Education. 137 



posed to Judge Williams was this : ' Can the Trustees either by 

 their own authority, or by virtue of any judicial or legislative in- 

 terference, depart from the specified directions of the trust, so far 

 as to accommodate the Academy to the requisitions of the law 

 respecting a High School 1 ' The question was thoroughly inves- 

 tigated and an elaborate opinion was given. [This opinion was 

 printed by the Trustees.] The conclusion arrived at was, that 

 the Trustees cannot, either by their own authority, or aided by 

 judicial or legislative interposition, lawfully depart from the 

 specified directions of the trust. The result is, therefore, that 

 the Trustees cannot relinquish the control of the institution to 

 the town, or delegate their powers to the school committee or any 

 other body of men. The Academy must continue to be managed 

 by a board of Trustees, chosen, as vacancies occur, by the remain- 

 ing members thereof." A report by the committee was submit- 

 ted to the town in March, 1856, and this attempt to utilize the 

 Academy failed. 



A second effort to accomplish the same object, in a somewhat 

 different way, was made in 1870. The Trustees met the town 

 authorities in a friendly and liberal spirit, and were desirous of 

 taking any consistent action which would bring the Academy 

 into " harmony and concert with the town schools." An elabo- 

 rate report was made to the town in March, 1871, but this second 

 attempt also failed. 



In justice to the Trustees, it must be said that they placed no 

 further obstacles in the way of securing to the town the direct 

 benefit of their trust-funds than the legal restrictions imposed 

 upon them compelled. Whether we look at the question from 

 the standpoint of the Academy or the town, we are forced to the 

 conclusion that it is a public misfortune that no successful result 

 followed these attempts, which engaged the careful thought of 

 many of our most intelligent citizens. 



The annual sermon to the scholars, for which Madam Derby 

 made provision in her deed of lease and release, has been deliv- 

 ered annually since the opening of the school. It soon became 

 known as the " Derby Lecture." The day of its delivery has also 

 been the occasion of the annual exhibition of the scholars. For 

 many years it was a gala day in the annals of the town. The 

 scholars, teachers, and trustees marched in procession to the place 

 of the delivery of the lecture, and many will recall the white dresses 

 of the girls and the white trousers of the boys, which was the uni- 

 form dress until quite recent years. Throngs of people lined the 

 streets as the procession passed. The Rev. Jacob Norton, of Wey- 

 mouth, in his diary, under date of April 2, 1793, on which day he 

 delivered the lecture, says, " Between eighty and ninety youth be- 

 longing to the school, of both sexes, preceded the trustees, in pro- 

 cession to the meeting-house." The services were held in the 

 meeting-house of the First Parish from the beginning until 1807. 

 In that year, owing to the unhappy differences which had arisen 



