Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/652

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THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.

ten weeks each, with one week recess between terms. The tuition was ten dollars per term. The family or boarding scholars paid four hundred dollars per year for tuition, books, stationery, board, and washing. The building erected for the school cost, including fixtures, about $3,000. After Mr. Cady closed his school, he with others, notably Mr. D. A. Waldron, started the Barrington Public Library, and Mr. Cady's schoolhouse was used as a library building until the erection of the town building. The town high school was also held in this building when first started. The Trustees of the library concluded it was not conducive to the best interest of the library to have the school in the same room, and requested the school committee to find other accommodations for the school, which they accordingly did. The value of a school of a higher grade than the district schools had been so clearly illustrated by Mr. Cady's school, that the people felt the need of a town high school, and the following resolution was presented to the town at the annual town meeting, April 2, 1884, by Mr. George Lewis Smith, one of the earliest and warmest advocates of the measure:

"Whereas, It appears to many of the taxpayers that the children in this town who are advanced in their studies can be educated to much better advantage if placed in a graded school by themselves; and whereas, some of the schools are now filled to or beyond the capacity of the school-rooms, and many parents feel obliged to send their children to other towns for their common school education;

Resolved, That the School Committee be and they hereby are instructed to secure a suitable room at an annual rental of not exceeding $200, to properly fit and furnish the same, and to estabhsh a school for such scholars, residing in this town, as shall pass such an examination as said committee may prescribe, and said committee shall employ a suitable male or female teacher in their discretion, at a proper compensation, and incur such other expenses as are right and proper to conduct said school, and that the same shall be paid for out of the appropriation for public schools.