Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/70

 54 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

The school opened March 15, 1871, under the charge of Silas H. Pearl, A. M. ; he wascalled from the Johnson (Vermont) State Normal School, of which he had been principal for some years. With him was associated Amos Hadley, A. M., of Concord. Under their joint management the school grew rapidly in numbers, and in the confidence of the State : the work was largely academic, but it was honest and thoughtful. Mr. Pearl, with one assistant, taught the English branches, Mr. Hadley the classics. In the summer of 1873 ■'^^''* Pearl broke down in health, and soon after died. He was an enthusiastic teacher, thoughtful, exact, keen in criticism but kindly ; in his life and in his instruction he emphasized the fact that all true success in teaching must have a spiritual basis. Mr. Hadley, owing to the poverty of the school, had re- signed some months previous to Mr. Pearl's death. It should be borne in mind, that the State, until 1875, made no appropriation to pay the running ex- penses of the school ; it was expected that these would be met by tuidon and moneys earned by the teachers at Institutes. Mr. Pearl was followed by Rev, Horatio B. Ladd, a. b. He stayed with the school three years, until the fall of 1876 ; he was enthusiastic, full of resources, and keenly sensitive to popular demands. Under his administration the attendance was largely increased. The criticisms of the school, which commenced during the administration of Mr. Pearl, now ripened into bitter opposition. The economy, prejudices, and certain interests of the State were combined to destroy it ; doubtless the school did, for the most part, academic work, but it was academic work in the elemen- tary branches and sadly needed. The standard of qualifications to teach in New Hampshire was and is very low ; any fairly intelligent person could get a school. These persons — all of them teachers — came to the Normal School, and showed not only ignorance of subject matter, but, worse, they could not think. They could not be rejected ; they brought to the Principal certificates of successful work from superintendents. They were part of the teaching force of the State, and for whom was the school created, if not for them? 'I'he first work with them was to train them to think (and this must precede the study of methods and work in the training school), and the poverty of these pupils compelled them to leave before they were fitted to receive much of the theory and practice of teaching. Mr. Ladd bowed before the storm, and resigned in the fall of 1876. He was followed by Ambrose P. Kelsey, a. m. He attempted to make the school distinctively normal in its work ; the teaching of the classics and modern languages was given up, and has not been resumed ; his plans were good, and he labored zealously to bring about his aim ; but the more distinctively normal he made the work the less was the number of pupils, showing that the felt want of the State was an English academy doing thorough elementary work. During Mr. Kelsey's administration the number of pupils decreased, until at the lime of his resignation, February, 1879, the attendance was a mere handful, and at the end of the year only two pupils were left in the school. At this, the darkest hour in the history of the school, the trustees made the decision which should have been made in 1 87 1 that, while the school stood ready to train any one who gave evidence of power, no diplomas would be given until there had been a careful study of subject matter, of the logical development of each study, and finally, that the power to apply this knowledge of matter and theory must be evinced in the training school which was then established. To gain time for this extended study, ten weeks were added to each school year. The trustees then asked the State for an annual appropriation of five thousand dol- , lars. This was granted, with, two years later, a special appropriation of thirty- five hundred dollars for repairs of the school buildings. Henry P. Warren, a. b., then took charge of the school. The change in plan brought about this result :

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