Portland High School - Totem Yearbook (Portland, ME)

Page 13 text:

A wx ,lk 1: md' X if OUR SCHOOL

Page 12 text:

0 UR I.I HRARN

Page 14 text:

GOING TO SCHOOL IN OLD FALMOUTH MURALS-SCHOOLS OF EARLY PORTLAND Under a P. XV. A. project started early in january, Thomas Thorne, an alumnus of Portland lligh School, under the supervision of Alexander Bower. has already painted two of the four murals allocated to our school, and these have been placed over the doors of the large study halls on the first floor. In 1728-29 the lVlassachusetts General Court warned the town of Falmouth that unless a schoolmaster was provided for the children of the settlers, a fine would he imposed upon the township for neglecting the laws of the Puritan Common- wealth. The town, however, did nothing about this until 1733, and it was not until 1745 that we have any definite record of a regular schoolmaster. The panel entitled Going to School in Old F almouth, over the entrance to Room 103, is typical of Portland, then called Falmouth, about 1745. This mural shows Stephen VVadsworth Longfellow, center, the great grandfather of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, on his way to a citizen's house to begin the school session, accompanied by two of his younger pupils, since at that time, no schoolhouse had been built, and classes were held in private homes. At the extreme right is Rev- erend Thomas Smith, a famous character of the day and parson of the First Parish Church, who was instrumental in attracting Longfellow, then a young graduate of l larvard, to Falmouth, as a result of the Massachusetts court ruling that each town must support its own instructor. The old mail coach: the First Parish Church spire in the background: the prow of the ship Ranger: the merchant's home, built of brick brought from England : and the other dwellings in keeping with the period, all go to make the panel a true scene of colonial Falmouth, while the sailor and longshoreman on the left represent what Portland was to become-a shipping city. ll0l