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FACTS, HEARSAY AND MEMORIES - Page 11 Previously I mentioned my father being on the school board. Another member was Charles Fisher. Fisherville Lane off Horseneck Road derives its name from his home in that section. I seem to remember that he came to the house more often than any other. When he had secured a teacher, he felt he had done well he would often say, "I guess she'll be good, at least she is good sized." I believe he was really interested in the schools. Size I presume was sometimes a deterrent to certain types of behavior although some small women had a power from within from within for control. The schools in the town were divided into three sections, and the board members were especially in charge of school nearest to them geographically. It was expected that he made at least one visit a term. If he was found to have failed in this it could be held against him when he was up for re-election. The teacher could report a broken pane of glass, a smokey chimney, or lack of dry wood. Some members habitually made a speech to the school. I recall one who came to No. 9 school. Albert Manchester from Acoaxet, was a fine old man, or perhaps not as old as I though then. I do not remember what he said, but I believe he was a solid citizen. Another of a different type always on rising to speak lifted the stove lid and emptied his mouth of a large quantity of tobacco, and his opening sentence was, "I don't expect any of you will be presidents or president's wives, but you can be good citizens, etc." During the early 1890's Westport and Dartmouth hired their first superintendent. He was Seth Crocker. He lived at Head of Westport in what was originally I believe the Christopher Church house, later owned by Charles A. Gifford. He and my father had been schoolmates at Friends School in Providence, now Moses Brown. Mr. Crocker was not a Friend, but as now many pupils who were not Friends took advantage of what it offered. Mr. Crocker was not popular. This was in part due to the fact that many of the town's people felt that a superintendent was a needless expense. I presume it must have been voted upon at Town Meeting as I do not believe the Committee could have been granted such funds otherwise, as it would have entailed. He was a man of some ability as he invented the Crocker Number Wheel for which he had a patent. It was used in many schools. Although No. 9 was outfitted with one, I felt especially favored to possess one of my own with which he presented me, probably in lieu of the now customary hostess gift of chocolates or flowers as the hospitality he received at our home in the way of meals or overnight lodging was frequent. He also gave me a sample primer such as we had at school. Its first lesson was, "See me, see me said the little rat. Oh see me run when I hear the cat." He drove over Westport's and Dartmouth's miles of roads with a horse and buggy. I think he had two horses, but I remember best a jaded white one. Mr. Crocker was evidently a poor financial manager, as being unable to pay my father for money borrowed off him on his departure from Westport, we were recipients of the buggy and white horse. The horse turned out to pasture in the present Milton Earle School yard failed to recover sufficiently to be worth keeping over the winter, and I well remember the day my father hired a man to shoot him and his unmarked grave is down near the edge of the woods. The value of the buggy was high in my estimation judged solely by the fact it seemed quite elegant as it had sidelights, which so far as I knew only a doctor had on a buggy. They carried little weight with my father and he soon disposed of it to my dismay without ever lighting the lamps. The next Superintendent was Charles E. Brockway. I know that he was here in 1896 as I have before me samples of cards which he gave to pupils for regular attendance and no tardiness. I know that it was during his regime that the designating schools by numbers was dropped, and the schools received names. Some were given names of sections of the town such as North Westport, Westport Point, or those of roads Sanford Road, Mouse Mill or Horseneck Road. The school on Pine Hill Road was called East Side, the one on lower Drift Road was Riverside, and the upper Drift Road was West Side, indicating their proximity to the river. The Sodom Road became State Side indicating its nearness to the Rhode Island line. Classes now began to be called grades. All of these schools had eight grades if the community provided the pupils, with the exception of the two-roomed building at the Point and the Head. The upper elementary grades at the Head were on the lower floor of what is now called Alumni Hall, and the younger children in the little school across the river. Mr. Brockway was an elderly man, at least I though of him as such, because he was bald with a gray fringe of hair. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
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