Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/192

148 thereto, which the Court judges not to be less than eight or ten," with the added provision that the Court would grant no further aid. In 1677, Plymouth passed an act which made the schools supportable in part by taxes on all the property of the towns; in part by voluntary contributions, and in part by the fisheries at Cape Cod.

As evidences of the purposes of the fathers and founders as to public education, the main portion of the act is here quoted: "fforasmuch as the Maintenance of good litterature doth much tend to the advancement of the weale and flourishing estate of societies and Republiques; "This Court doth therefore order. That in whatsoever Townshippe in this Government consisting of fifty families or upwards; any meet man shall be obtained to teach a Gramer scoole such townshippe shall allow att least twelve pounds incurrant merchantable pay to be raised by rate on all the inhabitants of such Towne and those that have the more immediate benefitt thereof by theire childrens going to scoole with what others may voulentarily give to promote soe good a work and generall good, shall make up the resedue Necessarie to maintaine the same, and that the proffitts arising of the Cape ffishing, heretofore ordered to maintaine a Gramer scoole in this collonie, be destributed to such Towns as have Gramer scooles for the maintainance threof," etc., etc.

No better evidence is required of the crying need of some kind of schools than the above act establishing the grade called "Gramer scooles."

By this act any town not establishing a Grammar School was required to pay an annual tax of five pounds to the adjoining town which had such a school.

The first legislation of Swansea on schools was made December 19, 1673, by which a Grammar School was "set up" under the following order.

"It was voted and ordered, nemine contradicente, that a school be forthwith set up in this town for the teaching of Grammer, Rhetoric, and Arithmetic, and the tongues of