HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY with illustrations, Portraits & Sketches of Prominent Families and Individuals. New York: W.W. Munsell & Co.; 1882. pp. 55-57. History of Queens County enter name and hit return
CHAPTER II.
EARLY SCHOOLS AND STUDIES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ACADEMIES.
At and long after the settlement of Queens county education was left to take care of itself. No public recognition of its utility or any act enforcing or encouraging it is any where recorded. The teachers, or "masters" as they were then called, were usually single men from the "old country," England, Scotland or Ireland. They were itinerants, hired for a quarter or so in one place and then passing on to another. Too often they were given to drink and kept "blue Monday." They were usually good penmen and arithmeticians. Grammar, geography and history were not then thought of. They were professors of the "three R’s," Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithemetic. The alphabet was taught the tyro by naming the letters in the column from A to Z, the master pointing to each with his penknife, and boxing the ears of dunces who could not recollect the names after being told a score of times. Indeed one or even two quarters were often spent before the learner had mastered the alphabet. The child was next put to joining letters, as a-b, ab; b-a, ba; and thus he went on in his spelling book for a quarter more, wearing out the leaves as he proceeded. If he was not a dull fellow at the end of a year he began to read, and then school life was more enjoyable; but the memory was cultivated to the neglect of the understanding, and that for long years after; and in some schools almost to the present time. In these days of academies, union schools, high schools and institutes the modern schoolboy loses the chance of those pleasant reminiscences of schoolboy days that have been the theme of many a sentimental story. The poetry, the romance is all gone save in a very few sequestered nooks of our county. In olden times the school-house was the least pretentious of all buildings No idea of ornamentation or embellishment of any kind seemed to occur to our forefathers in the erection of churches and school-houses, yet around them cling many pleasant and happy memories. Money paid out for education was paid too often grudgingly. It was felt like other taxes, to be a grievance that could not be avoided. The school-houses then were not painted inside or out, nor were the walls or ceiling plastered. The wide old-fashioned fire-place was after a while supplanted by a close Dutch stove, which strove-sometimes in vain-to overcome the cold that rushed in with the wind through many a crevice in the floor and wainscot. The wood for fuel was supplied in a loose way. Usually each parent in rotation carted a load, which the larger boys were expected to cut up as wanted from day to day. The smaller boys carried it in. The fire was started in the morning by the first corner, who borrowed the coals in a foot-stove from the nearest house. In cold weather the boys huddled around the stove till nearly noon, when the room would begin to get comfortably warm. In winter, when the larger boys (some of them 19 or 20 years old) attended school, the larger girls staid at home; but in summer they went to school with the smaller boys. The girls were required to sweep the school-room about once a week; and once a month (or not so often) there was a grand scrubbing time, the boys bringing the water and the girls cleansing the floor with brooms. Two boys with a pail suspended from a stick between them usually troubled some neighboring well for water twice a day. The marked peculiarity of those days was the respect and deference with which children were taught to treat their "superiors" or elders. As soon as a respectable person was seen approaching on the road the boys and girls arranged themselves in distinct rows by the roadside and "made their manners" to him, who returned the salutation with an inclination of the head and an approving smile, often adding some pleasant words. One of the by-laws of the academy at Jamaica (in 1792) required that "when the tutor or any gentleman comes in or goes out of the school-room, every scholar shall rise up with a respectful bow; and they shall treat all men, especially known superiors, with the greatest modesty and respect." The boys sat separately, but usually recited in one class, so far as classes were formed (which was chiefly in spelling and reading); for in those days classification was hardly attempted and not so much needed as at present, for the circle of knowledge was confined mostly to reading, writing and arithmetic. But the limited range of the sciences was the cause of their being well taught. The old proverb said: "Beware of a man of one book." As school books were not various there was but little choice and thus one book was a text book for successive generations of children. Indeed, one girl, who went to boarding school in Brooklyn in 1812, afterward went to Oyster Bay Academy and found the same text books used in both schools. The elementary book used was the primer (so named from the Latin primarius, first book), but as that had scanty supply of spelling lessons, and led the learner too abruptly from spelling to reading (and was originally intended for a book of religious teaching), Dilworth’s spelling book took its place. Thomas Dilworth’s speller was a good book in its day, but after the Revolutionary war Noah Webster’s spelling book was gradually adopted; not that it was better, but because it was American. Dilworth was a pious teacher at Wapping, in England, about 1740. He was the author of a system of bookkeeping and an arithmetic also, which after a 30-years struggle was, supplanted by Nathan Daboll’s arithmetic. Arithmetic was not taught in classes, but each scholar plodded on by himself and when his slate was full of sums he showed it to the master. They were then copied into a "ciphering book." Originally the teacher alone had the printed arithmetic, which was therefore called the "Schoolmaster’s Assistant," as it supplied him with examples and their solutions or answers. After a while the scholars gradually for convenience bought their own arithmetics, which relieved the teacher of the labor of setting the scholar’s sums on a slate. In many cases the master wrote out the wording of the sum in the ciphering book, and when the scholar had performed it correctly he copied the figures into the ciphering book. The reading books were more varied. After the easy lessons of the spelling book had been well learned there came the Psalter, Testament and Bible. The Old Testament was for more advanced readers. The other books were: the Child’s Instructor, the Young Gentleman and Lady’s Monitor; then came the American Preceptor and Lindley Murray’s series of readers, viz. the Introduction, the English Reader and the Sequel. Noah Webster published a Grammatical Institute of the English language in three parts, the spelling book, reader and grammar. Only the first kept its ground. The "spelling class" was a feature of those days. All the scholars were arranged or stood in a long room and "went up and down" according as they spelled. The practice seemed to produce good spellers and fed the ambition of the school as nothing else did. The "old country" masters were succeeded by those from New England, who if not so good arithmeticians were of a more religious turn of mind, and introduced some novelties, such as writing compositions, the study of English grammar and elocution. Some of these knew enough of music to start singing schools and could take part in a prayer meeting. In this way many had the entreeinto respectable farmers’ families. School usually commenced at 8 o’clock in summer and 9 in winter and with a noon spell of one hour, was let out at 4 P.M. An intermission, or recess during school hours was not yet, in fashion. When a boy wished to go out of doors he said to the master: "May I go out?" He then passed out, first turning a "block" that hung by the door, marked on its opposite sides "In," "Out." Grammar was not taught in those days intelligently, for the master did not comprehend the science. He set the pupil at memorizing the words all the way through the book. The nature of parsing or analyzing was a mystery to him. The scholar often could recite the words of his grammar by heart, and there his knowledge ended, There was a treatise on grammar by questions and answers printed at the end of Dilworth’s & Webster’s spelling books but written on the basis of Latin grammar. In the statutes of the academy at Jamaica, in 1792, it is ordered that "the text book for English grammar shall be Webster’s, to be read or repeated by memory." Navigation (as well as surveying) was taught in some of those old common schools, for many of the young men in those days went to sea, some as supercargoes and some as sailors; some studied medicine, sailed to the West Indies, practiced there till they accumulated a fortune, and then returned home. Latterly geography was taught, but almost always without maps or globes, or if maps were to be found in the books they were of one color, very small and indistinct in boundaries. The ponderous and clumsy octavos of Guthrie and Salmon were the first text books used. In time they were superseded by Morse’s. Dwight’s geography by questions and answers was used, and did good service as a reading book. Next came in succession Willett’s grammar of geography, Woodbridge & Willard’s, where the pictorial element was found to be valuable. In 1792 the use of globes (a pair having been imported from London), book-keeping, oratory, logic and chronology, with Blair’s "rhetorick," Stone’s Euclid, Martin’s geometry, and Warden’s mathematics are named as subjects of study in the academy at Jamaica. The sports of schoolboy days were ball playing, tag, puss-in-the-corner, playing horse, racing, jumping, hopping, pitching quoits, tetering, skating, sliding on the ice, running down hill on sleighs and snowballing, for then we had notable snow storms. The roads were drifted full, and the fences covered with snowbanks drifted in graceful curves and fantastic forms by the fickle winds. The girls in summer had their innocent sports too. At noon-spell, if they did not saunter over the fields and along the hedges for flowers and berries, they would play "keeping house and returning visits." They had their "baby houses," enclosed with a row of stones, as may be seen on the roadside even at this day in remote districts. They also joined in some of the gentler sports with the boys. When it rained they made "mud pies" along the road. The school-boy at his studies sat on an oaken bench without back, swinging his feet to and fro for want of a foot rest. The master kept a hickory whip or some pliant twig lying on his desk, which was usually applied across the back or shoulders. Some had a long, broad ruler called a "ferule," which being smartly slapped on the palm of the hand left a stinging sense of pain. The more civilized punishments, such as standing on one leg, holding out a billet of wood at arm’s length, wearing a fool’s cap, committing some lines to memory, or detention after school hours had not yet come in vogue. Pulling the hair, pinching the ear, or giving a fillip with the middle finger were favorite punishments with some masters. There were then no steel pens, no ruled paper, no ready-made writing books. The master had to keep a sharp knife to make, mend and nib the pens made from goose-quills; also a leaden plummet and ruler to rule the writing books. Each writer contributed a penny to buy a paper of Walkden’s famous ink powder, which, mixed with a gill of vinegar and three gills of rain or river water, made a pint of ink, which was distributed in pewter or earthen inkstands. Beside these common schools, which were pretty evenly dotted about the country, there were in the more thickly settled villages classical and boarding schools, where boys could learn the higher branches of education and be prepared for college. Such were kept at Hempstead by the successive rectors of the Episcopal church from 1760 to 1816, and at Newtown and Jamaica also. Parish schools were supported at irregular periods by the help of the British Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts. In these the church catechism was taught. Thus, while the well-to-do people had their children well educated, it is to be supposed the poorer classes grew up in ignorance. Yet some of them who could neither read, write nor cipher managed their business very well and prospered, for we know of one who filled the office of sheriff very creditably, and that recently. After the Revolutionary war academies were incorporated on the island-one at Easthampton in 1784, one at Flatbush in 1787 and one at Jamaica in 1792. The last was named Union Hall, from being built by a joint subscription of Newtown, Flushing and Jamaica. At Qyster Bay an academy was established in 1802, with Marmaduke Earle as principal. In 1806 Hamilton Hall was opened in Flushing; in 1818 Christ Church Academy was erected at Manhasset. In 1828 the Flushing Institute was started by the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg. That was followed in 1840 by St. Paul’s College; in 1838 by St. Thomas Hall, under Rev. Dr. Hawks, and in 1839 by St. Ann’s Hall for girls, under care of Rev. Dr. Schroeder. For female education the facilities were limited. There were indeed "dames’ schools" scattered here and there, under irresponsible teachers and usually shortlived. They taught the smaller children of both sexes, sewing and needle-work being sometimes added. But for a thorough education the girls had to resort to the public schools or academies and be classed with the boys. The richer sort either had teachers in their families or sent their daughters to select boarding schools in New York or Brooklyn, where they could learn dancing, music, drawing and embroidery, with all other accomplishments. The first female academy in Queens county was established at Jamaica in 1816, under Mrs. Barnum and Miss Bartlette, and it has continued to this day. Since then private schools for girls have rapidly spread throughout the county. In 1813 the towns of Queens county were divided into school districts, with trustees who raised a sum at least equal to that given by the State for the support of a qualified teacher. The supervision of the schools was cumbersome, each town selecting three school commissioners and three inspectors. The teacher by connivance was often allowed (or soon forced) to take the school "on his own hook." In 1843 the office of county superintendent of common schools was created. Pierpont Potter held the office till October 6th 1845, when Timothy Titus jr. succeeded him. In 1856, the office of county superintendent having been abolished, commissioners of common schools were elected. Soon after the county was divided into two districts. The Queens County Sunday-school Association was formed in 1871. The present officers are: President, A.H. Downer; corresponding secretary, Joseph Bernhard; treasurer, Adam Seabury.CHAPTER III...The Cradle of American Horse Racing-Courses and Coursers of Old. HISTORY of QUEENS COUNTY MAIN RETURN to QUEENS MAIN RETURN to BROOKLYN MAIN