In the same year it was also recommended to the preparative meetings that each appoint a committee of their own to represent them and act with the committee of the monthly meeting in the concern of schools.[536] The intervening years, from 1783 to 1785, offer nothing beyond the usual general reports concerning the appointment of committees and the like. In 1785, the committee on schools produced this report:
Several schools reported; some according to demand of yearly meeting
We have lately had a conference on the subject, and do find that there are several schools in the compass of our monthly meeting, kept by Friends and under the care of this committee, and may inform that they are kept to a good degree of satisfaction, yet there are some that employ teachers, not members of our society, without the advice of the committee or the monthly meeting. We, likewise, agree to lay before the monthly meeting the reappointment of a committee for this service in future as the members of this committee have been long on the appointment and desire to be released, which we submit to the meeting. Signed—John Way (and five others).[537]
The answer to the fifth query of the same year likewise informs us that care has been taken in the education of the poor children, and Friends’ children “are generally placed among Friends.”[538]
New school committee appointed
The request for the appointment of a new committee on schools, made by the old committee, does not seem to have received consideration till 1788. In the meantime we must assume that the old committee continued to serve, since occasional reports were sent in. The men appointed on the new committee were: Jacob Greave, Samuel Nichols, Amos Harvey, Samuel Harlan, Moses Pennock, Robert Lambourn, Jr., Christopher Hollingsworth, John Way, and William Phillips, Jr.[539] In 1790 the monthly meeting ordered a special committee to recommend a deeper educational concern to the particular meetings.[540]
The desired results, in the shape of a more perfected organization and permanent foundation to be provided for schools, did not come until about 1792 and thereafter. In that year, the committee reported its past activity in respect to schools established, and made certain valuable suggestions to guide future action, as the following extract witnesses:
Ground purchased
Rules adopted for the school