The Portland daily press., 1867-01-09

The schools of Portland after the Fire.
The following account of the reorganiza-
ton ofthe schools of Portland. in the midst of
the confusion and disorder of the first few
days of the fire, will bring to the notice Of
many of our own citizens for the first time,
the energy and perseverance Of the school
committee and teachers, and the actual diff
cultes they had to overcome. We copy from
the Maine Normal:
There is no reader of the Normal but
knows of the destructive fire IN tne city OF
Portland, which occurred July =, 1000, ana
probably most have interesteu themselves
laos Than fifteen hundred buildings We're laid
in asbes. ten thousand persons rendered
bnnseless and homeless, and at least ten mil
lions of property consumed. The night that
brought all this destruction and misery was
one Of terrible sublmity, and never to be for
gotten by any who We're eye witnesses The
wings OF the destroying Angel seemed to b,
overshadowng tho city. The crash of walls
and lofty church spires, the shrieks of terror
stricken women and childien, the terrible ex-
piosions from the blowing up of buildings al
most led to the belief that Portland was in
deed beleaguered city, carried by storm.
After such avisitation as this, it was natur-
al that the question on ali lips should be,
What shall we do? and imbued with that
same spirit which so early led the Puritan
Fathers to provide for the education OF their
children, the Fathers of Portland asked first
OF all, "What can we do for our schools r
Many OF them had lost their buildings togeth-
Ell W it'll ali their text books and apparatus,
while others that were more fortunate LII TINS
respect, found that the children rs wen as the
men and 4 omen, were so thoroughly excited
and appalled, that to attend to school duties
and exercises was quite impossible. But q
few DAYS were sufficient in which to outlive
this feeling; and a few days gave the Fathers
OF the town time enough to answer the ques-
ton as to what should be done for the schools.
The answer came firm and decided, as it al
ways comes everywhere in New England,
when such question is presented, l"The
schools must be the last to suffer-" To the
honor ofPortland let it be recorded, that not
outstanding four school houses were DESTROY
ed, and eight schools left without rooms, and
the city had met with such an unprecedented
loss OF property, within ten days all save three
Primaries We're recognized aud at work as
usual and ere the vacation which was close
at hand, had passed, these Primaries were
provided with new temporary buildings
Some schools reopened with less than half
their original number and without text
book of any hind. But amidst all this confu-
sion and want, the teachers were not disheart-
ened for they saw opened before them an un-
usual field OF usefulness. They went bravely
about their work interesting and instructing
the remnant OF their scattered docks, with no
text book except the one the apt and skiIlful
teacher always has in his possession. Thus
they worked on, carrying the impression as
much as possible that nothing had happened
that need interfere very seriously with school
duties. Soon the wanderers began to learn
that the schools were actually still ia exist
ence, and found their way back, and by the
energy ofthe School Committee, the liberali-
ty of friends far and near and the great consid-
Grafton and generosity OF the publishers of
the various text books now in use in the
schools, the pupils were all very soon supplied
with books, and performing their daily school
duties as usual. 4i.iae ~ A-llaio4FfF 20
Perhaps other teachers may learn profita-
BILE lesson from these few facts. You may be
assured that you can do much for your school
under most unfavorable circumstances. You
may lose your school room, your books and
apparatus, indeed everything but your love of
your work, your ambition and your faith, and
still hold your school together and do work
of which GU need not be ashamed II YOU
are comfortably supported and have good evil
dence that your labors are acceptable, if disas-
tiers do come, stand to your post. Probably it
Will never happen to any teacher in this coun-
try that he viii amass a fortune by his profess |
sion, indeed he need hardly expect more than
to live comfortably but it he has done hls
work faithfully and well, he may have sat
isfaction better than riches can bring, that
ofhaving done something to elevate his race.