New Britain herald., 1929-10-05
TEACHER OFTEN WHIPPED
 PUPILS HERE CENTURY AGO

the top to the bottom of the class. Multiplication tables were drilled
 constantly. the children being re- quired to recite them over and over again. Equal attention was given to
 writing. Instructive proverbs such
 as, "A stitch in time saves nine and Its never too late to mend
 were carefully set in the childrens books by the master himself and woe
 to the lad who forgot to cross his
 't's' and dot his ''i's". Occasionally
 a little geography was taught. At
 about this time. the two volumes of l Morse's Geography were published
 and the children, thereafter. were often required to memorize them from cover to cover,
 i But book learning, after all was
 only part of the curriculum. Great stress was placed on good manners and reverence for age and authority. | For example, when q distinguished 1 person-such as the minister or an officer in the army-passod hy the school al, recess, the children formed
 in line and bowed and curtseyed un- til the reverend backs had passed from sight.
 Discipline wax strict. Each master
 had his own methods of punishment but few of them spared the rod. Sometimes, children were c0mnelled to stand in the corner with q dunce hpir hn4Ic. might be required to stay after
 school and commit long passages to
 memory.
 School was an all year affair and
 legal holidays were few and far be-
 tween. Nevertheless. it is probable that few children had an aggregate attendance which would pass today.
 With snow blocking the roads in the winter and the crops to be attended to in the summer. it was not easy to be at school every day.
 But, though they might often be kept home from school the spirit of the school was never far from them for the teacher was always at home in the whole community, New Brit ain, it is recorded was particularly fortunate in this respect. The ability of it's citizens was such that few teachers were chosen from outside The young ladies of the neighbor- hood volunteered for service in the summer and the 1lOre intelligent farmers of the community were the ST '1 m oct, NF, The teacher from "outside" was scarcely less well-known for it was the custom to pay the teacher part of his salary by boarding him around from house to house. In this way. the school through its master, enter ed intimately into the life of the community. Often, indeed, the teach CT was the vital center Of village activities, beloved, alike, by young and old, as much interested in the welfare of the children at home as in school
 Taxpayers mGy have little pref erence for the shcools of one hun- dred years ago after reading the fol- lowing figures Teachers received in addition to free board-S12 to $15 per month. The cost for the np- keep Of schools is even pleasanter to read. According to the History Of Hartford County" New. Britain was divided in 1795, into four school districts-the East district with on what is now East street; the Southwest district extend ing from Main street to Dublin hill and west from Dublin hill to Ken the NorthWes stretching from the foot of Dublin hill all the way to Pennington; and the district surrounding Stanley quarter The ! location of the schOolhouses in the l last thre~ districts is not recorded. | In l S03, the school board was author- ized to spend S100 in each district ! in addition to the salary of the ! teacher, Two years later. the sum was raised to S125.
 But it is not to be supposed that | this was all the people of New Brit l ain spent in the cause of education. ] Private schools fourished every where. Some of these were attend