ABBOT,  GORHAM  DUMMER.  —  School-
man born  at  New  Brunswick,  Me.,  Sept.  3,
1807 ;  educated  in  private  schools  and  at
Bowdoin  College  and  Andover  Theological  Sem-
inary; teacher  in  the  academy  at  Castine,  Me.,
principal  of  the  academy  at  Amherst,  Mass.;
instructor  in  the  Mt.  Vernon  School  for  Girls;
director  of  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful
Knowledge  1836-1843;  principal  of  Spingler
Institute,  afterwards  Abbot  Collegiate  Institu-
tion, 1843-1871;  author  of  a  spelling  book,  and,
with  Joshua  Leavitt  (q.v.),  of  a  series  of  school
readers;   died  Aug.  3,  1874.  W.  S.  M.
ABBOTSHOLME.  —  A  school  opened  in
18S9  by  Dr.  Cecil  Reddie,  who  was  profoundly
impressed  by  the  limitations  of  the  English
Public  Schools  (q.v.)  and  undertook  "to  pro-
vide for  boys,  between  the  ages  of  about  ten
and  nineteen,  an  all-round  education  of  an
entirely  modern  and  rational  character,  based


upon  the  principles  of  educational  science,  and
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  English  cultured
classes,  which  should  direct  the  national  life."
It  is  this  appeal  to  the  needs  of  the  directing
class,  together  with  the  recognition  that  these
needs  include  some  phases  of  training  usually
left  to  the  lower  classes,  that  have  been  most
frequently  noted  by  critics.  Early  in  the  his-
tory of  the  school  Dr.  Reddie  came  under
Herbartian  influence,  and  reorganized  his  work,
which  had  leaned  toward  natural  science,  by
an  arrangement  of  humanistic  studies  in
stages,  grouping  what  seemed  to  be  appropri-
ate material  for  each  year  of  age  around  a  core
or  center.  Thus  one  year  was  predominantly
given  to  French  interests  and  materials,  an-
other to  German,  etc.  The  teachers  trained
by  association  with  Dr.  Reddie  have  been  con-
spicuous in  their  later  work  for  pedagogical
technique.
