Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/651

Rh Barrington has elected a person as school superintendent for more than forty years. Rev. Francis Wood held the office in 1855, andd his successors have been Rev. Francis Horton, Thomas W. Bicknell, Rev. S. Brenton Shaw, Isaac F. Cady, Mrs. George Lewis Smith, Fred P. Church, Rev. W. M. Chapin, and George Lewis Smith. Mrs. Smith was the first woman to occupy the office of superintendent in our town schools, and had prior to her marriage been one of the most successful teachers of the town.

One of the most important acts of the town in educational progress was the establishment of a public high school in 1884. This subject was first brought to the attention of the people as a much needed and practical measure, by the writer, while Superintendent of Schools, in his report made to the town, April, 1868. It was suggested that the establishment of a high school in Barrington would add another to the various advantages the town then possessed for attracting the best class of people to the town, as well as afford better opportunities to the boys and girls then seeking a better education than the common schools could give. It was also urged that a high school would elevate all the grades below it, and would aid in the preparation of teachers for our own and other towns. Two years later, in 1870, Mr. Isaac F. Cady, principal of the high school in Warren, for twenty-five years, at the earnest solicitation of the people, erected buildings for a school and a dwelling house, on land he had owned for several years at Prince's Hill, and opened the Prince's Hill Family and Day School, in Barrington. His idea was to have a few family or boarding pupils, living under his influence in his own family,—the balance of the school to be made up of day pupils from the town. This excellent school continued until 1880, when, on account of ill health Mr. Cady was obliged to give it up. Part of the time he had an assistant for the younger scholars. The largest number of pupils at one time was forty-seven. Several were fitted for college. The school year began with the first Monday in September, and consisted of four terms of