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Originally published in the Historic Nantucket, Vol. 44, no. 2 (Summer 1994), p. 6-7

Cent Schools
by Helen A. Gardner

This charming portrayal of Nantucket's early educational establishment" first appeared in the report of the Association's fourteenth annual meeting, 21 July 1908.

The Hepsibeth Hussey School on Fair Street.

No sketch of the Cent Schools of Nantucket would be complete without mention of those earlier schools from which they were naturally evolved.

When our ancestors settled here in the middle of the 17th Century they brought with them from Amesbury and Salisbury the ideas of Old England in regard to the education of the young; that is, so far as reading, writing and figuring were concerned. Thomas Macy had been Overseer of schools in Salisbury; Peter Folger a teacher on Martha's Vineyard; and on Nantucket as early as 1716 the town, by vote in town meeting, hired Eleazer Folger to keep school for one year for £3.

Before and after the real public school (in the early days called the "charity" school) was established, various kinds of private schools flourished. Of these the "dame schools" for small children and girls of all ages were patterned after the English schools of the same name. In Nantucket this name did not cling to them as long as in Salem and other towns of Essex County, but in most particulars they were like them. In Old England dame schools were often kept by old women who depended upon the meagre pay to keep them out of the poor house. In New England they were kept by refined, thrifty women who often taught their own or their neighbors' children until they were old enough to enter schools of a higher grade.

In Nantucket in 1723 "the Wesco and New Town people were authorized by the Proprietors to set up a Woman's School at the head of the Fish Lots." [The building stood very near to what is today the Quaker Meeting House/Fair Street Museum.]

It would be interesting to know what pay these women teachers received, and it is possible that some old school bills are cherished among family relics. It is a matter of record that in 1797 Abiel Hussey was engaged to teach school at the rate of seventy shillings (equivalent to twelve 1908 dollars) per month for 35 scholars.

One mother paid for her child's lessons by supplying the teacher's family with home-made yeast, or "emptyins," as it was then called. In one case the teacher received as pay for a little girl's "schooling" a pair of andirons. When the pupil was an old woman, these andirons were given to her by the teacher and are now a valued possession of the family.

In the "cent schools" of later date the pay seems to have been uniform as the name implies. In the dinner pail or sewing bag or tied up in a corner of the handkerchief, the cent was carried to the teacher at each session of the school. Some of these schools were kept by young misses, not out of their teens, on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and were much like the "day nursery" schools of today, where tired or busy mothers were glad to leave the little ones for a few hours. Others were kept six days in the week, two sessions a day, and were open to little boys and girls, some of whom were too young for any lessons. These had their toys and spent long recesses in the yard in good weather.

Many of us learned our letters standing at the knee of the teacher, who pointed them out with a knitting needle, and when we could name them "skipping about" we were promoted to the class that had picture primers, from which we learned to read and spell.

One recalls her "cent school" days in these words: "Learning to read seems to me now a 'ten minutes of two' operation,
not because the lesson came at that hour, but because we stood in a line and placed our feet at the same angle which the hands of the clock make at ten minutes of two. As we faced the teacher we looked with wonder at her who could read backwards as she pointed out the words for us to read."

How addition and subtraction were taught is not now clear to me, but the multiplication table was sung to a monotonous tune that has made a lasting impression. Division followed naturally, as for example:

3 times 1 are 3
3 into 3 is 1
3 times 2 are 6
3 into 6 is 2
3 times 3 are 9
3 into 9 is 3, etc.

These exercises repeated daily in concert have proved as good as modern methods to strengthen the memory.

On sewing days, when the girls sewed patchwork, the boys were allowed to do a sort of worsted work, which then seemed exciting and intricate: four pins were stuck into a spool, stitches were made on each, and with a fifth pin the worsteds grew into a cord, to be later coiled into a mat. Sometimes a boy wished to learn how to sew and to knit, and such was the spirit of courtesy and good breeding in the school that he escaped all sneering jokes, and no one called him "sissy."

As some schools were kept in the homes of the teachers, there was often an opportunity for, at least, an observation lesson in cooking or other household art.

On "clean-house" days or at other times of domestic stress the dinner pail went to school with the child or a note asking that he be given some of Aunt Anne's dinner.

The discipline in these schools was mild but firm. Nothing is recalled more severe than a tap on the hand with the "pointer," or a few minutes on the "repentance stool," where the shame of the punishment soon brought the sinner to a state of penitence. In one school if in the recess games of "Round-a-ring-a-rosy" or "Raise the gates as high as the sky," there was rough pushing or too loud shouting, the next recess was spent in the "pen." This was not a strong place of close confinement. The culprit was encircled by the arms of a blinded invalid who was sitting in his chair, and who, after giving a few hints on proper behavior, generally finished by telling some thrilling incident of one of his voyages.

It has been impossible to make a complete list of "dame" or of "cent" schools. They were found all over the town and varied in size and length of life.

Dame schools and cent schools have all vanished, but they played an important part in the story of Nantucket. In these days of kindergarten, nature teaching, and manual training those early schools seem crude and old fashioned, yet the testimony of many of us will show that they were happy places for the little folks. We learned to read and to spell at an early age, and with these simple lessons we were daily taught the value of honesty, kindness, and respect for those in authority.

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From Proceedings, October 1964, this fascinating account makes a good companion piece to Miss Gardner's story on the Cent Schools.

Island Education That Was

Some aspects of the education of Nantucket children in the 1800s are shown in the papers of Captain Joseph Mitchell 2nd, who was a member of the school committee during that period.

The questions asked in certain tests are particularly revealing. For example, in geography there is a distinctly nautical, almost vocational, flavor to the knowledge expected of a Nantucket Island boy of that day who aspired to a seafaring life. Some typical questions include:

(1) How many ways are there to go to the Sandwich Islands, and through what oceans and by what capes do you pass?
(2) Name the seas in and around Europe.
(3) Name some of the principal islands and groups of islands near the coast of Asia.
(4) What cape is south of Hindustan?
(5) Describe a voyage from Nantucket to San Francisco, thence to St. Petersburg, and back to Nantucket.
(6) What countries of South America border on the Caribbean Sea?
(7) Name some of the islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

In arithmetic, also, who but a Nantucket Islander of the whaling era would be expected to come come up with the answers to such questions as:

(1) A merchant owning 4/5 of a vessel sold 2/3 of his share for $957. What was the vessel worth?
(2) A ship had a leak which will fill it so as to make it sink in 10 hours; it also has a pump which will clear it in 15 hours. Now, if they begin to pump when the ship begins to sink, in what time will it sink?
(3) A note for $843.43, given 5th of July, 1817, was paid 14th of April, 1822. Interest 7%. What did the principal and interest amount to?
(4) Reduce 8.17s.6c.3qrs to the decimal of a pound.
(5) A cistern has three pipes to fill it, and one to empty it. One pipe will fill it alone in 3 hours, the second in 5 hours, and the third in 9 hours.The other will empty it in 7 hours. If all the pipes are allowed to run at the same time, in what time will the cistern be filled?
(6) If 4/7 of a hogshead of oil is worth $45, what is the value of 2/3 of the remainder?

However, a cultural background was also fostered in addition to the practical side of the school curriculum. But even this was sometimes influenced by the sea. The questions in grammar not only required a working knowledge of the English language such as "What is a sentence?" "Define Syntax." "Name the different kinds of pronouns." "Define the passive voice of a verb." But also such gems as: "Parse the underlined words:

I hear the tread of pioneers
Of Nations yet to be.
The first low wash of waves, where soon
Shall roll a human sea.

And:

Go forth to the shadowy future
With a true and manly heart,
And mountains shall dwindle
to molehills.
The going is only thy part."

And so it went. And is it any wonder, then, with these examples of Island erudition, that whaling was so lucrative a business for so many?