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<br />Superintending. Committees, in writing, her positive resigna-
<br />tion of the place she occupied.
<br />It would be most pleasant to finish here our remarks on
<br />Miss Dudley's course as teacher ; but it appears to us proper
<br />to add a brief statement respecting one point in which we
<br />disapprove of her course. It is due to the Prudential Com-
<br />mittee of this district, and to a member of our own Board,
<br />to state, that neither these gentlemen, nor either of them,
<br />made any objection to Miss Dudley's leaving her school to
<br />attend the funeral of one of her connections. The preva-
<br />lence of the report to that effect, so injurious to the charac-
<br />ter of these gentlemen for courtesy, and growing out of the
<br />teacher's remarks to her school, is a striking illustration of
<br />the danger and impropriety of a teacher's commenting in
<br />reproachful terms on the course pursued by her Committee,
<br />in words addressed to her scholars, and avowedly intended
<br />to be repeated by them at their homes. By some in-
<br />fluence unknown to us, Miss Dudley lead become pos-
<br />sessed by a very strong bias of mind against a member
<br />of the Superintending Committee ; . and, in connection
<br />with the remarks already alluded to, she gave a full,
<br />emphatic, and deliberate expression of her opinion, in no
<br />reserved terms, and requested her pupils to repeat what she
<br />had said to their parents. In conversation with the Com-
<br />mittee, she avowed the ,act, and maintained its fitness ; and
<br />declared, that it was done after careful reflection, and that
<br />she considered it her right to do so. She has not intimated
<br />to us any change in her views of it. We do Miss Dudley
<br />the justice to believe that she did what she thought right.
<br />We think it wrong ; a manifest abuse of her position and
<br />influence as teacher ; and a proceeding, which, if it could be
<br />conceived as becoming common, would turn our schools into
<br />fountains of scandal and contention. We can only suppose,
<br />that with an overwrought sensibility, and under some malign
<br />influence, her mind had become so warped as to impair the
<br />usual soundness of her judgment ; and that, after rest and
<br />quiet reflection, she will perceive that she acted hastily,
<br />a
<br />and under a misapprehension of the requirements of duty and
<br />propriety.
<br />The Committee had not received from Miss Dudley any
<br />intimation of her suffering either real or imagined grievance,
<br />or that she had any ground of dissatisfaction. They first
<br />learned her state of mind by hearing the report of her
<br />address to her school. They could, of course, do nothing to
<br />prevent a thing already done. The near approach of the
<br />end of the term, and the fact before stated, that the teacher
<br />had already signified her intention to leave at that time,
<br />appeared to the Committee to render any official action
<br />unnecessary. That the matter has been made the subject
<br />of public discussion, is due to the publicity of the act itself.
<br />The utmost charge against the Committee is that they have
<br />done nothing ; and even this statement might have been
<br />omitted but for the persistent agitation of the subject, and
<br />the misapprehension into which some have been led as to the
<br />course and position of the Committee.
<br />The HIGH SCHOOL, under the charge of Mr. EDZORY W.
<br />LANE, has achieved a successful and honorable year's work.
<br />The circumstances attending the commencement of the year
<br />were calculated either to depress or to stimulate the school
<br />and the teacher, according to the spirit with which they
<br />entered on their work. We can congratulate the town on
<br />the decision of this doubt in the happiest manner. Mr. Lane
<br />entered the school with a devoted and conscientious purpose
<br />to do his utmost for its improvement; and he was cordially
<br />seconded by his pupils. His efforts were not confined •to
<br />instruction : they included discipline, even to the minutest
<br />trifles — if such things are trifles — of neatness, punctuality,
<br />and order in the schoolroom, and in the entries and ante-
<br />rooms ; in all that pertained to the use of the building and
<br />the duties of the school.
<br />The school has increased in numbers during the year, until
<br />it reached the highest point attained in its early days, --
<br />numbering forty-two members. Considering the distance
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