EDUCATION IN HOPKINTON.
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��ter Ballard's school was mostly confined to English branches. Instruction was thorough. Proper attention was paid to reading and spelling, as also to defining. The spelling book and dictionary were studied by every pupil. Master Ballard himself was very apt in defining English words ; few words in recognized use had escaped his knowledge. For about thirty years he kept up an uninterrupted school, but received some assistance in the work of teaching during later service, particu- larly by his son, afterwards the Rev. Ed- ward Ballard. On a plain slab in the cemetery in Hopkinton village can be read this inscription :
JOHN OSGOOD BALLARD,
DIED
APRIL 27, 1854,
M 86.
Many a man has a more eloquent incrip- tion on his tombstone who never did half the appreciable good accomplished by John Osgood Ballard.
The ancient Court House and Legisla- tive Hall was often used for the accom- modation of select schools. The first Court House was the property of Hills- borough county, before the organization and separation of Merrimack. It occu- pied the site of the present town house, upon land given to the county by the late Benjamin Wiggin, Esq., and was built not far from the year 1798. It was about two-thirds as long as the present town house, of corresponding width, and con- tained two stories. On the lower floor were two jury rooms. On the upper was the court room, with judge's bench of sf mi-circular arrangement in the middle of the west end, flanked by a wall seat on each side. On the opposite end, and also on the two sides, were three rows of seats. In the centre was the bar — a semi- circular arrangement, with railing and two rows of seats. In opposite and prominent positions in the eastern part of the room were two sheriff's or prison- er's boxes ; there was also another, as well as a fire-place, on the north side. In anticipation of accommodating the New Hampshire Legislature, which met here in 1798, and also in 1801, 1806, and 1807, an addition was made to the Court
��House, extending the structure in the easterly direction. By this arrangement an entrance was allowed in front, open- ing into a hall-way or waiting room, oc- cupying the whole space of the addition, furnished with a simple encompassing wall seat. Passing north, one came to a broad flight of stairs, which turned to the left twice and terminated in a narrow hall on the second siory. East of this hall was the Senate Chamber, containing the President's seat in the middle of the south side, and a plain wall seat around the apartment. Schools were held in the Court Room, the Senate Chamber, and in one or both of the jury rooms. Some of our older citizens and residents can remember as teachers of these select schools Miss Catharine Perkins, sister of the late Roger Perkins, and afterwards wife of Dr. Ebenezer Lerned ; Miss Har- riet Perkins, daughter of Roger Perkins ; Miss Mary Ann Stanley, daughter of Theophilis Stanley; Miss Betsey Blanch- ard; Samuel Cartland; John H. Stark; Jonathan Farr, Dedham, Mass. ; Horace Chase, afterwards Judge Chase; and per- haps others. Hon. John Harris at one time kept a reading school in the Court Room. Pupils were admitted by cards. Mr. Harris took great pride in good read- ing, in which he was reputed to be an adept. During his school a prize was of- fered for the best rendering of the Scrip- ture passage, " What went ye out into the wilderness to see," etc.
ANCIENT TEXT BOOKS.
Because many text books were used during the earlier times in both the com- mon and high schools alike, we have omitted any particular mention of them till now. There were, in common Eng- lish branches, the American Preceptor, the Columbian Orator, and Scott's Les- sons, readers; Webster's Speller; Per- ry's and Walker's Dictionaries ; Adams's and Pike's Arithmetics ; Murray's Gram- mar (Abridgement and Sequel ;) '« Young Ladies' Accidents," also gram- matical;; Pope's u Essay on Man," for analysis and parsing; Morse's and Wor- cester's Geographies, etc. In higher English. Blake's Philosophy, Ferguson's Astronomy, Sumner's Botany, etc. In
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