Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-11-17
He'EoMUNDs SCHOOL BUILDING.
A Monument to the Zeal and Ability of
Principals as Well as to Donors.

To the Editor of the Free Press-
About the handsomest building in Bur-
lington-to the minds eye-is the one now
rising on the corner of Main and South
Union streets The writer has seen neither
the floor plans nor the elevations, but 1t
stands before the imagination thing of
beauty as we'll as of utility.
1t Is pleasant to think of the generous
spirit which prompted the gift of the plot
on which it stands What u monument
the "Edmunds School" will be--for many
generations we trust-to the donors! 1t
was high time that an institution so well
and widely known as the city high school
should be properly housed and equipped!
The disadvantages under which both
teachers and puipis labored of late years,
were but imperfectly understood by tax
payers and patrons The days of over
crowding and makeshifts are happily now
nearly ended, and the school is at last
to have physical and chemical laboratories
with such apparatus and appliances as 1t
has long desired and deserved. Yes, de-
served. For Burlington has had reason to
pride itself on the recent history of the
school. The late principal, whose resigna-
ton was so reluctantly accepted was no
ordinary schoolmaster. He was in some
respects peculiarly fitted for his chosen
profession. He gave his best energies to
the school, and his efforts were crowned
by ever increasing success. lie had a
singular power to ooncilate the interest
and cooperation of such boys as other
people-parents sometimes-had found in
tractable. Rebellion was disarmed ere 1t
raised it's head, by the gentle and gracious
friendliness which won the would-be re-
cusant, and held him by a personal attach
ment.
And so the school grew year by year, and
its accommodations became every year
relatively more restricted, and at last the
erection of worthy building was fairly
compelled. In other words, the new cdi-
fee is n monument also to the efficiency,
the scholarly enthusiasm, and the high in
tellectual and moral standards, of the
man who, few months since, was forced
to retire from the headship.
THE King Is dead. long live the king
All success to the high school this year
and next, and so foilowing-an ever in
creasng efficiency and reputation But
we may well remember that into the foun.
dations and walls of the new structure are
bullded the unstinted labors, the practicet
pedagogic skill, and the quiet but deer
moral earnestness of one of the most
successful trainers OF youth that Burling
ton has known. The life and work of the
late master told not only for clear think
ing, but for high living as well. Char
actcrs We're shaped under his teaching
ana by force OF MS modest personality
Boys rose into sef-reliant men, and girl!
grew into gracious women, and knew no
what power had moulded their lives e
higher and finer issues. The long line o
worthy men who preceded the late prin
cipal Is not forgotten. ]. T. Benedict S. II
Peabody, II. b. Buckham, C. w. Thomp
son. Edward Conant, J. D. BARLEY ant
others. Their work also underiies tn
achievement and the promise of the pres
q n % thncn uyh ~ re NJ nj
upon the rising walls of the now building
without seeing in them the outward re
suits, in part, of the 16 years service 81
recently closed--a term longer by min
years than the longest which preceded 1t
G..