A history of public education in Rhode Island, from 1636 to 1876 ... Comp. by authority of the Board of education, and ed. by Thomas B. Stockwell ...

188 PROVIDENCE.
More scholars now belong to the schools than at any time since their establishment, and their increase far exceeds the increase of population."
This year (1840,) the schools were deprived of another of their most
reliable friends, by the death of Hon. Samuel W. Bridgham, who
departed this life on the morning of I)ecember 29th. He was graduated
at Brown University in 1794, and in 1828 was elected chancellor. He
chose the law for his profession, was admitted to practice in 1796, and
at the time of his decease was the oldest member at the bar in Rhode
Island. He was for several years attorney general, and speaker of the
house of representatives. At the organization of the city government
of Providence in 1832, he was chosen mayor, to which office he was
annually re-elected for eight consecutive years. During the same period
he was president of the school committee. Through a long life he
maintained a character for integrity and probity which secured him the
confidence of all who knew him. The school committee, in a series of
resolutions lamenting his death, say:'That while we pay a passing
tribute to his exemplary virtues as a man, and to his tried fidelity as a
magistrate, we desire more especially to recognize the relation in which
he stood to the committee, and to express our sense of the impartiality
with which for many years he presided over its deliberations, and of the
cordial and efficient service which he rendered to the cause of public
education in this city." As a further mark of respect for his character
and services, the committee voted to attend his funeral in a body, and
ordered all the public schools of the city to be closed on that occasion.
The funeral took place on Thursday, December 31st, and was attended
by the city government, by the bar, and by a large number of citizens
desirous of testifying their respect for his memory.
The report of the school committee for 1841 is minute in its details.
Extracts from it are here copied, as showing the status of the schools
at the close of the official year:
"REPORT FOR 1841.
"In rendering the account of their proceedings for the past year, prescribed
by law, the school committee have great pleasure in being able to state to the
city government, that our improved system of public education, so far as it has
been carried into effect, has answered the just expectations of its friends, and
has strongly recommended itself to the public favor. The most satisfactory
evidence of this is a large and continual increase of pupils in the schools. The
pleasure which we take in making this communication is enhanced by the gratifying assurance, that a portion of this system, deemed of very great importance,