The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-01-26
Foreign Notes.
a statement From Or. crandaI.

To the Editor Of the Press:
The purpose of the following statement
is three fold;
ITO give the people information which
they have right to know and by right
ought to know.
2-To explain why l opposed the majority
vote Of the school committee in the action it
recently took in regard to certain statements
concerning the Centre street school.
$40 defend the action Of certain teach
ers in said school, whose motives have been
in private conversation, disgraeefully i'm
pugned and whose statements have been
misrepresented
In the report Of the meeting Of the school
committee held Monday evening, January
23. 1888, the following resolution was passed
by vote Of five against one, and one not
voting.
RESOLVED In view Of the fact that the statement
has been made ana widely published, that In one
primary school room IN this cry every boy but
a board to state that upon investigation the evl-
dence in this case does, by no means, suostan-
tiate the statement made and published as above,
but shows ii to be unwarranted and misleading
As also stated in the report of the proceed
ings Of said meeting, opposed the passage
of the resolution on the ground that there
had been no systematic investigation or
hearing Different members Of the board
had visited the school room referred to and
had obtained different reports. l urged re-
ferring the matter TO committee OF three
for the purpose of obtaining all the facts and
presenting them to the people. | believed
that, inasmuch as so many contradictory re-
ports had gone forth, all OF which made Sc
rious charges against the good name Of our
lotfw 10 a haffnT
way TO refer the matter to special commit
tee of three with power to have full hear
ing and make a complete investigation. and
then give TO the public all the facts and con-
clusions. Perhaps it was all for the best
that my proposition was ignored. for l now
have the opportunity of giving 20 the people
an earlier statement, and also positive
proofs that, in the words OF Reverend Z. Il.
Bayley, ''the nefariOus business Of the rum
seller is reaching even 10 our pubic schools
for its victims"
The "unwarranted and misleading" state
ment quoted by the Rev. +. L. Bayley, that
'every boy but one allows that he drinks,
grew out Of the following fact; The teacher
states that "a list of liquOrs-ginger ale,
| tonic, pop beer, sarsaparilla, lager beer, gin,
porter, wine, whiskey, rum ani brandy-was
written on the blackboard, as they were
mentioned by the pupils" subsequently
each boy was questioned separately concern
ing which Of these he had ever tasted, or
which he used frequently, and 1t came TO
light that all "but one" drank more or less Oh
one or more Of the drinks mentioned, Hay-
ing ascertained these facts, the teacher, In
nocently believing that all OF the drinks re-
ferred to contained greater or less amount
of spirits, made the remark to a friend that
every boy but one allows that he drinks.
This remark, being quite appalling, II was,
without her knowledge, repeated 70 persons
deeply interested in the moral welfare oil the
young, and in time 1t reached the Rev. Mr..
Bayley, who embodied the statement. in the
form Of quotation, in his recent admirable
and effective sermon. In such manner the
words, ''every boy but one allows that he
drinks" became the ''unwarranted and mis-
leading statement that some were 50 anx-
ious and hasty TO have corrected. For my
part, did not object to the correction, Tor
the statement was, as matter OF TACT, rather
misleading; but / objected TO the s0-called
| investigations and evidence in the case, and
| to the imperfect and unsystematic manner In
which they were presented and made the pa
| sis of a resolution. was In favor Oh PROB
| ing the matter to the bottom by means OF
| duly authorized special committee, which
| would command the respect OF Doth tine
| school board and the people, and OF then
| giving to all the facts as found TO exist.
Moreover, felt that it was the duty Of the
| school committee 10 let the people know how
| the children of the Centre street school had
| been debauched by the miserable grog shops
| that have been allowed to flourish In its I'M
| mediate vicinity. l wanted to have them
pecy whether te sxpeGd nearly nSs 5000 sTSa psr
| annum to carry on a school in which
| to educate poor children, and then allow
1 several rum shops to run in full blast In close
| proximity and undo all Of the good work OF
/ the school, Could there be any greater folly
| and waste than for the city to spend $4,000
| in ten years to educate children through the
/ Centre street school. and then make no effort
| to prevent them from going to waste. That
such wretched business has been and Is
1 \ tha md nfa n
show. The written statement now before
| me of the teacher previously referred TO,
/ shows that, even If her former verbal state
/ ment was inadvertently misleading, the
truth Is enough to appal every right-minded
| person. 1t shows that eight boys, still In a
| primary grade, confess to using lager beer,
wine, rum and whiskey as beverages. Five
more acknowledge that they use these strong
liquors lchen sick. Hence according TO their
own confessions, thirteen boys out OF twen-
ty-one are already familiar with the taste
and more or less addicted to the use OF in
| toxicating liquors. Eighteen ont OF twenty
one admitted also that they either have used
or do use tobacco. Thus it appears that the
rum shops and evil examples have not only
undOne the work of the school, but that
habits have been formed which viii very
| soon lead nearly every boy In that SchOOl 10
drunkenness and to crime. .,,,
Since the above statement was made still
| another boy. 13 years of age, and who Ilyes
over a saloon, has come to the school under
the influence of intoxicating liquors, became
sick and vomited all over his desk ana on
the floor, and then had to be earted IN the
patrol sleigh to the police station. More
over, the principal Of the Centre street school
has Informed me u have the statement in
writing) that during three years he has
quietly taken eight drunken boys to their
homes In order to avoid disgracing them by
making their offence public Early last
spring Col Charles B. Merrill, supervisor Of
the Centre street school, reported In
meeting of the School Committee
that boys came TO that school drunk,
and he appealed to the Mayor to
have the saloons in that vicinity elsed. In
reply the Mayor said that he was not aware
that there we're any such places IN that VI
cinity ana then he ADDED that II Col Mer-
rill would give him the names Of the sellers
and the number of their places, ne would see
that they were prosecuted. This was what
Col. Merrill could not do and there the mat