The Rhode Island Schoolmaster. VOLUME XVIII. JANUARY, 1872. T. W. BICKNELL, Editor. NUMBER I. “Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours, Such a review is valuable with reference to our individual work as teachers, and embraces the plans we have formed, and carried into execution for personal improvement, and for a higher fitness for our calling. What we have done, or left undone in this direction is known mainly to ourselves-to others only through our enlarged personal influence, of which we may not be able to speak. What we have done for others, in our relations to our pupils, their parents, and the officers of the schools, is a subject of deep personal interest and pertinent inquiry. To make mention of these things would be to recite the story of faithful labors done by the diligent school-workers in all parts of our noble State. That the teachers of Rhode Island have done a good public work in 1871, we cannot doubt, from their interest in measures for professional advancement, and from the emulative spirit which has been manifest to increase the power of their personal influence in bringing about various reforms in school work. Our success, complete or partial, will be a stimulus to new efforts for the year of Grace upon which we now enter, 1872. The great work done in Rhode Island in 1871, has been the establishment of the State Normal School on a permanent, a popular, and a successful basis. In May, 1854, the first Normal School was opened in Providence, under the direction of Dana P. Colburn and Arthur Sumner, with twenty-three pupils. Six others joined the school before the close of the term. That was a good beginning, and the first graduates have done good service in the schools of the State. Among them were Misses Nichols, Passmore, Hoswell, Yeomans, Sprague, and Palmgreen, and Mr. Henry Clark. At that early day the names of only three gentlemen were enrolled on the daily records. Professor S. S. Greene, of Brown University, was added to the corps of instructors as Teacher of English Grammar and Analysis. There were added, as the school increased, Misses E. T. Brown, A. F. Saunders, and Mr. Robert S. Fielden, as assistants in instruction. Later came Hannah W. Goodwin and Daniel Goodwin, and in 1857 the school numbered fifty-five pupils. Certainly, a good growth for three years. At the May session of the General Assembly, a resolution was passed directing the removal of the State Normal School to Bristol, and at the reunion at the Second Universalist church in Providence, July 10, 1857, over two hundred past members of the school met to say good-bye to Normal Hall, and send their best wishes with teachers and pupils, on their departure to Bristol. Then Professor Greene and Mr. Fielden closed their official connection with the school. The records give the following just tribute to Professor Greene : "Prof. S. S. Greene, the real founder of the Normal School, and its constant friend, who has rendered most efficient and acceptable services as Teacher of English Grammar and Analysis, also closed his official connection with it at the close of this term." The first term at Bristol opened September 15, 1857, with thirtyseven pupils, under Colburn, Goodwin and sister. Thus the school continued, with the promotion of Miss Hannah Goodwin to the place made vacant by her brother's resignation, and the appointment of Miss Ellen R. Luther, of Bristol, to succeed to Miss G.'s position, until December 15, 1859, when Colburn's sad and sudden death vacated the principalship of the school. A new hand truthfully records: "Thus was snatched away one who had been the life and the head of the State Normal School during five years and a half, even from its very commencement. A long time must clapse before one can be found to fill this office with like spirit, fidelity and skill." Mr. Daniel Goodwin returned to the school to supply the vacancy, until Joshua Kendall assumed the duties of principal, with a school of thirty-four pupils. With variable fortunes, the school continued until the close of the winter term 1865, when Mr. Kendall closed his connection with the school, and a vacation of five weeks was indefinitely continued, " to await the action of the General Assembly upon the bill for the removal of the school to Providence." MARCII 14, 1871. An act to establish a State Normal School passed the General Assembly of the State by a unanimous vote in the Senate, and an almost unanimous vote in the House of Representatives. SEPTEMBER 6, 1871. The State Normal School was opened in Providence with appropriate dedicatory services, participated in by His Excellency Gov. Padelford, Hon. T. W. Bicknell, Commissioner of Public Schools, Hon. S. II. Cross, Dr. C. H. Fisher, Rev. Daniel Leach, and Rev. G. L. Locke, of the Trustces of the School, and His Honor Mayor Doyle, of Providence. With nearly two hundred applicants, only one hundred could be accommodated, and with that number the school is securing the most valuable results to an earnest and intelligent body of pupil-teachers, who will soon become qualified to enter the public schools of the State. The Board of Instruction is as follows: BOARD OF INSTRUCTION. J. C. Greenough, A. B., Principal; Miss Susan C. Bancroft and Miss Mary L. Jewett, Assistants. LECTURERS AND SPECIAL INSTRUCTORS.-Prof. George I. Chace, LL. D., Physiology and Moral Science; Prof. S. S. Greene, LL. D., Language and English Grammar; Prof. J. Lewis Diman, LL. D., English History; Hon. George W. Greene, American History ; Prof. B. F. Clarke, Mathematics; Prof. T. Whiting Bancroft, Rhetoric; Prof. Charles H. Gates, Modern Languages; Miss Susan C. Bancroft, Vocal Music and Vocal Culture; Mrs. M. H. Miller, Reading and Elocution; Rev. Carl. W. Ernst, German Language; Rev. Nathan Williams, Drawing; Mr. E. C. Davis, Penmanship. ALBERT A. GAMWELL. A distinguished teacher and a most estimable citizen has passed from the scenes of this changing life, to the unchanging destinies of the life which has no end. On Thursday, December 21st, all that is mortal of Albert A. Gamwell was committed to the earth. For nearly a quarter of a century, he has been the faithful and devoted Principal of the Fountain Street Grammar School, in Providence, where a multitude of our youth have learned to revere his name and practise his wise instruction and counsels. His voice has often been heard with profit and delight in our gatherings of teachers, and his pen has been actively employed for the columns of the SCHOOLMASTER. Ere the the impression which his death has made upon the public mind shall have faded into indistinctness, let us glance for a moment at the record of his useful and honorable life, and seek to embody for the benefit of the living, some of the elements of his character and Buccess. The deceased was born in Peru, Massachusetts, on the 29th of October, 1816. He had, therefore, but recently entered upon his fifty-sixth year. Concerning his boyhood we know but little. His life was that of a farmer among the hills of Berkshire county, and here he acquired that taste for agricultural pursuits, and especially for the cultivation of fruit and flowers, which employed the leisure hours of his later years, and rendered his home so pleasant and attractive. The common schools of the town afforded him the ordinary advantages of an education, which he faithfully improved. As he advanced to manhood he became personally interested in religious truth, and joined a Baptist church. Desirous of pursuing a liberal course of study, with a view, perhaps, of engaging in the work of the Christian ministry, he entered the Connecticut Literary Institution, at Suffield. Here he distinguished himself by his scholarly attainments; but his intense application to study injured his health, and changed all his plans for life. In the fall of 1842, he entered the Freshman Class of Brown University, then under the Presidency of the late Dr. Wayland. For him he entertained throughout life the most profound veneration and respect. He was never weary of re counting his praises, and he endeavored in his daily life and conversation to practise his teachings and to emulate his rare virtues. Ill health compelled him to leave college for a year, and in the fall of 1844, he entered the Sophomore Class. It was here that the writer made his acquaintance. A friendship was at once formed which has known no abatement, and which, through all the varied and checkered scenes of student and professional life, has been a source of mutual happiness and improvement. Mr. Gamwell graduated in September, 1847. He immediately entered upon his duties as a teacher, having been appointed to succeed Mr. Joshua D. Giddings, as Principal of the Fountain Street (now Federal Street) Grammar School. It may be interesting to consider for a moment the organization of the School Committee at this time, and to glance at his associates in office. We have before us a printed schedule, which gives the needful information. His Honor, Thomas M. Burgess, was President, Edward R. Young, Secretary, and Nathan Bishop, LL. D., Superintendent. Of the standing Sub-Committees, Messrs. Moses B. Ives and Stephen T. Olney were on Accounts; Mayor Burgess, Rev. Dr. Caswell, Alexander Duncan, William T. Dorrance, and Rev. Dr. Osgood, on Qualifications; Messrs. John J. Stimson, Amos D. Smith, and Mayor Burgess, constituted the Executive Committee; while Rev. Dr. Hall, Rev. Dr. Caswell, Prof. William Gammell, and Mayor Burgess, constituted the Committee on the High School. Among other members of the Committee we notice the names of Bishop Henshaw, Shubael Hutchins, Ex-Governor Dyer, Esek Aldrich, Isaac Thurber, Rev. Dr. J. N. Granger, Amasa Manton, and Dea. William C. Snow, who, it may be remarked, has retained his membership until the present day. The other Grammar Masters at the time of Mr. Gamwell's appointment, were Christopher T. Keith, Zuinglius Grover, Lemuel B. Nichols, Caleb Farnum, and Amos Perry. Of these, Mr. Nichols is a physician in Worcester, while Mr. Grover is teaching in Chicago. The remaining three are still citizens of Providence, but engaged in other pursuits and callings. During all the changes incident to teachers and committees, Mr. Garnwell continued at his post, rendering faithful service, and satisfying alike parents, guardians, and pupils. Indeed, we question |