Education. 97 



adopt whatever reason dictated as valuable in modern thought. 

 Uniformly liberal in its appropriations, it lias always shown a true 

 appreciation of universal education as the strong foundation of 

 our institutions. It has elected upon its School Committee the 

 men in whom it had confidence, and that confidence has been 

 shown by the annual vote for years past " that the regulation of 

 the schools be referred to the School Committee. 1 ' Nor has that 

 confidence been abused. With a zealous desire to work for the 

 general good, the members of the School Committee have uni- 

 formly endeavored to make the schools an honor to the town. 



The past twenty years have been years of great activity in edu- 

 cational matters. Their history is too recent for extended com- 

 ment, and what has been accomplished for the Hingham schools 

 can be readily ascertained from the printed reports of the School 

 Committee. Posterity must judge of the effects. 



Two causes may be mentioned as having a stimulating effect 

 upon the work in our schools during these later years : The es- 

 tablishment of the High School caused increased activity in the 

 lower grades ; the appointment of a School Superintendent en- 

 abled the committee to carry on the work in all the schools on a 

 more systematic and efficient plan. 



For comparison with previous regulations, the hours of school 

 sessions and vacations at the present time are here given. 



The school year begins on the first Monday of September and 

 embraces forty weeks of school-keeping. 



There are two sessions daily in all the schools except the High 

 School, viz. : from 9 to 12, with a recess of fifteen minutes, and 

 from 1.30 to 3.30, without a recess. There is one session in the 

 High School, from 9 to 2 o'clock. 



The vacations are : Thanksgiving Day and the day following ; 

 a week at Christmas ; Fast Day week ; a summer vacation of ten 

 weeks. The holidays are : Saturday of each week ; the twenty- 

 second of February ; Annual March-Meeting Day ; Decoration 

 Day ; Labor Day ; two days of the Agricultural Fair. 



School Superintendents. 



The School Committee in their Annual Report to the town in 

 March, 1872, made the following statement: — 



" Your committee have come to the deliberate conclusion, after giving 

 much thought and discussion to the subject, that the school system of 

 Hingham can never reach its highest efficiency and success without a 

 faithful Superintendent. No one member of the committee can afford to 

 give the time and attention to school matters which they constantly de- 

 mand ; and it is a work which can be more advantageously attended to by 

 a single person than when divided among several." 



VOL. i. — 7 * 



