History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

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CHAPTER XXXIIL
DIVIDING THE COUNTY—HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE.
Schools for Girls. The questioii of schooling girls at the expense
of the town was again in agitation
in the year 1785, but with no more favorable results than
before. Fourteen years previously an attempt had been
made to admit female children to the Lickingwater school,
and it was negatived on the ground that those persons who
were interested in bringing the subject before the town did
not desire any such privilege. Now the proposition was
speedily voted down, and recorded without so much as a
single qualifying word. Attention was undoubtedly called
to the matter at this time, because a private school for the
co-education of the sexes already existed. During the previous
year a number of persons had established a school
for this purpose, and this is the first instance in the history
of the town when boys and girls attended the same school.
This fact, while it may have been an incentive to the attempt
to admit both sexes to the town schools, possibly
made by some who could ill afford the luxury of a private
school, had also the effect of suppressing the proposition.
Those who desired to send their daughters to such a school
already had that privilege and were unwilling to pay taxes
to aid those who did not. Another reason why it was de-
sired to interest the town in the new departure, was that
the new school was a close corporation, none but the pro-
prietors being allowed to avail themselves of its privileges.
Thirteen among the prominent citizens of the town were
interested in this new educational enterprise, viz. : — Caleb
Strong, Robert Breck, Quartus Poraeroy, Joseph Cook,
Benjamin Tappan, Josiah Dickinson, Asahel Pomeroy,
Levi Shepherd, Benjamin Sheldon, Elisha Lyman, Nathan-