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<br />of substantial and lasting value to this part of the town ;
<br />and the utmost care of teachers, pupils, committees, aiid
<br />citizens, should be exerted to save it from needless injury.
<br />In the HANCOCK PRIMARY SCHOOL, Miss RUSSELL has la-
<br />bored throughout the year in the same patient and conscien-
<br />tious spirit as before ; and the school has made evident and
<br />gratifying advance in its deportment, and in the method
<br />and thoroughness of study. The Committee feel sure of its
<br />continued progress in the care of the same highly esteemed
<br />teacher.
<br />In the GRAMMAR SCHOOL, MISS HOYT, who was drawn
<br />from another field of labor by the greater inducements
<br />offered her, has taught with distinguished success. Her
<br />methods of instruction are marked by single-minded de-
<br />votion to the proper purposes of the school ; by directness,
<br />vigor, thoroughness, and honesty. The school has been
<br />orderly, hard-working, and ambitious. A. single visit to the
<br />schoolroom in study -hours was sufficient to convince one that
<br />the great work of instruction was going on most successfully.
<br />If but little moral instruction was given in the way of formal
<br />precept, the pupils were all the time practically learning
<br />some moral ideas of leading importance, — attention to
<br />duty ; thoroughness and Honesty in work ; deference to
<br />rightful control ; prompt obedience.
<br />Until the end of the Summer Term, the HIGH SCHOOL
<br />continued to do well. The number was full, and the at-
<br />tendance showed the same interest and care on the part
<br />of the pupils for which the school was remarkable the
<br />year before. At the examination in November, the Com-
<br />mittee agreed in thinking that the school exhibited a tho-
<br />roughness and proficiency truly admirable. During the
<br />Winter Term, it was kept, as usual, in the upper room. Here
<br />the utmost economy of space sufficed to give room for desks
<br />to accommodate all but one of the pupils. The room was
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<br />full. There was little or no space for classes engaged in
<br />recitation. There was no place to separate a pupil tempora-
<br />rily from the rest as a coercive or disciplinary measure.
<br />Tlie ventilation was quite insufficient, or it was obtained at the
<br />expense of dangerous exposure to currents of cold air. The
<br />Committee do not regard it as wholly the teacher's fault,
<br />that, under these circumstances, some laxity of discipline
<br />crept in. The general currency of reports injurious to the
<br />reputation of the school in this respect, and asserting also,
<br />in part, a great neglect of study, necessitated some investi-
<br />gation. By visits to the school, and conferences with the
<br />teacher, the Committee satisfied themselves that the reports
<br />were exaggerated, yet not without foundation. They believe,
<br />that, in attention to study, there was, with some exceptions,
<br />a prevalence of good habits to the end of the year; and that,
<br />if there had been, as they intended, a thorough and rigorous
<br />examination, the school would have proved the injustice of
<br />the charge of general idleness. The deportment of the
<br />school, as to which there was more ground of censure, was
<br />made the subject of frank conversation with the teacher,
<br />with, as was supposed, entire harmony of feeling and wishes
<br />between him and the Committee. Hopes were mutually ex-
<br />pressed that the new year should inaugurate a radical change
<br />for the better. The Committee did not think the case re-
<br />quired a change of teachers ; and, after consultation with
<br />the newly appointed member, it was informally intimated to
<br />Mr. LANE that he would be re -appointed. This was the posi-
<br />tion of things, when, without the knowledge of the Commit-
<br />tee, the school was dismissed by the teacher the day before
<br />that appointed for its examination, with the announcement
<br />that his connection with it was at an end. No comment is
<br />offered on this step. It prevented the usual examination,
<br />and leaves the Committee only the results of previous ob-
<br />servation as the basis of their concluding estimate of the
<br />school.
<br />The question is suggested by these circumstances, whether
<br />it is right, on minor grounds of economy or convenience, to
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