The morning journal-courier., 1908-05-14

farmer, and Sarah Knowles, lle waa born March l0, 1894, at lIopkinton, R, | I, liopklnton ls near Westerly. When F John G was about three years old | his father moved Go Hampton, Wind | ham county, taking his wife and child with him, Flo had traded his farm at lIopkInton for ono in Hampton In thIs connection very interesting little incident is told It seems that Mrs. Lewis was q Seventh Day Baptist, the only one, as far as IA known, that there was In the family, According to her beliefs the farm at IIopkn- ton was worked on sunday Saturday being the Sunday of the Seventh Day believers The other relations of the Lcwiaes took exception to this branch of the family for doing this and the removal to Connecticut came to en- able them to be away from thnso ob- jectlons and criticisms.
 As a young man John c, returned to Rhode Island again and in Prov- dencc served for some years as print er's devil on the Providence Journal, which was at that times owned by l his uncle. q man named Knowles.
 While he was working at the Jour nal office he was connected with tho printing of number of different lot tery tickets. One of these lotteries, the story of which MT. Lewis now loves to tell, was the so-called LouIs-
 lana lottery, participated in by so many.
 Later than this he went to school at the Friends academy, near Westerly, and after that at the Normal school at New Britain. It was there that he
 met his future bride. Miss Jane 4.
 Hart. who was at that time q pupil at the Normal school too.
 Mir. Lewis first work as q teacher
 was at Middle Haddam, where he
 taught a regular, old fashioned, un-
 graded country school Later he went
 to Long Island, where he had another
 charge of like nature.
 In 1858 Mir. Lewis had an offer to
 come to New Haven which he prompt.
 ly accepted for he was glad to get
 back to this part of the country again,
 where so many of hls friends were
 His new position was at the old Dix
 we'll avenue school, which is suH
 standing. Then 1t was one of the
 best schools in the city To-day 1t
 Is used as an ungraded primary school
 In the Winchester district.
 Of the old DiXwell avenue school, as
 MT, Lewis found it when he came to
 New Haven, Daniel c. Gilman, in his
 report as acting school visitor Gor
 there was no superintendent of schools
 in those daysl for the school year
 lS5S-a. said: Two of the schools, ono
 of brick. the Eaton the other of wood.
 the Dxwell, are new and commodous,' ''
 from which it may be gathered that the
 Dixwell avenue school was looked on
 generally as ono of the best in the city.
 In this connection a short comparison
 of the schools of New Haven, as Mir Lewis first found them when he came
 to New Haven and as he sees them
 today will not be amiss The report of
 Mir Gilman, above mentioned, shows
 that there were at that time seventeen
 schools, including the high school The
 'NA'NNA ""H 'Pii'hti'u illfl lii lIlf IUlHlE
 of the Young Mems Institute on orange
 street, where there were 2.T59 pupils al. tending There were 5,6j7 children ir
 New Haven of school age There were fiftytlve teachers altogether, includjnl those connected with the high school There were five grammar schools These were the Dlxwel avenue, the Eaton thn ITit1bnngA Fn Gin the old Cedar street bulldng). anc
 the Webster. In addition there wer, three schools for coored children ant : seven schools of primary grade fol
 white children.
 ]. Today there are in New Haven nln, { school districts as compared with th, five then. There are forty fonr schools { This year there are 2f,1il pupils en { rolled In the New Haven public schools i. In addition to the latter there are b4 ! pupils in the four evening schools Q i the city There are 2s,OOO odd chlldre, i. of eligible school age. There are b5 { teachers as compared with 55 as a | that time.
 ! Mr, Gilman in the report alread, mentioned expressed a sort of prophet ]. ic desire as to the future of New Ha ]. ven's schools This Mir. Lewis has see, accomplished, and has done his par ! toward accomplishing Said Mir. Gll !. man, speaking of certain improvement q he wanted: Let the schools once h !. well organized and we Gan affirm a {: New Haven what Is true of hardly an 2 other place in this country-that her t young man, without leaving homt | can pursue d connected and systematI ss course of study from the alphahe f through his professional education 2 feeling sure that at every step he < under the guidance of thorough schol q ars and Wise teachers" :"
 < And so 1t was to such city schoI f astically that Mir Lewis came the fir, c Of the year 1858 as a teacher at the ol + Dixwell avenue school IL was not lon I after In the same year that he ha . shown himself so proficient that thos # In authority saw fit to transfer hi- q to the Wallace street school, one .i those of the primary grade, where | 4' was made principal
 L Tn the spring of 1859 Mir. Lewis wa < transferred again. This time it was ' the Webster school, where he has staS i. ed ever since through long period + usefulness and work.
 ' On Christmas day 1860. he was ma, .S ried to Miss Jane A. Hart, whom < met at the normal school in New Bri <. ain some years before, while they we, x both studying there
 Y In December, 1S63 he was made prir < eipal of the Webster school. To fl < school structure there, A. Parish 4 his report for the year 1869, says: "Tl