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

476 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1T84.
iel Fowle, Ebenezer Hunt, and William Lyman. Dr.
Shepherd, when in England, engaged Isaac Curson to take
charge of the school, and brought him home. No law was
then in existence forbidding the importation of laborers.
He was to receive £24 per year, and his board. The school
was opened Sept. 13, 1784, in a room hired for that purpose.
In October, an arrangement was made with Elisha Alvord,
and the school was removed to his shop, at the junction of
Main and South Streets. A rental of 40s. per year was
paid for the use of the building, and the cost of fitting it
up was £4.12. Soon after, Robert Breck, Levi Shepherd,
and Caleb Strong, petitioned the County Court for permission
to build a private school-house on county land, "as
near as may be in line with the meeting house and Court
House, and northerly of the town school house." Permission
was granted, and a building was erected in the highway
at the corner of Main and King Streets. There the
school was kept for several years, and the house was afterwards
removed to Market Street. The school opened with
twenty-five scholars, fifteen boys and ten girls. At the end
of the first year the number of pupils had increased to
thirty-two, and it never advanced beyond that figure. This
school was continued under substantially the same proprie-
torship for about four years, when it was discontinued.
There was a change of teachers, and the number of scholars
was reduced to eight. It was afterwards revived, and
seems to have been in existence in 1791. Reading, writing,
spelling, arithmetic, grammar, and Morse's geography,
comprised the principal course of study, tliough some of
the boys studied Latin, and both boys and girls were taught
French.
Its First Teacher. Isaac Cursou tauglit about two ycars and
was succeeded by William Lyman. During
part of the time Curson had an assistant, a Mr. Frye.
Curson seems to have been an accomplished teacher, and
an excellent scholar, but he was an unprincipled man. He
got into difficulty and was obliged to leave town. Afterwards
he taught ])rivate schools in Hatfield and in Berkshire
County. He left a wife in England, but representing by
what were supposed to be forged letters, that she was dead.