Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1879-11-20

paper Of the 6lh signed WIcomIco hap
pens 10 De from . gentleman that re-
sides in School District No I Miss
Hadges'1 and upon - extreme river
point, thereby making him on the end
or out lines Of said district and has no
children 20 send to school. He deems
IL bis duty TO defend the Trustees against
what had been said BY me. Well, I
will take bis language for Il. He says !:
THE School Board Contemplated chang
ing this site long before purchased my
land" This do not beIieye-if 80,
Col. John r. Dent. President Of the
School Board, speaks ironically. Ipur-
chased NY farm OF him lCol. Dent and
the day / complied with my purchase
(the school house having burned down
between The purchase and paymentl he
expressed himself emphaticaIly that the
school house should be built on the road
q hundred Or two yards from where il
did stand and he should favor the same
in otiee. Wico;nsco goes on to say the
site where buTned was inaccessible,
even By abye-road. Unwise then as now.
they built II in the centre oftbe dlslFica
about 900 yards from the most pv
kgoad in the county -leading from Chdp-
-hco TO Leonafdtown-but not seen from
the road on account Of small skirt Of
pines that obstructs the view. / asked
that the school house be built immedi-
ately on the public road, IN front OF
where it did stand. and have three
fourths Of the patrons 10 bear me out.
The appropriation by the Board to build
this school house reads-"We appro-
pirate 50 much money to build school
house m District No. 2, 4th election dis
trict." This was not complied with by
the Trustees, as they Immediately selec-
ted site 20 district No. I Miss Hold
ges'). This they found too hard to car
~, so they moved il up on the hill about
10 yards within the line, less unfit than
The first selection. WIeomico further
sharply attempts. TO get over the word
district by using "centre Of population
20 screen the Trustees and mislead the
public mind. Now, this word centre OF
population is q big word. and | really
must confess that ! do not know the
meaning Of it nor where The centre Of
population il. What population does he
meant If the State House at An
nspOlis was moved to ST. Mary's coun-
ty, IL might be in the centre of popula-
ton, but not m the centre of the popu-
lation OF the State Of Maryland. II Wi
comico means the centre of School Dis
trict No Q, why give the population a
show at il and u will not be built as Sc
lected by the Trustees; or If Wicomico
means 10 say that where this school Is
10 be built the people are more thickly
settled. ] say il Is the most thiEly set
tied section in the county. Twill bound
il as near as possible, that the public
may see for themselves. West Wicom-
leo River, one farm between-North
Chaptico Bay, one farm between-East,
all the people in the district at long
distance-South, a dense woods 5 10 6
miles long and varying from to 4 miles
wide. These woods are the wood lands OF
ofthe Wicomico farmers, commonly call
ed the Backwoods, and il WicomicO can
show me any patrons from the school
house door 10 the end OF these woods
will go with him TO look at them. We
can double the few Wicomico people
that are in this district as TO population,
yet by some means they are sharp
enough TO get the appropriation and
take our school away entirely, and it is
endorsed by the Board. Now the re-
sult-2 school houses in one district,
and if Miss Hodges be broken mp, !
school house for Q districts. My place
is adiudged by all as being near the CEN
tire OF district No. 2 where the old
school did stand) except by selfish men.
who want not only the best lands, wa
Ter facilities and steamboat wharves
right at their farms, but must take our
school house at their door, su6ieciing
me, right in the heart OF the district, to
% miles by road, which will be nearer
than the airline across q DOGGY, dismal
swampy country. One OF the Trustees
to Miss Hodges school resides about l
mile from this selected site and miles
from Miss Hodges. Now TO which will
he become q patron IL you break up
Miss Hodges school. what will become
to the people little lower down the VII
comico River, say Notify Halli They
are larger taxpayers than those above
Chaptico Wharf, and lastly from the
fine estate Of Col. r. II. Miles, who, in
q point of taxation. reckon pays more
taxes than The whole Of the Wicomico,
from his place TO Chaptico. distance
of 5 or 8 miles did moi want to say
anything about my taxes, but 10 they are
to have 2 school houses in one district
on account Of being large taxpayers, ]
am satisfied that pay more taxes than
any of them q mean that advocate the
moving OF the schooD. Mr.. Examiner
Thomas, from my short acquaintance
with him, apparently perfect gentle
man, said to me in consulting about the
site, that he did not want The white chill
dren to come in contact with the colored
school. Now, If this be an objection.
nv children are forced I mile right
down 10 the colored school and I miles
from there to the white school, m con-
tact with them all the way. Yet the
School Board endorsed 2 school houses
in one district, andall the objections
offered on account Of others, | am
heir to without any relief: Wieomico
says, "one Of the Trustees 10 whom !
alluded as locating the school house
20 years ago. denies selecting the old
site" ] understood him 20 say he was
a Trustee at that time. and don't think
he will deny that he was Trustee.
But be that as Il may, he did say to me
in his own yard, that II The School Com
missioners refused to redistIct, that the
old site was in the centre. He further,