Colonial days in old New York

								

catechism of Dr. Vander Hagen, and thus he shall follow the turns of
the minister. He shall hear the children recite the questions and
answers of the catechism, on that Sunday, and he shall instruct them.
When the minister preaches at Flatlands, he shall perform the like
service.


ART. 3rd. He shall provide a basin of water for the baptisms, for
which he shall receive twelve stuyvers, in wampum, for every baptism,
from the parents or sponsors. He shall furnish bread and wine for the
communion, at the charge of the church. He shall furnish the minister,
in writing, the names and ages of the children to be baptized,
together with the names of the parents and sponsors; he shall also
serve as a messenger for the consistories.


ART. 4th. He shall give the funeral invitations, and toll the bells,
for which service he shall receive, for persons of fifteen years of
age and upwards, twelve guilders; and for persons under fifteen, eight
guilders. If he shall invite out of the town, he shall receive three
additional guilders for every town; and if he shall cross the river to
New York, he shall have four guilders more.

 SCHOOL MONEY.


He shall receive for a speller or reader in the day school three
guilders for a quarter, and for a writer four guilders.


In the evening school, he shall receive for a speller or reader four
guilders for a quarter, and for a writer five guilders.

 SALARY.


The remainder of his salary shall be four hundred guilders in wheat,
of wampum value, deliverable at Brooklyn Ferry; and for his service
from October to May, two hundred and thirty-four guilders in wheat, at
the same place, with the dwelling, pasturage, and meadow appertaining
to the school to begin the first day of October.


I agree to the above articles, and promise to observe the same to the
best of my ability.



                                                  JOHANNIS VAN ECKELLEN.
Truly we have through this contract--to any one with any powers
of historic imagination--a complete picture of the duties of the
schoolmaster of that day.
When the English came in power in 1664, some changes were made in
matters of education in New York, but few changes in any of the
conditions in Albany. Governor Nicholls, on his first visit up
the river, made one significant appointment,--that of an English
schoolmaster. This was the Englishman’s license to teach:--


“Whereas the teaching of the English Tongue is necessary in this
Government; I have, therefore, thought fitt to give License to John
Shutte to bee the English Schoolmaster at Albany: and upon condition
that the said John Shutte shall not demand any more wages from each
Scholar than is given by the Dutch to their Dutch Schoolmasters. I
have further granted to the said John Shutte that hee shall bee the
only English Schoolmaster at Albany.”
The last clause of this license seems superfluous; for it is very