News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-07-04

vas agreed that there should be 81
Jews representing the whole number
If Sabbaths in the year and that each
,ew owner should have the unques-
Toned right to designate the kind of
he preferred on one certain
Sunday in the year, Thus 1t was |
possible to have 80 different creeds |
in a twelve-mOnth. These |
churchmen fondly |
expected that this little device would |
work out the great principle of relig-
ions liberation which has veXed the
craftsmanship and batfied the zeal OF
the hest thinkers of the age for cen
tnries. 1t turned out that the mem
hers of both churches had not so far
cleared themselves of the weaknesses
of human life. as to be entirely free
from the sin of seltishness. Accord
inoIv very soon each church began to
solicit proxies from the pew owners,
offering a liberal consider
alton for them. The Universallsts
cot the larger number, the Metllo-
dists seeded and afterwards, until
withina very few years attended their
church services at the Corners. But
the TTniversalists did not enjoy their
victory very long, as the church was
burned in the winter of 1872.
SCHOOLS.
The people of our town have ever
manifested IA deep interest III educa-
tional matters The first school was
taught in town in 1899 and had SIX
scholars. and was convened III a cheap
room finished off in one end OF Elisha
Boardman's tavern shed at the old
center. 1t was taught by Eunlce
Pratt who afterwards married Jede-
diah Stafford. The Second school III
1900 was taught by Martha Brig
ham who afterwards married Nathan
Gates. 1t convenedm SamuelCook S
barn on the Story place, al the Corn
ers.
Soon after this as the town was
rapidly settled, districts were organ
lied and large schools were formed IN
all parts of the town. 1t was no I'M
common thing 80 years ago to find
schools numbering from 80 to 10
scholars. Now a school Of 20 Is con
sidered remarkable for its numbers.
There is the best of reasons why our
district schools in years gone by were
thrifty. We had the scholars. One
district in town contained three fam
lilies who had a grand aggregate OF
30 scholars. Thirty-eight families
were at one time living in town who
had a total of 314 children. No fam
iIv was considered respectable unless
it had at least 6 children and the av-
erage for a long series of years ranged
from 6 to 10. We are accustomed to
lament the feeble condition of our
schools at the present day, but II we
look at the families of half century
ago we shall see the true cause OF our
unhappy condition. The old law OF
supply and demand governs this prob
lem. five have the scholars we shall
Drovide the schools. 1.-The fault, dear
Brutus. is not in our stars, but IN
ourselves, that we are underllngs.
Prior to 1917. the town sent large
eontingents of scholars to the La
mobile County Grammar School at
Johnson and to the Academies at
Bakersfield. In 1S47 the People 5
Academy at Morrisville was opened
under the charge of Ozlas I. Pltkln, Il
resident of Montpelier and graduate
of Dartmouth. From that time for
ward. the school has prospered to a
remarkable degree. With three or
four exceptions it has probably mad
the largest roll of students of any like
institution in the State, and it has
done more to promote the permanent
growth of this village than any other
single agency. Its influence has been
felt in countless ways in town, Great
inga general taste for scholastic hab-
its and stimulating our townsmen to
enlarged opportunities Tor education
/ Its influence is well illustrated III the
| fact that our town has sent NOR
| Young men to college than all the res
of the towns in the county put 10
I gether. This institution is, at tn
present time in the high tide OF pros
perity, has the finest school building
! i'm this part of the State, furnished
and equipped with everything needtu
and is supported by patronage
drawn from every town IN the county
as we'll as many towns outside. Tht
annual school district meeting of hal
a century ago was at once an unlqut
and a perilous assemblage OF tn
fierce democracy of the district. L
was utilized as the yearly opportun
ity for every voter in the district tt
vent all the spleen, which hehad stor
ed up during the year, upon the ear
of his neighbor. If any real or ian
cied wrong had been done him, tn
school meeting was his place for ven
geance. The meetings were goyerne'
by no parliamentary law. Ever
thing was I'm ORDER and 1T can b
truthfully said that every thing wa
in disorder.
The main bone of contention tina
, concerned the body-politic, as distiI
, guished from individual sovereignty
was, how shall the school be supper
: ed, by Il tax upon the grand list, or
: tax upon the scholar. This questiO
t was usually determined wholly by I'll
; individual interest of the voter. Me
without scholars were eloquent ovt
= the argument that it was the duty (
/ every man to educate his own chill
: rem as much as it was to clOthe then
| Men with scholars were equally el
: thusiastic over the proposition tha
t the public generally had vital int
: est that the children who were t
: grow up into citizens should be edl
: Gated and therefore the expense wa
4 properly a public burden which a gel
: eral tax upon the grand list shout
e discharge, as much as the burdens (
? highways, paupers and other publ
e expenses. The discussion of this We,
a ed question was happily ended man
: years since, by law which place
/. this burden where it belongs, upO
D the public treasury, and with tn
] question settled much of the old-tin
entertainment of the annual schO'
j meeting has disappeared.
: PHYSICIANS.
o The first physician in town was d
+ Ralph Tinker, Il brother of DIR. Jamt
: Tinker, who settled in 1902 at Il
: old center He was followed by ID
o. James Tinker at the Corners in $50
I he by DIR. Horace Powers in 1873
V DIR. Gleason was the first physician
o MOrrisville and he was followed
n DR.. D. w. Putnam and DR.. Alv
+ Tinker.
d ATTORNEYS.
Ie The first lawyer in town was Cha
/ Meigs at the Corners, the second f
II ward l.. MayO at MOrrisville. |