Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1879-09-23
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.


was requested by your centennial COM
mittee To prepare brief address giving u
History of Education in the town OF
Paris. | consented so to do, but ut once
found on attempting the same, that the his
tory of education in this town from it's
earliest settlement To the present time was
subject of such breadth and extent, and
SO intimately connected with all the religi-
Gus and material growth and prosperity of
the town, and required so much research
and patient investigation, that it could not
be fully treated in the few moments allotted
to me in the exercises of the day. There
fore shall hut briefly touch upon few OF
the most marked incidents, and In gen
eral manner indicate the vast influence
which the system of education adopted by
our fathers has had, not only upon the for
tunes of the individual citizens, but also
upon the very life and growth Of the town
itself In order to rightly understand the
planting Of that seed, which fell into such
fruitful ground, and bore such bountitul
harvest, we ought TO take short glance at
the first settlers of the town, see who they
were, from whence they came, and what
impress they left upon the lives and char
acterS of those who have succeeded them ;
but We can only briefly say that they came
from Watertown and adjacent towns in the
State of Massachusetts, and were men OF
integrity, honesty, native ability and &C
duircd education. 1t Is rarely that any
new country has such men for it, founders.
Coming in the prime of life and in the full
strength OF sturdy manhood from the
parent state IF Massachusetts,, they brought
with them into the midst of this primcyal
forest. and then unbrokeu wilderness, that
spirit of culture and patriotism and strong
faith in the God given principles ofirccdom
and religious liberty, which were the dis
tinguiShing characteristics OF The citizens
of that State. Descendants OF those who
had willingly cNilcd themselves from faith
or land for conscience sake descendants of
those who had heroically endured dangers
and priyatiuuS the mere mention OF which
today might well cause the cheek oi strong
manhood To pale-to secure freedom for
each man % worship God amer the dictates
of his own heart themselves, many of
them. fresh from that great contictin which
our nation was born, and IN whose ears
were Still ringing the echoes of those glad
bells which proclaimed Freedom and In
dependence over this broad land, they
came with strong hands and brave hearts
To their great enterprise, and II is mainly
10 their forcthought, Sagacity ami earnest
ness i'm building up the free school system
i'm this town that we owe much of our past
success and present prosperity.
As We open the old record books and
shake of from their leaves the dust OF
nearly a century aud q half for the Pro
prictorS records begin In 1880 We are
struck with the beauty Of the pcnman>hip
aud the force and corrcCtnc>>ot the Ian
cua.c. Few records of the present day
can 40 all compare with them, and rs We
further look and see thcquaiut expressions,
strange 20 the ears of Us today such rs
His most sacred Majesty and His
Maic>tys Province OF Mu>Sachusctt. Bay,
We are forcihly reminded of the flight OF
time. and strange thoughts and visions of
the startling events which have occurred
since the hand guided the pen over the
smooth surface of this page. and the gen
crationS which have come and gone Ike
the leaves of the forest come thronglng
upon H.. but we must press forward with
our task. ~ have said, the first grant of
Plantation. No t. ~ IL was then termed,
Wa, made i'm 1888. but that location failed
ON account of il, being found go bc within
the limits of New Hampshire. aud 1t was
not until l773 that the Plantation WAS final
~ located where is now the town OF Paris.
and in l779 the PROJECTORS road was cut
through from near the ea>terly corner 20
the northwcStcrly corner, the centennial of
which occurrence We celebrate today.
The Grant was on condition that the
proprictorS should within seven years set
tie sixty families build house for The
public worship Of God and settle Prot
c>tant minister. and lay ont one sixty
fourth part for the first settled minister one
SiXty-fourth part for the use of the minis
try. one SiNtv-fourth part for the use of a
school. and one siNty-fourth part for the
use of Harvard College. These conditions
were fulfilled except so far is the question
of time entered into them. and when the
Grant was lottcd out certain lots were set
aside for the minister and ministry. and
certain lots for school These remained
unmproycd for some years. until IN 1893.
We lind an article in the warrant. % see n
the town will devise some method 20 make
the school land profitable. No action was
taken under this article NJ the time. but at
subsequent meeting In 1904 the Sclcctmen
were appointed Committee 20 petition the
General Court for leave 70 sell said lands.
License was granted June t.. 1904. upon
condition that the net proceeds of the
said sale bee and shall forever continue 90
De vested i'm some of the public funds Of
the United States or of thi, commonwealth
or mortgage of real estate, and the interest
ari>iu. from the sale OF the said school
right. shall be applied towards the support
of schools and the interest arising from
the sale of the ministerial right shall be
applied towards the support OF the min
istry.'
Previous 10 this. the Rev. James Hooper,
the first settled minister of the town. had
rclinquiShed all his rights intwo OF said lots
tothctowu. Under the above license, Ehcn-
cZcr RawSon. Josiah BiscOc and Levi Hub
bard were appointed u committee OF the
town 10 make sale of the lands, and they
were sold for $3.50. This amount was I'M
vested. and the interest of about $1,000 OF
thi, was applied generally by vote OF town
for the support Of preaching up To the year
1913. when John Porter, James Decring
and Joseph q. Cole were appointed a COM
mittee 10 investigate the matter, and on
their report the whole amount was carried
To the School Fund and from that time to
the present the interest has been annually
devoted to the support Of schools. This
was the origin of our present School Fund,
and it constitutes permanent fund for
that purpose, with the exception that by
some means unexplained by the records
the principal has been reduced to S3Slj.
The Plantation was settled quite rapidly
after l7S2. and in 1898 was Incorporated rs
a town under the name of Paris. What
were the advantages for schools during
the II years prior 10 the incorporation Is
not recorded and we are forced to rely upon
tradition, which simply informs US that pri-
yate schools were held at various houses and
taught by some of the settlers. At the in
corporation of the town, it was quite tx