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By Frank R. Stockton
Originally published in 1896
OF course, it was not long after New Jersey began
to be settled and cultivated, before there were
a great many boys and girls who also needed to be
cultivated. And if we are to judge their numbers by
the families of Elizabeth, who started for the New
World in a hogshead, and of Penelope, who began
her life here in a hollow tree, there must have been
an early opportunity for the establishment of flourishing
make schools flourishing.schools; that is, so far as numbers of scholars
But in fact it does not appear that very early attention
was given in this State to the education of
the young. The first school of which we hear was
established in 1664; but it is probable that the first
settlers of New Jersey were not allowed to grow up
to be over forty years old before they had any chance
of going to school, and it is likely that there were small
schools in various places of which no historical mention
is made.
It is admitted, however, by the historians of these
early days of New Jersey, that education was not attended
to as it should have been; and we read that
in 1693 an act was passed to "establish schoolmasters
within the Province, `for the cultivation of learning
end good manners for the good and benefit of mankind,
which hath hitherto been much neglected in the
Province.'"
These early schools were not of a very high order;
the books used by younger scholars being what were
called hornbooks, which were made by pasting upon
a board a piece of paper containing the alphabet and
some lessons in spelling, and covering the whole with
a very thin sheet of horn, which was fastened on the
hoard as glass is fastened over a framed picture.
"Thus the children could see the letters and words
under the horn, but were not able to deface or tear
the paper. It was difficult to get books in those days,
and a hornbook would last a long time.
We can get a pretty good idea of the character of
the schools from an account given of the establishment
of the first school in Newark, where the town authorities
made a contract "with Mr. John Catlin to instruct
their children and servants in as much English, reading,
writing, and arithmetic, as he could teach."
But the people of. New Jersey prospered well, and
the Colony soon became noted as one in which there
was comfort and good living; and therefore it is natural
that when the people really could afford to apply their
time, thought, and money to objects higher than the
tillage of farms and the building of houses, they went
to work earnestly to give their young people proper
opportunities for education, and we find that they were
inclined to do this as earnestly and thoroughly as they
had been in the habit of doing other things.
In consequence of this disposition, what is now
Princeton College was founded in 1746. This institution
was first called the "College of New Jersey," and
was established at Elizabethtown. It was in its early
days a very small seat of learning; for, when the Rev.
Mr. Dickinson was appointed to be its president, the
faculty consisted entirely of himself, and his only assistant
was an usher. There were then about twenty
students in the college.
In about a year the president died; and the college
was then removed to Newark, where the Rev. Aaron
Burr, the father of the celebrated Aaron Burr, became
its president, and it is probable that the faculty was
enlarged. Ten years afterwards the college was established at Princeton.
The manners and customs of the college must have
been very primitive, and we will give a few of the
rules which were made for the students: "Every
scholar shall keep his hat off to the president about
ten rods, and about five to the tutors. When walking
with a superior, they shall give him the highest place,
and when first going into his company, they shall
show their respects to him by first pulling off their
hats; shall give place to him at any door or entrance;
or meeting him going up and down stairs shall stop,
giving him the bannister side;" and, in speaking to
a superior, "shall always give a direct and pertinent
answer, concluding with Sir." Thus it is seen that
attention to good manners was one of the most important branches of study taught at the young college.
But in certain districts of New Jersey, people seemed
to be very slow in perceiving the advantages of schools
in their midst. Schools had sprung up here and there
in towns and villages, many of them boarding schools;
and to these the richer farmers would send their
children. But it took people in some rural places a
good while to find out that it would be a good thing
to have a school in their midst.
A story is told of the establishment of a school of
this kind in Deckertown as late as 1833. The people
of this village had never thought it worth while to
have a school of their own; and even after a gentleman
of learning and ability, who was well known in
the place, offered to take charge of such a school,
they did not look with any favor upon the enterprise.
The only place for a schoolhouse, which he was able
to obtain, was a very small building, consisting of one
room, and situated on the outskirts of the town.
Here he started a school with one scholar; and even
this little fellow was not a Jersey boy, but came from
New York.
For a considerable time this single scholar constituted
the school, and he and the schoolmaster walked
back and forth from the village to the little cabin
every day; while the only interest that the townspeople
seemed to take in them was shown by their
laughing at the schoolmaster, and comparing him to
a hen with one chicken. It must not be supposed
that it was because the citizens did not believe in
education; but, as they had been in the habit of sending
their children away to school, they thought that
that was the proper thing to do, and, as there never
had been a school in the town, they saw no reason
why there should be one then. But the school increased,
and in less than a year it numbered twenty
scholars.
This Web version, edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
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