Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-01-06


$40. For the last it has been SO 46. If eacI
scholar in 1862 had cost $1i SO, the expen.
dltures OF the department would have beer
| $4l,l25, or $5,974 more than the sum actual.
ly expended.
The appropriation for the support of our schools in
N looz .S37 500 0(
Received from the state school fund.-. 1913 II
FROM other sources ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. IS %
lotai resources. .S3S, 391 II
In addition to this, there was special ap-
| preparation of $4,000, to pay debt contract
ed for the new Salem street school house.
The expenses have been,
For salaries of teachers and superinten-
uehL' 1927 58S IL
For fuel, books, repairs, sweeping re-. 7074 On;
Eor improvement on Sycamore st. house. SS8 "a
For rent of Temple street house...... 200 90
Total. s85, $50 AZ
Leaving an unexpended balance of S264l 20
The property of the city in school houses
is valued at 100000. The annual expense
of keeping it in good condition is estimated at
not less than two per cent, or 1920.
The number OF schools in the city is 81, of
which 90 are in the center district, and II are
suburban Two have been established during
the last year. The number of school houses
is "A, equally divided between the center and
suburban districts In addition to these, A
building on Temple street is temporarily
leased by the city, at an annual rent of $500.
The 20 houses are provided with seats for
1910 scholars.
The whole number of persons who have re.
ceived instruction in the public schools during
the whole or part of the year is 577l. The
average number belonging to the schools
that Is, the number to whom seats are assign
ed, and who are expected to occupy them-is
420l, while the average daily attendance has
been but 1913. The ratio of increase in each
OF these three classes over 1861 has been
nearly uniform, and within fraction of per
cent, which is also the exact ratio of the in
crease in the expenditures for 1862 over the
preceding yeaS.
The whole number of teachers now en-
ployed in the public schools is S3-6 males
and II females. Three have been added dur
ing the last year. The uniform and steady
increase in the growth of the city has render
ed 1t necessary annually to increase the num-
Der OF schools and teachers, and has thus
maze necessary corresponding increase of
expenditures. Ii this growth continues, as
there Is reason to expect and hope, the city
Will soon be obliged to furnish additional
school room accommodations. Already in the
center district, the average attendance of
scholars exceeds the number of seats 249.
by the leasing of the building on Temple
street, this excess has temporarily been re-
duced to 60. The Inconvenience and dis
comforts OF teachers, parents, and children,
from the crowded condition of the schools in
the East Worcester district, and in the Pleas
ant street building, are such that the necessity
of increased school accommodations in these
sections of the city is universally acknowl-
edged. fet great as the want is, l do not
understands to be such that it cannot be pro-
Vlded Tor by temporary eXpedients, if the
greater economy of building, or regard to the
condition Of the public finances, and the ne
cessity of large appropriations on account of
the war, Nuke it for the interest of the CITY to
postpone all contracts for building to another
year.
schools, have not sufficient acquaintance to
be able to form or express an opinion. The
last report of the superintendent states, that
notwithstanding the progress already made,
and the present good condition of the schools,
neither the committee nor the teachers pro-
pose to rest satisfied, but viii labor to correct
all possible defects of system, to enlarge the
range and elevate the standard of education,
so that our public schools may continue to be,
as they have been, alike the glory and the
blessing of the community.
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The operations of the Public Library con-
the diffusion of knowledge through the COM
munity. During the last year it has been
open to the public two hundred and fifty
seven days. The whole number of books de-
Evered, has been So, 1872, making daily av-
erage of 22G 1-2 volumes. During the one
hundred and thirty days in 1861, Immediately
preceding the removal of the library from
Foster street, the daily delivery of books was
225 IL. The actual number of borrowers is
about 1000, although much greater number
of names are upon the list. This inconsider-
able increase in the use of the library is UNI
doubtedly in measure owing to the absence
OF many who have been accustomed to use it,
at the seat of war, and the employment of
many others at home in providing for the COM
fort and necessities of the army. Still it can
not be reasonably expected, that with our
present population, the use of the circulating
department of the library will be materially
increased. BY the very proper rules of the
trustees, fifteen years have been adopted as
the required age of the book borrowers. The
number OF children in our schools of that age
is probably somewhat less than 20 per cent of
the whole number of names upon the register,
and will not much, if any, exceed one thou
sand. This number will leave nearly three
thousand as the number of adults and persons
who have left school, who habitually take
UOOho lIOn ullc WHllS IHc HullUeI WIN
read them must be much greater. In conse-
quence Of the heavy burdens imposed upon
our citizens and government by the war, no
provision was made for the increase of the
library during the year. The circulating de-
partment has had an addition of only two
hundred volumes by purchase, and eight
hundred volumes have been added by gift
to the Green Library, for the greater part
of which we are indebted to the lberality of
its generous founder. So small an addition
to the circulating library scarcely makes good
its depreciation by use.
The appropriation for the library in 1862, to
include the cost of fencing and grading the
lot, was $4,000; for the payment of the libra
ry debt, $4,000; total, $1,000.
The present insurance upon this property is
represented as insufficient, and should be in
creased without delay.
The slovenly and unfinished condition of
the grounds about the library building are in
strange contrast with the methodical neatness
and even elegance of everything within. The
literal construction of the ordinance relating
to the library might perhaps leave room for
doubt whether the city council had parted
with the control of such merely outside ar
engagements as grade, fences, and sidewalks
matters which pertain quite as much to the
highways as to the library. At all events,
there should be entire harmony of counsel
and action between the city council and the
trustees. Its now too late to remedy the
exceedingly faulty location of their building.
The approach of it might possibly be some~