Bristol High School - Green and White Yearbook (Bristol, RI)

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FIFTY-FIVE YEARS AGO (Written especially for this edition of the Green and White by the Right Reverend Louis C. Sanford. Bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquim, California, who was the editor of the first high-school paper published by students in Bristol, the Iris, which appeared in 1884.) The Freshmen of the High School today cannot possibly feel as important as our class did in 1881. It was but a step across the hall of the second story of “Byfield” from Miss Bradford’s room in the northwest corner to the High School in the southwest corner, but that step added several cubits to our stature. In the Grammar grade we were called by our first names as little boys and girls should be. In our new altitude we were addressed as Mr. and Miss. My eleven years could scarcely sustain the weight of so much honor. There were, perhaps, forty High School students. Their instruction was supplied by two teachers. The Principal, Mr. William Shcafe Chase, had just graduated from Brown University, where his studies included neither pedagogy nor Rhode Island School Law. It is doubtful if he ever passed an examination on the Constitution of the United States. Unqualified, as he might be regarded now, he seemed then to be highly competent. The school appeared to prosper under his administration and his ability and winning qualities made friends of his pupils. In fact, he married one of them, after her graduation, and took her with him to new fields of endeavor. Mr. Chase is still alive, an ardent advocate of good causes. He never looked like a schoolmaster and indeed the three or four years in Bristol marked the beginning and end of his school teaching experience. His successor, Mr. James A. Estee was a teacher by profession and had the manner. He was tall and thin and wore a reddish-brown mustache. If he lacked some of the personal graces of Mr. Chase, his understanding of boy nature was wide and exact. Two boys will never forget his kindness, when, in order that their preparation for college might not be retarded. he had them come to his sick room for recitation. Principals came and went, but the Assistant Principal was permanent. She had taught school since her girlhood and, coming later to the High School, remained until her retirement on account of age. No M. A., or even B. A., followed her name. Women in her day had few opportunities to win degrees. Her culture, which is the proper word to use, was acquired in her home, through her social contacts and reading. Many of the older people of Bristol will remember Miss Anna Manchester. Little, erect, with pale, regular features and snapping dark eyes, always severely clad in black silk, her eye glasses supported on a gold chain, she had the poise of a great lady, as indeed she was. We learned many things of her besides the Latin declensions and the feeble scientific information which went by the name of ‘natural philosophy.’ Our simple curriculum would seem old-fashioned today. We studied English, Latin, Greek, French and Mathematics. It is true, we penetrated a short distance into the mysteries of chemistry and astronomy and some of us toyed with the rudiments of book-keeping which demanded little concentration and afforded the chance to write with red ink, which did not have for us then the sinister meaning it has since acquired. But these fancy relaxations were never allowed to obscure the importance GREEN OArudL WDIDTTEr 18

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THOMAS FRANCIS VAN VOAST College Widow, 4; Class officer-secretary, 3; Executive Committee, 4; P. I). Club, 4; Baseball, 2, 3, 4; Football, 3, 4; Basketball, 2, 3, 4; Dramatic Club, 4. BETTY KEITH WAITE P. D. Club, 4; Commercial Club, 3, 4; Drama tic Club, 2. ELSIE HARRIET WEAVER College Widow, 4; Secretary of Class, 2, 3; Green and White, 3, 4; P. I). Club, 4; Dramatic Club, 2, 4; Student Council (Vice President-Secretary); Pickles, (chorus), 4. 17

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of the weighty subjects mentioned first in this paragraph. Heavy and impractical as such a course of study may now seem, it is certain that the members of our class learned to use the English language with considerable facility; and that they derived enjoyment as well as discipline from the study of the ancient languages seems probable from the fact that one member passed his Latin examination by translating Ovid’s Metamorphoses into tolerable English verse. There were no extra activities. Dramatics, debating clubs, orchestras and choruses. Fraternities and athletics did not exist. We sa hg ‘Juanita or ‘The Old Oaken Bucket,’ at the opening of the morning session, or on Friday afternoon when declamations or essays varied our routine, and practised a ‘real piece’ for graduation. Play was unorganized. The boys indulged in one o’cat or leap frog at recess, while the girls, dressed in jerseys and shoe top skirts, without a single bobbed head, chewing gum. powder puff or lip stick, walked sedately, arm in arm, four of five abreast, up and down the High Street side of the common. The tempo of life in those days was slow and its pulse regular. Syncopated music had never been heard. Dancing meant a quadrille or a waltz. Electric light was just beginning to scatter the shadows of the larger cities and Boston had still ten years to wait for its first trolley car. Automobiles and radio were unknown and bicycles and telephones were curiosities. A trip to Providence was an adventure and the great west began just the other side of Xew York. Quite a different world then, but whether it was a better one most people would hesitate to say. And the schedule of education was uncrowded and unhurried. We had time to think, though we did not alway use the time for that purpose. But as we leisurely conned the classics and Victorian authors, something gracious and vital entered into our lives which has made this writer, at least, grateful for the associations of that simple and unsophisticated period. LOOKING BACK O'ER THE YEARS History of the Bristol Public Schools On September 3, 1663, the General Court of Plymouth Colony met and enacted a law: “that if any town of seventy families should be destitute of a grammar school it should be taxed five pounds sterling for the support of such a school.” The liberal minded people of Bristol took heed of this law, and immediately took action on the matter. A suitable provision for the support of a school was made at a town meeting on September 7. 1663. Samuel Cobbitt became the first school master of the town in 1685. A house lot, and a portion of the “land for the common good” was set aside for this use. From then on votes concerning the school and schoolmaster appeared almost as frequently upon town records as those concerning the town affairs. Mr. Cobbitt held the position of schoolmaster until 1694 when Josiah Hervev was appointed to succeed him. Mr. Hervey’s stay was short for in 1699, Mr. Easterbrooks was elected schoolmaster. On acount of the increase of the number of people on the outskirts, a plan was introduced and ratified to divide the town into two school districts—the “North Creek” being the dividing line. GREEN (TMndl Pi DIT[B 19