130 History of Hingham. 



" Voted, To choose by ballot a person to preach a sermon before the 

 trustees and the school on the first Tuesday in April next, at half-past 

 two o'clock p.m. ; and the Rev. Dr. Shute was chosen." 



April 5, 1791, a sermon was preached by Dr. Shute ; the school 

 was formally opened, and at a meeting later in the same month a 

 preceptress was chosen. 



The accounts of the treasurer show that Dr. Shute was paid £6 

 " for preaching a sermon at the opening of the school;" The pre- 

 ceptor and preceptress were each paid their salaries for the quarter 

 beginning in April, 1791. 



The school may be considered as established by Madam Derby's 

 deed of Oct. 21, 1784. It was opened April 5, 1791. 



There is no satisfactory information as to the number of scholars 

 at the opening of the school, for it was not until 1831 that the 

 Trustees required the teachers to keep a list of scholars. A list 

 of male scholars from 1793 to 1797 gives 115 names. An- 

 other list of male scholars, from 1810 to 1826, gives 272 names. 

 The larger portion of these were from Hingham, but many were 

 from other towns in Massachusetts and other States. There were 

 also several Spaniards, probably from Cuba, among the number. 

 It is not important to give the exact number of pupils in attend- 

 ance during the many years of the existence of the school. The 

 membership has varied with the varying popularity of the teachers 

 from about thirty to eighty, both males and females being included 

 in this enumeration. 



The long delay of the town in establishing a High School, which 

 was opened in 1872, caused this school to be the one where, up to 

 that time, almost every boy who was fitted for college in Hingham 

 received much of his classical education, and where nearly all who 

 received any other education than the common schools could give 

 them obtained it. Practically a free school to those from Hing- 

 ham, who can doubt that Madam Derby, in establishing it, is to be 

 reckoned as one of the benefactors of the town ? Undoubtedlv, the 

 fact that the town had the benefit of this school delayed a com- 

 pliance with the law requiring a High School to be kept, and 

 several unsuccessful attempts were made to devise some plan by 

 which the Academy should serve such a purpose ; but whether 

 this delay was wise or not, it is a fact of history that for over 

 eighty years the town enjoyed the benefits of a higher education 

 tbrouerh the munificence of Madam Derbv. Let that "just tribute 

 be paid to her memory. Whatever the future of the school may 

 be, the past is secure, and many a generation will owe its inherited 

 intellectual advancement to the seed sown in the minds of its an- 

 cestors within the walls of Derby Academy. 



Besides obtaining the Act of Incorporation, the Trustees had 

 occasion to present petitions to the General Court for further 

 legislation, and all further Acts and Resolves relating to the 

 institution are here given. 



