340
��EDUCATION IN HOPKINTON.
��the autocrat of the birch and ruler. Yet we must also remember that the times themselves were in a greater measure composed of sterner moralities and ma- terials, and that a teacher of those days had, if anything, less cause to be thank- ful than the instructor of later times. Notwithstanding the popular esteem of schools, teaching was practically a me- nial service and poorly paid. In illustra- tion of the position of a school-master in New Hampshire in the earliest times, we present a list of the duties of such a per- son, as prescribed by the regulations of the town of Portsmouth in the yearlG61, as follows : " To act as court messenger, to serve summonses, to lead the choir on Sundays, to ring the bell for public wor- ship, to dig the graves, to take charge of the school and to perform other occa- sional duties." Considering his time and circumstances, we may be justified in concluding that it is quite possible that the ancient school-master had a better heart than he was always able to reveal.
SELECT OR HIGH SCHOOLS.
The importance of high schools was early recognized, yet none of this char- acter were ever supported at the public charge. In 1769, when the State laws required the several towns containing a certain maximum of population to sup- port such schools, Hopkinton voted that " If the town was complained of for not keeping a grammar school, the town would pay the charge." The most mem- orable high school, not an incorporated institution, ever existing in town was that taught by Mr. John O. Ballard.
John Osgood Ballard, more familiarly known as •' Master Ballard," was born in Warner, in the year 1768. In quite early life he came to Hopkinton and began a career by teaching schools in different districts. He taught in the village when the school house was near the present residence of Mr. Samuel R. Adams. Sub- sequently, he entered into trade, being at one time a partner of the late Joseph Towns. Later he opened a store in the east end, lower floor, of his dwelling- house, the same now owned by Mr. E. W. Upton. He closed his mercantile course by a financial failure. The disas-
��ter came about by the decline of prices at the end of the war of 1812. It seldom pays to buy in time of war and sell in time of peace, as Master Ballard found to his sorrow. In the attempt, in part, to reverse fortune he opened a select school about the year 1816. His school room was his former store. The old shelves still remained. Around a larger part of the circuit of the room he built a sloping desk into the wall. In front of this was a continuous, plain, board seat, without a back. Pupils using this seat and employed at the desk must face the walls. In reversing their position they lifted their feet, swung them round, and so met the gaze of their instructor, whose desk was on the west side, near the fire place. There were also numerous seats, or chairs, in different parts of the room. Master Ballard's discipline was not alto- gether unlike the representative teacher of his time, yet he had an element of mildness foreshadowing the better times coming. Though he kept his rawhide and used it, yet he sometimes raised it ominously in the face of a frightened pu- pil and remarked, " You, sir T 1 allowing it afterwards to descend in mercy with- out a blow. To illustrate a phase of per- suasive discipline on Master Ballard's part, we have the story of his advice to a boy pupil, whom we will here call Johnny, and who was somewhat notori- ous for habitually dirty hands. Accost- ing this pupil one day, Master Ballard in- quired :
" Johnny, does your father keep hogs ?"
" Yes, sir," replied Johnny.
" Does he sometimes boil potatoes for
them ?"
" Yes, sir."
" Does he sometimes mash the potatoes with meal?"
" Yes, sir."
" Well, the next time he mashes the boiled potatoes with meal, won't you take some and "
Here Master Ballard motioned with his own hands in imitation of scrubbing them w ith mashed potatoes and meal. Sad to relate, we have no account of the effect produced on Johnny's mind by this eloquent appeal.
The course of study pursued at Mas-
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