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WESTFIELD.

THE visitors of the Normal School submit to the Board the following report:

The teachers and pupils of this school seem to be working harmoniously together, to secure the ends for which it was established. They are laboring earnestly not only to maintain, but if possible to increase, the high reputation the school has in the past enjoyed.

Some changes have taken place the past year in the corps of

teachers.

Miss Spalter, the teacher of drawing, resigned her place at the close of the summer term, after having given to the school five years of successful service. She was held in high esteem by the pupils for her cheerful temper, her faithfulness, and her skill as a teacher. Those who have been under her instruction will long remember with what devotion she performed the duties of her office, and with how much sympathy she sought for opportunities to encourage and aid them in the performance of new and difficult tasks.

The place made vacant by the resignation of Miss Spalter has been filled by the appointment of Miss Clara Wilson, a graduate of the Normal Art School, Boston. Miss Wilson brings to her department great enthusiasm, and a high reputation for learning and skill. What she has already accomplished furnishes assurance of success.

For two years the school has been in need of an additional teacher. Mr. Walter Barrows, a graduate of the School of Technology, Boston, has been appointed to supply this need. Mr. Barrows entered upon the discharge of his duties as teacher, Sept. 1 of the present year. His thorough preparation for the department he is to fill will make him a valuable as well as necessary addition to the teaching force of the school. His salary for the remainder of the present year will be paid

from funds saved for other objects. If he is permanently retained, an addition must be made to the amount annually appropriated to the support of the school.

The boarding-house has been thoroughly painted during the year, and no extensive repairs on the school-building are at present required.

The sewage of the boarding-house is now discharged through the town brook, which hitherto has been allowed to be used for the purpose, and as a substitute for a sewer. But a suit in equity has been commenced against various parties now using the brook as a sewer, and it is not impossible that injunctions prohibiting such use may be issued. If so, a considerable outlay will be required to secure a substitute for the present sewer.

Of the graduates of last year, all except three are known to be engaged in teaching in the public schools. Two of the three have been unable to teach, on account of illness; from one no report has yet been received. The other members of the two graduating classes of the year have all taught.

Criticisms of their work have been requested, but thus far no unfavorable reports have been returned. The following, among the testimonials received during the past six months, will indicate their general character: "She is doing better than you predicted;" "Your teachers here are all doing well;" "They greatly honor your school." Another speaks in the highest terms of the skill the graduate has shown in organizing and conducting her school. Another commends the teacher for the clear ideas possessed of what should be done.

By the reports sent in, it appears that school committees are more inclined than formerly to allow the graduates to use their own methods of teaching, holding them responsible only for results.

The school has been favored the past year with visits and addresses by the secretary and agents of the Board of Education. Professor Walter Smith has given the school two valuable lectures. Professor Harvey Porter of Beirut, and Professor H. H. Rusby of Franklin, N. J., have made valuable donations to the collections in natural history.

I cannot close this report without making special mention of the relations which my distinguished associate on the visiting board of the school has for a long time held to its management and success.

For eighteen years Dr. William Rice has been a visitor of the schcol; and during his long term of faithful service he has spared neither time nor labor in contributing what he could to its prosperity. During his connection with the school the Normal Schoolhouse has been twice enlarged; a large and commodious boarding-house has been built; the attendance upon the school has been largely increased and the quality of its work greatly improved.

By his wise counsels and his never-failing sympathy, Dr. Rice has greatly endeared himself to teachers and pupils; and they, with this entire community, deeply feel the loss they have experienced in his resignation. They will follow him in his retirement with good wishes for his health and happiness. The usual statistics of the school are appended.

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Of this number, Hampden County sent 58; Hampshire, 10; Berkshire, 12; Franklin, 7; Worcester, 5; Essex, 3; Middlesex, 1; Barnstable, 1; New Hampshire, 3; Connecticut, 12; New York, 3; New Jersey, 1; Ohio, 2; District of Columbia, 2. Total, 120.

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Occupation of parents: Mechanics, 6; farmers, 20; professional men, 6; manufacturers, 5; merchants, 3; laborers, 2; peddlers, 2; contractors, 2; hotel-keepers, 2; miscellaneous, 5; unknown, 5. Total, 58.

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WORCESTER.

THE visitor of this school finds good reason to speak with confidence and satisfaction of its work during the past year. With unflagging zeal and by unstinted labor, it has faithfully discharged its duty to the Commonwealth.

The staff of teachers has been increased and strengthened by an important and much-needed addition: Miss Ellen M. Haskell, formerly principal of Wheaton Female Seminary, and later a teacher in the Worcester High School, was secured for the school in June, and began her work in September.

This fills the place made vacant some time since by the resignation of Miss Foster, and gives to the school an adequate and excellent force of instructors; every one mature, experienced, and skilful, and all acting together in a spirit of confidence and harmony.

The practice of "apprenticeship" in the public schools of Worcester, designed to secure to the pupils during their course actual experience in teaching and managing children under conditions involving real responsibility, has been extended so as to cover a considerably longer term of service than formerly.

At the end of their first year in the Normal School, students may now serve as apprentices for six months, or half a schoolyear,

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in three grades of school, two primary and one gram- and then return to the Normal School for a second year of study before receiving their diplomas, thus lengthening by one-fourth the period of their pupilage, making it two years and a half instead of two years; and at the same time acquainting themselves more thoroughly with the practical details, the every-day duties and difficulties, of the teacher's work. Almost all the pupils elect this longer course, and so graduate with the advantage of more maturity and readier skill than they could otherwise attain.

There is a constantly increasing demand for graduates as

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