it was determined that this vote should not be repealed except by the
consent of every freeman in the town. So, in the spring, this tiny
colony went out to Salisbury new-town.

In 1647, a law was passed requiring every township of fifty families to
maintain a school. This is the way that the preamble reads:--

"It being one chiefe pr'ject of yt ould deluder, Satan, to keepe men
from ye knowledge of ye Scriptures, as in former times by keeping ym in
an unknown tongue, so in these latt'r times by pr'suading from ye use of
tongues yt so at least ye true sense & meaning of ye original might be
clouded by false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers, yt learning may not
be buried in ye grave of o'r fath'rs in ye church & commonwealth, the
Lord assisting our endeavor. It is therefore resolved," &c.

It seems overturning the cornerstone of our forefathers' intentions to
banish from our schools the Scriptures, those finest examples of the
strength and beauty of the English language, to say nothing of their
lessons in individual self-government, which is the only foundation that
a republic can be built upon.

From this old law have grown up all the public schools of Amesbury.
There is now a high school, and there are, of course, the required
number of small schools; some of these in the outlying districts having
very few scholars.

Several years ago Mr. Whittier, who has the keenest sense of humor, told
a friend that in one of these the whole number of pupils was three,
average attendance one and a half! He was deeply interested in that half
child.