Bourne High School - Canal Currents Yearbook (Bourne, MA)

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Canal Currents, Bourne High School Bourne High School Sixty Years Ago W HEN this part of the Cape was settled, and small schools and church meeting-places were built, there arose a problem concerning advanced education for teen-age children. For a time students went either to Wareham or Sandwich depending on which was nearer. The Town of Bourne paid their tuition and train-fare. Although the idea of high school” was considered with a great deal of opposition by some parents, it soon became necessary for Bourne to have its own building. The site chosen was in Buzzards Bay where the Primary School now is, and the playground was where the Catholic Church now stands. It was established in 1885, with thirty students in attendance. Among those in the first graduating class, in 1888, were Sara Gibbs of Pocasset, Harry Butler of Bourne, and Clarence Eldridge of Buzzards Bay. In the class of 1889 were Sadie Hathaway of Buzzards Bay, Edith Gray of Bourne, Howard Wing and Harry Handy of Cataumet, and Chester Kendrick of Pocasset. Among those in the class of 1890 were Eben S. S. Keith of Sagamore, Nathan Bourne of Bourne, Grace Blackwell, Harvey Jones of Bourne, Frank Bray and Foster Bray whose father was foreman at the Keith Car Shop, Herbert and Walter Eldridge of Bourne. The first principal of this school was Mr. Bullen, a very good disciplin- arujn. He was strict and firm and no pupil dared overstep him. He believed that a child old enough to be in high school ought to know how to behave. Page Eighteen

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Canal Currents, Bourne High School ALUMNI . 9 • 9 CLASS OF ’43 |ames Adams — Working in Sagamore Elaine Anderson — Working in Bourne Town Hall Bernard Aylmer — Army Air Corps; England Lucien Bachand — U. S. Navy Margaret Boffetti — Bridgewater State Teachers College Deane Boyden — Merchant Marine Richard Calder — Working at Camp Edwards George Conley — U. S. Navy August Cristofori — U. S. Navy Victor Crump — U. S. Navy Luiggia Cubellis — Working in Buzzards Bay Dorothy Dixon — Becker College Richard Eldridge — U. S. Navy Edward Ellis — Merchant Marines Ugo Ferrari — U. S. Army George Handy — U. S. Army; Germany Herbert Holman — U. S. Army; Germany Gloria Holt — Mrs. Stuan Kaylor John Jenkins — U. S. Navy Robert Lindquist — Army Air Corps Lucius Mendes — W orking in Boston Helen Murray — Simmons College Joseph Oliva — U. S. Navy; LJ. S. S. Nicholas Robert Peebles — S eabees Alice Perry — Burdett College Elwell Perry — Merchant Marine Sheldon Philbrick — U. S. Navy Odile Robinson — Living in Richmond, Va. Franklin Putney — Army Air Corps Kendall Silva — U. S. Navy Bernard Stockley — U. S. Army Ruth Taylor — Becker College Nathalie Thamalis — M rs. Richard Calder John Thom — Army Air Corps John Weeks — U. S. Navy Laurence Thompson — U. S. Army Clayson Tucy — Army Air Corps Theodore Wing — U. S. Navy; Pearl Harbor, Haw aii Page Seventeen '

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Canal Currents, Bourne High School If there was too much noise in the entry- way, the boys were thrown outside. The girls, for the most part, didn ' t cause any trouble. Mr. Bullen, the teacher, was very studious looking and always had an armful of books and papers to carry around as he hustled here and there. But then, his duties were such that he had to hurry in order to get them done. Among the subjects which he taught were Latin, mathematics, physics, and bookkeeping. There was no shorthand taught and the typewriter had barely been invented. The janitor came in the morning and swept and started the stove of which the stovepipe went the full length of the school. The stove and a pile of wood were near the teacher’s desk and it was his duty to keep It going. Mr. Bullen’s assistant and the only other teacher w as Miss Anna M. Star- buck, who lived in Bournedale. She taught French and literature. In the entry was a pump, a cup, and a tin dipper for students to get a drink of water. Ther e w ' ere only two rooms other than this one — a main or study room and a recitation room. Miss Starbuck took charge of the students w ' hen Mr. Bul- len was having a class or recitation. The students were arranged according to their intelligence. The smart students were in the front of the room; the not- so-smart ones were near the back. Because a high school education w ' as optional, examinations w’ere given during the spring, near the end of one’s grammar school career. These in- cluded the knowledge of square root, cube root, interest, discount, figuring for papering walls, and laying a floor, spelling, geography, history, etc. If a student failed a test and desired to go to high school, he was coached during the summer. High school was at this time arranged in a three-year course. The school day began with morning exercises, followed by a spelling test which consisted of twenty words. The students had no idea what the w ' ords were going to be in this daily spelling test. They came to school on the eight o’clock train; classes began at nine o’clock and were in session until twelve o’clock with the exception of midmorning recess. The noon recess w ' as one and one-half hours. Classes reconvened at one thirty and continued until four o’clock. There were only two trains down and two trains up the Cape; so it was necessary for the students to busy themselves and w ait for the six o’clock train in Buzzards Bay. This made a long, tiresome day. The town paid for the students’ winter-term carfare which amounted to about three dollars per person. It was about this time, too, that books first began to be paid for by the town. Levi Leavitt, of Sagamore, w ' ho later had his leg taken off by a train in an accident at Buzzards Ba y, was superintendent in 1885. He was followed by Charles Burgess of Bournedale. On Friday afternoons the school was open to friends and relatives of the students who wished to see how well they were doing. At this time essays were read and the pupils sang songs to the accompaniment of an organ. One of the school projects was sponsoring an annual fair; the money from which went to financing the school library. The school was lighted by kerosene lamps on dark days. There were not enough lamps for every desk so part of the schoolroom remained dark. Page Nineteen