|
EDITORIALS STAFF OF “THE TORCH” Editor-in-Chief
...............................................Gerald Smith Literary
Editors...............................E. Smith, Denike
Fennel Local Events
Editors..............................E. Carmichael, A. Hill Personals
Editors................................Alma Wales, R. Cowle Athletic
Editors..........................M. Perry, A. Wilson, L. Clute Exchange
Editors....................................G. Smith, L. Merritt Business Board - Business
Manager..................................................E. Cooke Circulation
Managers..........................H. Daly, M. Vanalstine Literary
Advisor............................................Miss R. Stewart Business
Advisor.....................................Mr. W. MacGregor Advertising Manager and
Treasurer..........................W. Carr __________ A Science Master was engaged in
demonstrating to his class an interesting experiment. “Now”, he remarked impressively, “if
anything goes wrong, we - and the laboratory with us - may be blown into the
air. Come closer, pupils, and be more
attentive so you may follow me better”. __________ If the above sentiments, which likewise
convey my desires, are closely carried out by our numerous readers, we will
briefly come to a plausible understanding with regard to the functioning and
ideals of the “Torch”. In this the
third edition, of our school paper, we
are endeavouring to bring before the public an idea of what the N. C. I. is doling in social, literary, educational
and athletic phases. We hope that our
progress and style in editing is pleasingly perceptible. Our aim is to bring out the four-fold
development of the pupils and to have
our readers enjoy articles written by future lawyers, statesmen and
professional men and women in all the walks of life. I humbly submit these remarks to introduce
the first 1924 “Torch”. __________ In May, 1923, the “Torch” came into existence
under the guidance of a capable and energetic school executive. Following this, Dr. Morden issued a
September number, which, it is needless to remark, was quite successful. It is our intention to produce another
edition at or around the Easter holidays, which will contain a large number
of illustrations. Soliciting your
kindest and most thoughtful cooperation we are looking forward to producing
the next “Torch” as one of both “quantity and quality”. __________ THE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE There are very few records of the early
history of the Napanee Collegiate Institute available from which it would be
possible to write a connected account of its development. Steps are now being taken to obtain from
early pupils of what was at first the Napanee Grammar School their
recollections of the periods when they attended the institution. Mr. Mortimer C. Bogert,
General Manager of the Dominion Bank, is the first who has promised to write
up for us a description of the school when he was a pupil. The following is a copy of the
earliest document we have: CIRCULAR ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS OF NAPANEE AND OTHERS,
INTERESTED IN THE CAUSE OF GOOD EDUCATION The Trustees of the Grammar School of
Napanee, having been recently appointed to their office, agreeably to
provision made by Government to that effect, take this method of notifying
Parents and others interested in the welfare of the Young that, in fulfilment
of their trust, they have completed their arrangements for opening said
School, which has been in operation since the sixth of this month. They have elected to the office of Master
of the School the Rev. J. A. Devine, M.A., who has, for many years, been
successfully engaged in the education of Youth, and whose acquaintance with
the most approved methods of teaching in England justifies the Trustees in
promising all who shall patronize this
School the benefits of a sound and judicious training for the Young. The Trustees are happy to be able further
to state that, with the concurrence of the Trustees of Common Schools for
this District, they are prepared, so soon as the state of their funds will
justify the measure, to appoint a SECOND MASTER, on whom will devolve the
education of the JUNIOR PUPILS. By
this arrangement the Trustees have not only laid the foundation on which,
with UNITY of PUBLIC EFFORT, a first class School may be established, but the
basis of a system of education, where the value of CLASSIFICATION will be
felt in every department of the School.
Children of both sexes are admissable. The following are the Branches taught: English Department - Reading, Writing,
Grammar, Arithmetic, Geography and History. To qualify for admission into the
University, the Learned Professions, &c., - Mathematics, Greek and Latin,
French, Elements of Natural Philosophy, Intellectual and Moral do. The Fees for Scholars in the English
Department are 7s, 6d,
per Quarter. The School being yet in its infancy, no
definite table of fees for the Higher branches in Classical and Mathematical Literature can be
inserted here. The Trustees think it
proper, however, in the meantime, to state, they will correspond with the
scale adopted for such branches in similar Institutions. SALTERN GIVENS, ALEX. CAMPBELL, JOHN V. DETLOR, Trustees. Napanee, 17th
August, 1846 __________ THE PROGRESS OF THE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE The attendance at the Collegiate is
gradually increasing and we are cramped more and more. The number on the roll at present is 242,
there being 117 in Lower School, 62 in Middle School, 21 in Upper School, and
42 in the Commercial Department.
According to the Report of the Minister of Education the number
enrolled during 1921 was 190, and during 1922 the number was 234. Increased accommodation is badly needed
now, as two of the class rooms are poorly lighted, heated and ventilated. A comparison with Picton Collegiate
Institute shows the following attendance for the last three years.
1921 1922 1923 Napanee........................................190 234 243 Picton............................................236 241 218 If the total expenditures during the years
1921 and 1922 for Napanee, Picton and Deseronto, (which are the latest
contained in the Report of the Department of Education) , are divided by the
total number enrolled during these years, the expenditure per pupil is as
follows: 1921 1922 Picton...........................................$125 $134 Deseronto....................................$156 $115 As will be noticed in the “Benefactions”
column, an account of the machine donated by Dr. D. M. Stratton to the
School, it would be interesting to note how he was esteemed by his
class-mates in 1894. The following article
is taken from the “Collegiate Thought” of 1894; Charles Jonah Stratton, - Has taken a full
course at the Collegiate, and in the time he has been connected with the
school, he has developed an enormous capacity for work, a tender feeling for
certain members of the opposite sex, a roman nose, and last and least, a fine
moustache. For some time he was
undecided as to his future course, but subsequently he resolved like Jonah of
old, to follow the ministerial profession, and in connection therewith he
passed his Preliminary at Port Hope this spring. In school work he can do more mathematics
in an hour than others can undo in a week, while in English he reads between
the lines thoughts that never occurred to the writers themselves. But just the same if Charles leaves the
forbidden alone his future will undoubtedly be bright and in a short time he
may shine so grandly the Moody, Talmage and others
will fade into insignificance beside him.” LITERARY EARLY SCHOOL LIFE IN LENNOX AND ADDINGTON Looking back, over the history of Lennox
and Addington, and to the time when the United Empire Loyalists settled here,
let us take a survey of the school life, from its infancy until the time when
it began to form a more important part of each community. Education in this County was first attempted
by the Loyalist parents, who desired that their children have as much
knowledge as possible. So, in the evenings, seated around the pleasant fires
in their log cabins, they instructed their children, generally from the New
Testament, and from whatever other literature they possessed. Sometimes a man, physically unfit for hard
manual labour, would go into teaching as a profession. He would go from house to house, wherever
he was wanted, receiving two or three dollars a week and his board and washing,
in return for teaching the three R’s. When several families lived anywhere near
each other, they would club together and hire the teacher, using each house,
in turn, as his boarding and school house.
While the lady of the house was doing her work in one end of the room,
on the ground floor, the teacher laboured at the other. As the people became more numerous and
communities began to form, the school house made its appearance. The first of these in this County is said
to have been built at Clarksville, Napanee, where John C. Clarke taught. As a rule, the people of the communities
received no encouragement from outside towards the education of their
children. When they decided to build a
school they simply got together and by voluntary contributions of labour and
money they built the school. This was
often a prolonged achievement, as it depended entirely upon the enthusiasm of
the people. The teacher was hired by the community and
was paid by those who sent pupils, and in proportion to the number of pupils
they sent. He “boarded around” among
these people. His salary was his board
and washing and about three dollars a week.
He was generally hired to teach five days in the week, and also every
other Saturday. The “little log schoolhouse”, as small as
fifteen by twenty feet, was very simple, with the door in one end and one or
two windows in each side. The room was
heated by means of a wood stove, placed in the centre. The teacher’s crude desk was placed at one
end of the room and served as a pulpit whenever the teacher was of a
religious turn of mind, or when the community was visited by a minister. The pupils’ desks were coarse planks
supported on pegs which had been driven into the walls, about four feet from
the floor. The seats were made in the
shape of benches, without backs. There
were no blackboards or apparatus of any sort.
However, it was thought that the birch rod and leather tawse were aids to the learning of the pupil. School was opened at eight o’clock in the
morning, by prayer and the reading of the Bible. The usual lessons were, Shorter Catechism
questions, reading from the New Testament and an English reader; Spelling
from Mayor’s Speller; Arithmetic from
the text books, by Daboll and Gray, and
Grammar. The grammar was taught in a
very mechanical fashion, in which the pupil was taught to parse a word, not
by studying its relation to other words, but by memorizing a list of
prepositions, adverbs, interjections, etcetera. For the writing, quill pens were used and
the ink was made from a solution of maple bark diluted with copperas. The paper was in the form of coarse, unruled foolscap; this was ruled by the pupil, who used for
the purpose, a piece of lead, hammered
into the shape of a pencil. They were
taught to write by practising copies set by the teacher. With one and one-half hours off at noon,
school closed at four o’clock.
Discipline was maintained by the use of the two instruments, the tawse and for severer cases the
birch rod. The pupils were flogged for
being late, (although some of them had to walk two miles or more to school),
for whispering, drawing pictures, or for not being able to recite their
lessons. The tawse
was a kind of cat o’ nine tails. The qualifications for teacher were every
low and few possessed abundant knowledge and the faculty of imparting it to the pupils, governing them by love
and also obtaining good discipline. In 1807, under the government of Simcoe,
the province was divided into eight districts, Lennox and Addington being in
the Midlands District. In each of
these districts a school was to be built and conducted under government
supervision. The school for the
Midlands district was erected at Kingston.
However, this was not satisfactory to the majority of people of this
county, and accordingly an Academy was
built at Bath. Here the pupils could
be boarded for about three dollars a year. The Academy at Bath was the first public
school in this county. In it were taught, at first, Reading, Grammar,
Composition, Penmanship, Arithmetic, and Geography. In the meantime blackboards, apparatus, and
text books were introduced and became more plentiful. In 1812, the Academy was used as a barracks, but re-opened in 1818 under the
capable supervision of Rev. Alexander Fletcher and Mr. McIntosh, both well
educated in Scotland. Later, the county schools were partly
supported by the government and capable inspectors appointed for each
division. School sections were formed
throughout the county, teachers became
more competent and text-books were accurate.
To Egerton Ryerson is due the astonishing
improvements effected in the common
school system from 1846 to 1876.
Education became a government issue of great importance and began to
flourish throughout the country. It has grown up with the towns and
communities and has kept pace with them until now, it has reached a very high
degree of organization and efficiency.
E.D.F. PERSONALS Our last year’s seniors - the members of
Middle and Upper Schools - are not all with us this year, and it has not been
possible to get track of those who have left.
The following will be of interest to their many friends still at the
Collegiate: Catherine
Terrill is at Whitby Ladies’ College, completing her matriculation and
specializing in music. Edith
Scott is attending the Peterborough Normal. One of our studious pupils, we especially
miss her poetical effusions. Leonard
Wheeler entered Queen’s in September.
His way has been easier than most with both mathematics and pie. Excelling as a student, he is now tutoring
in mathematics and physics. Cora Garrison, Ida Dudgeon, and Grace
Richmond, are each wielding a hickory stick in the little red
schoolhouses of Ontario. Donald
Scott. After long years of toil,
“Phoebe” has found out that study has wrecked his health. We hope that a good rest will put him on
his feet again. In the meantime he is
shining as a “Radio Wizard” instead of as a “Geometry Star”. Jessie
Hitchins is at home on Amherst Island, feeding
the chickens until she gets big enough to go to Normal. Dorothy
Merritt is also at Peterborough Normal.
We all know Dorothy of old and feel sure she will have no trouble in
making good. Vivian
Exley and Edna
Carnahan have gone to Waukegan Hospital, Ill., to learn how to tell when
a fellow’s heart is beating. Let’s all
wait until their return before we get sick. Mary
Daly left both our beloved N.C.I. and the parental roof for the great
privilege of studying music with her aunt, Lady Twining, in London, Eng. She
is also to travel in Italy and France.
Don’t we envy Mary? Mary
Derry moved to Kingston last summer and had to leave her dearly loved
Napanee, so is taking up a few studies at the Kingston Collegiate just to
keep busy. She comes back occasionally
to see her old friends. She is going
to take up nursing, we understand. Winnifred Perry
has made the grade and is one of the bright stars in basketball at
Queen’s. Between games she indulges in
a little English and history. Clare
McCullough is compounding drugs in one of Toronto’s leading drug stores. Clarence
Price, our former Editor-in-Chief, is greatly missed by both the Staff of
the “Torch” and the Literary Society.
We have been informed that he is studying frogs and fishworms at Varsity. Ruth
Wright, III B.’s clever maid, has entered Peterborough Normal. It is not a case of whether she will get
through, but how high she will stand. Jack
Stewart is enjoying the high life of a New Yorker. Scobell Phippen
is studying hard at Queen’s. We hear
he, too, is preparing for a teaching career. Evelyn
Frisken is after her “First Class” at Toronto. She is as quiet and demure as
ever. George
Daly, the tall boy, has made a name for himself at Upper Canada
College. He got his picture in the
paper for his prowness in sports. He not only goes “high” in the jumps, but
is “high” in class work, and even finds time for working on the saxaphone. As his
evening are spent in studying he has given up wireless. Beatrice
Armstrong is at Toronto Normal, working for her First Class certificate. Georgina
and Edna Exley are residing at Birchcliff, Toronto.
The former is at home and the latter is at school there. Viola
Curry found one year enough at N.C.I., and is now wasting her charms on
the girls at Whitby Ladies’ College. Marion
Walmsley qualified to enter the Kingston Model,
and is recuperating at home. We certainly feel the loss of Rouette Dalton, our popular danseuse, who is
now dancing her way into the hearts of her old Montreal friends. |
