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

586 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1802.
bors in 1791 and kept four years, most of the time in
Mr. Samuel Clarke's house. She is represented as a strict
disciplinarian, and inclined to be severe, ferruling the. children
for the slightest breach of the rules. At last some of
the principal citizens became dissatisfied, especially Judge
Henshaw, and she left in 1795. Miss Sumner took her
place the same year, and was employed for some time. In
these schools not only were the rudiments of education
obtained, but also the first elements of needlework. Reading,
spelling, and sewing comprised the curriculum, though
some of the older scholars were taught to write, but arithmetic
was an unknown quantity. In Miss Hill's school
Perry's Spelling-Book was used, as she was not in favor of
Webster's. The Psalter and Bible were also in use, and a
book of reading lessons, mostly religious. Sewing was one
of the most important branches taught in these schools. It
is reported that one young girl about six years old, made a
Holland shirt as part of her school work. ^
Schoolmistresses Em- When the questiou of schooling girls
ployed by the Town, came before the town, it was referred to a
committee, who reported in substance as
follows : That schoolmistresses should be provided for
female children under the age of ten years, for five months,
from the first of May to the first of October, one mistress
that a committee should
to thirty scholars or thereabouts ;
be appointed by the town to employ such mistresses, and
apportion the scholars among them ; that female children
between the ages of ten and fourteen should have liberty to
go to the town schools under the direction of the selectmen
for three months in the year, to wit, from the first of May
to the first of August, for the purpose of being instructed
in writing and the higher branches of education. No
1 The following statement from Mrs. Luther Hunt, who was born in 1776, shows
how and by whom some of these schools were carried on : — " When four or five years
old she went to school one summer to Hannah Parsons, daughter of Jacob, at his
house; one summer to Rachel Parsons, daughter of Isaac, at his house. After this
she went several years to Prudence Parsons, daughter of Josiah, at his house. Prudence
kept school 10 or 13 summers, not in winter. She had 20 or thirty scholars,
who each paid her 6'' per weelj. When Mrs. Hunt went to her, they read in the testament,
and the smaller ones in the spelling book, and had no other reading books.
She does not recollect using a psalter or Dillworth's. They spelt also daily and
repeated a portion of the catechism once a day. Much of the time was spent in sewing,
that was an important object of the school."—Judd MSS.