News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-04-16


f eeeded by one of a darker hue. Why
the Philantropist cast aside his old
friend we do not know, but opine
= some misfortune overlook it, as the
Mayor always stands by his friends.
The familiar white hat will be greatly
, missed by all.
We learn from Superintendent HUI
: burd that there have been taught the
past year thirty-one terms of school
in town, one term at least in each of
our fifteen school-houses. The aggre-
gate total attendance of scholars be-
tween the ages of five and twenty
years is 404I4. The number of diff
ferent scholars that have attended our
common schools the past year is 475.
The schools have been run at great
er expense this year than last. The
whole amount expended last year for
school purposes being $21S9.63, this
year the amount is $3317.21. Of this
sum, $624.65 was raised by town, and
Sl686.4O by district taxes; the bal
; ance was received for rent Of school
lands and other sources.
| The annual meeting of the Town
Superintendent of Lamollle County
was held at the court house Tuesday,
the seventh inst. Owing to the al
most impossible condition of the roads
only few were present. DR.. Allen
of johnson, was chosen President.
Questions were prepared upon the fol-
lowing branches: Geography, Gram
mar, Arithmetic, History & Civil
Government, and Physiology. The
| regulations that have been followed
the past year were readopted. No
candidate falling below an average of
20 per cert. on the five subjects will
be granted a license to teach. Miss
Carrie Carroll, Of Cambridge, R. w.
Hulburd of Hyde Park, and A. II.
Campbell of johnson, were chosen as
the county examining board. There
Is a-project that county examination
will be held. candidates for admit
lance to County examination must
ee twenty years of age if men, and
eighteen years if women; must bring
testimonials from town Superntend-
ents who granted their certificates and
from the committee who hired them
showing that they have taught sue
cessfully in the common schools of the
State for at least ten weeks and APP
proving their moral character" The
spring, town examinations will be
holden April Goth.
We published recently an item con-
corning school affairs in the Spicer
district, in which we stated that an
unsatisfactory feeling existed in regard
to the manner in which the teacher
was engaged for the recent term. We
are pleased to announce the difficulty
has since been amicably settled. |
However, in this connection we pub
lish a letter from q former resident of
our town concerning teachers 'sboard-
ing around,'' and although the item
referred to above, brought out the let
ter, it is so full of good logic and
sound sense on this particular subject
that we give it in full =
MENDoN, ILL.,, April 6, 1885.
Editors NelUS and Citizen -
The brief account of the civil war in |
the Spicer school district, given in a re-
cent number of your paper, would be in
teresting reading if it was not disheart- |
ening to every believer in human prog |
ress. l supposed that the custom of re-
quiring the teacher of country school |
ito board around had, with other relics |
of antiquity, been laid on the shelf long
agO-Only to be taken down by antiquar
ians for curious examination. That the |
custom should still be in vogue and be |
also the ground of diSSentiOn in school |
district not three miles from your office, |
speaks rather poorly for the progressive
ness of the people, and for the civiliZing |
influence of your paper. AS have never
sold my birthright, still take an honest
and therefore feel that have d rights to
criticiSe any evidences of ''Old fogyiSm"
which may seem to indicate that the
Green Mountain State is behind the
times. In keeping alive this custom of
passing the district school teacher on
from house to house, and making her
transient dweller in many houses without
a single home of her O1gn, you testify |
that with all your marks OF CIVILIZATION |
you are yet near the confines OF bar
bariSm.
The custom, as / remember it, requires !
that the length of each visit be proper
toned by the amount of tax paid, and
may range anywhere from two or three
meals with Mr.. A. whose tax is small, to
a week or two with Mr.. Il. the district
nabob. This was | know the olden Gus
tom. How delightful How humane
How sensible such plan is For the
simple reason that few penuriOus tax
PAYERS in every school district wish to
save few dollars of money tax, the
Young man or woman employed by them
to teach, must run from Dan to
Beersheba in search of food and become
Wanderer over the diStrict-a genteel
tramp. Change of room, change OF diet
every week, and perhaps, as In some
families, the size of the family is out OF
proportion to the size of the house, it be-
comes necessary for teacher" to sleep
with some of the children, who are u.s.
ually numerous in just the proportion
that dollars are scarce. To expect 1t, is
an imposition on every teacher. Ii the
| inhabitants of a school district are so
mean that they require it, they deserve no
school. If they are so poor as to need TO
so save, let the voters retrench on tobac-
| co or some needless luxury: This pen
| nv wise and pound foolish" policy which
/ leads school agents to secure the lowest
priced teachers and treat them like me-
malls, is suicidal to the best interests OF
education. No class of workers should
| be better paid-and none more respect
fully treated. Make school teaching
profession. Encourage competent young
people to fit for it by making it lucrative
| Treat them as leaders of the young, and
demand that they be safe leaders, and
the improved moral and intellectual
status of the community will give ample
return. Where teacher boards, or how
much she may pay for her board, is none
4 of districts business. They should be
i hired independent of board, paid in cash,
and then let them look out for them
selves. The whole system of boarding
them around" is akin to paying the min
lister in pumpkins, rancid butter, stale
meat and donation parties or the prac-
tice of keeping up the highways by let
ting every man work out his tax by lean
ing on his hoe, instead of demanding
that he pay his debts to church and to
town in money, that it may be expended
to the very best advantage to get the
maximum of result at the minimum of
expense. Under existing customs this
is just reversed
There is, of course, a spiritual profit to
4 teachers arising from this itinerant SyS-
tenn. 1t ImpFesses upon them in most
: fOrcible manner-the fact that this is no
continuing city," and helps them to sing
Understandings the words of that famil-
lar hymn
Ppm pilgrim and Pm stranger,
lean tarry, can larry but night"