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History of the Charlotte County Grammar School
Beacon
Aug 17, 1918
Centenary of Charlotte County Grammar School 1818-1918
The celebration of the Centennial of the Charlotte County Grammar School was held in the Assembly room of the Prince Arthur School on Friday evening, and a full report will appear in our next issue. We have been supplied with an advance copy of the “Historical Sketch” by M. N. Cockburn, Esq., K.C., which is as follows:
The Friends present tonight must suffer a disappointment, if they are expecting from me anything that could be at all regarded as a proper history of the Charlotte County Grammar School. It was only ten days ago that I was asked to take part in this very important and most interesting event. It can therefore be readily understood, that a great injustice would be done to this institution, whose traditions bear such unmistakable marks of age, distinction, and importance, to speak of the few disconnected facts and incidents to which I shall be able to refer tonight, as “A History of the Charlotte County Grammar School.”
To prepare anything that would approach a real history of an institution such as the Charlotte County Grammar School, covering a period of one hundred years, in ten days’ time, would be a task far beyond me and would palpably fail to do justice to the school; to its antecedents, to its splendid accomplishments and to the noble army of great men and splendid women, who have for a whole century aught and studied in that school. It is regrettable in the extreme, that a proper history of this School has never been written, and even more regrettable, that all the records and data from which such a work might have been compiled, have not been preserved.
The Acts of the Legislature of the Province of New Brunswick dealing with this School, and some records still to be found in the Office of the Board of Education at Fredericton, give some small degree of information respecting the establishment and working of the Charlotte County Grammar School, but the events and facts that would have been most interesting to records in a properly prepared history of the school, have been allowed to perish and be forever lost, in the passing of the older generations of St. Andrews’ people, without in any form leaving behind them a record of the knowledge they had on that subject; which is quite as painfully true of many important events connected with the Torn of St. Andrews, it first settlement, its commercial growth and development, its ups and down as an industrial centre, and its transformation into Canada’s greatest summer playground.
At attempt at this date to gather material for a proper historical sketch of the charlotte County grammar School, convinces one very forcibly of the fatality of delay, and it is surprising how very little information is now at hand from which to complete a connected tale of this ancient establishment. Records that give any information along the required lines are indeed very scarce, and the older people from whom so much valuable information could have been obtained and preserved have passed along to that Country, from whose bourne no traveler ever returns.
From the best information I can obtain every pupil who attended the School, under the teaching of the first school Master, and, with very few exceptions, all who attended under the Master who was Brunswick show that this School was established by an Act of the Legislature, passed March 11th, 1816, entitled, “an act to Establish a Grammar School in the Town of Saint Andrews.”
The preamble of the Act reads oddly enough, to those who live in these advanced days of educational advancement and necessity, in these days when education constitutes one of the indispensable necessities in the life of every man and woman. The preamble sets forth—“Whereas education of the youth is of the utmost importance in society, and public attention to that subject has by experience been found to be attended with the most beneficial effects.”
The Rector of St. Andrews Church (as it was called in the Act referred to), in the Parish of St. Andrews, for the time being, together with Robert Pagan, John Campbell, John Dunn, Colin Campbell, David W. Jack, Harris Hatch, Thomas Wyer Jr., and John Strang, were named as the first Board of Trustees and Directors of the School, by the name of “the president and directors of the public grammar school in the town of Saint Andrews.” It was also provided that the Rector was always to be the President of the Board. And those were substantially the conditions, under which the School was conducted until the coming into force of the Free School Act in 1872, when by the new Legislation, the St. Andrews Grammar School, in common with the Grammar School then existing in all the other Counties in this province, was merged in and became a part of the Free School system of the Province, since which time it has been known and legally designated as the Charlotte county Grammar School.
Until the adoption of the Free School Law, which was passed by the Legislature on May 11th, 1871, and by the terms of the Acts, came into operation on the 1st day of January, 1872, the Grammar School, in St. Andrews seems to have been entirely distinct from the other School system then in vogue so much so indeed that Patrick Clinch, who was the first school Inspector for Charlotte county appointed by the Government, and whose home was in St. George, when making his annual report to the Government in 1854, expressed his appreciation of the great courtesy that had been shown to him by “the president and governors of the Academy at St. Andrews,” in permitting him to pay a visit to the aforesaid Academy.
The Act of incorporation provided that the Government grant of 100 pounds should be made annually, in aid of the Grammar School, towards the support of a Master, and 200 pounds to aid in the erection of a school building. But it was provided that as soon as the annual income of the said Grammar school should in whatever manner the same might arise, amount to 600 pounds, then the annual Grant of 100 should cease.
There is now no available source from which to learn the exact date when the erection of the Grammar School building was commenced but inasmuch as the Act authorizing the erection of such building was passed in 1816 and the School was opened in the year 1818, it would seem to be a fair inference, that the Old Grammar School building was erected about 1817.
The building as originally erected, or the first Grammar School, was a square building in form, with a hip roof; from the centre of the roof arose a bell tower of the same form as the main building, and that was surmounted with a peaked roof, from the apex of which a flag staff with a ball on its top pointed skyward. The door opened into a hall, on either side of which was s class room, and at the end of another door opened into the school room. Just opposite the last mentioned door in the main room, and against the wall, was a sort of pulpit, with a reading board on the front, into which the Master used to ascend when hearing his classes, and especially for the hearing of classes in translation of Greek and Latin.
At some subsequent time, the date of which I have not been able to ascertain from any source, an addition was made to the original building, on the end facing on King Street. All present will know, that the old Grammar School building stood on the same site now occupied by this Prince Arthur School building. The addition referred to comprised the space afterwards occupied and known to the present generations, as the cloak rooms and class room, as the same were at the time the old building was abandoned. In making the addition referred to, the interior of the building was changed in form, and a “V” roof put thereon, with the gable end facing on King Street. A small bell tower was placed on the eastern end of the building, from which for many generations the old Grammar School bell, which is in evidence here tonight, rang out its call to summon the Grammar School pupils to their daily tasks. The old building when enlarged and remodeled increased the size of the main school room, by the removal of what were originally the hall and class rooms referred to in this description. In that enlarged and remodeled condition, the old Grammar School building served as a school building, under whose room many bright minds were trained and developed, and many who afterwards became prominent and distinguished men and women, passed their graduation.
In 1912 the old building was removed from its original site, after ninety-four years of service, to a place on the lot below that on which it sat so many years, and is now crumbling into decay, a standing witness of the work of the iconoclast, and if its inner walls could be made to speak, much that would interest and amuse could be learned, which now, alas, can never be known.
In 1811, the Rev. John Cassills, a Presbyterian Divine, was sent out from Scotland to teach the Academy at King’s College, Nova Scotia. That was then a denominational school, under the management of the Anglican Church, and the governing body did not feel altogether comfortable about a Presbyterian clergymen moulding the minds and lives of the youths of their faith, and a knowledge of the existence of that feeling caused the teacher to chafe slightly under the cords that bound him to a school, and to a people who loved and honored the man, but had doubts a to the soundness of his theology. The opening of the Grammar School at St. Andrews, and the need of a teacher to take charge thereof, afforded Mr. Cassills, an opportunity of relieving his mind on a difficult problem, against which he had fought for seven years; and at the sacrifice of income which in after years he must have sorely needed to rear and educate a family of twelve children, with which God blessed him in his married life, he accepted the appointment to the principalship of what was then the St. Andrews Grammar School.”
In 1818 Mr. Cassills moved from Windsor, Nova Scotia, to St. Andrews, and took up his residence in what was afterwards known as the “Donaldson House,” which occupied a site on the upper part of the block immediately above the Grammar School building, which Block is now the property of Lady Tilley.
The reminder of Mr. Cassills’ life was spent in Charlotte County, and during that time he build and occupied a dwelling on Minister’s Island, on site that is still spoken of, by some of the older people, as the “Cassills’ field.” He also built and occupied the dwelling house on the St. John Road which was lately owned and occupied the late Mr. Robert McLaren and his family. He also owned, occupied, and died in the dwelling house at Vardon’s Point, Bocabec, which has lately been remodeled and is now owned by Mr. Angus Holt.
At the opening of the school in 1818, it was exclusively for male pupils in the advanced grades, and Mr. Cassills’ pupils, for the first years of his term, were every largely made up of sons of the United Empire Loyalists and their descendants. That splendid class of men who, three quarters of a century ago, were the very life-blood of all St. Andrews’ industries, whose enterprise and industry placed St. Andrews, in their day, at the head of the commercial Towns of New Brunswick; lined the water front with wharves and warehouse, and taxed the same to full capacity with shipments to and from; filled the harbor with ships which carried on a very large trade between here and the Old Country and between here and the East Indies; who promoted and built the first lien of railway in new Brunswick; whose ability, integrity and enterprise place them foremost among the men of New Brunswick, and who set a place for the commercial life of St. Andrews, which their descendants failed to maintain, were graduates from Mr. Cassills’ school.
How interesting it would be if we tonight could read a list of the names who responded to Mr. Cassills’ first roll call, on the opening of the Old Grammar school in 1818. Unfortunately there is no such record extant, and I have been able to ascertain their names of only a few who were his pupils during the twenty years that he was Head Master in that school, from 1818 to 1838. During that period, however, the late Honourable Harris Hatch raised and educated a large family. There were five boys whose names I remember, from information given to me years ago by some of the older people. They were Harris, Wellington, Christopher, Edward, and Charles. Mr. Cassills took delight in telling of an incident that occurred in connection with the Hatch family, while the boys were in his school. Perhaps there is only one person living today who remembers hearing Mr. Cassills relate this tale, and that is Miss Jane Kaven, who now lives in Bocabec, who has seen ninety summers, and whose recollections of Mr. Cassills are still very distinct. The honorable Mr. Hatch, was, of course, solicitous of the welfare and future of his boys, and in discussing their possibilities with Mr. Cassills, said he felt that Harris, Wellington, Christopher, and Edward were boys of strong intellect and would easily make their way in life; Charles, however he thought to be of weaker mental caliber, and he asked Mr. Cassills if he did not think he had better educate Charles for the Ministry. Whether it was because of the views expressed by Mr. Cassills in reply to Mr. Hatch’s inquiry or some entirely different cause, Mr. Charles Hatch never attained the scared calling which was then his father’s ambition. Another pupil who attended the school under Mr. Cassills, was the late Mr. Thomas Thompkins Wyer, who was a familiar figure on the streets of St. Andrews half a century ago. Mr. Wyer was a godly man, and did much good in the community, in his own way, but like Mr. Charles Hatch the could not be classed as a man of strong mental powers. For the purpose of this narrative, I am assuming that colonel Wyer, the father of Thomas Thompkins Wyer, like his son, Charles, thought it would be his paternal duty to place his son in some occupation where brain power would not play much part. He, therefore, educated his son, Thomas as a lawyer, and Mr. Wyer became a member of the New Brunswick Bar, but his mind and thoughts ran in too saintly a groove to continue long in that profession.
The last two survivors among the men who attended Mr. Cassills school, were the Late Honorable Senator Arthur Hill Gillmor and the late Mr. Charles O’Neill.
In 1836 the Rev. Mr. Cassills resigned his charge of the Grammar School, to resume his work in the ministry, and assumed charge of a Presbyterian circuit in this County, with churches at Bocabec, Whittier’s Ridge, and Mascarene, wherein he labored faithfully and well until his death on July 18th, 1850. His remains rest beside those of his wife, under the shadow of the spire of Greenock Presbyterian Church h in St. Andres.
Mr. Cassills bore the reputation of being a man of strong scholarly attainments. His sermons and writings, many of which are still in existence, show the had a profound knowledge of , and took a deep interest in astronomy. While in the Grammar School he successfully taught navigation, and many a sea captain who afterwards sailed on the five oceans, obtained the whole of their theoretical education while in his school. He spoke fluently and wrote freely in seven languages. He certainly was himself a scholar of a very high order, but the opinion did prevail among some of his pupils that he did not possess the ability to impart knowledge to eh same degree as possessed by some of his successors in the school.
In 1838 Mr. Daniel Smith Morrison succeeded Mr. Cassills as Head Master of the Grammar School. As far back as that time we have evidence of the fact that nick-names were common and in sue, as they are at the present day, for history records that this new Head Master was given the name of “Long Morrison,” of “Sugar Tongs,” from the fact that he was very thin, had long legs and a very short body.
Mr. Morrison continued in charge of the School from 1839 to 1849, when he went to the United States, became a citizen of that Republic, entered the legal profession, and was appointed a Supreme Court Judge in the State of California, which position he held at the time of his death. Some years before his death, and after his elevation to the Supreme Court bench, he was visited in California by our worthy and much esteemed fellow townsmen Mr. Henry O’Neill. Mr. Morrison really taught the Grammar School only ten years, as he spent one year from 1q845 to 1846 in England, on leave of absence, and during that period the school was in charge of Mr. Charles Bliss, who afterwards became an Anglican clergymen. During the time that Mr. Bliss was in charge of the school the number of pupils in attendance sensibly decreased, as it is said he lacked the magnetism and personality of Mr. Morrison. Upon Mr. Morrison’s return, however, the vacant seats were speedily filled and the attendance became so large that an usher had to be engaged. Many changes were made in the management of eth school and in the system of instruction. Trial by jury was instituted, so that no boy accused of misconduct should be unfairly punished.
I have obtained the names of some of the men who were students under Mr. Morrison, and no doubt many of them will be familiar to some of those present tonight. The list includes: Stannus Jones, Mortin Jones, Vernon Jones, the Hon. B. R. Stevenson, Dr. J. F. Stevenson, Rev. Fletcher Pickles, George Miller, John Miller, Robert Miller, J. Sydney McMaster, J. Ambrose Street, Arthur Streets, George W. Street, W. H. Street, W. D. Aymar, Mathew J Elliot, Andrew Elliot, William Austin, George Buckstaff, John smith, Henry O’Neill, Rev. Francis O’Neill, James O'Neill, Hugh Stoop, James Stoop, Darius Ingraham, Patrick Quinn, Thomas McVay, Daniel McStay, John Dunn, B. O. Hathaway, John B. Balsom, John Boyd, James Maloney, E. S. Polleys, R. Melville Jack, John Lochary, Charles Eaton, Fred Eaton, Donald Berry, Fred A. Morrison, John Campbell, George Mowat, Thomas Berry, Alexander Berry, Robert Stevenson, Capt. Nelson Clarke, Capt. John Wren, Alexander McGill.
Very few indeed on the above list are still living, but we are glad to number among our citizen in St. Andrews three whose names have been given to me in the above list, and who are with us tonight, Mr. Henry O’Neill, Mr. James Stoop, and Mr. E. S. Polleys.
I could give some slight account of those whose names are above given, in their after life, but that would be personal history, not history of the Grammar school, to which I feel I must limit myself in this narrative.
One incident, however, which is directly connected with the school and has been given to me from a reliable source, may be worthy of touching upon as I pass along. It is connected with the late Fred A. Morrison,, who as a pupil at the time. He afterwards went into the legal profession, in which he distinguished himself during the short time he lived, and was a law partner with the late Judge King of the Supreme Court of Canada. At the time referred to the late Dr. Jerome Alley was the Rector, and as a trustee of the school, was paying an official visit. Dr. Alley was a short and very fat man, and while examining the school at the closes of the term he asked Fred Morrison to spell the word “Fatally,” and Mr. Morrison proceeded to divide the word in syllables and spelled it thus: “Fat, fat; Ally, Ally.” Dr. Alley was wise enough to take no notice of the play that had been made on the letters of his name, but the story is worthy of repeating, as evidence of the remarkably swift wit on the part of young Morrison, who as that time was scarcely fourteen years of age. This incident may have occurred n the School of Mr. Smith, rather than the school of Mr. Morrison.
Mr. Morrison was succeeded as Head Master in the School by Mr. Randal E. Smith in 1849. Mr. Smith at that time was a young man, fresh from King’s College, his home being on Prince Edward Island. One of his pupils has spoken of him in this manner: He was then abut thirty-five years age, and was what would be truly called a fine looking man. His hair was brown, face full with side whiskers, average height, and a form inclined to fullness. His step was light and sprightly, and tradition told how he had put to flight two big loots who, for a fancied grievance,, had treacherously taken him unawares. His learning was of the first order; he was an excellent English scholar, a good French scholar, and was proficient in Latin, Greek and Hebrew; he was a capital arithmetician and mathematician, and taught navigation to many a youth who afterwards was destined to command the ships that sailed the briny deep. While playful and jolly at recess or before session he was a strict disciplinarian, once the bell had announced the hour for work. He was noted or impartiality, and the son of the aristocrat would “catch it” just as quickly as the poor scholar who was getting his classics for making the fires or brooming the floor, if the rules had been infringed and a castigation was required. It was the custom in Mr. Smith’s school to begin the morning session by reading a Chapter fro the New Testament, each pupil continuing the text as his name was called, and the Catholic boy was obliged to bring his Douay for that purpose, though it would have been handier and cost a small sum of conscience to use his neighbors King James Version. He disliked anything that smacked of bigotry, and no fault would meet with more severe retribution than the one of sneering at another’s religion.
In 1855 Mr. Smith was ordained a Deacon in the Anglican Church, and acted fro some years as assistant to the Rev. Dr. Ketchum, but continued teaching the Grammar School until 1868, when he left St. Andrews and became the Rector of St. Marks Church in the Parish of St. George, in succession to the Rev. Mr. McEwen. He died in July 1899, much regretted not only by his own flock, but by all dominations. A young man just from college he at first had pretty hard work controlling a rather rough and pugnacious lot of pupils, who had been brought up to believe that truth and pluck would always win out, and his hasty punishments without proper investigation, soon precipitated a revolt, which happily resulted in a very much better understanding between scholars and teacher. Mr. Smith had severely punished one of the older boys for a slight offence, the others thought the punishment entirely out of proportion to the offence, and thus the trouble came about. During recess Mr. Smith often went o this lodging, only a block from this school, laving the doors open. On this occasion one of the boys, named Grant, had left his cap in the building, and finding the door fastened on the inside, started to climb in the window; there he was repulsed by a boy named Smith, a brother of the Master, who spat upon his head. However, he managed to get in and looking about for a way to punish his aggressor, bethought him of the cellar under the building. This cellar was entered by heavy trap door in the floor, and being only used a receptacle for fuel during the winter, was consequently filled with cobwebs and black dust; and as there were no windows it was perfectly dark when the trap was closed. Opening this trap door, he caught Smith and thrust him down, then closing the door, left him a prisoner. When the Master returned and had taken his place at his desk, loud cries of “let me up!” were heard coming from the cellar. “Who is down there?” the teacher said. “Me,” was the response; “And who is me?” “Smith”; “Who put you down there?” “Grant.” “Go and let him up Grant.” Grant went to the trap, threw it open, and seizing Smith, whose head reached nearly to the floor, by his long hair dragged him out. His appearance, covered with dust and cobwebs, was too ludicrous, and a roar of laughter greeted his arrival. Smith told his tale, and Grant was ordered to take off his jacket, when he received such a horse-whipping, as would be looked upon with horror at the present day, and which left long white wales across his shoulders and around the arm stretched out to protect his face and body. After school was dismissed Grant proceeded to take it out of Smith for tattling, and for which all the other boys each gave him a box on the ear.. They had made up their minds that if the Master undertook to thrash the lot they would take the horsewhip away from him, and upon his attempting to do so the following day they did take away his whip. Of course there was a struggle, and the small boys ran out crying “They are killing the Master!” and the excitement was rather intense. Not a blow was struck, but the whip was simply taken away, as the Sheriff and constables were on their way to the scene of riot. The boys retied to the shades of “McFarlane’s Woods” till after dark, when they returned each to their own home. There was s trial for assault afterwards but nothing came of it, and eventually all the boys engaged in the affair returned to school. Here credit must be given to Mr. Smith for acting like the Christian gentleman that he was; there was no difference made in the treatment of the rebels, and everything went on as usual—minus the horsewhip. To the pupil who thus related this incident Mr. Smith shortly afterwards said “I think I made a mistake with you boys, and that I was too severe. I am going to try a new tack and trust to your honor to be a little trouble to me as possible, but rather an assistance.” He stuck to his part of the contract, and the boys stuck to their as far as it was possible for boys to do so. The gentlemen from who the above account was obtained, was the late Mr. R. Melville Jack. The late Mr. Charles Campbell once related the same incident, but told it in a more sanguinary way. In Mr. Campbell’s account he stated the boys wrenched the wooden frames from the slates and struck the Master with the sharp corners and edges, and much blood was spilt in one way an another. He further related that both sides were so infuriated that some tragedy might have happened, but fortunately one of the younger boys thought of the bell, and rushing to the rope rang out a peal, which echoed over the Town. Immediately the inhabitants rushed up to find out what was the mater, and row was stopped. The larger boys who even then supposed that they had killed the Master, fled to woods, and it was some days before they were all safely returned to their homes.
This, Mr. Campbell stated, was a lesson to both parties, and from that time the school was most successful and efficient—indeed so thoroughly was he grounded in classics and other branches, in that school under Mr. Smith that on his arrival in England, he took an exceptionally high position at College for a boy of his age, to the astonishment of the Masters and ushers who examined him, and who were all under the impression that the had come fro an uncivilized country.
There were many able men graduated from Mr. Smith’s school, and afterwards became prominent in the world and industry. I regret I have not a full or more perfect list of those men, but it has not been possible for me to get a list that would be at all complete. I have however, been furnished with the following list of names of men, who at some time were pupils in Mr. Smith’s school: Elbridge Hannah, William E. Polleys, Thomas Munroe Hannah, Eber S. Polleys, William Sydney Smith, John Algar, Owen Jones, Martin law, Harry Gove, Isaac Kennedy, Edward Foster Law, Charles Campbell, Howard Campbell, John Treadwell, Jarvis Stephen Law, James Coldwell, Henry Quinn, Edward Jones, Thomas Miller, James Chandler, Vernon Nicholson, Joseph A. Wade. Arthur Whitlock, Claude M. Lamb, Robert Chandler, William Smith, George Treadwell, Edward S. Waycott, James Brennnan, J. T. Whitlock, William Whitlock, Edward B. Chandler, Guthrie Treadwell, Charles Ketchum, Warwick A. Lamb.
The names that I have thus obtained, are from the best available sources possible but neither myself nor my informant desire to be responsible for the complete accuracy of the list. I think the late Hon. Dr. George J. Clarke also was a student in Mr. Smith’s school, for a short time, but the short period at my disposal has made it impossible for me to verity that as a fact.
In 1868 Mr. Francis Partridge succeeded Mr. Smith, and I think it was during his term that the school was opened, for the first time, to female pupils. Mr. Partridge was held in high esteem, not only by his pupils, but by the entire community among whom he moved, and after his term as teacher in the Grammar School he was ordained n the Anglican Church, wherein he labored with great success and ability.
Mr. Partridge was succeeded as Head Master in the Grammar School by Mr. Charles M. Sills, now the Rev. Dr. Sills, who began his work in the Grammar School in 1872, and from then until the present time ahs maintained a strong and friendly interest in St. Andrews, in its people, and in all its institutions. For many years he has been a regular visitor to St. Andrews during the summer season, and none who come among us are more beloved or more welcome than the distinguished gentleman who has spoken to us tonight, as the oldest surviving teacher to the Charlotte County grammar School. It is fitting, too, that Dr. Sills should retain a kindly feeling and recollection for this old town of Saint Andrews, as it was by his association with e Charlotte county Grammar School that he became bound by sacred ties in the family of the late Reverend Dr. Ketchum, who for so many years filled the sacred post of Rector of All Saints Church, and who during all those years, endeared himself to the hearts of the people, in a way and to a degree that few men in any walk of life have ever succeeded in doing. To very many of us his memory is a bright spot in our lives; the good that he did in his sacred calling and the deep interest that he ever took in the public schools, and especially in the Charlotte county Grammar School, will cause his memory to linger lovingly in our thoughts, so long as there remain any of the people who were privileged to know him.
Dr. Sills’ term and work in the Charlotte County Grammar School can be discussed with so much more correctness and so much more interest by him, than it could by any other person, and as we enjoy the great privilege of having him here tonight, I simply pass on, without further referring to his tenure of office in this venerable institution.
I am not able to give the dates, lack of time has made that impossible but the names of the teachers who followed Dr. Sills in succession are: Dr. J. A. Wade, Dr. James F. Covey, Mr. Arthur W. Wilkinson, Mr. Horsman, Mr. William Brodie, Mr. Colpitts, Mr. Fred L. Day, Mr. J. A. Allen, Mr. George J. Trueman, Mr. George, E. F. Sherwood, Mr. S. A Worrell, Mr. William Woods, Mr. William H. Morrow, Mr. George B. Carpenter, Miss Edna L. Giberson, and Miss Salome Townsend.
Dr. Wills was the first teacher to take charge of the Charlotte County Grammar School after the New Brunswick Free School Law came into force, and many changes were put into effect in the administration of than school.
I might be permitted in closing to say, that in my investigation I am lead to believe that, previous to 1833, Parish Schools existed only by the grace and at the option of the inhabitants, and the same were under no restrictions by, and received no sanction from the legislature or from any governing body. A teacher’s qualification for the position consisted solely in his willingness to assume the duties of the position, and as a result Mr. Lorimer, who succeeded Patrick Clinch as the second School Inspector, for the County, should have found it necessary to say in his report to the government as late as 1862, that he found the Parish Schools in a most deplorable condition; that the teachers were for the most part, a lot of illiterate and ignorant females, having no qualification for the work outside of being of fairly good character.
Many years have passed since the New Brunswick Free School Act came into operation. The Charlotte county Grammar School has remained perpetually under the best obtainable teachers, but looking back over the past decade or two decades, one must sometimes wonder if the system is at fault, or if the material is deteriorating, or it, as a matter of fact,, the graduates from that institution during the past twenty years have measured up in point of ability with the graduates who passed through the school, during the first three quarters of a century of its existence.