Norwich bulletin., 1909-07-03

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 advanced with nodding plumes tn ex-
 press his tender anxieties for her in the person of Lord Guilford Dudley
 A more advanced school, including
 in it's studies Latin and Greek. math- emattcs and navigation, was establish | ed in the western part of the town plot in 1782, and continued for about thirty years. This School was under the care | of an "academieal association. consist | ing of forty-one subscribers and one hundred shares or rights" The first principal was Samuel Austin. At a later date the position was held by Newcomb Kinney, afterwards the pop ular manager of the Merchants hotel. For a schoolhouse the association pur- chased the old Separatist meeting house.
 In 1787 a school was opened upon a foundation of z 500 which had been left as a legacy for the purpose by Dr. Daniel Lathrop at his death five years earlier. This school was held, in the brick schoolhouse on the green, and Punderson, Charles White, Newcomb Kinney, Mir. Hunt, Alexander McDon- aid, and William Baldwin. Of these teachers William Baldwin was perhaps the most noted, a thorough scholar, but stern and austere, more respected than loved by his scholars Among his pu- pills were Lydia Huntley, afterwards Mrs. Sigourney, the Rev. Dr. Nevins of Baltimore, the Hon, JabeZ Hunting ton and the Hon. Henry Strong ol Norwich, Gardner and Samuel How land of New York, the projectors and principal owners of the Panama, rail- road.
 This school did most excellent work for about half a century, but was final ly given up, owing to the restrictions in the will, which provided that the school should be "kept Il months in Each Year, and 8 hours in each day from the 20th of March to the goth of September and from. the 21st of Sep tember to the 20th of March, 6 hours in each day, that is to say as nearly that space of time in each day as may Rea- sonably be expected"
 Some time between the years of 178e and 1795 the little brick schoolhouse situated a few rods north of Harland's corner was built, on land purchased for the purpose from Thomas Leffingwell for the sum of e6. Here Mrs. Sigour- ney's education was begun, and she has left for us a description of the schoolhouse, with its unpainted desks and benches on three sides of the room and on the other d recess for the teach Cl . uCoh. d CiOScI TUT DOOhSs d WdLci pitcher and a capacious fireplace. She also describes her first teacher, to whom she was sent at the age of four as a woman "above the medium height, with sharp black eyes. large hands, a manly voice, a capacious mouth, and step that made the .schoolhouse trem- ble." The principal study was spelling, where the scholars went above'' ac- cording to their "skill'' or "the mis- takes of others"
 In this same brick schoolhouse in 179S, Consider Sterry opened an even ing school for instruction in Writing, Bookkeeping, in the Italian, American and English systems" Here he taught Mathematics in their varied branches both in theory and practice, particular ly the modern, and most accurate prac- tice of surveying without plotting, lay ing out of lands &c. He would par ticularly notice those Gentlemen who go down to the sea in ships, and occu- -py their business on the great waters, that he will teach them to find their Longitude at sea- by Lunar observa- lions, also how to find their Latitude, by observations of the suns altitude, either before or after his arrival to the meridian, &c" The price for tuition flor Writing and Common Arithmetic was Is. 3d. for each scholar per week, for Bookkeeping and the higher branches of the Mathematics 1s.. Sd. per week, for finding the Latitude, as above, $1 for the complete knowledge"
 Consider Sterry, a brother of the Rev. John Sterry, was a. self-taught scientific genius. He and his brother prepared a work on lunar observations and an arithmetic for schools: and Consider Sterry. with Nathan Daboll, arranged and edited a system of prae- tical navigation which they called "The Seamen's Universal Daily Assistant" !"
 The Hon. John T. Wait, who came to Norwich from New London after 1915, attended school in this building for while. His first teacher was Dyar Harris, whom Miss Perkins. in her beck on the Old Houses of Norwich, describes as "good-natured, addicted to maps in school-time and to taking snuff. He used to call his ruler Old Goldings,' and now and then he would call out in school-hours, Anyone who wants to go out can do so by coming up to the desk and taking two licks from "Old Goldings." and the boys, ready enough to take the Ticks for the outing, would at once present them selves. He would then give one blow with the ruler, and refuse to give the other. At times he would adjourn the whole school to the hill behind the schoolhouses to try a new gun which he had recently purchased. These prac- tices did not meet with the approval of the parents, so his stay was short. and his successor, Samuel Griswold, was much more severe in discipline. He used to sit with his feet on the table and call the boys up to walk around it, hitting them in turn with the ruler as they made the round. Asher Smith also taught here, about 1922, and George Bliss, the latter teaching the public school at $22 per month in winter and a private school in summer from 1923 to 1924, during a part of 1925 and 1926, and again in 1927. In 1928 he moved to the school house on the Green, but returned to 1829 Many years later Miss Goodell taught here for several years"
 In the years immediately -recedinq and immediately following the year 1900, in addition to these opportunities for acquiring common school educa- ton. we find. mention of schools and teachers of dancing, music, embroidery and other accomplishments. The first dancing master of whom we hear was Mir. Griffiths, who held his classes in the house of the widow Billings" at Norwich Town. He taught tMinuets and Duo Minuet (which are entirely new), Cotillion Minuet, and new Coun- try Dances, with the real step for dancing -all for $6 for the first quar- ter. and $4 for the second.
 In The Courier of June z, 1797. we find the following advertisement of J. c. Devero Cor Devereux) spoken of as 'an Irish gentleman of a titled fam, fly, whom the war embarrassed"
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