Temporary schools
One school, held in a house adjoining the meeting house at Plymouth which hath for several years been continued under the care and direction of that preparative meeting. There are several temporary schools within the limits of our Monthly Meetings, chiefly made up of persons not of our society, and kept by masters of different professions, no funds provided for any of them, into which Friends in such neighborhood send their children, there is a subscription gone into within the compass of one of the preparative meetings towards building a schoolhouse on a lot of land given for that purpose—the raising of funds for the support of schools has been under care, but not much progress has yet been made therein. Signed in behalf of the committee by
Evan Jones,
John Wilson,
Isaac Weeks.
Education of poor and orphans
The care and education of the poor was an occasion for great concern among the Friends of Gwynedd. This means not only that their education was looked after but that in case father and mother married a second time, the meeting saw to it that the children’s (if any by the first marriage) rights should be regarded. The affairs of the children had to be settled before permission for marriage was fully and freely given.[485] They were not always satisfied with their dealing with such children, however. About 1756 they declared that the children are well taken care of physically but that there is too great a neglect in regard to their learning and apprenticeship among Friends.[486]
Their education neglected
Later they are able to report, no doubt with considerable satisfaction, that after due inspection, no Friends’ children are found placed from among Friends.[487] All cases of necessity in the concern of education were resolutely dealt with, even though, as shown in the following extract, the recipients of the assistance were rather unwilling.
Some unwilling to receive aid
The Gwynedd Friends acquaint this meeting that Robert Roberts, Jr., is in very low circumstances and not able to maintain his wife and children reputably and that they have not been able to prevail with him and his wife to bind their children out to lessen their expense, therefore, this meeting appoints John Davies and John Evans to advise them to comply with Friends’ direction, otherwise, this meeting must take further notice of them.[488]
For a slight insight into the condition of schools in the latter years of the eighteenth century, we can do no better than present a letter written by Joseph Foulke, which furnishes a personal touch not found elsewhere.