than
five per cent. an intelligent attempt is made to have the children learn something about plants, minerals and animals.
Teachers are required by law to give instruction in civics,
and in physiology and hygiene, with special reference to the
evil effects of alcohol and narcotics.  It has come to be an
accepted fact that instruction in music and drawing is necessary
to the best work in the other branches.  There are but few successful teachers who try to teach geography without using mapcdrawing to a greater or less extent; not the elaborate pictures,
which were formerly made, consisting' of shivering coast lines
and delicately tinted political divisions, but an outline showinog
the boundaries, rivers, mountains and cities of the section
studied, all of which mlay be drawn by the pupil in much less
time than he could describe orally, what he indicates by his
picture.
SUMMIARY.
One has not enumerated all the evils found in the schools
which are ranked as "poor" or "very poor" when he has
reported that the teachers are deficient in education, ignorant




28
of modern methods and lacking, in personality.  And one has
not completed the list, when he has added to these serious
charg'es the money  spent in paying, their salaries and the
other expenses incident to maintaining the schools.  Nor is
the catalogue completed, when one has joined to all these
items of expenses and to this list of horrors the fact that the
children have wasted the most precious and susceptible years of
their lives. The serious charge is found in the false ideas which
children get of what a school should be, the ba.d habits which
they form and the dwarfing, and in too many cases, the
quenching of the student spirit in the child.
If a child has a teacher in whom he has confidence, for
whom he has respect, and in whose presence he rejoices; if
she unconsciously mioulds and inspires him to do and to be
something worthy, then the school makes it possible for the
child to imalke the most of the best in hinm.
For these things not to be done means a failure more disastrous than many people can realize.  For themi to be done
means a blessing richer than any lifetime of success can measure.  These are matters of which the teacher, school officials
-and palents need to think and think seriously.  For any of
these parties to be responsible for these evils on the one hand
is to be responsible for a crime.  For all these parties to
bring about the advantages which come from  the other conditions is to do a work, the value of which can never be
estimated.
The facts stated in connection with these visits to the rural:schools of Maine may seem harsh to those who are not familiar
with the conditions which exist in othier states.  But after
visiting and studying the rural schools of five states, representing different sections of the Union, and two countries in
Europe, it is only just to say that these criticisms apply with
substantially equal force to those schools as to our own. This
fact should not comfort or encourage us, but rather stimulate
us to correct the eNvils which we find in our own communities.




C   
8:::::::.^








29
YARDS.
Sixty-five per cent. of the school buildings visited are
located so near the road, and the yards are so small that the
children are forced to use the public highway for playgrounds.  Fifteen per cent. have yards froin fifty to sixty
feet square; ten per cent. have yards about one hundred feet
square; five per cent. have still larger yards, and about five
per cent. have no limits to their yards which the visitor could
discover.
Not over five per cent. of all the yards are enclosed by
suitable fences.  In about the samle number trees have been
planted or flowers cultivated.  It is evident to the most
casual observer that in most cases the lots, on which school
buildings have been erected, were selected without any special
reference to their beauty or healthfulness; that the matter of
size did not enter into the calculation in the selection of these
lots, and the necessity or desirability of improving them
seenms to have been a matter of too small consequence to
receive attention.
A brief study of this question ought to convince any one
of the wisdona of selecting lots for school yards which are
sightly, well drained and in every way adapted to the purpose for which they are used.  They should be, if possible,
two hundred feet square, and in no case less than one hundred
twenty-five feet square, and they should be surrounded by
fences of as durable a quality as the means of the town will
permit.  The people who form the community in the vicinity
of the school should be urged to beautify them  by planting
trees, and the teachers and children should be induced to
adorn them by cultivating flowers and shrubs.
These suggestions are made with the understanding that it
will be impossible for many towns to make all these changes
in any one year, but if the school officers will take the matter
in hand, make the change in one neighborhood this year and
another next, in a few years all the grounds will be put iu




30
such condition as will make them ornaments in the commlunities in which they are located, and a credit to the State. All
must realize that this matter of making' school yards attractive is one of no small importance, and that it may be of
great assistance in training the children to love the beautiful
in nature.
SCHOOL-HIOUSES.
There is every indication that extensive repairs have been
made on the school buildings within the last eighteen months.
These improvements were seen in newly shingled roofs,
freshly painted exteriors and interiors, and desks of a modern
pattern.  Inquiry developed the fact that many of these
changes had been made within the time given above.  This
would seelm to prove that the placing of the school property
in the hands of the town has resulted in a marked improvement in the condition of the school buildings.
Taken as a whole, the school buildings are in a better conldition than they were a few years ago.
All but two of the school-houses visited were built of wood.
Twenty-one per cent. were ranked as in poor condition, sixty
per cent. as fair, fifteen per cent. as good and four per cent.
as excellent. Thirteen per cent. of these buildings were supplied with modern desks.  Of those having plank desks,
forty-seven per cent. were ranked as being' in poor condition,
thirty-two per cent. as fair, and twenty-one per cent. as good.
In but two instances were the rooms visited listed as untidy.
Sixty per cent. of the rooms were ranked as unattractive.
In ninety per cent. of these it was noted that the teacher had
done nothing to improve their condition.
But there are some things about these school buildings of
which no one can approve.  As has been already stated they
are located too near the road and are in such a position that
the dust sifts through the doors and windows, and the noise
and confusion incident to travel disturb the school.  In one
case a building' was found situated entirely within the limits




31
of the road, being located between the fence and the traveled
portion of the highway.  All such conditions are harmtful to
any school and must prevent its doing the best work.
In only one instance was there evidence that any attempt
had been made to place the windows at a proper distance
from the floor, or to ventilate the room  by any other means
than by opening the doors and windows.  The number, size
and location of the windows, the distance of the lbottom of
the windows from the floor, the location of the stove, the
system  of ventilation and the arrangement of the sceats are
items which should receive intelligent treatment.
One would expect parents to be as careful of the es-ye,
comfort and health of their children as our best breeders are oi
their blooded stock.  The construction and furnishings found
in the average  school-house, do not indicate that this is the
fact.
One is shocked to see the vandalism  that has been committed on so many school-houses.  Clapboards have been
removed, doors, windows and shutters have been broken,
and desks, walls and ceiling have been defaced and mutilated.
Everything that could be injured bears evidence of the polluting, and destructive hand of the youngo or old barbarian.
Many of the school buildings are not provided with locks
and but few of the windows are fastened, and there is every
reason to believe that not a few are used as places of rendezvous by lawless characters.
The improvements which should be made in the condition
of the school-houses must be made gradually because of the
financial limitations of many of our towns. But it is true that
all of the towns can do something in this direction each year,
and if this plan is pursued, in a short timne all the buildings
will be put in good condition.  There is no town in which
the willful destruction of its property may not be prevented.
Since makingo these visits it has been decided to prepare
plans for school-houses to be printed in the next report of
this Department, together with some suggestions and explanations as to the matters referred to above.




32
CONDITION OF ROOMS.
In twelve per cent. of the schools visited the teachers had
attempted to relieve the barrenness of their school-rooms by
decorating  them  with drawings, engravings, charts, maps,
leaves, flowers and other simple material which may be
collected by any teacher who believes in the educational value
of such decorations and has energy enough to prepare them.
In some school-houses, which were rough board shells, the
ceilings and walls were entirely covered with material devised
and prepared by the teachers and children, and they were
among the most attractive rooms visited, because of the artistic
effects produced by a skillful use of nature and home made
decorations.  It is not easy to explain why all teachers do
not do something in the line in which some have done so
iLi uch.
Some of the school-rooms are dingy and barren beyond all
possible description. The bare walls, the scarred and battered
desks, the creaking and gaping floor, the broken backed stove
pipe and the creosote stained chimney make up a combination
which must be revolting to any child of ordinary susceptibilities.  These masses of ugliness might be concealed by use of
the means indicated above.
It is hoped that the time is not distant when the outside
and inside of the school buildings will be painted in such
tints as will be not only attractive but helpful to the eye.  If
but one of these things can be done, it is urged that the
interior be painted in such a way as to relieve the children
of the torture that must come from  sitting in rooms which
shock every instinct of refinement.  The marked improvements which have evidently been made along these lines
within a comparatively short time are a sufficient excuse for
not pressiig, this matter further at this time.
OUTHOUSES.
The outbuildings of the average school-house in the rural
sections of the State are a moral and physical menace to those




io:                                                                               ij~~77 77::BSOTPEN
-iiiTH    BESTiii           011'iii-i:  THE  PREENT








33
who have to use them.  In many of them the windows have
been removed, the doors are torn from their hinges, and in
quite a number there are no partitions between the sections
used by the boys and those assigned to the girls. All of them
have the ordinary vaults and in most cases they have not been
cleaned for years.  The fearful odor which greets a person
who is forced to go in the vicinity of one of these shanties,
suggests conditions unpleasant to describe.  But three outbuildings were found that could safely be called respectable.
The outbuildings of a school-house should be well built,
with separate compartments for the boys and girls. The
vault should be so arranged that it may be easily cleaned and
this should be done at least twice each term.  The building
should be located in the rear of the lot and if it were surrounded with evergreens it would change a thing of hideous
aspect to a comparative bower of beauty.
The condition of these hovels is so shocking that I feel
justified in calling special attention, in strong lanouage, to
the duties of the towns in this connection.
DESKS.
About one-sixth of the school buildings are supplied with
modern desks.  The remaining five-sixths have the oldfashioned seats and these are marred and scarred by jackknives and the experiences incident to the average rural
school.  It is gratifying to notice that in most school-houses,
where new desks have been supplied, those of an improved
pattern have been furnished, and it would seem that in a few
years the old plank desk will be a thing of the past and that
suitable seats will adorn all our school-rooms.
BOOKS.
The most of the schools are supplied with the regular textbooks, although some were found where the committee had
failed to furnish them in sufficient quantities.  A few were
3




34
supplied with books of a very inferior quatlity, but no general
criticisms are called for in this direction.
It was noticed that as a rule the books were not properly
cared for by the school authorities, by the teachers, or by the
children.  They were handled rouglhly, cut and marked. promiscuously and there was practically no effort made to keep
them clean, or preserve them firom unnecessary wear and tear.
But few of the school buildings were provided with eases for
the protection of the books while not in use, and there was
evidence that they were left on, or in the desks during vacations.
Each school building should be supplied with a substantial
bookcase, with a strong lock, and the books should be placed
in this receptacle, during vacations.  These precautions should
be taken as a matter of economy.
PARENTS.
The time has come when parents must rise in their mig'ht
and demand that qualified teachers shall be employed to take
charge of the education of their children.  They must not
permlit the teacher to do the work which should be done by
the children.  The parents must insist upon faithfulness,
thoroughness in the work done, and regularity in attendance.
They must bring such influences to bear as will convince
school officials and teachers that they are thoroughly in
earnest albout these matters, and that no teacher can retain
her position, with the approv'al of the patrons of the school,
unless she is familiar with the facts which she is to teach, has
some well considered methods of instruction, and is capable of
comp)elling such work on the part of the children as will result
in their growing in strength, knowledgoe and ability.
One is astonished at the extent to which parents are willing
to remain ignorant of the schools which their children attend.
In a large number of cases they seem to know little or nothing'
about the teacher, the work which their children are doing, or
the way in which it is being done.  One man was discovered




35
who was unable to tell the name of the teacher who had charge
of the school which his children attended.  About eighty per
cent. of the schools report that they have had no visits from
parents for the purpose of learning what the work is, or
assisting in makingo it more efficient.
One is at a loss to discover the reason for this apathy.
Every intelligent parent must know that it will be a great
advantage to his children if he visit the school, kno w the teacher
and give her the benefit of his counsel.  If parents would
take the trouble to visit the school and inform the teachers in
a truthful and proper way of the abilities, limitations and
peculiarities of their children, they would be more than gratified
with the results which would come fiom  such conferences.
The teacher is oblioed to spend the most of the first term in
stumblinog upon the characteristics of the children whomn she
has to teach.  She finds some shy, some forward; some who
appear to be insolent and some who have every symptom of
stubbornness.   Some are prompt and proficient in their
lessons and others are halting, stumbling and unsatisfactory
in their work.  Unaided, she must study out how  much of
these varying conditions are due to inheritance, or home trainin'g, and how much is caused by timidity, embarrassment, or
excitement.  All this information must be in the possession
of the parents at the beginning of the term.  If the teacher
could have the benefit of it she could start with her work in
a way that it is impossible for her to do under present
conditions.
It is hoped that the good time is coming when parents will
see the necessity of visiting the school, conferring with the
tea'cher and being' frank in their statements as to the abilities
and deficiences of their children.  The welfare of the school
depends largely on their willingness to impute the best motives
to the teacher for the. corrections she finds it necessary to
administer, and the methods she uses.  If parents would
invite teachers to their homes, treat them as persons in whom
they have a personal interest and for whose work, at least,




36
they entertain a high respect, the efficiency of the schools
would be wonderfully increased.
As it is, parents are to a great extent either indifferent or
hostile to the schools. Scathing criticisms are pronounced
upon the teacher and her work, based often times entirely
upon the reports made by children who have been angered,
it may be, by wholesome restraint.  The favorite child comes
home with a complaint that he does not receive the assistance
which he imagines he needs, or that he has been corrected
for some misdemeanor, and at once the family take up the
cudoels for the child against the teacher, all of which means
a fatal injury to the school and the child.
It is for the interest of parents to give the teacher that cordial, hearty and unstinted support which will show the child
that she has their confidence and respect.  Without these
helps the teacher is striving against fearful odds; with them
she enters upon her work with an almost certain guaranty of
success.
It hardly seems credible that parents are willing to allow
their children to come under the instruction of a person of
whose scholarship, character and training they know nothing.
It is still more strange that they are willing that all these
things should be true and still make no attempt to change this
ignorance into definite information. It is the most strange of
all that they cannot see that every interest which they have
in their children lies in the direction of making the school the
most useful that co-operation can render it.  This cannot be
accomplished until parents and teachers work in harmony for
a common end; until each knows, appreciates, respects and
sympathizes with the other; until the teacher has the full
benefit of the knowledge and influence of the parent, and the
parent feels that the teacher is the guide, director and friend
of the child. When these conditions exist the common schools
will be something vastly different from what we find them
to-day.
In this work the responsibility rests largely with the parents. The teacher comes to the neighborhood a stranger, with




I S 








37
all the shyness of youth and inexperience. If acquaintances
are to be formed, friendships are to be developed and the
advantages which come from co-operation are to be enjoyed,
the advances must be made by the parents.  In many cases
the teacher is a pilgrim and too frequently there is no one to
take her in.
In the olden time the lawyer, the minister, and the teacher
enjoyed a prestige in the community which is not accorded
them at the present time.  In losing this estimate of these
characters we have lost much which would be of infinite benefit to those who accorded it and of vast encouragement to
those who received it. The teacher's position is a responsible,
dignified and useful one.  All who are interested in the
advancement and welfare of the community should recognize
these facts and yield a cheerful tribute to those who occupy
these positions.
It is impossible for one to give his best service if he feels
that he has not the confidence and respect of the community
for which he labors. One would not think of employing
another to serve him and then seek in every possible way to
cripple his power to work. This is what is practically done
in many schools.  It seems strange that parents cannot realize
that these are facts.  It will be stranger still if the time
does not come, and come soon, when they will realize that
they must act upon an entirely different line of policy if they
are to be faithful guardians and honorable citizens.
SOME THOUGHTS BY THE WAY.
The highest function of the school is character building;
not to succeed in this is to fail grievously. The teacher
must help her pupils to see that hatred, jealousy, envy,
untrustworthiness, and unkind words and acts injure, to an
alarming extent, those who indulge in them; that one cannot
cherish these feelings or do these things without being made
miserable, and in time he must come to be small, mean and
ignoble in thought, feeling and life; that he.who is generous,




38
kindly, sympaLthetic, glad in the successes of others, realdy to
add to their joys and eager to promote their prosperity, will
receive -a greater blessing than he bestows; that nothing
reflects greater credit on one than an unwillingness to think
or believe ill of others; that he is the best who believes and
says the best of others; that a harsh judgment of others
reveals much of malice and little of good in the one guilty of
this offense; that gentleness, uprightness and thoughtful sylllmpathy bring, to their possessor the sweetest joys known to
this life.  They should learn that altruism results in happiness as selfishness must end in misery, and that no one can
afford to spend in unworthy  rivalries the strength which
ought to be given to winning honest success.  The true
teacher will use every influence she commands to bring home
to the hearts of her pupils these truths.
More study and effort should be given to developinog the
conscientiousness of the children. The controlling sentiment
of the school should condemn the act of the wronga doer.
We must so train the children that we can believe what they
say, trust them  alone, and have them feel that they are less
than honest if their tasks are done for them.  There is great
danger of permanently  injuring  children by being consciences for them —by trying to decide all questions for them.
We mullst not allow thell to feel that we will direct them  to
the extent of always pointing out the right, and that by positive restraint we will prevent them  from  going far wrong.
They must not feel justified in thinking that they are safe so
long as they do not run against barriers which we have
erected.  To prevent these calamities we must cultivate in
them  the desire to decide the questions that arise in their
experiences on their merits, and have the decisions and the
carrying them into effect their voluntary act.
When the lives of great men are used to interest the childcren in what has been done in the world and to nurture in
them worthy ideals, but little need be said about their having
been presidents, or the battles they have fouoht, or the money
C~




39
they have accumulated, or the public honors they have received.
W~ith these things they will' become farnilar without special
effoit on the part of the teacher.  She should, however, make
impressive the struggles, the triumphs over obstacles, the
honesty, gentleness, purity, manliness, generosity, dignity
and largeness of soul of the men studied.   The deeds which
these qualities make possible and that truly glorify history,
and the thoughts which mirror the gelnius that gave them
expression  are most fascinating and helpful to children
when properly presented.  If the child's interest in these
things can be enlisted, his respect, admiration  and love
for the pure is assured.  If the teacher can make real to him
the patience and faith of Columbus, the serenity and fortitude
of Washington and the honesty and simplicity of Lincoln,
she has accomplished a great work.
Teachers do not appreciate the good they can do by carefully preparing themselves to talk to their pupils on the topics
on which they need instruction.  Everyone is aware that
there is too much talking, but most people are also conscious
that there is but little effective talking. Ability to do a thing,
well comes to the average mortal because of practice and a
sincere desire to excel.  It is the duty of the teacher to select
some subject that needs attention and so prepare herself that
she can present to her pupils new ideas or old ideas in a new
formn.  Striking forms of expression, apt illustrations and
fresh facts contribute largely to one's success.  These talks
must not be too frequent, or at stated times or in any sense
perfunctory.  Do not fail, as you value your influence, to
stol) when you get through.  PRemember that brevity is not
only the soul of wit, but it is a most effective form of emphasis.  For a teacher to be able to be able to say in well selected English
and well turned sentences, and with a grace and force
peculiarly her own, something that is worth the saying, is to
possess a wonderful power for good over children.
The value of what a teacher does depends on what she is;
her personalty teaches more than her words. Unless she




40
helps to breed in the children worthy motives and ennobling
ideals, she is a failure-absolute, ghastly.  The desire to be
worthy is worth more than glib recitations; the thirst for
knowledge is more to be coveted than high ranks; a love for
the best in literature and life is more fruitful than class
honors, and the wish to do the right because it is right is
more blessed than fantastic'diplomas.  The highest work of
the school is to give such instruction, furnish such stimulus
and form such habits as will help the child to be prompt to
do justice, and alert in responding to the best within him.
The motives that move him and the principles which govern
him must come spontaneously from an honest heart.
Every lover of children must regret that there are so few
teachers who realize that the great writers use language as a
mirror in which to reveal the life of the past, the life of the
present and the life that is to be; that the great painter uses
color and form to place before the vision the same revelations.
One who has any interest in knowing life must learn to
interpret, to appreciate what the seers have revealed to us.
The historian writes the record of the past. The annalist
and journalist write the record of the present.  The poet
writes the record of the future.  We must study, ponder,
estimate the work of the historian.  We must read and sift
the record of the journalist and the annalist.  We must take
in, as we take in the breath of life, the prophesies of the poet.
It is life's greatest work to appreciate life. What the masters
have given us furnishes food for the soul.  Using this, life
will be enlarged, made abundant.  Without it, we are
dwarfed, crippled, starved.
There is a larger number of people, than ever before, who
have an honest concern for the betterment of the untrained
classes of society.  They desire to improve their condition
socially; they seek to assist them to help themselves financially; they strive to train them intellectually. Their efforts
are sometimes futile because of their hot haste to complete
the reformation of the world during this year of grace.  It




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THF, REST OF THE PRESENT.








41
has taken the race many centuries to reach its present vantage
ground.  The best thing it has won during the journey is the
strength which comes from experience.  If we were made
perfect in a minute, we should not have stiffening enough to
hold us straight.
There are certain changes which must be made in the scope
and character of the work done by the public schools if they
are to receive the sympathetic and unstinted support of the
public.  These reforms are of such a nature that they can be
most successfully wrought into the system by personal and
local influences.
It ought to satisfy the ambition of any one, to be able to
breed such a public sentiment in any community as would
make it impossible for a superintendent or superintending
school committee to refuse to furnish the schools with such
English classics as will give the children an opportunity to
read, and study, and know something of the masters of English undefiled.
If inexpensive reproductions of a few pictures of real merit
and value could be placed on the walls of our country schoolrooms, and if the teachers could be so educated in these matters that they would come to enjoy and appreciate these
things themselves, and if through this appreciation the children could be led to enjoy, appreciate and appropriate them,
a greater work would be done for the children than can be
done by any school which pursues the narrow policy of limiting the work of the children to text-books.
I earnestly hope that the time is not distant when some of
the good people of the State who believe that visions of life
and beauty are means of grace, will take these matters in
hand, will give them the study which their merits demand,
and will see that such steps are taken as will result in well
ordered and beautiful school-yards, well built, well ventilated
and well furnished school-houses, and will cause to be placed
in the school-rooms such material as will enable the children
to have intimate and appreciative acquaintance with some of




42
the best things that the masters have given us in literature
and in art.  This is a field of labor in which all who seriously
desire to do service to the young people of the State, have an
interest.
STATE SCHOOL FUND.
There "was apportioned to the cities, towns and plantations
by the State for the year 1895, 518,185 70-100 dollars for
the purpose of giving instruction in the public schools maintained by these municipalities.  This is a large sum, when
we take into consideration the population and valuation of
kMaine.  The State should not shirk the responsibility of
seeing' that this money is expended in such a way as to do
the greatest good. At the present time the State receives the
money for the School Fund, apportions it to the different
municipalities and with these perfunctory acts its duties and
responsibilities seem to cease.  This condition of affairs cannot continue without permitting a ogreat wrong to the children.
The time has come when it is clearly the duty of the State,
and one from which it should not shrink, to satisfy itself that
this money is expended with a wise economy.  It should
know to whom it is paid, for what it is expended and should
have some definite information as to the quality, character
and training of those who have charge of the instruction of
the youth who, a generation hence, are to be placed in control
of all its interests.  All thoughtful citizens realize that this
money cannot be wisely spent unless it is used to pay for the
services of competent, trained instructors.  The State can,
with a small expenditure of monaey, ascertain if her teachers
possess these two essential requisites.  The time has come
when a Board of Exalminers should be appointed, whose
duty it shall be to provide for the exa-mination of all persons
who desire to teach.  In somie of the counties it would be
necessary to hold but one examination each quarterl; in
others it would be better to hold examinations in two, three
or four different towns.  These examinatious should be held
at such times as will give persons who desire to teach an




43
opportunity to demonstrate their fitness to engage in the
work.  They should not be, at first, of such a nature as to
eliminate fiom the profession a large number of those who
are now teaching, but they should be of such a character as
to prevent those who are grossly unfit for the work from
remainingT in the service, and should be of such increasinog
thoroughness that those who are but partially prepared for
their duties will see the wisdom of more thorough preparation,
or the necessity of leaving the profession.
The expenses of this Board could be paid many times from
the saving which would come to the State in having an eligible list from which school officials shall select their teachers.
The lowest estimate that can be fairly made of the incompetence of the teachers is that one-fifth of themn are not qualified
to fill the places which they occupy. This means that there are
over one thousand teachers in the State whose education is so
deficient as to render them failures as instructors.  Assuming,
that these schools are in session only twenty weeks and admitting that they cost the towns only $150 each, for the full year,
the aoggregate sum  paid for "lkeeping"  these  schools is
$150,000.  One needs to consider this question but a moment
to realize that it is impossible for the State any longer to neglect,
with safety, its duty in this matter.  The issue is upon us;
we must meet it.  We must decide whether we will or will
not be true to the trust committed to us.
It is not intended to imply that such examinations would
eliminate all the incompetent teachers from our schools.  It
is believed they would make it impossible for a large proportion of those persons who are lacking in scholarship to
receive authority to teach.
In the first place the most of the teachers who are not
qualified to take charge of a school realize their unfitness and
would not volunteer to be candidates for certificates.  Soime
would be dropped because they could not secure certificates.
The best would be retained and these wvould be made better
by the study they would be induced to make to prepare themselves for their work.




44
This law would place in the hands of the State the power
to say from what list of persons the teachers shall be selected.
If towns desire to make more thorough examination of candidates for positions in their schools, the law should leave
them free to do so.  It should leave the matter of employing
teachers and the management, discipline and everything connected with the general administration of the school in the
control of the local authorities.
It must be apparent to all that the possession of a certificate from a State Board of Examiners would help to give the
people of a community confidence in the scholarship and ability of the teacher placed over their children.  This confidence
has much to do with making a school successful.  Without it
but few teachers can succeed; with it a much larger number
would do credit to themselves and render acceptable service
to others.
COURSE OF STUDY.
It was, for a long time, a mooted question whether it was
possible to prepare a course of study which could be used
with profit in rural schools. This controversy has been
decided in the affirmative, by the success with which the
courses of study prepared for the cities have been used in
their rural schools.  Experience has made it clear that
it is as easy to grade a rural as a city school.  The only
danger lies in making the divisions too numerous, and attempting too much in the way of details.
An outline course of study in which is stated simply and
plainly the subjects to be taught, the order in which they are
to be taken, the topics to be studied in each subject at a
given time, cannot be otherwise than helpful to all who are
connected with the school.
To have this outline in the hands of the teacher, with some
suggestions as to the methods to be used, is to help to give
definiteness and symmetry to the work.  If these directions
are followed with ireasonable faithfulness the course must be
of great service to the children.




a








45
To have a well considered plan of work, with some place
at which to begin and some point for which to strive, is to set
a goal before the children.  These  things contribute  to
systematic and hence to better work. They assist the teacher
to ideas of what should be done, when it should be done
and how it should be done. A course of study helps to convince
teachers and children that they have something specific to do and
when it is done, they have accomplished something.  It
helps to develop the feeling that they are held accountable
for accomplishing a certain amount of work within a specified
time, and this responsibility gives zest and develops enterprise.
A great many illustrations might be given of the evils resulting from the want of a course of study in our common
schools.  Perhaps a single experience will suffice.  In one of
the schools visited a child was found blundering through a
selection in the sixth reader. The teacher was pronouncing
about two-thirds of the words and it was evident the child
had not the slightest idea of the thought expressed by the
sentences she was trying to read.  During the visit the same
child appeared  in the fourth reader class and stumbled
through her work in substantially the same way as in the
previous recitation.  For work in arithmetic she was struggling with the mysteries of the addition tables.  In answer
to a question it was learned that the child was six years of
age. This wretched condition of affairs was probably due to
the fact that the child and her parents desired that she read
in these books, she and they feeling that the size of the books
used indicated the extent of her progress.
There can be no question in any one's mind but that a
serious injury was done this child by the lack of intelligent
direction of her studies.  Had there been a course of study,
backed by the authority of the superintending school committee and enforced by the instructions of the superintendent,
it would have been impossible for this demoralizing condition
of affairs to exist.  The parents would not request it, the
child would not expect it and the teacher would do what she




46
knew should be done,-give the child such books to study
as her advancement fitted her to use.
Perhaps this was the most ridiculous instance observed,
still there were a large number of eases so closely approaching it in their general features that it could be substantially
duplicated in many schools.
It is not expected that the course of study published in the
appendix of this report will be followed literally, at first, in
any school.  It is hoped that superintendents and teachers
-will make it the basis of the work done. It is suggested that
teachers begin, at once, to arrange their classes in five grades.
It will be readily seen that the course is based upon the five
readers used in most schools, one reader being' assigned to
each grade, the other work being so selected as to harmonize
with this division of the studies.  WVhile it may not be desirable to limit the children, for the present, to the topics found
in any given grade, it is best to commence immediately to
work toward that end.  If they are in advance in some
branches and behind in others, give less attention to those in
which they are specially proficient and more to the subjects
in which they are deficient.  By this plan of increasing the
pressure in certain lines and devoting a little less time to
other matters, it wvill be easy in a short time to have our
rural schools as well graded as those in the cities.
School officials and teachers should not make the mistake
of supposing that it is expected that they will use all of the
books given in the list for i'supplementary reading" in the
several studies. These catalogues are made quite comprehensive with the hope that each teacher may find a few books
that will prove peculiarly helpful to her and her pupils.
The teacher must study these books carefully to be able to
use them skillfully.  Unless she is, or groxvs to be, a student
she cannot help her pupils to become students. The perfunctory reading of books is of little value. The reader must be
helped to see, feel and think, for his reading to yield the
highest return.




47
The tendency, in country schools, is to allow children to
devote the most of their time to one or two studies.  Such a
method of work must result in a one-sided development.
One child is fond of geography, another of arithmetic, another
of history and another of language.  This fondness is allowed
to aive direction and color to all their school work.  WVhile it
is true that in the higher schools it may be safe to allow
students some latitude in selecting their studies, it is not true
that in the lower grades this perlnission should be granted.
Children should be trained to read in such a way as to extract
the pith fiom what is read and communicate these thoughts
to others; they should have such a mastery of arithmetic as
will enable them to use its principles and formult  with intelligence, promptness and accuracy; they should be able to use
their mother, tongue with vigor and facility; they should know
the important facts connected with the geography and history
of their own town, state and country; they should be able to
write a legible hand, and should receive such training as will
enable them to conduct themselves easily in all the conventional relations of life. They should also receive such instruction as will help them to enjoy the beauties of literature, see
the wonders of nature and appreciate the personality of the
men and womlen who have made the progress of the world
possible.  In a nword they should do such studying, receive
such instruction and have such drill as Will enable them to
acquit themselves with credit in the social and business relations of life.  A mtastery of all the subjects required by the
best common school courlses of study indicates the minimum
work that should be clone by the boys and girls of- a community that believes in rearing self-respecting citizens.
This course will not be of service to the schools of AMaine
unless it have the cordial and active support of the superintendents and teachers of the State.  It will be necessary for theml
to study it, to understand it, and more than all they must
know it well enough to adapt it intelligently to the needs of
their particular schools.  If these things are done there can




48
be no question but that within five years all the schools of
Maine will be doing substantially the same work along all the
lines of study required by the statutes of the State.  When
this is done a pupil who is transferred from  one town to
another may continue his studies without loss of time.
If this course will help to bring about a fraction of the
changes that it makes possible, the results will be of inestimable benefit to the children of the State. It is hoped that this
matter will be taken in hand and that all concerned therein
will give to it that support which will insure its largest
success.