MISS BAIRD‘S HOME SCHOOL For Girls and Young Ladies, West Avenue, Norwalk. Norwalk is fortunate in its posses- sion of educational institutions. Aside from its splendid public schools it has a. number of private schools which rank among the best of their class in the country. Oldest and most con- spicious of these is tM'iss Baird’s Home School for girls and young ladies. So successfully has been the management of this school, so thorough and so well has the work been done that its repu— tation has extended far and wide and pupils come from all sections of the country. Miss Baird, the principal of the school, is an experienced educator and is recognized in educational work by the female colleges of the country as one of the leaders in her chosen field. For twenty—eight years, she has been at the head of this institution, having brought it from Hagerstown. Maryland, about seventeen years ago. Miss Baird came to Norwalk with a most excellent reputation, earned by twelve years of successful work in her school at Hagerstown. From its incep— tion to the present time it has grown in numbers and popularity. 'l he school is situated on West Avenue, occupying a beautiful and healthful location. The school buildings consist of three large houses and a gymnasium, joined by connections at the rear of the build— ings. The arrangements afford the hes: facilities for fresh air and sunshine and gives the advantage of special resi— dences for the different departments or classes. The Seniors and Special Students occupy one house, the Juniors another and the Preparatory Classes the third. A cottage, cheerful and quiet, on the opposite side of the street is used in case of illness. The buildings afford ample accommodations for study, recitations, music recitals, lec— tures and other means of culture, there being every requisite necessary to a first class institution. The accommo— dations for resident pupils are most convenient and comfortable. The sani— tary arrangements are of the best.‘ There are bath rooms, hot and cold water, and steam or hot water heating on every floor. The incandEScent light is used in all of the rooms of the school buildings. It has been Miss Baird’s design and purpose to make a home—“a genuine home”—-so far as possible for her pupils. The courses of study—preparatory, academic and college preparatory—are well arranged and thoroughly carried out. All of Miss Baird’s assistants have been with her several years and are thoroughly competent instructors. Without enu— merating the various branches that are taught in a school of this rank and size, it might be mentioned that accomplished teachers have charge oi the clasess in English composition, lit. erature, the sciences and mathematics. Resident teachers are employed for the ancient and modern languages, while the principal takes pleasure in teaching the evidences of Christianity and in conducting the advanced work in rhetoric history and psychology. The college preparatory classes are al— ways in charge of college graduates. The young ladies are prepared for the examination of any female college. It might be added that in twenty-eight years’ experience, not one of Miss Baird’s graduates has ever yet failed to pass an examination, whether for college entrance, Normal school or teacher’s position, upon one occasion one of her graduates having passed the best examination out of one hundred and twenty candidates. This certainly speaks well for the thoroughness of the instruction given and the proficiency atained by the pupils of this school. Elective cou ‘ses are cheerfully arrang- ed for pupils not desiring to take the regular academic course and a limited number of day pupils are received. The school has long .enjoyed quite a . ‘1' A. . e3? $ at RECEPTION ROOM, MISS BAIRD‘S HOME SCHOOL. MISS BAIRD’S HOME SCHOOL. reputation for its advantages in music, both vocal anti instrumental. Only conservatory graduates are employed as teachers, and pupils are prepared for entering any conservatory here or in Europe. Superior opportunities are at"- forded for studying art. The art de- partment has been for some years in charge of an instructor, who, besides having enjoyed excellent advantages in this country was for several years a member of the Julian Studio of Paris. The studio is furnished with photo— graphs of the art treasures of Europe, so that pupils may be made familiar with what is best in art. There are some special features in the conduct of this institution that deserve mention. A fine library contains those works from standard authors best adapted to the different courses of instruction given at the school. The reading room is supplied with all the best magazines and periodicals of the day. Pupils are taken to lectures and concerts, and by means of visits to the museums and galleries of New York and New Haven, varied culture is afforded. Two liter— ary societies meet on Monday evening. The exercises consist of essays, de— bates, readings, music, recitations and other aesthetic recreations. An enter— tainment is given on Saturday evening, when one of the pupils acts as hostess, receiving the family anti showing the courteous attentions she would bestow upon, guests in her own home. The aim of the school is to combine in the edu— cation of its chosen pupils every per— sonal refinement and elegance with the higher educational advantages. The social and family life at this school is one of its most delightful features. Norwalk shares with Miss Baird a par— donable pride in the continued success of this school. THE NORWAI.K UNIVERSITY SCHOOL. Norwalk has long enjoyed the dis— tinction of having the best private schools in Western Connecticut. The old Selleck school, which was founded in 1855, and was conducted for over thirty years as a military and naval school, has done much toward giving Norwalk a high place in the education- al field of the state. Rev. Charles M. Selleck made a name for himself as an educator and for his school, which was one of the best in New England up to the time of his retirement in 1888. Since then some changes have occurred, the last one promising much toward the re-establishment of the school in its old position of prominence and excel— lence. About a year ago Mr. W. G. Chase, A. B., came from Flushing, L. I., where he had been master of The Flushing Institute, to take up the work of building a new educational institu— tion- on the site of the old Selleck school. There was nothing left of the fine old institution, except the building in a bad state of repair. Mr. Chase’s first work was to put the buildings in a first rate state of repair as to plumbing, sanitation, lighting, furnishing and cleanliness. This be accomplished readily with the expenditure of a liberal TIIE NORVVALK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL. amount of money anti then rechristen- ing the school under the name of The Norwalk University School he began to look for pupils. He had not a single one in View when he came and as an evidence of his good work he had at the beginning of his second year twen- Betts of Wilton, who will go to, Cornell. The institution is a boarding school with courses of study that will prepare its graduates for admission to any of the colleges. It is no longer a military school, though military drill is intro— duced as a diversion in the physical training. The location, at 109 East ave- nue, is on high ground in one of the prettiest parts of Norwalk. The build- ing. one hundred anti seventy-five feet long, forty feet wide and three stories high. is well fitted for a boys’ school. The recitation and assembly rooms are large, light and airy. The dormitory accommodations are ample, neat and cOmfortable, while the bath rooms, gymnasium, bowling alley, reading room, reception room and library are MRS. MEAD’s sermon. Noroton, Darien, Rowayton, Norwalk, Winnipauk. Saugatuck, Westport, New Haven, Southington, East Norwalk and South Norwalk. The courses include personal instruction in: Arithmetic, Spelling, Book-keeping, Shorthand, Typewriting. Grammar Dictation, Office Work, Business Practice, Penmanship, Correspondence, Banking and Auto- matic Lettering. The wide reputation the college has earned for itself has been made by the untiring efforts of Prof. Brown and his valuable corps of assistants in taking personal interest in the welfare of each student but the fact, that the courses have been shorn of all the ornamental appendages, leaving nothing but the practical com- mon-sense education, has much to do with the result. A course here would help anybody. M RS. MEAD’S SCHOO L. This excellent school for girls and young ladies may be said to possess a national reputation, for its pupils come from not only New England. but from the Eastern and Middle states and from the far West, and even as far South as Texas. It also enjoys a large local pat- ronage in Norwalk, South Norwalk and vicinity. So great an influence does it exert and so strong a hold does it take upon its graduates and its patrons, that its commencement exercises are attenti— ed by alumnae who come many miles to renew their friendships and associa- tions with the school. It is not, how— ever, numbers so much as quality in graduates that is aimed at. The idea of the school is to train the individual pupil. The house life is one feature of the school’s popularity. The pupil and teacher come close together not only in recitations, but in the daily life of the girl who is making this her tem- porary home, and the result is a very happy influence upon the young lady. The school prepares pupils for any of the female colleges and enjoys all the certificate rights that are granted to any school. A majority of the gradu- ates go to Vassar or Wellesley. Mrs. Mel- ville Emory Mead,the principal,is wide- ly and most favorably known among educators. She is a graduate of Sping— ler Institute, the pioneer college insti— the best of sanitary arrangements and all the conveniences for a comfortable home. It possesses a large library, a modern school labO'atory and is thor- oughly equipped throughout for school work. There is connected with the school a primary department under the care of Miss Lillian B. Treat. The home department, which is one of the excellent features of the institution, is in charge of Miss Eliza P. Thayer. So excellent and far reaching has been the work of this institution, that it has received the unsolicited commendation of some of the leading educators of the country, including Pres. Eliot of Har- yard College and William '1‘. Harris, U. S. Commissioner of Education, at Washington. THE N'ORWA llK PREPARATORY SCHOOL. The boys in the Norwalks are not be— hind thelr sisters in the facilities they enjoy for obtaining an education—not only in the public schools but in the private ones as well. They are not at a loss for first class places to secure tutorage that will prepare them for college and make them ready to take the university examinations. Such a place is the Norwalk Preparatory School, located on Prospect Hill, a beautiful site overlooking the city. Here boys from the Norwalks and ad- jacent towns may obtain the best of tutorage from an experienced instruc- tor in a private school and have all the advantages and none of the disadvant— ages of a tutor at home. The school has been established for six years, and is under the care and instruction of Prof. Carl A. Harstrom, M. A., who came here in the fall of 1891. Prof.: Harstrom formerly had a school at Peekskill, N. Y. He is a graduate of Hobart College and had three years graduate work at Yale. He is a com—- petent instructor, thoroughly grounded:I in his work and a man of excellent character and of such a disposition and bearing that he soon becomes a favor- ite with his pupils. He has been teach— ing for fifteen years. Over 150 boys have been sent to college, and the pro- ficiency and thoroughness of his work has been demonstrated by the high standard obtained by his pupils. We ty—four pupils registered. He will grad— uate a class this year composed of the following young men: George Jame— son Thomson of Wilton and George Gilbert Durant of Bethel, both of whom will go to Yale, and Norman DeWitt BUSINESS DEPAIH'MEN'I‘, Blt()\\".\.S COLLEGE. all that could be desired. All are fur- nace heated and electric lighted. In fact the institution has all the neces— saries and conveniences of a first class boys’ boarding school. Mr. Chase, the head master, is a graduate of Yale, who has had some very valuable experience in boys’ schools and his first year’s work here stamps him as a man of ability, well fitted to "be the head of such an institution. He has associated with him as instructors F. W. Smith. B. L., a graduate of Cornell. master of modern languages; J. Finton Bullock, B. S., a graduate of Colgate. master of mathematics and sciences: and H. G. Thompson, master of drawing. BROWN’S COLLEGE. This institution stands to—day among the foremost commercial colleges in this country, with a large clientage of excellent people, and a building for a home that is the pride of the Nor- walks. To educate and assist students to good paying positions is the motto of the school. The courses are replete with ideas up-to-date in every depart- ment enabling graduates to pass from the school immediately into business. That the college is a. success is demon- strated by the young men and women educated here and placed in. good pay- ing positions. In the list of students attending at the present time appear graduates of Yale, State Normals, High Schools, Seminaries, Grammar and District schools, representing the fol- lowing cities and towns: Boston, Mass, Brooklyn, N. Y., Newport, Provi- dence, R. I., Ridgefield. New Canaan. tution for women, the predecessor in New York of Vassar College for the higher education of women. She is highly esteemed as a woman and as an educator and the results she has ob- tained show that her methods have been most gratifying and successful. She has conducted her school in Nor- walk for nearly ten years. Previous to that she was in Darien. Conn. She has surrounded herself with competent as— sistants, all of whom are college grad— uates and most of whom have been with her for a long time. Among these are Miss Susan B. Root of Mt. Holyoke, Miss Margaret R. Breudlinger of Vassar and Miss H. Elizabeth Beard of Vassar. The school has three courses from which students are graduated—the col— lege preparatory, the general course and the musical course. The general course of study supplies instruction which is especially adapted to girls who do not desire to enter college. This includes literature, history, ethics, psy— chology. sciences and elective courses in modern languages and the classics. There are also five courses in music and art. The art department has been under the care of Mrs. G. Willis White for the past eight years and the work is on thoroughly artistic lines. Miss Alice A. Brake is the instructor in in— strumental music. She is a pupil of Edward Baxter Perry and Raphael Jo— seffy and has assisted at several of the noted concerts at the Waldorf—Astoria. The school is at Hillside, one of the most beautiful situations in Norwalk, not ten minutes’ walk from the busi- ness centre. The building is large and well adapted for school purposes, with have stated that boys from the Nor- walks and adjacent towns can secure tutorage here. It might also be added that pupils will be taken from a dis- tance, provider] they have accommoda- tions in the town, for the school is not a boarding school. DR. C. R. CHASMAR. Dentis , 60 Wall street, Norwalk. Among the skilled dentists of Norwalk, D.. C. R. Chasmar is certainly in the front rank. Although a young man his education and training have pecu- liarly fitted him for this profession. His parlors are located at 60 Wall street antl are commodious and Well arranged, supplied with all the latest improved machinery and implements necessary to do fine work. Extracting, filling, crown and bridge work are done in the best possible manner and with the least degree possible of inconven- ience or suffering to the patient. He makes a specialty of treating children’s teeth, a feature of the business which is most important and to which few dentists give the proper amount of study or attention. 'Dr. Chasmar is 'a graduate of the New York Dental Col- lege, which is an assurance that he is well qualified for his chosen profession. He established his business here in Oc- tober, 1897, from which time to the present it has steadily grown in public favor and patronage. Dr. Chasmar aims to please in every particular. He believes in the old maxim that “what is worth doing at all is worth doing well.” The same care and conscien— tious work is given to the simplest as well as to the most difficult operation. .“ , “.
Norwalk Chronicler