Colonial days in old New York

								

rest were called heads of the company, and as such were obeyed by the
others.... Children of different ages in the same family belonged to
different companies. Each company at a certain time of the year went
in a body to gather a particular kind of berries to the hill. It was
a sort of annual festival attended with religious punctuality. Every
company had a uniform for this purpose; that is to say, very pretty
light baskets made by the Indians, with lids and handles, which hung
over one arm, and were adorned with various colors. Every child was
permitted to entertain the whole company on its birthday, and once
besides, during winter and spring. The master and mistress of the
family always were bound to go from home on these occasions, while
some old domestic was left to attend and watch over them, with an
ample provision of tea, chocolate, preserved and dried fruits, nuts
and cakes of various kinds, to which was added cider or a syllabub;
for these young friends met at four and amused themselves with the
utmost gayety and freedom in any way their fancy dictated.”
From all the hints and facts which I have obtained, through letters,
diaries, church and court records, of child-life in any of the colonies
or provinces among English, German, Swedish, or Dutch settlers, I am
sure these Albany young folk were the most favored of their time. I
find no signs of such freedom in any other town.
It has been asserted that in every town in New York which was settled
under the Dutch, a school was established which was taught by a
competent teacher who received a small salary from the government,
in addition to his other emoluments; and that after the reign of the
English, begun in 1664, this public salary ceased, and many of the
towns were schoolless.
This statement is not confirmed by a letter of Domine Megapolensis
written from Albany in 1657. He says plainly that only Manhattan,
Beverwyck, and Fort Casimir had schoolmasters, and he predicts, as a
result, “ignorance, a ruined youth, and bewilderment of men’s minds.”
Other authorities, such as Mr. Teunis G. Bergen, state that this
liberality where it existed should be accredited to the Dutch church,
not the Dutch state, or Dutch West India Company. In truth, it was all
one matter. The church was an essential power in the government of New
Netherland, as it was in Holland; hence the West India Company and the
Classis of Amsterdam conjoined in sending domines with the supply of
burgomasters, and likewise furnished school-teachers.
When Wouter van Twiller arrived in 1633 with the first military
garrison for New Amsterdam, he brought also envoys of religion and
learning,--Domine Everardus Bogardus and the first pedagogue, Adam
Roelandsen. Master Roelandsen had a schoolroom assigned to him, and he
taught the youthful New Amsterdamites for six years, when he resigned
his position, and was banished from the town and went up the river to