History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

534 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
in this way for several years. The primary scliool
was partially successful, but the grammar school
was almost a total failure. At length the town
neglected to provide a teacher. Tliis was brought
to the attention of the court, and an indictment
was threatened. To avoid this, a new teacher was
chosen. The person selected was John Fox, a son
of the minister. His salary at first was £9 per
year, but was soon raised to £18, with the expec-
tation that a portion of it was to be paid by private
subscriptions; but these never came.
Mr. Fox being called to succeed his father in the
ministry, Mr. Dudley Bradstrcet of Andover was
appointed to fill ills place, and was required to be
in AYoburn " during the term of Charlestown
court." The reason for requiring a teacher to
keep school especially at "Court tiaie" was to
avoid being indicted for a breach of the law. At
all other periods of the year the town authorities
were quite indifl'erent "whether school kept or not,"
or in fact preferred to save their money to main-
taining tlie school. Numerous teachers followed
Mr. Bradstreet as grammar masters, who were
hired on the principle of evading the law as far
as possible. The town pretended to have a grammar
school in conformity to the statute, but in all
engagements with its teachers took care to signify
that he was to be at his post at " Court time," even
if he shut the school-house door as soon as it adjourned.
There is no period in tiie history of New
England wlien the feeling for general education
was at so low an ebb as during the later years of
the seventeenth and the first thirty years of the
eighteenth century. Woburn was not alone in its
disregard of this important matter. Many other
towns were imjjlicated in similar neglect, and re-
sorted to the same shuffling proceedings to escape
prosecution. The scarcity of teachers had some-
tliing to do with the neglect in providing them.
For many years previous to the Revolution tiie
grammar school was supported regularly. Due of
the most noted teacliers during tlie period was
John Fowle, who held tlie ])ost for twelve years.
He had (he honor of giving instruction in their
youth 1() liciijainin Thompson (Count Rumford) and
Colniii'l Lo;urniii Haldwin. The first house especially
fillid up I'or the use of the grammar school was in
J7(t(); and the lirst building erected exclusively
for liiat purpose was in 1712. I'revious to that
time a room in some private dwelling was tlie
place for leaching. About 17G(), primary schools
were opened in (lie outlying, parts of tiie town.
Thereafter it was regulariy voted that a portion of
the school money should be expended in the " ex-
treme parts " of the town. The grammar school,
which had been to some extent an itinerant institution,
was now established in the Centre, and was
continued, with some irregularities, until 1793,
when a new departure in the school system was
taken. In that year a strong committee was appointed,
with Colonel Baldwin at its head, who
reported an entire change in the school government
and the method of instruction. To effect this, in
the course of the next two years nine new school-
houses were built in as many newly arranged school-
districts, and £300 was appropriated to pay for
their cost. This sura proving insufficient, the next
year (1795) another £300 was voted to complete
the payment. Unfortunately for the town, its en-
thusiasm iiad expended itself entirely in school-
houses, and left the schools unprovided for. This
brought a presentment from the grand jurj', which
was probably disposed of without penalty, as the
records make no mention of the town being de-
faulted. The following year £ 150 was raised for
the support of schools, and from that time until
1830 there was no marked change in the school
methods, and but slight yearly additions to tlie
appropriations. In the year last named, $800
was raised, which in 1837 was enlarged to $1,000;
with the addition of interest on the town's share
of the "surplus revenue." This sura was doubled
in 1839, when §2,000 was appropriated, and even
then the complaint was made that the money was
insufficient, and the school season was too short.
For the next few years the appropriations were but
slightly increased. At this point of time 'Woburn
stood low in the tables comparing tiie appropria-
tions made for schooling in the different towns in
the state. In a list of three hundred and seven
towns made in 1840 the position occupied by
Woburn was Number 253. Tiiis was radically
ciianged by 184-8, when on a similar list of towns
"Woburn had risen to the rank of 43. By the re-
vised statutes high schools were required to be
supported in towns having 4,000 inhabitants.
Although containing tiie requisite ])opulation,
Woburn took no steps towards cstablisiiing one
till 1852, when a liigli school was organized and
began its sessions. For tiie first four years it
occupied rooms leased for tlie purpose. Then a
commodious wooden house was built, at a cost of
nearly $12,000. In 1873-74 the house was
materially enlarged, and fitted up with laboratories