Mahone Bay Old School_A Life and Times_Bob Sayer

Chapter Two:
The School’s ‘Founding Fathers’
‘Conviction without action has no meaning’- John le Carre
1914 was a time of local self-help. Not like the time of writing, when the provincial
Department of Education approves and largely finances new school
construction, appoints the architect, and sets the specifications.
To build the New School of 1914, required local leadership and financing.
There needed to be men [emancipation for women was still embryonic: they
did not yet have the vote at Provincial and Federal elections. There were few
women in public office] with imagination, determination, salesmanship and
ambition. What was wanted, was men of action who set goals and followed
through. Those men, introduced in Chapter 1, were, in alphabetical order:
Charlie Begin
Sailmaker,
William [“Pumpey”] F. Joudrey Owner of the large
Livery Stables
Charlie Lohnes
Municipal Councilor,
Butcher and Politician
Had they been able to attend the big school reunion in 2000 they would have
deserved a standing ovation.
School Trustees
School Section 26 They Made It happen
They were the elected School Trustees for 1912, 1913 and 1914. They made it
happen. What was their ‘empire’?
• Mahone was a village, part of the Municipality of Lunenburg. Citizens elected
county councilors. There was no incorporated town, mayor or town council,
police or fire chief. But all that was to be changed in 1919.
• Mahone Bay was recognized by the provincial educational authorities as
School Section 26, District of Lunenburg and New Dublin-the ‘New Dublin’
term, even then, was an archaic hang-over from an earlier time. The District
[Nova Scotia had 33] had a Board of District School Commissioners.
• The Section was
1 the self-governing school territory administered by a board of three trustees
serving three years,
2 one of whom was elected in the place of the retiring trustee at the annual
meeting of the ratepayers-who vote supplies to be levied on the section.
The three ‘Founding Fathers’ were the risk-takers and the leaders. As trustees
they were responsible for signing off on each of the bonds: the income from
which built the new school. Their signatures are clearly visible.
Can you imagine going to neighbours and business folk and persuading them
to invest their savings and earnings in the local school! That’s how public
utilities [water and sewer; power and light; transportation etc] were financed
in the early twentieth century.
3 The Mahone ratepayers paid the major costs of local education, except for
teacher salaries. In his 1912-13 Annual Report to the Legislature, the Superintendent
of Education pointed out that:
‘Sectional Assessment denotes the amount voted for by the ratepayers of a school
section…The sectional assessment is the main support of the school, amounting
on average to about twice the provincial and municipal combined.’
*The bold print is this writer’s emphasis.
4 The annual meeting was required to approve by vote the school year report,
audited accounts and budget [which fixed the education rate], as well as to
elect a trustee.
• The Inspector of Schools for Lunenburg and Queen’s County [Division No.
2] was H.H. MacIntosh . The Inspector was appointed by the provincial department
of education as a supervisor and watchdog. He was secretary to the
Board of District Commissioners and made an annual report that was part of
the Annual Report of the Superintendent of Education to the Provincial Legislature
[these reports are available at the Provincial Archives].
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