LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. PRESENTED BY UMTSD STATES OF AMEEIOA. SCHOOLS AND COMMUNISM, NATIONAL SCHOOLS, AND OTHER PAPERS. 1^'^,-k"" B. Gr. I^ORTHROP. [From Report of Connecticut State Board of Education for 1879.] NEW HAVEN: TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR, PRINTERS. 1879. H M "I CONTENTS. Page Schools aud Communism. - - - - - - - 5 Schools and Pauperism, ------- 9 National Schools, - - - - - - - - 14 Decennary of Free Schools, . - - -,• - - 19 Neglected Children, - - - - - - - - 24 French Views of American Schools, - - - - - 27 School Hygiene, -------- 48 Charles Morgan, - i - - - - - - -62 The Normal School, -------- 66 The Field Parks, ...--.- 71 Clinton Rural Improvement Association, - - - - - 79 SCHOOLS AND COMMUNISM. In 1868 a prominent plea against Free Schools was the argu- ment that "the system is communistic in its principle and ten- dency. Establish free schools and you encourage a demand for free food, free clothes, free shoes, and free homes.'' Professor Faucett, liberal, fair and progressive as he is, urged the same objection in Parliament, saying, during the discussion of the new "Elementary Education Act," which was passed in 1870, "If the demand for free schools were not resisted, encourage- ment would be given to Socialism in its most baneful form." Time tests all theories better than arguments. In Connecti- cut a decade of free schools has witnessed no new tendencies to Communism. The general intelligence of New England was one obvious cause of its exemption from the communistic rail- way conificts in the summer of 1877. The sober second thought prevailed here, while madness ruled the hour else- where. The last election in Connecticut showed plainly the popular dread of the socialistic tendencies and dogmas, which were repudiated by both the leading political parties. In Mas- sachusetts, where free schools have been maintained for more than two hundred years, there is as little Socialism as in any land in the world. Indeed, throughout New England, there is no tendency to Communism among the descendants of the gen- uine New England stock. The minimum that exists is limited to a small portion of the foreign element. Though curiosity attracted crowds to hear Dennis Kearney last autumn, it is due to free schools and the consequent intelligence of the people, that bis communistic tirades disgusted all classes and prompted the candidate who first sought his alliance to dis- own his dogmas and disfellowship him. I find among all classes, employers and employes, in the fac- tories and on the farms, a growing distrust, not to say detesta- tion, of Communism. The mad outcry of the Internationals, "Equality of conditions," "Capital is the enemy of labor," finds no response from the intelligent laborers of Connecticut. Thanks to our schools, they know tbat the condition of the 1 operative improves with the increase of industrial capital, which always befriends labor, when it multiplies the opportunities of education and profitable eniplojment. Nothing helps the laborer more than that education which gives him both the desire and the power to better his condition, to improve first himself and then his home and household. As a precaution against the communistic tendencies which now agitate and alarm Germany and other portions of Europe, and find here their fiercest advocates among the refugees thence escaped to our shores, the general principles underlying this subject should be studied by our teachers and presented in oral lessons in our schools. A few simple school talks on this theme might forestall much mischief in coming years. The intelligent workmen who by industry and economy are enabled to own their homes, however humble, or indeed to own any- thing, cannot be fooled by that insane crusade against capital, which really means wages without work, or which lets the lazy and profligate share equally with the industrious and frugal. The equality of conditions of which they dream, would be the low level of a common barbarism. Even enforced equality of wages lessens the motives to industry, skill and fidelity, and restrains the freedom of competition. Once applied, these notions would destroy not only capital but the motives and means of its future increase and protection. Destroy capital, and labor would suffer first and most. Capital and labor, there- fore, are not enemies. It is only ignorance and prejudice that find any necessary opposition between the two. There should be kindness and sympathy between the employer and the employed. There need be no alienation between the rich and the poor. There should be no tyranny of capital over labor, nor hostility of labor to capital. The capitalist should fully understand the trials of the laborer's lot, and strive to amelio- rate his condition, and the operative should know the risks, anxieties and conditions of success on the part of the manufac- ,turer. There should be liberal pay on the one side, and fair profits on the other. The interests of both classes are bound together. If either one is harmed, the other must ultimately suffer. Certainly the laborer cannot long suffer in health, edu- cation or pay, without harm to the employer, and large losses to employers inevitably extend to the operatives. They are copartners, and cannot afford to be antagonists. Capital is as dependent on labor as labor is on capital, and only as both work in harmony, can the highest good of each be secured. Indeed, labor is both superior and prior to capital, and alone originally produces capital. Many a penniless laborer, because well educated, frugal and industrious, has become an independ- ent capitalist. Our most successful manufacturers have toiled ■up from penury to affluence. This aspiration may stimulate every one who is educated enough to combine skill with labor. Communism is an exotic in this land. It does not easily take root in our soil, and the climate is uncongenial. Its chief advocates are homeless foreigners, even the immigrants long resident here have become so schooled by public sentiment and by our free institutions, as to be well nigh assimilated and Americanized. Schools and the diffusion of property are our safeguards against Socialistic extremes. John Adams well said, "The ownership of land is essential to industrial thrift and to national security and strength and prosperity." Switzerland, with insti- tutions as free as ours, is safe from Communism, for two rea- sons — the maintenance of free schools, and the general owner- ship of land. The Internationals may meet in free Switzer- land, and nobody is frightened or disturbed by their vagaries. Germany has education, but not an equal distribution of land. Her vast standing army, consuming without producing, with its enormous expenses and exactions, has created a great revul- sion of feeling among the people. The glory of conquest and the untold milliards of the French indemnity mainly expended on new fortifications and military equipments, do not atone for the mourning and bereavement brought to so many now deso- late homes, the heavy burden of taxation, the dread of con- scription, the fear of new complications and wars, and the inex- orable demand that every boy shall spend three weary years of service in the camp. Myriads of families with boys approach- ing the military age, have emigrated to other lands to escape this dreaded conscription. In France the home of Communism has always been in Paris. The horrors of the Commune in 1871 proved suicidal to the sys- tem. Even Paris learned then a lesson not likely to be forgotten. But the great body of the French people, even then, had little sympathy with communistic doctrines, and to-day the French nation, with her 5,000,000 of land-owners, is strongly the other way. Here lie her strength and security. To illustrate the happy influence of this wide diffusion of landed property, Michelet describes a French peasant walking out of a Sunday, in his clean linen and unsoiled blouse, surveying fondly his little farm. His face is illumined as he thinks these acres are his own, from the surface of the globe to its center, and that the air is his own from the surface up to the seventh heaven. He is there alone — not at work, not to keep off interlopers, but solely to enjoy the feeling of ownership, and to look upon him- self as a member of responsible society. Thus in all lands and among all peoples, " the magic of property turns sand into gold." In the United States there are nearly 3,000,000 farmers with farms, averaging 163 acres each, besides a large number who own their dwellings and house-lots. These form the grand army of the Kepublic — each a volunteer, equipped and ready to strike down Communism, wherever its hydra head may appear. Let even the Socialistic leaders, whom Bismarck has banished, once learn here to till their own acres, and they will be con- verted to the true faith — of the sacred rights of property. SCHOOLS AND PAUPEEISM. Teu years ago strenuous objections were made to free schools, as being a charity tending to pauperize the people, a kind of alms that no man could accept without impairing his manli- ness and self-respect. But they are now recognized as the peo- ple's schools by right, not favor, and prized as never before. Instead of being a charity, tending to demean and pauperize its recipients, all find themselves recognized as equal partners in the concern, having an equal voice in selecting the mana- gers, in raising the funds, or in criticising the methods adopted. Thus the school is no more a charity than is the free public road or bridge. Help in schooling is really help towards doing without help — towards self-reliance. In Europe, those who express the greatest apprehension that the independence of the working classes would be destroyed by free schools, evince little desire to develop that genuine independence which true education fosters. ' In lands where the insolence of office is proverbial, they make it a prominent lesson to every child to "order himself reverently and lowly to all his betters, and to submit to the humors of my Lords." The people whose '' inde- pendence" is so carefully guarded, are kept under various petty and vexatious restraints. Says Francis Adams, one of the most earnest advocates of free schools in Grreat Britain, " There is a large class in England, from whom we hear most about preserving the independence of the poor, who have always been opposed to measures intended to enlarge popular freedom. They find a personal gratification in the exercise of petty char- ity and the power to deal out to the working-classes little doles such as are provided for the remission and payment of school fees. Notwithstanding their homilies about parental independ- ence and responsibility, they possess the spirit of patronage so long fostered by the social conditions of the country, which has done much to keep so many of our people in a state of miserable dependence and subjection. When their system of alms-giving can be carried on at the public expense, their zest is no doubt greater and they will not willingly surrender any 10 power which still has force to pluck 'the slavish hat from the villager's head.' This class now stands in the way of the com- plete realization of the free school system in England." The vast pauperism of England, especially among the farm laborers, is largely due to the want of free schools. The facts and figures, both in regard to illiteracy and pauperism are appalling. The saddest sight to me in England strangely con- trasted with her glories and beauties many and great, of which every Englishman is justly proud, was the low and wretched condition of her illiterate masses. Lest any just statement from an alien may seem exaggerated, I will quote from those to the manor born, for these facts from the lips of Englishmen, prove the evils of ignorance, if not the value of universal edu- cation. Kev. Dr. J. H. Eiggs of London, who, in his zeal to prove our free schools a failure, quotes my description* of a few of our worst school-houses and poorest district schools, as if they were of general significance, and proclaims that ten weeks serves for the training of teachers in the Normal School of Connecticut, and that some of the schools of Maine are kept open but three or four weeks in the year, with kindred exag- gerations and caricatures, unworthy of reply, and who finds almost everything English superior to anything American, is compelled to say, "English pauperism is a problem and a por- tent which seldom makes a due impression on an Englishman. Its monstrous character and dimensions are so familiar to us that they seldom strike us as monstrous. This vast and com- plex evil, this ulcer in the body politic, in its character and extent in this country, is absolutely a unique fact, because there is nothing comparable with it in the world besides. The number of persons annually in receipt of pauper relief is upwards of a million. The annual cost of poor relief is £7,886,724 (nearly $40,000,000). Abjectness and reckless- ness form the main element of the pauper's home. His cot- tage may consist of three rooms — the common room filled with litter and discomfort, and two bed rooms for all the inmates, parents and children, lads and lasses and often a male lodger, so that neatness and decency are precluded. Too often the cottage is even worse, a wretched double cell, where penury * As found in several Reports of the Board of Education. 11 cowers, chastity can hardly survive, and female delicacy must be unknown, the house only a shelter, full of cumber and litter. Such are the homes of the majority of our English peasantry in the southern, western and south middle districts, and of many in most parts of England and in wide districts of Scot- land and Wales. Such is the condition of the pauperized peas- ants, not as poets have painted, England's glory, but her reproach." Rev. James Martiueau says : "The social discrep- ancies which disfigure and affect society have here assumed a monstrous and fearful character. Our country is a vast conge- ries of exaggerations. Enormous wealth and saddest poverty, sumptuous idleness and unrewarded toil, princely provision for learning and the most degrading ignorance, a large amount of laborious philanthropy but a larger of unconquered misery and gin terrify us with their dreadful contrasts of light and shade. It is appalling to think of the moral cost by which England has become materially great Where is the laborer by whose hand the soil has been tilled? In a cabin, with his children, where the domestic decencies cannot be. I know not which is the most heathenish, the guilty negligence of our lofty men, or the fearful degradation of the low." John Bright says : " Fearful suffering exists among the rural laborers in almost every part of this kingdom. What wretched, uncared for, untaught brutes, in helpless stolid ignorance, are the people who raise the crops on which we live, and what dirt, vice and misery in the houses where seven or eight persons of both sexes are penned up together in one rickety, foul, vermin- haunted bed-room — their wages reduced to the very lowest point at which their lives can be kept in them ! They are heart-broken, spirit-broken, despairing men — reduced to such brutality, recklessness, audacity of vice and extreme helpless- ness that they have no aspirations to better their condition. Accustomed to this from their youth, they can see nothing in the future which can afford them a single ray of hope. As the rural laborer looks longingly up the social ladder of ranks, the first six or eight steps are broken out, and there seems to him no chance to span the chasm." J. Scott Russell said ten years ago, " Something must be done, or our working classes will be grievously wronged and the 12 whole nation suffer. Poor England, standing by idle, is too late. Her workingmen, grown up uneducated, cannot now be educated, are too old to learn. They have lost a generation. Where was the fault? where the blame? Why did not our statesmen and aristocracy, already provided with special uni- versities and schools for their own training, foresee that our trade was going away to more skilled nations, and warn us in time? The contrast between England, and Switzerland is this; England spends more than five times as much on pauperism and crime as she does on education, and Switzerland spends seven times as much on education as she does on pauperism and crime." It was in view of startling facts and statements like these from her own countrymen that England organized in 1870 an efficient system of public education. It is a striking fact that the latest statistics show a great diminution of both pauperism and crime. Instead of a million of paupers in 1870, the num- ber returned January, 1878, was 726,000.* The cost of juvenile crime and pauperism has been remarkably reduced. The London Police Commissioners testify to a great diminution of juvenile offences and affirm that every gang of juvenile thieves known to them has been broken up. Even the adult popula- tion has been reached and elevated in some degree through their children. New hope and ambition have come to many an illiterate farm laborer, himself born to despair, by reason of ignorance born to helplessness and hopelessness, as he finds, though a thing unknown and undreamed of before, his children at school, and hence sees dawning upon them better prospects and possibilities than ever fell to his hard lot. The hopes cher- ished for children have thus cheered many a humble cottage. In striking contrast to the depressed condition of the farm laborer in his own land it is interesting to see the picture of the New England farmer drawn by Eev. Dr. E. W. Dale, of Birmingham, in an address at Canonbury, England, January 17, 1879. When traveling in this country, he frequently ex- pressed his surprise and admiration in view of the intelligence and independence of the farmers of New England. * The unprecedented financial embarrassments now experienced in England will no doubt swell the next returns. 13 After remarking tbat for a century and a half the Puritan colonists had been left practically undisturbed by any foreign element, Mr. Dale proceeded to speak of the type of character which had been developed in New England and of the present social condition of the people. " From the 21,000 persons who, after five generations, were found in those States, descendants numbering at least four millions might be reckoned. At the present moment no population on the face of the earth enjoyed equal prosperity. Wealth was more equally distributed than in any other community ; and the real and personal estate, liable to assessment, now averaged nearly £240 per head for the inhab- itants, or XI, 150 for each family, reckoning the family at fi^ve persons. The New England farmer had from the first adopted the belief that the ivay to fight the devil was by the school and the church., and that belief had been thoroughly and consistently acted upon. The influence of this vigorous race upon the United States, as a whole, had been immense. It was they who had been the great pioneers in the development of the resources of the country. It was they, chiefly, who had built Chicago, and who rebuilt it, after it had been destroyed by fire, with a quickness and splendor which rivalled the achievements described in the pages of romance. Prom the farm houses of New England had sprung many of America's noblest orators, most learned theologians, and greatest statesmen and philan- thropists, and in the future the same people would contribute largely to the stability and greatness of their country. The history of these colonies, as contrasted with the history of other colonies, was an illustration of the true path of national great- ness." This remarkable contrast between the farm laborers of En- gland and New England as described by English writers furnishes a demonstration of the economy and value of the school system so long neglected there and maintained here. The earnest appeals of Joseph Arch, John Bright, Dr. Dale and others in behalf of the farm laborers of England, have awakened general sympathy, advanced their wages, and amel- iorated their condition. NATIONAL SCHOOLS. " Americans have no National System of Education," is the slur one often hears in Europe, To this criticism, my ready answer was, we need none and are fully determined to liave none. The maintenance and control of schools has never been the aim of our National Grovernment. Our local independence and repugnance to federal interfer- ence and our complete State sovereignty in educational mat- ters, is an enigma to Europeans, being in marked contrast to their traditions and usages. In England, for example, the School Board of any town or city may not select a site, build a school house, or prescribe the amount of a school fee without the sanction of the National Educational Department. But the complete decentralization of the American school system, though a point of weakness in European eyes, is, in fact, a prime source of its strength. The fact that our Schools are wholly in the hands of the people, supported by the funds they raise, controlled by officers chosen by them and responsi- ble to them, is a leading element of their prosperity. Though certain bills lately introduced into Congress indicate that a few would welcome European centralization and control, the general public sentiment of the country has so long been growing in favor of the unfettered working of State systems, that this has now become our settled policy, which no lobby in Washington can change if it would, and should not if it could. If a strong central government be essential for an ignorant nation, an intelligent people can govern themselves. In Amer- ica, the success of schools in each Slate will depend upon the intelligence and consequent appreciation of its people. One of the worst legacies left by slavery is that of ignorance, and con- sequent indifference to schools, or rather of insensibility to the evils of illiteracy or to the advantages of education. Shall the admitted school destitution of the South, or of some new Western States, be promptly removed by federal agency, or more gradually supplanted by developing a proper local public sentiment. In the past, states and nations have been slow in 15 learning the lesson that alike to individuals and peoples, igno- rance means waste and weakness, if not pauperism and crime, and that education tends to economy, thrift and virtue. But there is a great acceleration in the working of moral and intellectual forces so that now in a decade, sometimes in a single year, are accomplished broader results than formerly in a century. The day for coercion and dictation is passing. The growing assimilation and power of public sentiment is felt the world over. It has broken down the walls of China, the isola- tion of Japan, the serfdom of Eussia, the slavery of America, and is now rapidly relaxing the grasp of tyranny even in that center of oriental despotism, Turkey. But nowhere else is public sentiment so supreme in its influence as in America, and never before has that sentiment been so strong in favor of the support of free public schools as to-day. A striking illustration, both of the difference and power of public sentiment, was furnished more than a century ago by the replies sent by two American colonies to .questions put by the English Commissioners for Foreign Plantations. The Gov- ernor of Virginia replied, " 1 thank Grod we have no free schools or printing presses, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years." The Governor of Connecticut answered, " One-fourth the annual revenues of the Colony is laid out in maintaining free schools for the education of our children." Accordingly, till after the late civil war, Virginia had no gen- eral public school system. Thomas Jefferson jjrepared with his own hand a bill for a free school system, of which he said, " By this bill, the people will be qualified to understand their rights and to maintain them, and to exercise with intelligence their parts in self-government. Provided for all children alike, rich and poor, the expenses of these schools will be borne by the inhabitants of each county, in proportion to their general tax-rates, and all this will be effected without the violation of a single natural right of any individual citizen." Jefferson caused the words, " Founder of the University" to be inscribed on his tombstone, but he placed a far higher esti- mate on free schools than on "superior education." Though defeated in this cherished plan, he defended it to the last, and said shortly before his death, " Were it necessary to give up 16 either the Primaries, or the University, I would rather abandon the last, because it is safer to have a whole people respectably enlightened, than a few in a high state of science, and the many in ignorance. The advantages of popular education are above all estimate. The objects should be to give every citi- zen the information he needs for the transaction of his own business, enabling him to calculate for himself and express and preserve his ideas, his contracts and accounts in writing ; to improve by reading, his morals and his faculties ; to under- stand his duties to his neighbor and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either ; to know his rights and exercise with order and justice those he retains ; to choose with discretion the fiduciary of those he delegates, and to notice their conduct with diligence, candor and judgment, and, in general, to observe with intelligence and faithfulness all his social relations. All the States but our own are sensible that knowledge is power. We are sinking into the barbarism of our Indian aborigines, and expect, like them, to oppose by ignorance the overwhelming mass of light and science by which we shall be surrounded. Surely Governor Clinton's display of the gigantic efforts of New York in education, will stimulate the pride as well as the patriotism of our Legislature to look to the reputation and safety of their own State, to res- cue it from the degradation of becoming the Barbary of the Union and of falling into the ranks of our own negroes. To that condition it is fast sinking." How different would have been the history of Virginia had she heeded the wise counsel of this, her most eminent and far-seeing statesman? To the lasting harm of that State a different sentiment prevailed, so that as late as I860, a leading Virginia paper said, " We have got to hating everything with the prefix y?-ee, from free negroes down and up through the whole catalogue, free farms, free labor, free society, free will, free thinking, free children and FKEE SCHOOLS — all belonging to the same brood of damnable sins. But the worst of all these abominations is the modern system of free schools. The New England system of free schools has been the prolific source of the infidelities and trea- sons that have turned her cities into Sodoms and Gomorrahs, and her land into the common nestling place of howling Bed- 17 lamites. We abominate the system, because the schools are free." The long neglect of public schools so manifestly checked the growth and prosperity of the Old Dominion, notwith- standing her vast natural resources, and created so marked a contrast between her and other States far less favored in all the elements of material prosperity, that the logic of events has at last swept away these objections and converted old opponents to friends and supporters of free schools. At length Virginia rejoices in a free public school system. The progress of her public schools since the war is remarkable, accomplished in the face of prejudice, ignorance, and great financial embarrass- ments, for Yirginia had her full share in the loss of over " three thousand millions of dollars sunk by the Southern States by the war," an amount larger than all the property of New England. To the question, How can schools be organized for the Southern States, without Federal aid or interference? the answer is, Look at Virginia, especially the schools of Richmond, Petersburg, Lynchburg, Staunton and Norfolk, Public sentiment there has been revolutionized. The common schools are growing in favor. Prejudice, opposition and penu- riousness of course still exist, but are evidently waning. I in- spected most of the schools of Richmond with as much delight as surprise, alike in view of the interest of the pupils, the cul- ture of the teachers and the excellence of the schools. Private schools have greatly diminished and the children of the rich generally attend the public schools. Considered as the growth of eight years, the Virginia system is a most gratifying work. In the light of such facts, and in view of the rapid working of intellectual forces in this age and country, and the growing power of public sentiment, shall the most illiterate portions of our land be reached by National Schools supported by National aid and in any way controlled by a National De- partment? Shall the National Bureau of Education become a Federal Department, enlarged and authorized to organize and maintain a National University — or, with still greater expan- sion, empowered to establish schools and distribute the income from the sale of public lands, whether in proportion to existing illiteracy, school attendance, or the length and grade of the schools maintained ? IS Hitherto the National Bureau of Education has been simply advisory. It has, and it was intended to have, no authority. As an agency for collecting and disseminating needful informa- tion, it has already done great good, and promises to be still more useful in the future. But the attempt to organize a National University, support and direct local schools, or in any way interfere with State systems, would end its useful- ness, if not end itself. Every true friend of this Bureau should protest against any such " enlargement of the field of its operations." The principle of State independence is too firmly fixed in the faith of all classes to brook any federal interference in school matters, even in the States or Terri- tories most destitute and backward in education. In an ill- conditioned community like that in New Mexico for example, still Mexican in their traditions, sentiments and peoples, juxta- posed, but not blended with the heterogeneous elements of a swarming immigration from all parts of the country, not to say of the world, American ideas and institutions are yet in their rudimentary forms and earlier stages of development. Shall a Federal Bureau, at once in European style, enforce there its best plans of public schools, or leave them by a slower, surer, and more healthful process, to work ont their own salvation ? As the schools of every community answer to local public opin- ion, their success must depend on the sympathy and apprecia- tion of the people. Public sentiment is a growth, not the creature of power made to order of any sort or size, as some have talked of " liat money." DECENNAEY OF FEEE SCHOOLS. The free school system of Connecticut has now had a trial of ten years and is no longer an experiment. This " new law " was so radical in its character as to meet general opposi- tion when first proposed in 1867. During the next year there was so great a change in public sentiment that it was enacted with great unanimity by the General Assembly of 1868. The struggle which this system had to wage for its existence is over, for it has been amply ratified by the people. The gauge of public interest is the increased burden of taxation which the people of Connecticut have chosen to bear, for school taxes are self-imposed. The amount raised by taxa- tion for schools ten years ago was $628,152.12. The amount raised by State, town and district taxation last year was $1,252,248.63, or about double the amount reported in 1868. The enemies of free schools have either been converted or learned the futility of open opposition. Dissentients are still found whose sympathy is needed to give the highest efficiency to the system. As the condition of the schools in each dis- trict answers largely to local public sentiment, the cooperation of every parent and citizen is essential to the fullest success. A brief review of the history and results of the free school system furnishes encouragement to its friends, and presents facts fitted to satisfy the minds of all honest doubters. Con- vinced that the rate-bill was wrong in principle and harmful in practice I directed my earliest efforts, on entering the service of the State, to secure its repeal. During the session of the Legislature for 1867, the Joint Standing Committee on Edu- cation finally consented to recommend a bill for free schools, though with little faith in the measure and no expectation of carrying it. As the bill met no favor in either House, out of courtesy to its author, it was referred to the next General Assembly. During the next year the subject was fully dis- cussed in numerous meetings in all parts of the State, the Secretary giving two hundred and six lectures on this and kindred topics. 20 Many sincere friends of education, deprecating these efforts, gave faithful warning as to their certain failure. The subject was freely discussed also in the press, and brought very promi- nently before the people. The sentiment was widely pro- claimed that it is the duty and interest of the State to furnish substantially equal common school privileges to the children of all classes. Self-protection was claimed to be the right of the government. For this purpose it maintains armies and navies. But safer and better every way than forts and fleets, indispensable as they may be, better for its peace and securitj^, its prosperity and protection, is universal education. Comparatively few now press the objection which was widely urged ten years ago, viz: "It is unjust to tax me for the education of other people's children. I have none. Let those who have, pay the cost of their schooling." This objec- tion is founded on a false theory of government. The State justly claims a right to its citizens for its defense, a right to lay its equal and needful claim on their property, time and service. For the achievement of our independence, and more recently for the preservation of our institutions, how many were called to endure toil, hardship and death. This claim of the State involves the correlative truth that the State has duties as well as rights, and foremost among them is the duty of secur- ing a good common school education to the children of all classes. The right of a State to support free schools is little else than its right to defend itself by a humanizing and civilizing edu- cation against what otherwise would become a degraded and dangerous class in society. The right of a free State to self- existence implies the right to maintain free schools, essential as they are to its preservation and prosperity. Education is the cheapest police agency a State can employ. In a wisely admin- istered government, educational taxes are the fares which we pay on railroad cars, the price for being safely carried and well provided for, through the journey of life. These taxes are founded primarily not on the idea of benefiting parents and children, but the broader view, that the State has a proprietary interest in all persons and property within its bounds and espe- cially has a stake in her youth that they may be well qualified 21 for her service, whether that shall be on the farm, in the fac- tory, in the counting room or in the field of arms. It was really the better education of the North that saved the Union, during the late civil war, as it was the ignorance of the " poor white trash" making them the dupes of demagogues that rendered the rebellion possible in the South. In 1868 Governor English exerted his influence strongly in favor of free schools. In his annual message to the Legisla- lature he said : " The rate-bill should be abolished and the schools sustained at the common expense." In his parting address to the General Assembly of that year he said : " The measures which you have adopted to promote the interests of the people will meet with a generous approval at their hands. Especially will they thank you for the interest you have taken in the common schools. In adopting the free school system recommended in my annual message, I am confident you have taken an important step forward in the cause of edu- cation, and that your action in this regard will prove as bene- ficial in results as the motives which prompted it were free from political influence or bias." As Governor English intimates, this new law was not in any wise a party measure. That a measure so radical should pass unanimously in the Senate and with only four nays in the House was more than its most sanguine friends expected. The press of the State was a unit in its favor. The leading men of both parties were its advocates. It is fortunate that on educa- tional questions, men of all parties and all religious denomina- tions meet on common ground and cordially cooperate for the common good. The platforms and creeds, which divide men outside, should never enter the common school — common be- cause open to all, free to all ; where no class distinctions are recognized and no favoritism is shown. The law has received an emphatic ratification from the peo- ple. Two years later, when its influence in increasing taxa- tion had been fully felt, an earnest effort was made in the Legislature for its repeal, which signally failed. Opposition and discussion helped this measure, as they always do any other which can bear close scrutiny and stand the test of ex- perience. When the proof was placed before the people that 2 22 thousands of children had been barred from school by the rate- bill, it was generally admitted that the results already attained proved the wisdom and necessity of the free system. The Democratic State Convention, held in Hartford, January 17, 1871, unanimously adopted the following comprehensive resolution : ^'Resolved, That the source of power being in the people, Free Schools and general education are essential to good government and the perpetuation of free Institutions." The Eepublican State Convention, held in New Haven one week later, adopted a resolution equally strong in favor of free schools. Since that date, no opposition to the measure has been made or intimated in the Legislature. The subject of free schools was ably discussed by School Visitors in their Reports to their several towns. To give a single illustration of the strong and practical way this subject was brought home to the people in local reports in 1873, the able Report for Litch- field, written by Grovernor Andrews, then Secretary of the Board of School Visitors, said : " The argument in favor of free schools is short and decisive. Every person recognizes the duty of society to protect the lives of children. Our law protects the lives even of children unborn, for the reason that it is for the benefit of society that children should be born and reared. If, then, society may for its own benefit preserve the mere animal existence of a child, the obligation irresistibly follows that society must see to it that the life so preserved shall develop into a useful, intelligent and moral citizen, and not into a ruffian and a curse. The logic is impregnable ; society should either destroy all children, or guide, protect and train them up to careful citizenship. Establish infanticide, or some system of free instruction. But the time for argument on the abstract question of free schools in our State is passed. As good citizens, we ought to use every efibrt that the system so inaugurated shall be successful." In 1868, a leading objection to the system was its alleged tendency to lessen the interest and responsibility of parents. The natural argument was that men never value what costs them nothing. But the fact is, parents do pay, and all pay their fair and equal portion for the support of this central, 23 public interest. The poor man who only pays a poll tax gives his share as truly as does the millionaire. The system has manifestly dignified the school in the esteem of both pa- rents and pupils, and quickened the educational spirit of the whole people. Every tax-payer, having contributed his part to the support of the schools, feels that he has a right to look after his investment. The details of our public schools are better known to parents than are the plans of private schools to their patrons. As a result of free schools, the great majority of the town reports concur in saying: "There has been a de- cided advance in the number at school, in regularity of attend- ance, and in the manifest interest of the people." More than ever it is felt that the schools belong to the people. In patron- izing them the poorest parent is proudly conscious he has no leave to ask, no patron to conciliate, and no alms to beg. Every body pays something and feels that it is a good investment, and one which justly entitles him to its advantages. In the past ten years the increase in enumeration has been 14,757, while the increase in the number registered in public schools has been 20,438. The number in private schools was first reported nine years ago, and the increase in that time has been 1,526. If it be assumed that the number ten years since was the same as nine years ago, — which is very nearly correct, — then the increase in attendance in both public and private schools in the last ten years is 21,964, which exceeds the increase in enumeration by 7,207. . NEGLECTED CHILDREN. This subject continues to claim attention. . As the trend of the tide is here against us, to stem it requires constant watch- fulness. Without effort, a backset would cover ground well nigh reclaimed. For, however well done, this is a work like that of a physician, that never stays done. Old cures will not stop the breaking out of new cases. In dealing with negligent parents our main reliance has still been kindness and persua- sion, appeals to their parental love and pride, their sense of duty and their personal interest in view of the great importance of education to their children, and the rich privileges freely proffered them in the public schools. The same arguments have often reached the children, and thus they have gained a higher appreciation of the influence of the school upon their happiness, thrift and prosperity through life. Teachers as well as school officers may greatly help in this good work. It is the teachers duty, or rather his privilege, to visit the parents of truant or neglected children, learn the causes of delinquency and secure parental cooperation. As I have urged this duty, a few teachers have asked substantially — " Is that in the bond," "what does the law demand?" as if the one ruling thought was — what is the minimum work I must do ; but fortunately there are but few teachers whose theory and practice limit their duties and sympathies to the school house and school hours. On the other hand, a large proportion of our teachers, bent on doing the utmost good to their pupils, inquire into causes of absence from school, visit pupils in sickness, and thus often win the confidence and cooperation of parents otherwise captious or indifferent. Among the causes of absenteeism is the want of proper clothing. In these hard times, while many willing hands are unable to find employment, this plea is by no means limited to the huts or haunts of indolence, intemperence and profligacy. Where parents are really too poor to provide comfortable clothing, the pressing needs of their children should enlist the sympathies of the benevolent. Here true charity may do as 25 truly Christian work as by any gifts for missions in pagan lands. That charity which really begins at home is at once most comprehensive and diffusive. Poor children have often been thus provided that they might attend the Sabbath school, and this effort is worthy of all praise, but even for morality and piety, thirty hours a week in the public school is worth far more than one hour in the Sabbath school. In some towns the Selectmen have met this exigency. While great caution should be used not to encourage indolence and improvidence, there are cases of destitution where town aid may be used as wisely to prevent starving the mind as famishing the body. The fact that nearly ninety-five per cent, of our children are reported as in schools of all kinds, shows that the law for the prevention of illiteracy has worked beneficently and opened to hundreds the door of the school house otherwise closed to them forever. The influx of the foreign element suggests the lead- ing cause of absenteeism. Those who need the most watching are of alien parentage, as yet novices in the English language, speaking chiefly a foreign tongue. There is also a large class of native children, whose parents, being illiterate immigrants, do not yet appreciate the advantages of education. But four parents have been prosecuted and fined during the year. Instead of brandishing the penalties of the law, we have kept them in the background, and urged mainly the great advantages of education. These persuasions are, however, sometimes enforced by the delicate hint that we desire to avoid the painful duty of prosecution which must follow any and every case of willful and open defiance of the law, As will be seen by the following report, the prosecution of the employer and three parents in one town, resulted in promptly bringing seventy children to school. It was a very gratifying fact that the superintendent of one of the largest factories in the State, after being prosecuted for the employment of children who had not received the required schooling, and being bound over to the Superior Court, should have the manliness to write to the Agent of the Board : " The legal measures you took were right and proper, as you used every other means in your power, and the law as the last resort. From this time, you may be assured, I shall use my 26 best efforts to comply with the law — and without the law, I think the parents would have defeated me in getting their children to school, but they now find that they are liable as well as myself, and I shall have their cooperation in bringing about the desired result. I shall be pleased to see you at any time, and have your advice and suggestions in regard to educating the children." The sincerity of this declaration was evinced by the order promptly given to the overseers, " enforce the law for the schooling of children, even if its observance should stop the mill." If this superintendent was the greatest sinner, he now bids fair to be the best saint in our " canon" of employers of children. Whatever may be true in monarchical governments, in our country there is every motive to kindness and conciliation in the execution of this law. Our plan is truly democratic, for its entire management is by the people and for the people, through school officers chosen by the people and responsible to the people, and hence commands popular sympathy. It is not pressed upon the people by some higher power, but is their own work, embodying their judgment and preferences. The old form of compulsory education which existed in Connecticut for more than a hundred and fifty years was not forced upon the people as "subjects." It was rather a living organism, of which they as "sovereigns" proudly claimed the paternity, growing up with their growth and recognized as the source of their strength and prosperity. After the utmost use of kind- ness, tact, and persuasion, and every effort to awaken a dor- mant parental pride, and showing that education will promote their children's thrift and happiness through life, we find that such persuasions are the more effective when it is understood that the sanctions of the law might be employed. We have used the right to enforce mainly as an argument to persuade. As thus used, we know in Connecticut that our law has been a moral force. It is itself an effective advocate of education to the very class who need it most. It has already accomplished great good and brought into the schools many children who would otherwise have been absentees. FEENCH VIEWS OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS. In 1876, the French Government appointed F. Buisson with six assistants, to examine and report upon the A merican school system. The Commissioners were all educational experts, con- nected with the Department of Public Instruction. They made a careful inspection of the school exhibits at our Cen- tennial Exposition, and visited schools in various states from Massachusetts to Missouri. Repeated interviews with Monsieur Buisson led me to expect a most valuable Report from an observer of such culture, breadth and judgment, aided as he was by such eminent associates. This expectation has been amply met. Professor Swinton, who has translated a sum- mary of this Report, fitly says : " We owe to a Frenchman the best statement of the philosophy of American politics. And now we shall have to credit to another Frenchman the best statement of the philosophy of American education. If this Report has not the monumental character of De Tocque- ville's Democracy, it is by far the most comprehensive and the most valuable analysis thus far made of public instruction in the United States. It is our whole free school system, its organization, working, methods and results, set forth in its glories and in its faults, in its strength and in its weakness, by a critic as sympathetic as he is acute. By those who personally met the Commissioners, the Report of what they saw and what they thought of what they saw, has been awaited with lively interest. Well, we have at last after two years the Compte rendu of their mission embodied in a great octavo of some 700 pages, published in Paris under the auspices of the French Ministry of Public Instruction. The mere outlay that must have attended the mission and the publication of so costly a volume, enriched with plates, plans, etc., is a marked compli- ment to American education." In condensing the following statements so as to read freely, I have modified the language of the writer for the sake of brev- ity. If the rhetoric has suffered, the thought is retained. A republican government needs the whole power of educa- tion, said Montesquieu. This sentiment never found a. fitter 28 illustration than in the United States. If any people ever used this " power of education," or united its destinies to the develop- ment of its schools, or made public instruction the supreme guarantee of its liberties, the condition of its prosperity, the safeguard of its institutions, that is most assuredly the people of the United States. This role assigned to the school in social life has long been the most characteristic feature which foreign- ers have observed in American customs. This solicitude for the education of youth grows with the growth of the country, enters more and more into public opinion, and is incorporated in more decisive acts. What in the beginning might seem a burst of enthusiasm has gradually assumed the force of a pro- found conviction. No longer the work of philanthropists, or of religious societies, it has become a public service for which states, cities and towns include in their ordinary taxes sums which no country in the world had hitherto thought of conse- crating to education. So far from restricting itself to ele- mentary education, this generosity extends so as to provide free institutions of superior secondary instruction. Public opinion approves, nay, enacts these sacrifices, so clear has it become to all eyes that the future of the American people will be what its schools make it. Many causes conspire to give the American school this unique importance. At first it was the influence of the Pro- testant element. The early settlers of New England knew of no grander duty, or more precious privilege than reading the Bible. Holding ignorance to be barbarism, they early enacted that each town shall have a school and that each family shall instruct its children. In proportion as their government be- came democratic, that which at first was only a religious duty became also a political necessity. Where everything depends on the will of the people, that will must be enlightened, at "the risk of utter ruin. Education, useful elsewhere, is here essential. Universal suffrage means universal education or demagogy. This country is peopled by the constant immigration of men of every race, class, and religion, who have little in common but the desire to better their condition. The mixed and ignor- ant crowds who form the bulk of this immigration tend to 29 group themselves according to their nationality. Hence they need to be Americanized as soon as possible. The Irish, Ger- man, French, Scandinavians and Spaniards must not desire to constitute themselves a nation in the nation, but these immi- grants must themselves be the American nation and make their boast of it. What is the instrument of this marvellous trans- formation ? What institution has so infused the American blood into these thousands of colonists, who have hardly had time to forget Europe ? It is the public school, and its useful- ness in this direction alone justifies its cost. Suppose that instead of these public institutions, the new itamigrants could find only private schools, all would be changed. Bach would follow his own ideas and customs, each group would constitute itself apart, perpetuating its language, traditions, creed, its ancient national spirit and also its own prejudices. Instead of accustoming the child to a healthful contact with conflicting opinions, the school would be a confessional, the distinction of rich and poor, of the child that pays and the charity pupil would perpetuate and pronounce itself. It is a capital fact for America, thanks to daily contact in the public schools, that the antipathy of the white to the colored child has begun to yield. And the United States without this fusion of raceSj without unity of language, without the equality of social classes, without the mutual tolerance of all the sects, above all, -without the ardent love of their new country and its institu- tions, would that be the United States at all ? All that this country has become and is now, is literally due to the public school. In proportion as a nation advances, the dangers which the school is to avert go on increasing. For this reason they redouble their efforts and liberality for schools. As the native population does not increase as fast as the foreign or mixed population, the time may come when the American element, the native Yankee^ will be in the minority. Hence the United States omit no measure fitted to imbue the new population with the American spirit and so assimilate them that they shall seize and make the national traditions their own. The Profession of Teaching in the United States. — ^In France a person enters the career of teaching with the view of creating 30 for himself a stable and permanent position. Those who abandon it before obtaining their retiring pension form the exception. The young beginner expects to live and die a teacher, and as each year adds to his previous experience, the time comes when, possessed of adequate theoretical and prac- tical knowledge, he is able to discipline his class methodically and successfully. Not at all thus is it in the United States. The profession of teacher seems to be a sort of intermediate stage in one's career — a stage at which the young woman awaits an establishment suited to her tastes, and the young man a more lucrative posi- tion. For many young people, this transitory profession simply furnishes the means of continuing their studies. Few male teachers remain more than five years in the service ; and, if the lady teachers show a longer term, it is not to be forgotten that marriage is usually the end of their desires, and that, once married, they almost always resign their positions. It has thus come to pass, by the mere force of circumstances, that the school authorities have been led not only to establish various regulations for the application of school laws, but also to lay down detailed courses of study containing the subjects to be taught in each kind of school, in each class, often in each division, and this for each term, if not for each month in the 3^ear. The time-tables in schools that are at all regularly attended are fixed in advance, the text-books are chosen by the school board ; and finally, school manuals, often of great value, are furnished as a vade mecum^ from which teachers may derive information as to methods and the various details of daily work. Time-Tables. — A class in an American public school, even in the cities, comprises at least three divisions or sections, and in some classes with not more than forty-five pupils, five sections are found. But while in France it is a principle not to go beyond three divisions, and to bring these together as frequently as possible in collective lessons, such as reading, writing, history, geography, object lessons, and dictation — whereby these exer- cises receive the amount of time required for some degree of fullness in the development of the subject, — the American system rarely admits a combination of this kind. Each divi- 81 sion has its own separate lessons in the different branches, with an occasional exception in the case of oral spelling and object lessons. Thus in a session of two and one-half hours of actual work, we have counted in the primary schools and in the country schools as many as fourteen distinct exercises — a number reduced to seven in the grammar schools; but there is always one-half at least of the pupils that remain unem- ployed, while the others receive their lessons or go through their "recitation," as it is called in the United States. This everlasting coming and going of study and of recitation gives rise to a perpetual movement in the class-room. Moreover, as monitors are never employed, it comes to pass that a very limited period of time can be given to the lessons, and even this time is diminished by the frequent changes of place, for generally, in recitation, the pupils leave their seats and arrange themselves standing, along the class-room wall, and then return to their seats during the fifteen minutes or half hour of "study," their place in the meantime being taken by others. In many a time-table we have seen lessons in reading, arithmetic and history reduced to ten and even to five minutes, and, in like manner, general lessons in botany and physiology cut down to five minutes in the first grade of a grammar school. What is to be expected from such a procedure? It is in vain that the best arranged programmes are put into the hands of teachers, or that the most valuable pedagogic directions are laid down for their guidance — their intelligence and their devo- tion must both be foiled by the vices of such a system. The time-tables — rarer, by the way, than any other docu- ments — appear to us the weak part in the organization of American schools. There is nothing to indicate that most important matter, to wit, the work of those divisions which the teacher has not immediately in hand. The pupils are "studying," they told us, but what are they studying? Undi- rected and unwatched, we have our fears as to this "studying." Of course, there must be a great abuse of copying work, that mechanical task so justly proscribed in France; and worse still, it cannot be possible, owing to the lack of time, to develop the reasoning and observing powers of the children. Instruc- 82 tion, reduced as it is, per force, to dry recitations or mechanical exercises, is barren in the lower grades, where this evil is the worst, while in the higher grades it cannot but be fettered, and must produce results below what might be expected from so choice a body of teachers, and so excellent an organization. School Manuals. — Every one of the various courses of study that we examined has joined to it, by way of complement, pedagogic directions for the use of teachers. Prepared, as these are, by competent persons, they bring the attention of teachers to the carrying out of the courses of study, the mode of conducting recitations and the nature and aim of practical exercises; in a word, they give the school system a unity tbat secures the regular progress of instruction, while it renders inspection more effective. Country Scliools. — Owing to the representations of certain enthusiastic travelers, a most lovely idea of the American rural school-house is common in France : it is pictured as a nest among flowers. Thither resort, each morning, on prancing ponies, red-cheeked lassies and lads, grave and proud and respectful to their young mates as our cavaliers of the good old times. The mistress — herself young — smilingly receives them at the entrance, o'ershadowed by great trees. How remote is the reality from this picture, this charming exception to a state of things still in its rude beginnings ! We traversed the vast plains where the husbandman struggles against an unconquerable vegetation, and the still half-wild valleys in the regions of iron, coal and oil, — and it was not our lot to find any such school idyl. In the country, stone or brick school-houses form the excep- tion ; frame buildings, so cold in winter and so scorching in summer, are much more numerous, and the log-house has not yet disappeared. In the most flourishing States, what com- plaints are made against defective school accommodations ! Let it not be said that, in describing the rural schools of the United States, we have sought out exceptional cases ; we have tried our best to do justice to that great country, but we cannot conceal the fact that in the rural districts the school-houses are poor affairs and poorly equipped. Thus in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, out of twenty-two teachers' reports, fourteen 33 stated that the class-rooms were absolutely destitute of every- thing in the way of means for visual instruction, that is, there were neither maps nor blackboards ; two schools had one map each ; one school possessed an old globe ; other schools no blackboards and no reading books ; a single school was fur- nished with suitable apparatus. The Courses of Study in Ungraded Schools are still in the tenta- tive period, not to say in a state of chaos. Some are too suc- cinct and barely outlined ; others reflect the personal predilec- tions of the teacher and show that ingenuous pedantry so often found associated with total inexperience. Sometimes a good deal less than the required course is done ; sometimes it is greatly exceeded ; such studies as history, music, composition, drawing and book-keeping being taken up, and in some cases algebra, physiology, geology, natural philosophy, and rhetoric even. The worst evil from which rural schools suffer is irregularity of attendance. Teachers and superintendents bitterly complain. of this. As a partial remedy, and as a means of allowing chil- dren to attend school without wholly depriving parents of their help, some States have lately established a number of " half- time" classes, in which attendance is reduced to a single session per day. This measure has everywhere been followed by good results, and it would perhaps be advantageous to introduce it into our French system, for the summer term at least, and in the case of the older pupils. The Country School-houses are still in many instances built of wood, as are many of the finest dwellings, but they are frame buildings well put together, painted, and conveniently lighted. More frequently the constructions are of pressed brick with stone trimmings and slate roofs. You have only to see these coquettish school-houses, in the midst of vast lawns, shaded with fine trees and surrounded by palings, to judge of the place which the school holds in public opinion. It is indeed a national institution, devoted to the education of "boys whose votes will decide the fate of the Eepublic, and of girls, one of whom may be the mother of the president of the United States." What specially distinguishes the country school-house of the United States from that of Europe is the absence of lodgings 34 for master or mistress. Nowhere in tbe United States is this arrangement found. It is an evidence of a state of things not without its unfortunate side: the teacher is engaged for a year simply ; he is paid by the month, and most frequently his certificate has but a limited duration. Under these circum- stances he but comes and goes ; when he is not a resident of the locality, he takes board for the school term and has nothing but a study or office in the school-house. School-houses of New York City. — In the school buildings in New York City everything is sacrificed to the reception hall with its vast platform, fitted to hold a desk, several arm-chairs and a piano. In the hall it is that the stranger visiting the school is received. The movement of five or six hundred chil- dren entering in good order, to the sound of the piano, from six or eight adjoining rooms, while the folding doors opening below, show the smallest scholars ranked on steps — all this makes a fine show ; but it is purchased too dearly, if the studies and the health of the children are to suffer thereby, as we can- not but think that they must. The Kindergarten. — Infant Schools, which in France precede the primary school, form no part of the public school system of the United States. The few infant schools which exist are private establishments, or else free institutions, without legal recognition. Nevertheless, since 1871, Kindergartens on the Froebel plan have been attached to some of the public schools of Boston and St. Louis, and these establishments are every year gaining ground in a quite marked manner in all the States. The obstacles still encountered by the Kindergarten arise partly from American domestic manners, and partly from the prejudice which this German importation arouses in the minds of certain superintendents. Woman in America is much less employed than she is in France, Belgium, and England, in industrial employments that take her from her household. "Home, Sweet Home" is for the Anglo-Saxon a species of worship, and in this sphere the wife is to maintain order, peace and happiness, by attending to her husband and children. It is not to be thought of that she should go to a place of employment in the morning and stay there till evening. The hearth must not be cold nor the 85 house forsaken. And this is the motive that withdraws married women from public school-teaching. For what would become of her "home," and who would take care of her husband and children, when she was at school — generally considerably removed from her abode ? In America the mother is the first instructor of her children, and generally she teaches them to read before sending them to public school. In the Kindergarten exhibits at Philadelphia we noticed everywhere the application of Froebel's ideas, designed to interest children while amusing them, to excite and direct their attention, to accustom them to represent or put together objects of their own devising. But with Americans the practical spirit is too strong for them readily to accept what does not offer an immediate result. One of the objections they urge against the Kindergarten is that it does not teach reading, writing and arithmetic (the three E's). Indeed, these institutions are not likely to meet full acceptance in the United States until it shall be shown that the general training they give to very young children will induce rapid school-progress, until it shall be shown that chil- dren bring from the Kindergarten a certain stock of practical notions. Besides, there is the question of expense, and how can $16 be gotten for the education of a child of from 3 to 7 years of age, when this costs only $10 or $12 for a pupil of from 7 to 10 years of age ? If the Kindergarten has made its way at but a few points in the United States, it is the object of an active advocacy and has the sympathy of eminent educators. The application it has already received tends to free the Froebel system of any too exclusive form, and to adapt it to the wants and the genius of the country. This same result we should seek to attain in France, with the view of infusing life into our infant schools, and awakening the faculties of the child, instead of putting them to sleep by merely mechanical modes of pro- cedure. Reading. — The reading of the French language certainly presents sufficient difficulty ; but the extreme complication and the numerous anomalies of English pronunciation render the teaching of reading in that tongue a still more delicate 36 problem. Hence, in the United States, great ingenuity has been expended in the discovery of practical and speedy meth- ods. Germany has furnished many plans which have been ingeniously modified and applied. The ancient alphabetic method is now scarcely used at all in good schools. It is the longest and most monotonous method — and it is the method best known in France. This method was not represented at the Exposition. Even in the country schools in the United States, there are not on the average twenty in a hundred that use the old spelling plan, and in many States it is not employed at all. Manifestly public opinion has pronounced for the new methods. In the phonic method, imported from Germany, the teacher drills the child first in the pronunciation of the sounds of the language, then in distinguishing the signs by which these are; represented. He thus proceeds from the sound to the symbol, from the letter uttered to the letter figured, in place of passing from the name of the letter to its phonic value, which is often very difficult. However, this method, applied strictly and in its whole scope, assumes that, as is the case of German, a given letter always corresponds with a given sound, and this is not the case with the English language. Hence many objections have been raised to the purely phonic method, which indeed had to be modified into the word method or the phonetic method. The phonic method, even when aided by all the American improvements of the word method, will always meet with grave objections. Excellent for German and Spanish, in which a letter has rarely more than a single power, it encounters in French, and still more so in English, anomalies resulting from the constant use of the same sign for different sounds, or of two different signs for the same sound, not to speak of useless double consonants, silent letters, etc. This consideration has led to the invention, by Dr. Edwin Leigh, of a method based on the same principle, but which in its application has recourse to typographical innovations. In many schools the teachers make use of the Leigh method in connection with the word method, and this is called the eclectic method, for in America every new device assumes a pretentious name. 37 In most of the schools visited by us, special importance is attached to class exercises in pronunciation. The lady teachers throw a certain ardor into the work of articulation, and, if need be, they show the play of the vocal organs in the production of a given sound or element, as for instance th hard, or guttural r, etc. It is to be desired that this were done in France, and that our teachers appreciated the utility of this vocal gym- nastic, as bearing on reading or even on spelling. No pains are spared to give the pupils a correct pronunciation, not only in the primary but also in the most advanced classes. The master reads in a loud intelligible voice a passage from the Eeader suited to the grade. The pupils repeat it in the same tone and with the same inflections. This is one of the liveliest and most curious exercises in an American school, and one which we have often witnessed with the keenest interest. The preceding account proves what importance is attached to read- ing in the United States. The method employed, very gener- ally a rational one, secures the speedy acquisition of reading, and inspires pupils with, the love of reading ; this is, doubtless, one of the reasons why there is no other country where people read better or read more. (The two following recommendations to French teachers, drawn from the Commissioners' observations of American meth- ods of teaching reading, merit the special attention of school officers and teachers of Connecticut). 1. To render primary instruction in reading not only more attractive^ hut more profitable, hy enlivening it by tneans of object lessons, and carrying it forward in connection with writing and rudimentary drawing. 2. To give ■more attention to pronunciation, delivery, emphasis, and expressive reading. The Mother Tongue. — The courses of study and the directions for teaching the English language reveal everywhere a truly practical spirit, and are full of judicious considerations. It is with entire justice that distinction is made between language training and grammatical study. It is readily understood that the English language, in which the laws of concord amount to scarcely anything, may content itself with this practical study. French, which deals more in rules and orthographic details, requires more attention to grammar. ' , 3 38 Two abuses strike us in the numerous papers on grammar and analysis that came under our eye. 1. The complication of parsing and analysis. In France also we carry written parsing too far, for everywhere routine acts in the same way and trans- forms into a mechanical exercise what, within proper limits, ought to be a valuable intellectual discipline. 2. Subtlety of distinction and complicated terminology. In grammatical in- struction it seems to the Americans that the simplicity of Eng- lish syntax ought to be made up for by a lavish use of scholastic distinctions, which, unfortunately, correspond to nothing in the construction of language. Dictation exercises which occupy so prominent a place in our French schools, are rare in the United States. A feature that deserves unreserved praise, and which we found in the better schools in the United States, is the develop- ment of the inventive faculty of the pupil by means of compo- sition-exercises outlined in the most general manner. Even in the primary schools the teachers are beginning to require the pupils to write out an account of what is represented in a picture in the text-book or in a chromo placed before them. This is a capital exercise, and one that we cannot too strongly recommend for adoption in our French schools. The task con- sists simply in practicing the scholar in observing attentively, in telling what he sees, and in telling this in an orderly manner. Geography has long been a favorite study in American schools. It could not be otherwise in a country that has so many reasons for devoting itself to this science, — the immense extent of its territory, the great diversity in its phyiscal con- ditions, resources and population, the importance of its com- mercial relations with the whole world, not to mention the circumstances of its origin, whence it results that no land is absolutely foreign to it. In response to a well understood want, geographical instruc- tion early assumed a methodical form : this form, without being original, has still an American character, something national and sui generis. The old mode of instruction, bristling with repulsive nomenclatures which in nowise spoke to the mind or the imagination, and which merel}^ loaded the memory, is still doubtless found in a multitude of rural schools ; for in speak- 39 ing of the United States in general, it must never be forgotten that there is a distance of nearly half a century between the country school, properly so-called, and the town or city school. One of the happiest symptoms that strike the attention at the slightest examination is that geographical study now almost always begins where it ought to begin — hy makmg the child acquainted with the neighborhood^ hy a plan of the class room^ the school-house^ the street^ the village ; in a word, a knowledge of the points of the compass, not merely on the map and as a matter of definition, but in nature, in a given locality. This very fact is an indication justifying the belief that geographical reform has penetrated deeply into educational practice, for it is gener- ally by such beginnings that this reform ends. It is more difficult to bring about a rectification in the manner of teaching these rudiments than it is to perfect subsequent instruction. And that this progress has been made in the United States is manifest in every way, — by the text-books, the courses of study, and the numberless specimens of work done by tlie scholars. The strong point in all this new geographical training is that it is really a series of object lessons, that it begins with the child's own stock of knowledge instead of overwhelming him with abstractions and definitions. Without overlooking the progress already made, we received the general impression that the new methods have not yet pen- etrated into the heart of primary teaching ; they are known and applied sometimes in an admirable manner in the larger cities and in elite schools, but they are still unknown in most country schools, and between these two extremes are thou- sands of schools which as yet have hardly begun to feel the influence of the new ideas, and thousands that have the letter without the spirit thereof. The following features of Ameri- can geographical teaching are recommended as worthy of imi- tation : — L I'd begin with the synthetic method^ which, starting with local geography, progressively enlarges the horizon of study, but not to dwell too long on local geography ; to give pupils notions of general geography and cosmography as soon as they are able to receive them. II. To practice pupils early in map drawing from memory and in reproducing on the blackboards the proximate forms of countries. 40 III. To insist on the descriptive part, without going out of the way to seek the picturesque, and paying particular attention to imparting correct ideas on the relief of countries, their general fea- tures, the nature of the soil, climate, production, etc., above all, great attention to what the English call '"'"physiography. '" Arithmetic. — In American schools nothing is equal to the care with which the child is trained in the intelligent application of the four ground rules. No sooner does the pupil know the simplest numbers, 1, 2, 8, that is the a b c oi calculation, than means are found for setting him to work in combining them bj addition, subtraction, multiplication'and division, in such a way as to bring into play all the faculties of attention, reflec- tion and judgment. Beyond this first stage, the teaching of arithmetic generally quits the good way we have indicated, and ceases to be the supreme agency of intellectual culture. It seems as though the sole aim now were to impart hastily the practical means of resolving this or that kind of operation. The principles that might light up the progress of the pupil and exercise his wits are almost voluntarily left aside. He commits to memory how, in a given case, he should state a proposition, what rule he should follow — whether or not he has learnt the why — and he applies the rule, with confidence and in a routine manner to exercises similar to that which served as an example. Practice before theory — such is the idea that generally prevails. And the method of proceeding is gener- ally as follows : The teacher, or one of the most advanced pupils, sets forth on the blackboard each point in an operation to be learned, while the pupils follow, verifying in their book the course indicated ; then the latter reproduce on their slates the same work, retain the rule by heart and apply it, point by point, to new examples. The rationale of the procedure is given only in case the curiosity or good sense of the scholar calls it out. Great efforts are now making to bring back arithmetical teaching to a more rational way, to ally in just measure theory and practice, by a recurrence to the principles of analysis as well as of synthesis. By the solution of a good many prob- lems of the same kind, dealing with quite small numbers the pupil is led to formulate for himself the method to be pursued 41 in the exercises assigned to him. His memory is then not the only faculty brought into play ; he reasons and draws conclus- ions ; his good sense develops, he acquires correct language, acquires a taste for what he does, and gains strength for greater difficulties. Arithmetic has its principles and its axioms, just as geometry has, and it is by setting them forth, by develop- ing them logically that the pupil's intellect is sharpened and his judgment exercised and himself fitted for the intelligent practice of calculation. [The following American methods recommended to French educators, need to be more generally applied by our teachers. I. To prepare children for the study of arithmetic hy the use of the abacus^ without prolonging this exercise too much. II. To extend the use of mental calculation^ as well in the form of operations carried on in the head as in that of the rapid solution of such problems. III. Not to he afraid of practicing children from an early age in mental calculation^ fractions^ complex rtumhers^ the metric system — the whole presented not in the rigorous and definitive order of ulterior instruction, hut under the common, elementary, analogical, and, so to speak, provisional form suited to a first survey of the subject. Drawing in the Public Schools. — Six years ago drawing was taught only in certain special schools, and that in a very imper- fect manner: there were no models, no methods, no materials, no masters. A committee was formed, and in a few years a whole system of instruction was devised. In some states, Draw- ing has been made obligatory ; four methods, strictly graded and completing one another, bring the arts of designing within the reach of pupils of all ages ; public expositions are increas- ing ; all regular teachers are put in the way of teaching this branch of education ; a normal school of art, to which flock pupils from all parts, has been founded and a fruitful emulation has arisen among various cities. If we take into account that these are the fruits of a few years of trial, it must be acknowl- edged that such remarkable results were never before obtained in so short a time. The following are the recommendations made on the subject of drawing : I. To commence drawing as soon as the child enters school, hy slate or blackboard exercises, using the aid of squares or better style 42 of points regularly -placed in such a way as to leave to the pupil the drawing of the lines. IT. To advance gradually from the straight line to elementary geometrical figures, then to more complex combinations, and so to industrial and ornamental drawing. III. Especially to practice the eye hy elementary studies in per- spective, hy the recognition of distances hy sight, and hy the ohserva- tion and comparison of for m,s. lY. To proscribe drawing by mere fancy or chance, which falsi- fies the taste. Y. To organize for pupil-teachers methodical courses of drawing suited to their future wants. High Schools. — Everywhere High Schools are the special object of attention on the part of School Boards and towns having over 500 families — say from 2,000 to 2,500 inhabitants, do not shrink from taxing themselves for their suitable accom- modation. In most cases, these schools are for both sexes. No part of the American school system is more essentially national than are the High Schools, no part of the system pre- sents features that are more original, or, in some respects, further removed from European ideas, no part of the system is worthy of more profound study. Peruse the course of study in these High Schools ; think of those children of workmen and work-women passing four or five years in adorning, strength- ening and cultivating their minds by studies that everywhere else are reserved for the well-to-do classes, and tell us if these institutions do not bear the very seal and impress of American civilization. Need one be astonished, then, at the frank pride with which the American citizen speaks of these schools? Has he not a right to be proud when, by sure documentary evi- dence, he shows us the son and the daughter of the humblest artisan so mentally elevated that between them and the privi- leged of fortune no difference of culture, no trace of intellect- ual inferiority, is to be discovered ? If it is glorious to see society freely giving to the poor the benefit of a public school education, is it not a still more extraordinary spectacle to behold a nation that deems it would wrong its humblest citi- zens were their children denied any opportunity for the full and free expansion of their minds? Here is a country where 43 there are hundreds of free Highi Schools, on the same footing as the most primary establishments. They are of one body with the common schools, are administered by the same authorities, supported by the same funds, and intended for the same popu- lation ; and yet, instead of being limited to the strictly essential studies, to the minimum of knowledge required to take children out of the ofiScial category of the illiterate, these upper schools are established on the basis of what may be called the higher instruction. They are not professional schools, nor are they bastard imitations of the classical college, nor yet low grade universities — they are in the fullest sense popular schools, intended to give the people the best, purest and loftiest results of liberal education. They open up no special pursuit — they lead to all pursuits, without exception and with- out distinction. They do not make an engineer, an architect, or a physician, an}'' more than they make an artisan or a mer- chant, but they form bright, intelligent youths trained to stud- ies of every kind, qualified to select for themselves among the various professions, and skilled to succeed therein. One grad- uate will enter the university, another will go into business ; there will be diflferences of occupation among them, but there will be no inequality of education. So far as social equality can possibly be reached on this earthy it is attained by the American High School. In other countries it is to be feared that the children of different classes of society, though brought together for a while in the public school, must soon find themselves separated by the whole distance between their respective families ; indeed, it must be so, since one child enters on his apprenticeship and thus stops short in his intel- lectual development at the very time when the other is just beginning his. In the United States every effort is made to delay and to diminish this separation, to carry as far as possi- ble, and as high as possible, that common instruction which effac3s the distinction of rich and poor. If it be true that the prosperit}' of a republic is in the direct ratio of the replenishment of its middle classes, of the abun- dance and facility in the indefinite recruiting of these classes, then the High School of the United States, whatever it may cost, is the best investment of capital that can possibly be made. 44 [Of the conclusions reached by the Commissioners, the fol- lowing are the most practical and suggestive to Americans.] Summary of Conclusions. — 1. The common schools of the United States are essentially a national institution ; they are dear to the people, respected by all, created, sustained and enriched by a unanimous spirit of patriotism which for a cen- tury has shown no falling off; in a word, they are deemed the very source of public prosperity, as, par excellence^ the conserv- ative and protective institution in their democratic govern- ment and republican manners. 2. The school organization is rigorously municipal. The law simply establishes as a principle the necessity of public instruction, leaving to each community to provide for its own needs in its own way. 3. The higher direction and the inspection of the public schools are confided to elective boards. From this peculiarity arise various results, as, for instance, the frequent renewing of the Boards and Superintendents, the unfortunate influence of political prejudices and local interests, the liability to sudden changes in the school organization, and, finally, the necessity imposed on the people to heep themselves informed on school ques- tions, as matters on which they have constantly to vote. 4. The public schools are in all grades absolutely feee : the abolition of fees was in every State the signal of the new birth of the public schools ; it brought into these establishments the children of all classes of the population, and constantly tends to bring them nearer and nearer together. 5. The public schools are absolutely unsectarian. 6. Compulsory education, made matter of law in some States, has doubtless aided the development of common school instruc- tion. The results thus far ascertained are not very striking ; and besides it is' impossible either to pass or to carry out the measure in the very region where its urgency is most pressing, that is, in the South. In general, the most practical form that compulsion has assumed is the hunting up of vagabond chil- dren or the adoption of various measures to force them into school, to begin with, and then, if need be, to transfer them to reform schools or other special establishments. 7. Public school instruction in the United States does not 45 form a course of study apart, strictly limited to a minimum or completely distinct from classical instruction ; it comprises three degrees — the primary, the grammar school, and the high school course — sometimes combined in a single school, and again subdivided among three different schools, but in all cases connecting with the higher education, whether literary or profes- sional, so that a child of the working class has the opportunity of gratuitously continuing his education as far as his tastes and aptitudes permit. 8. The training of teachers is now almost universally regarded as the essential condition of sound, popular education, and the number of State Normal Schools is rapidly increasing. 9. As the career of teaching is often taken up merely pro- visionally by young men or women who do not intend to con- tinue in the field, there results a very grievous instability in the teaching force — though it should be observed that there is some compensation for this evil in the fact that it draws into the work a large number of young schoolmasters full of ardor, equipped beyond the needs of the common school course, and untrammelled by the spirit of routine. 10. The coeducation of the sexes is the rule in the American public school system, and except in some of the great cities is becoming more and more the rule. The results of this usage are generally represented as excellent in both the moral and the intellectual aspect. The only or at least the chief objec- tions heard, are based on the excess of labor which the system imposes on young girls. 11. From these causes and from the marked taste of Amer- icans for innovation and new departures, it has come to pass that the schools of the United States show a diversity of organ- ization, and a multiplicity of forms, courses of study, text- books, and methods, which result in much experimentation and a lamentable loss of time ; but which, by leaving a great deal to the free choice and responsibility of teachers and local authorities, interests them directly and personally in the suc- cess of the school. 12. Thence result, also, extraordinary efforts and boundless liberality directed to giving the schools, both in the construc- tion of the buildings and in the establishment and maintenance 46 of the institutions, an air of comfort, of amplitude, and almost luxury, which is not merely a satisfaction to municipal pride, but is mainly the means of giving the public schools the prestige necessary to bring within their fold all classes of the population without distinction. 13. The great publicity given to the Eeports of Committees and Superintendents, the interest taken by the people in school statistics, and the beautiful and simple organization of the National Bureau of Education do more for the growth and improvement of educational institutions than could possibly be accomplished by the orders of any administrative authority, even though clothed with the most extensive power. 14. If, with all these educational facilities, the United States still show a considerable proportion of illiterate population, the explanation is found, first, in the fact that the whole South is yet a region to be conquered for public school instruction, and secondly, because immigration is incessantly bringing in a fresh contingent of illiterate adults. 15. The educational methods of the United States are in general distinguished from our own by two characteristics, which may by turns be either advantages or defects. On the one hand they tend to become essentially objective, synthetic, analogical, active. On the other hand, they are eminently practical, being planned and practiced with reference to the wants of life and to direct utility. 16. And so in the choice of subjects to be taught, the American system is marked by the selection of the most indis- pensable matters, of the most rapid methods, of the most positive successes, of those advantages which if not the most important for mental improvement, have the most direct bear- ing on the present or future interest of the pupil, — an aim which is very well in principle, but which, when too exclusively sought, stamps study with an empirical and utilitarian impress, gives a narrowness to education, and to a certain extent cramps the mind itself. 17. As regards methods of teaching, the American system rec- ommends itself by a frequent appeal to the pupil's own powers, to his intellectual and moral spontaneity. It cares less for the logical order of ideas than it does for the natural order of 47 impressions; it leaves a large independence to the teacher and a still larger to the scholar, — whence an extreme diversity in the modes of procedure and a not less striking inequality in the results. Many and many a time one is struck with the hasty, rapid, almost improvised character of a plan of educa- tion which trusts implicitly to good instincts, good sense, and good will, which aims ever to address the eye, the memory, the imagination, which would thus gain time over the old strictly didactic methods, but which by so doing, runs the risk of becoming somewhat superficial, and is in danger sometimes of dispensing too much with the severe but fruitful labors of abstraction and reasoning. "We are not of those who, ignorant of the marvellous proofs of moral and material vitality which the United States have shown, think that we have discovered in this grand body the germ of decomposition and prophesy its near ruin. This is perhaps the people, of all the earth, which has in its immense domains the grandest deposits of natural riches; in its temper- ament and character the most powerful motive to action ; in its historical traditions the noblest example of energy, efficiency, courage and civic honor, and in its institutions the system best fitted to favor the rise of liberty, and these are some of the forces which ought to resist the toughest trials. But while we do not overlook these most promising signs, we do not conceal the formidable problems which the country has still to solve. The antagonism of races, traditions and interests which brought on the bloody conflict between the North and the South, the irruption of the blacks into public life, a just but terrible pun- ishment of a civic wrong, the difficulty of long maintaining the bonds which unite peoples so diverse, spread over a territory so immense ; all these are grave questions. These however are thrown in the shade by a danger more immediate, and that is the alteration, say rather the corruption of political morals, the question of elections, and especially the election of President, whether this shall be made by the intelligence and virtue of the people, or whether it will veer about and become the prey of intrigue and corruption. . SCHOOL HYGIENE. [The following paper by D. F. Lincoln, M.D., of Boston, just published in the Eeport of the Board of Education of Massachusetts, was prepared for the benefit of teachers and school ofiQcers. While investigating this subject, Dr. Lincoln carefully examined many school-houses in Connecticut. No subject is more important to teachers and pupils than School Hygiene. This paper is so much fuller and abler than the one I had prepared, that I give it in a condensed form instead of my unprofessional observations.] SITE. Dampness is a most serious fault in the site for a school building. This may be due to the impervious nature of the soil ; a difficulty easily remedied, if the site is elevated, by a proper use of drain-pipe and trenches about the house lot. If the water cannot be diverted, the site must not be used ; for concrete floors will not keep out water from a cellar built in a saturated soil. An elevated site is generally preferable to a low one, on the ground of better drainage, more abundant sun- light, and a freer supply of air. High land, when boggy or full of springs of water, is very objectionable. The bottom of the cellar ought to be at least three feet above the average level of the water in the soil. If this seems impracticable, let tile-drain be run around the cellar at the depth of its floor, and furnished with a discharge at some- lower point. In some cases it will be necessary to place the cellar floor at or near the ground level. Much complaint is made of the excessive dryness of the air in some schools and houses ; but this is a slight fault com- pared with the dampness emanating from floors, walls, and soil, which has been shown by eminent authority to be pro- ductive of consumption, catarrh, and rheumatism. In our climate a school-house ought to be so placed as to receive the direct rays of the sun in each room during some part of every day in the year. Verandas, however necessary in more southern latitudes, are not proper in ours. It is obvious enough that a room lighted exclusively by northern windows, in a wall running east and west, will have a very deficient supply of sunlight. It is best to place the house so that the corners will indicate the four cardinal points, and the faces will look to the southeast, southwest, etc. 49 SOME POINTS IN CONSTRUCTION. The doors of every school-house of more than one story ought to open outward towards the street, to prevent a block in case of a panic, such as an alarm of fire occasions. With the same view, it is necessary, in the case of a large school, to make them at least eight feet wide. The door way should always be wider than the stair that leads to it. The entries and corridors must be spacious relatively to the stairs, especially at the foot of the latter. In large houses, a width of ten or twelve feet is required. They should be lighted directly from out of doors when possible; and the lights should be placed at opposite ends, so as to insure a free, natural ventilation, which on many days of the year, even in winter, is the best for entries. It is hard to ventilate entries that occupy the center of schools ; while entries or corridors that possess a natural ventilation furnish a desirable means of supplementing the defects of the air in rooms. The staircases should be lighted from the outside. There must be at least two staircases for a building containing six hundred scholars. Spiral stairs are inadmissible, for the steps are very narrow next the well, and if the child fall on the stair the descent is very steep on that side. Wedge-shaped steps are inadmissible for the same reason, though common in private houses. Wells are dangerous, if not protected ; the staircases should be sheathed ; banisters are totally unnecessary, and the rail should be about four feet above the riser. A clean, dry cellar is a suitable place for play-rooms, pro- vided the sunlight and air enter freely. If the ceiling is high, a gymnasium may be placed there, under the same conditions as to light and air. ISTo school-room ought to be in a cellar, or even partially under ground. TENTILATION AND HEATING. The requirements under this head are the following : — 1. Renewal of the air of the room, effected constantly and without perceptible draughts, at the rate of at least two thou- sand cubic feet per hour for each occupant. 2. A temperature not exceeding 70° nor falling belpw 64° at the level of the head of a person sitting, and not varying more 60 than about 4° in different parts of the same room, or at different heights within six feet of the floor. 3. Freedom from noxious elements. To effect a sufficient change of air without producing a draught, there must be a liberal allowance of space per scholar. A small room, as for example, a low-studded parlor of moderate size when full of company, can hardly be kept in a comfortable condition ; the alternative is between a dangerous draught and an excess of heat with stifling closeness. In practice, a room containing 250 cubic feet of space per occupant can be readily ventilated without draught. Such a room allows 20 square feet of floor-space to each pupil, and has a height of 12^ feet. In an ordinary school-room there is nothing gained by making the ceiling over 14 feet in height: 12 or 13 feet is sufficient. In a large hall it is necessary to exceed this for acoustic and other reasons. Of course, children ought not to sit with wet clothing or feet in a cool room. Children who are badly fed will not resist cold well ; nor those who are pampered, or prevented from getting exercise. And any person, child or adult, may become tender and delicate in a short time by accustoming himself to an over-heated room. It is very hard, in a changeable climate like ours, to avoid the latter evil : in most houses there is placed a powerful heating-apparatus, which cannot be made to "roar gently" when the weather moderates; and a set of gas- burners is used, which raises the temperature several degrees. Attention to the temperature of a house, in our climate, implies quite as much a care for coolness as for warmth, during the changeable spring and autumn weather. And, when it comes to the practical working of a school-room, it is very easy indeed to let the temperature exceed a reasonable point, but requires constant attention to keep it down. An interesting lesson may be going on, or a written examination : the mind works well, for the time, at a fever-heat; and the temperature of 84° may pass quite unnoticed. It is needless to say that such a strain upon the system is followed by a period of lassi- tude; and a state of lassitude, again, may demand a slightly raised temperature. Thus by degrees habits of preference for hot rooms may be formed. The teacher may be as uncon- 51 scious of the evil as the scholar; indeed, if fatigued she may require, or if excited may not notice, an unusual heat. The time to correct bad habits in this respect is the begin- ning of the school year. Everyone then comes to school with a system invigorated by some months of exposure to fresh air; and, if care is taken, this vigor, or power of resisting cold, may be retained. The teacher may assist by causing the children to take frequent exercise, — play, with running and shouting, is the best, — and to go out of doors frequently. If it rains or snows, windows may be opened a little, while the children are engaged in active bodily exercise, such as calis- thenics. These intermissions should occur as often as once every hour, and last five minutes at a time, or longer. Weakly children, those liable to croup or rheumatism or other com- plaints arising from exposure, must be protected meanwhile; but the fact remains, that the power to perform work, the power to generate heat, and the power to resist catching cold, are all improved by frequent vigorous use of the muscles and lungs. Singing constitutes an excellent exercise for the hody^ as well as relaxation for the mind ; but I have seen it carried on in a room set apart for that purpose, and so closely packed and badly ventilated that it was difficult to remain in it. It hardly needs to be said that that which sets the lungs in vigorous action implies and demands an abundant supply of fresh air ; and that to perform exercise in close rooms is more exhausting than to sit still. The personal influence of a vigorous and full- blooded master may be very beneficial in correcting the errors of subordinate teachers in these respects. Apparatus. — "Every heating-apparatus or system of heat- ing which does not provide in itself for an ample and regular change of air, or which is not connected with suitable arrange- ments for such a change, is injurious to health." These words are axiomatic. They condemn a great variety of appliances, some of them the most popular. Most systems of heating in which coils of pipe stand in the rooms or entries are included in this condemnation. Every such coil should have its special duct, flue, or hole in the house-wall, for the introduction of a due amount of fresh air. The air thus introduced should enter a box enclosing the coil of pipe, and after circulating about 62 the coil is to be discharged by a register into the room : this arrangement is equally correct, whether the coil be placed in the chambers, or whether (as is often done in schools) the boxes, containing the coils, are placed in the cellar like the hot-air box of common furnaces. This provides for the introduction of a considerable amount of warm air : it is now necessary to think of the extraction of vitiated air. A school-room cannot be ventilated in winter — and scarcely in summer — without special flues for the purpose. An ordinary air-tight stove carries up the chimney enough air to ventilate for one person ; an open fireplace, enough for a dozen, or less. With the aid of partly opened windows, the fire on the hearth will answer perfectly ; but it is very wasteful, and has the disad- vantage of being at one side or end of the room, so that some parts may be cold while others are too warm. It is apt, also, to leave the floors cold. If, however, a chimney is connected with a room, the fireplace should not be stopped up, unless it should happen to give ingress to disagreeable currents of cold air. A little fire on the hearth, or a gas-jet burning high in the chimney, or even a lamp placed in the fireplace, will keep up the draught ; and the chimney, if not used for the escape of smoke, may carry off foul air. In most large schools, as now built, flues are connected with each room. Until lately such flues were almost invariably too small. For a class of fifty pupils, requiring 1,700 cubic feet per minute, the united transverse sections of the flues should equal five square feet, or more. There should be apertures or gratings, both at the top and bottom of the wall. The air at the top is usually quite as had as that at bottom^ and is apt to be warmer too : ventilation from the top, therefore, is desirable in summer, though in winter it may be thought too wasteful of heat to rely entirely upon it. Nature has been very kind to man in one respect. The poi- soned air from the gas-jets is taken to the top of the room, by its ascensional force, away from our persons. If a man were compelled to spend an evening with his head close to the ceil- ing, he would be ready to make his will at the close of it. It would be a natural method of ventilating, to make a sufficient 53 opening at top, and let the air rush out ; but this method would waste heat, and would leave the lower strata of air cold. Leaving out of consideration the gas-jets, as seldon:i used in day-schools, we may consider that the breath of the pupils is difiPased through the whole mass of air in a room, a little more at the top than elsewhere. This slight excess at top being dis- regarded, we may endeavor to cause the entire mass of air to move downward, and to pass out through ventilators at the level of the floor. Water should be evaporated in the hot air- box. Every system of flues for drawing air from rooms should be provided with means for heating them. The application of heat to the flues is made in. various ways. Sometimes a special furnace or stove is put into the flue; sometimes the smoke- pipes from the heaters or furnaces are led through or by it; sometimes coils of steam or water pipes are introduced, or gas- jets. A draught, in many cases considerable in amount, is obtainable in the lower stories, even without heating the flues ; it is a familiar fact that a tall chimney will often draw when not heated. But this source of power for ventilating purposes cannot be relied on. Neither is the action of the wind upon ventilating mitres, placed on chimneys, at all a constant one. The simplest method of ventilation, approaching to thorough- ness, is that by heated flues. It is expensive, unless the heat from the smoke-flue be utilized ; but it can be easily under- stood and managed, and is fairly satisfactory in its results. The best system yet adopted in schools requires a good deal of watching, and cannot be intrusted to the sole care of a jani- tor. It is for his interest to appear economical of his coal : he is therefore under a constant temptation to check the outflow of warm air from the rooms, and to limit as much as possible the period of airing-out, ivhich should come daily after school. Good ventilation is an end which cannot be gained without the expenditure of much fuel ; for the foul air, thrown away, is warm air, and the heat it contains is necessarily lost. Great economy of fuel could be attained by introducing double windows. A single thickness of glass cools the air enormously ; and, if one is sitting under it, a draught of falling cold air is felt which is both real and dangerous. This draught 4 54 is not due to tbe entrance of cold fresh air, but is produced hy the chilling of a layer of warm air in contact with the glass, which naturally falls to the level of the floor. Another use of double windows is that of direct ventilation. Let the lower sash outside be sligbtly raised, and the upper sash inside slightly lowered ; air will then pass between the two sashes, and will enter the room near the ceiling, having in its passage over six feet of glass (inner window) received a good deal of heat from the room, and being therefore partially warmed before entering. One of the simplest remedies for bad air is to fit a board, of the breadth of three or four inches only, under the lower sash (of a single window) ; this shuts out no appreciable amount of light, and raises the sash so that, between its upper part and. the lower part of the upper sash, a current of air is admitted in an ascending direction. This plan is extremely cheap, and may be used anywhere ; it is quite effective in cold weather. Another plan consists in placing a narrow board at the top of the upper sash, tilting a little inwards so as to let the air pass over it and strike the ceiling. A small furnace with a brisk fire, doing duty for a large house, heats a small amount of air very hot, and in doing this produces a change of some sort which is felt as disagreeable. A peculiar burnt smell, a deadness in the air, announces that something is wrong. The smell may be merely due to the burning of particles of dust in the air, but it produces discom- fort, and cannot be regarded as a wholesome condition. This fault may be avoided by using a large furnace which burns slowly. Too much care cannot be taken of the inlets for fresh air. They usually consist of wooden or galvanized-iron tubes, run- ning across the cellar to the hot-air box. If of wood, they are sure to have cracks, which let in more or less of the cellar air. Many are expressly provided with valves for drawing a supply of air from the cellar ; a proceeding which is entirely indefensi- ble. For the cellar is presumably weather-tight ; and where is the air to come from that enters the inlets, in case they are closed against the outer air? The air comes directly from the cellar, and may possibly be free from local contamination ; but it comes eventually from the rooms and halls above the cellar, 65 — from rooms already full of vitiated air, — and the result is the establishment of a vicious circle ; bad air descends into the cel- lar, is warmed, re-ascends, and re-descends. It may be permitted to draw air from an empty cellar cham- ber which is cut off from the rest of the house and cellar, and which cannot possibly be contaminated by dust, ashes, the gas from the furnace-door, or other sources ; a chamber, in short, which is perfectly sweet and neat, and supplied with air directly from out of doors. But it is a shorter way, to exclude cellar air altogether. The real motive for using it is usually that of economy of fuel, — an economy which implies the use of poor air. The inlet for air should be protected by being placed out of boys' reach; and in any case it should be a few feet from the ground, above the level of the street or ground effluvia if pos- sible. Its orifice should be grated or screened. Dust may be sifted out through a canvas bag or tube ; but, as this will rarely be applied, I would recommend the choice of a place not exposed to dust. If a stove is set up in a shool-room, it ought to have a flue leading out of doors, through which pure air should enter, and come in contact with the heated iron or stone. The stove should be boxed or sheathed around with iron or tin, forming an air space, into the lower part of which the above flue should open : a powerful current of fresh warmed air would thus be drawn into the room. The stove-doors should of course be excluded from this box ; and the draught for supplying the fire should come from the general atmosphere of the room, thus extracting a certain amount of bad air. Further ventilation could be obtained by sheathing the stove-funnel, and making the space between sheath and funnel open upwards above the roof, and doionwards into the room: by judicious arrangement of these expedients, a considerable change of air is effected. They constituted a portion of the ventilating apparatus of the school-house exhibited in Philadelphia in 1876, by the Belgian government. The ventilation of evening-schools is made difficult by the presence of smoke, greasy vapor, sulphurous acid, and other products of the combustion of oil or gas. A well-managed 56 kerosene-lanjp is not often seen in public buildings, but would be both the cheapest and the least injurious. Burning gas pro- duces a suffocating air, due to the presence of impurities which cannot be wholly got rid of. Tallow candles are not advisable. When lighted artificially, a room should have the upper venti- lators open and in vigorous action. The air of a school ought not only to be free from excess of carbonic acid when analyzed : it should smell fresh and sweet. Many schools, even of the best class, are characterized by a peculiar foul smell, like that which clings to the bars of gym- nastic apparatus, and betraying the fact that the floors and other woodwork are saturated with the more or less volatile products of animal decomposition arising from the perspiration, breath, saliva, and the countless scents brought in the children's clothes from the domestic fireside. To avoid this evil as far as possible, it is recommended to select wood that is not porous. For the floors, hard pine, saturated in hot linseed oil before laying, will give a surface nearly impenetrable to moisture or vapors, which dries instantly when washed, and is very durable. School-house floors ought to be washed with soap and hot water once a week, and the wainscoting, walls, and furniture occasionally. The cellars require scrupulous care. Dust should be avoided as far as possible, by providing door- mats and scrapers. The children's outer clothes and umbrellas should be put in special rooms or wardrobes, which are lighted, warmed, and furnished with sufficient ventilation to carry off the steam and odor. Clean faces, hands, and shoes should be required, and clean feet when shoes are not worn. In general, no system of heating and ventilation has been devised which will work automatically, without supervision on the part of the teacher or engineer. In other words, it takes brains, as well as coal and iron, to ventilate a house. The required article is not generally to be had for the sum paid. Head masters, with a certain amount of instruction in the details of management, are better persons to have the responsi- bility than janitors. 67 SEWERAGE, WATER-CLOSETS, ETC. In many schools the condition of the sewerage is such as to endanger health. The writer's correspondence with numerous physicians last year elicited strong expressions of opinion, which ascribe to neglected drains and privies the origin of debility and indigestion, of a state of lessened activity, of low continued or typhoid fevers, and perhaps of diphtheria ; also of catarrhal disease of the respiratory and digestive organs, and of dysentery. It is often hard to estimate the amount of simple ordinary debility due to a slowly acting cause, constantly present. That such debility may be produced by ordinary stinks, by living in an air containing fascal odors simply, is certain ; and from this debility up to the production of headaches with slight fever, or of violent, even rapidly fatal cases of typhoid, there are all possible gradations. Yet the danger often lies far more in that which is not offensive, — in the air which contains sewer-gas, hardly noticed by many ; in the sparkling water which pleasantly disguises the dose of liquid ordure taken at recess-time. The connection of scarlatina, diphtheria, dysen- tery, and diarrhoea, with foul odors and bad drains, is now admitted to be a fact, though not always a traceable one. A water-closet is a contrivance for disposing of faecal matter by " water-carriage," in distinction from the privy or dry- removal system. It usually is found in our schools to be (1) a pan-closet, with a handle, which when raised empties the pan, and lets in fresh water ; or (2) a hopper-closet, without the pan, and often provided with automatic apparatus for dis- charging water into the hopper; or (3) a simple trough of masonry and cement, filled with water, which is frequently renewed. These are the chief varieties. The latter kind has lately been introduced into many large schools, and in some cases it is certainly free from objections. It must, however, be placed in the cellar or basement, in order to prevent freezing; and it is evident that in such a situation it may become a dangerous nuisance. To insure protection, it must be built of masonry cemented, and must slope gently towards the outlet : there should be about it as little woodwork as possible to absorb urine ; and the water should be abundant, and changed 58 every day with a good flushing afterwards. The sides should be cleansed at the same time with a jet of water. The space under the seats should be ventilated by a large pipe or pipes led to a flue which does not communicate with the rooms, and which opens above the roof, far from windows : the flue ought to be provided with some means of securing a draught, either by heat or otherwise. It would be proper to lead such pipes to the common chimney, if we could be sure of a fire there all the school-year ; but such chimneys often communicate with rooms by fire-places or ventilators, and, during the months when fires are not kept up, it is unsafe to have such an open connection between the vault and the school-rooms. The cellar, also, should be watched, and a constant change of air obtained by opening windows according to the weather. There are two reasons why bad air in cellars is specially dangerous to the inmates of schools : (1) because the furnaces are often supplied in part with air from the cellar, which is breathed the next minute in the school-room, the air-tube often having a slide expressly intended to admit cellar air, and even when this bad custom is not observed, the joints of the wooden tube being very apt to be loose ; (2) because, inde- pendently of this, air has a strong tendency to rise from the bottom to the top of a house, passing rapidly even through floors and ceilings, so that cellar influences are nearly sure to be felt in the rooms. As regards the other forms (pan and hopper-closets), there are certain faults to be spoken of. A pan-closet presents many surfaces on which the discharges can collect: the stream of water is often too weak even to clear out the visible accumula- tions, and in some cases altogether fails to reach those at the back of the pan, etc. ; so that, if not washed, it is apt to be offensive. The chief objection to the pan- closet, however, arises from the small chamber of foul air between the pan and the trap below it. A hopper-closet need not be open to this objection, provided the jet is abundant and well directed. One or two of these may be placed, if desired, in each story and in the cellar; but each ought to have its window opening to the outer air. For perfect ventilation of such places, nothing is better than 59 a tube, leading to the chimney or open air, or one in the lower part of which (at a height of, say three feet from the floor) a gas-jet is kept burning, giving rise to a current upwards: the gas may be made useful for light by inserting a pane of glass in the side of the tube. It may be well to add, that wooden tubes, traversing several stories, assist the spread of fire in a building. Many schools, including some in country towns, report the presence of small water-closets in the first or second stories. If care be taken that these are well aired and cleansed, they are not objectionable, but positively desirable, in these situa- tions. There is no doubt that girls especially require some such accommodation, as in a large class there will always be some who ought not to be exposed to the weather, nor to be forced to go up and down stairs unnecessarily. In some schools, water-closets, apparently of the pan variety, are placed in the cellar, in number sufficient for the wants of the whole school. These will require at least as much watch- ing as the water-vault closets above described. In planning a cellar, all such conveniences should be placed, in an apartment strictly separate from that containing the furnace or the play- room, and should have access by windows to the outer air. The necessity of interposing some obstacle to the rise of gas from sewers, through soil-pipes, into houses, has become gen- erally known to the public. An S-shaped bend in the pipe, if placed ia a proper situation, and if the soil-pipe is properly ventilated, will answer the purpose : there are various other contrivances, all equivalent to simple reservoirs of water, placed, so as to intercept upward currents of gas. But, whatever be the arrangements for trapping individual basins or closets in upper stories, it is essential that the main soil-pipe should be trapped, before it leaves the building, at a low point, i. e., in the cellar. All soil-pipes should be easily accessible, should be in plain view or protected by simple removable wooden boxing, through their entire course. If enclosed behind lath and plaster, or sealed up under a cement floor, their defects cannot be discovered without great trouble and expense. The best plumbing in the best built houses is extremely liable to injury from slight settling of foundations, from corrosion, frost, 60 or rats; and injury to health may result before any strong odor is detected. An earth-closet consists of a portable box, with a lid like that of a common water-closet, and worked by a handle in a similar way, only that the pulling of the handle throws a quantity of powdered and dried earth over the deposited matter, instead of sending a jet of water. The earth absorbs the odor in a nearly perfect nmnner, if it be well dried and powdered; sand will not answer the purpose; charcoal in powder is the best of all. No disinfectant is needed. The apparatus can be safely used in the house, when water-closets are not practicable : it is reported as giving satisfaction by two of the correspondents, but always requires a great deal of care in its management, in order to prevent the occurrence of bad odors. A privy is a non-portable arrangement, in which the f^ces are not deposited in water, but in a vault or other excavation, or on the natural surface of the ground. The privy can never be approved as wholesome : it is capable of injuring the health in many ways. In the commonest form in which it occurs in our country schools, the filth is either thrown upon the surface of the ground, in which case the person is dangerously exposed to cold air; or it is thrown into a pit, where it accumulates usually for a year at a time. A cheap, convenient, and whole- some substitute for this familiar nuisance is to be found in the " pail- closet," in which a pail made of half of a kerosene oil barrel is placed under each seat, and the contents removed every week for a fertilizer. At the bottom of the pails a layer of ashes, or of dry earth pulverized, is first laid ; and a sufficient amount, say a pint or more, of the same should be thrown in after each time of use, taking some little pains to cover up all deposits. Of the present usual form of privy, it may be said that the simplest and cheapest one much in use in the small country towns, involves the minimum of annoyance and risk, since whatever faecal accumulation occurs is all on the surface, and is in such free communication with the outer air as to be rapidly dried and disinfected. But at the best it pollutes the soil beneath more than is suspected. It is not cleared out one- tenth as often as is needed, and it exposes those who use it to the inclemencies of the weather to a dano-erous extent. 61 Privies upon the pail-sj'stem, properly cared for, need no other disinfectant than that here mentioned, viz., dry earth or fine ashes, except perhaps in the hot weather of midsummer. Privies of the old-fashioned country sort cannot be properly disinfected, for the greater part of all their contents will soak in and contaminate the soil to an indefinite extent. No well in their vicinity is safe. The impression seems almost universal, that the earth destroys all poisonous matter as soon as it soaks in ; an impression which is practically and most dangerously false. The greater number state that they are emptied once a year; and this seems to be thought often enough. One-fourth of the whole number, however, state that the arrangements are "the source of offensive odors ;" and no one can doubt that this is an understatement of the fact. A privy under the same roof that shelters the school ought not to exist for a moment. It is true that delicate children ought to be'spared exposure ; it is true that the fear of exposure in winter, or a natural shrinking from the foulness of ill-kept privies, leads many little children to conceal their natural wants to their bodily harm. But provision for such cases can be made in small country schools by the earth-closet; in large schools there should be a few water-closets, and the main out- house, when there is one, should communicate with the school by a dry covered way. Most children will require to visit the place once in the school-day, and it is not right to turn them out of doors in all weathers for the purpose. This point is almost universally neglected. Boys and girls should not have to use the same privy. There ought to be two buildings, and not one divided by boards into two parts: a board fence should separate the two sexes in going and coming ; and, where present arrangements are bad, the boys should have their recess at a different time from the girls. To insure decency, and to check immorality, a trust- worthy monitor might be appointed not only for recess, but to accompany every child who goes out during school-hours. A large receptacle may serve as an excuse to neglect frequent cleanings ; and the absence of an outlet, and of a water-supply to flush the vault, would make any such structure objectionable. 62 Storage of faeces in a concentrated form must be an evil : other- wise cement and brick are certainly desirable elements in the structure. Urinals ought to be provided for boys' schools, and washed daily with soap and water. The proper materials for the exposed portions are either slate, glazed ironware, or glass. Metal surfaces corrode, and retain the decomposed urine ; paint is not a sufficient protection, Disivfeciants. — The best and cheapest are, fresh air and sun- light ; water, both for dilution and for washing ; earth, for covering solid discharges from the body; dry heat (200-240° F.), for clothing that has been exposed to the effluvia of disease. To these add the following chemical disinfectants : Sulphur- fumes, produced by burning in a tightly closed room or house, in infection ; a solution of sulphate of iron (three pounds) and carbolic acid undiluted (one pint), in water (a pailful), for foul vaults; solution of chlorinated soda, or of nitrate of lead (one part to eight parts of water), or of permanganate of potassium (one per cent.). CHARLES MORGAN. The recent death of the most liberal benefactor of the Public Schools in Connecticut, justly claims a notice in this Report. Mr. Charles Morgan died at his home in New York, May 8th, 1878, at the age of eighty-three years. Born in Clinton, Conn., in 1795, family necessities compelled him to support himself when only fourteen years old. Commencing life thus early, for himself, as a clerk in a small grocery shop in New York, he finished it as a millionaire at eighty-three. He never ceased to regret that his only school training was that afforded under fourteen years of age, in the common district school. By his fidelity and economy, he had gained enough to start a ship chandlery store, before he was of age. Ultimately the sole owner of the Morgan line of steamers between New York and New Orleans, and of the extensive line of steamers engaged in the Texas trade, and of the New Orleans and Great Western Railroad, he regularly gave employment to over 5,000 men. 63 The study of such a life brings home a useful lesson to the youth of Connecticut. Unswerving integrity and fidelity in minute details marked his beginning as a clerk, and his career when he became the sole owner of the largest fleet of steamers and the longest line of railway belonging to one man in America. His personal industry, economy, sagacity and honesty were the secret of his great success. He had no faith in luck. Fortune meant nothing in business affairs to him. He had the nerve to meet disasters without repining. One of his greatest discourage- ments was the loss of steamers along the treacherous and shift- ing coast of Texas. In rapid succession nine of his iron steam- ers were wrecked, and all without insurance. He at once built other and better ships, and in advance of the United States Coast Survej^, he kept the coast so frequently surveyed that for twenty years prior to 1873 he did not lose a vessel. His mar- velous energy and capacity for details^ united with comprehen- siveness of mind, are seen in the fact that his great business was created and controlled from first to last by himself. He treated his operatives with that courtesy and liberality which bound him in strongest ties to them. Many names hon- ored abroad are tarnished at home among dependents and em- ployes. Only che strictest honesty and fair dealing can stand the test of business intercourse with thousands of hands for over forty 3'ears. Mr. Morgan fairly earned and fully gained their con- fidence and respect, and thus practically solved the labor prob- lem. A few hours before his funeral a telegram was received by the family in New York from his employes in New Orleans, in which they speak in strong terms of "the zeal, public spirit, and above all, unquestioned integrity of the one who had been to us not merely an employer, but always a true, kind-hearted and generous friend." This telegram plainly tells how labor and capital were harmonized, and why in place of strife or alienation, sympathy and good feeling prevailed between Mr. Morgan and his hands. My acquaintance with Mr. Morgan began in the autumn of 1869, when he was considering the question of endowing a school in his native town. Cordially welcoming this sugges- tion from the outset, I assured him that I should deem it an 64 honor to be his adviser in maturing plans so liberal and far- reaching in their results, and a privilege to contribute in any way in ray power to the success and prosperity of the Institution he should found. In this way, there grew up a familiar acquaintance and a strong friendship, which led me to appreciate highly his sterling traits of character; his frankness and sincerity ; his honor and integrity ; his quick perceptions, business sagacity, and untiring energy ; his warm devotion to his friends, and deep and grateful interest in his native town and in the old homestead in Clinton, which he ever kept up, in memory of his early days. His mg-nly traits were softened by a genuine modesty. Though somewhat brusque in man- ner, he showed at heart the delicacy and unobtrusiveness of a child. Simple in his taste and strongly averse to ostentation, pre- tense and assumption, he made no display of wealth, either in dress or surroundings. With a natural fondness for chil- dren, he easily came into sympathy with them, and won their confidence and love. The sight of the happy faces in the Morgan School, their merry songs, their literary exercises, and grateful tributes to him, touched his heart most tenderly, and made his repeated visits to this Institution occasions of rare satisfaction and delight to him. He once said to me, " Though I have handled a good deal of money, no equal amount ever gave me such genuine gratification as that bestowed on the Morgan School ;'' to which I replied, " As President Pierson, when instructing the first classes of Yale College, near the site of the Morgan School, builded far better than, he knew, so the future history and usefulness of this school — already prosper- ous beyond your expectations — generations yet unborn alone can tell." No town of its size in Connecticut, or, so far as I know, in the country, can show a school edifice so admirable, and well provided with school appliances. Many youth of Clinton, against whom penury would otherwise bar the temple of knowledge, will here gain a higher education. This school will awaken new ambitions and discover and develop what otherwise would be latent talent. Many a gifted, but poor and modest boy, will here be made conscious of his power, and 65 be inspired with aspirations for the broadest culture. The Mor- gan School has already accomplished larger and grander results than did Yale College during the life-time of its first President. The last letter I received from Mr. Morgan contained a request that I would join him in a visit to the Morgan School as soon as the restoration of his health would enable him to bear the journey. The hope, which I had not given up, of again sharing this pleasure with him, was suddenly cut off by the sad summons to follow his remains to their final resting place. During his last sickness he thought and spoke and did much for the Morgan School. His last gift to it of one hun- dred thousand dollars was made but a few weeks before his death. The total of his expenditures for the School, including the statues at Clinton and Yale, the building, endowments, and gifts for prizes, was nearly three hundred thousand dollars. His interest in it increased to the last. Every anniversary of the school and each succeeding year witnessed some new gift to it, or some liberal present to the scholars. Had he lived still longer, this interest would have deepened and his benefac- tions would have continued. Among his plans of enlarge- ment, as the growth of the school might require, was the erec- tion of a large Boarding-house for students, the purchase of additional grounds fronting the school, and the laying out of a fine street from the school house directly to the shore. Mr. Morgan's example in the princely gift he made to his native town is worthy of imitation. Are there not other sons of Connecticut whose love for the homestead will prompt sim- ilar donations to their native towns? By founding schools and libraries, how easily could the favorites of fortune build a monument each for himself, and be henceforth gratefully recog- nized as the benefactor of his fellow-citizens and of future gen- erations. There is a rare luxury in witnessing the fruits of one's benefactions, giving while living, and able to enjoy the rich results, rather than leaving legacies to be lessened or lost in the wrangles of contending heirs. THE NORMAL SCHOOL. All candidates for teaching are invited lo seriously consider the question whether they can afford to deny themselves the rich opportunities now offered in our JSTormal School. Experi- ence shows that special preparation is requisite for the highest success in teaching. No calling more needs a special school for instruction in its appropriate science and methods. Visiting schools in all parts of the State, I can bear testimony to the superior success of Normal graduates.. I frequently hear from them strong statements as to the advantages gained by them from their Normal Course. Though the attendance at the Normal School has gradually increased, it falls far short of what it might be and ought to be. If there was throughout the State a just appreciation of the school, it would be thronged, and at least a^ hundred candidates would be found seeking admission at the opening of the term in September next.- School visitors cannot well render a better service to the cause of education than by calling the attention of young teachers to the value of professional training. My opinions on this subject may seem to be biased by my official connection with the school. I will therefore cite an impartial witness, one who has had large experience as a teacher and in the organization and supervision of State schools — Dr. Barnas Sears, As Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, President of Brown University, and for many years Agent of the. Peabody Education Fund, he has had rare opportunities of observing methods and results on a broad field. His successful experience in aiding and establishing public schools in all the Southern States has fully confirmed the opinions he formed while supervising the schools of Massachusetts. His wise and 67 earnest words are strongly commended to the careful considera- tion of our school visitors and through them to all young candi- dates for teaching. "The great fault with untrained teachers is, that thev do little but teach the words and formulas of books. A Normal graduate teaches things, principles, thoughts. Every point is examined orally ; and subjects are sifted by the exercise of the judgment as well as the memory. The pupil is made to see with his own eyes, and to rely on his own observations. Books are a mere syllabus, a skeleton, to be clothed with flesh by the teacher and pupil. Practical knowledge of almost every kind is worked in continually with the subjects of study. All the common objects of sight — such as flowers, plants, trees, rocks, birds, insects, tame and wild animals, form, color, and dimen- sions ; manners, morals, laws of health ; gymnastic exercises, drawing, and the cultivation of the voice, — receive special atten- tion. This common-sense knowledge of useful things is a vital part of popular education. Instead of this, how often are the poor children wearied with the endless repetition of mere words, the dry and stale lumber of the books I The only way to pre- vent such disastrous results and to make the schools the pride of the people is for the State to make provision for thoroughly training a large body of teachers. To make a suitable provision among teachers certain, it is necessary to establish Normal Schools — a proper function of the State. This will give dignity to the profession, and produce a radical change in the schools. Can anything be more desirable than these two objects ? Is there any greater reproach resting upon our systems of educa- tion than the low character of many of the schools, and the utter incompetency of many of the teachers ? It is said by those who do not believe in progress, that a teacher is born, not made, which, in its true sense, only means that he should have a natural aptitude for his calling, just as if this principle were not applicable to a lawyer, physician, or even to an artizan of any kind. In addition to this aptitude, which only indicates what one's occupation should be, without fitting him for it, every man should be bred to his profession. To be a great scholar, even a genius must be a diligent student. To be a great general, one must be not only born to command, 68 but educated to command. There is nothing peculiar in the case of the school teacher. His profession is like other profes- sions, and requires special preparation, as all others do, and for preciseh^ the same reason. The knowledge furnished by our literary institutions is only half of what the teacher needs, and much the easier half You will find twenty who have this qualification, where you find one who knows how to teach and govern. The teacher must know how to enter the hidden recesses of the youthful mind, and from that point work out- ward and upward. The pupil is like a treasure in the sea, and the teacher like a diver who goes to the bottom to bring it up. If you do not descend and ascertain first exactly where the child's mind is, j'-ou will not bring him up where you are. The descent of the teacher is essential to the ascent of the pupil. The beginnings of knowledge are obscure and. mysterious. This is especially true of written language, the first thing with which the primary teacher has to deal. The sound of long o, for example, has seven different representations ; and each of these has a different sound in other words. How does the ordi- nary teacher go to work? He makes the child commit to memory the names, not the powers, of these letters. What would you think of the teacher of chemistry, who, instead of showing what oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen are, should merely give out the names to be committed to memory? There is but one thing more absurd; and that is what an educated man once did, who could teach Latin, Greek and Mathematics. He called up a child, and, pointing to the alphabet, said, 'Go to your seat and get that lesson.' He who can begin with a child and skillfully carry him through the first fifteen years of his life, does the greatest thing that is ever done for him. It is said by those who know no better, that a Normal School is nothing after all but a State High-School. They might just as well say that the science of medicine is nothing but physiol- ogy, civil engineering nothing but mathematics, and mining nothing but mineralogy, — all of which are taught in our col- leges. All professions are based upon general science and literature, but are built up on a structure of their own. There is a science of teaching and an art of teaching. A complete theoretical and practical course, illustrated in all the branches 69 to be taught, with their environments, is found nowhere out of the Normal School. To make this evident, one needs only to learn what a Normal School actually is. Besides reviewing elementary studies to see that there are no chasms, no weak points, and pursuing advanced studies to shed their light on the former, both courses are peculiar in this, that every step is taken with reference to the art of teaching. Then there is the difficult but indispensable study of the juvenile mind; — its intuitions and instincts; its dominant faculties, and the order of their development ; its delicate organism, weakness, and perils ; its active but one-sided curiosity ; its tastes and aversions; the causes of its lethargy or apparent dullness; the kind and degree of stimulus it needs; its social or unsocial tendencies; the play of its various passions; its biases to good or evil ; its condition, as affected by domestic example and training; the key which will unlock the secrets of its character ; the passion through which it can be governed ; its impulsiveness and changeableness ; its love of living con- crete forms, and distaste for abstractions ; its irrepressible imag- ination ; its active but feeble intellect. All these are psychological facts relating to the minds to be taught. Next comes the art of teaching, its conditions and pro- cesses: — In general, how to unfold a subject from its elementary principles ; how to awaken interest and excite curiosity ; how to create a sense of propriety and form a pure taste ; how to trans- mute the lower into higher motives; how to direct all knowl- edge to practical utility; how to make order do the work of discipline: — In particular, one must know the adaptation of instruction to capacity and attainment; the way to find a firm footing to begin with; a sure method of advancing from the known to the unknown ; the right proportion of teaching to study and thought; the relative claims of each branch of study ; the management of the bright and the dull ; the proper indul- gence or repression of individuality; the kind and amount of actual knowledge to be given. There is a still broader and higher view of education to which the teacher must aspire. On this subject, a new and progressive science is springing up. On what fundamental principles it should be founded and con- ducted is a question which is now tasking the strongest intel- 5 70 lects of the Old World. The ablest philosophical writers of Germany and England have taken up the subject. Since the education of the entire mass of the people has been undertaken by all civilized nations, a vastly wider range is given to the subject than was known to the old writers. The true aim of education is to be more carefully fixed, — -the kind and degree of it appropriate to the public schools ; and the better preparation for the duties of life are to be more nicely adjusted. Keform — not mere innovation made on untried theories, or one-sided, empirical methods, or any dead mechan- ism,- — but sound, rational reform, founded on well-tested princi- ples, is to control the whole process. Shall all this pass over our heads ? Or shall the great thoughts of the foremost men of the age be put iwto a practical form, and applied in all the schools of the land ? They must be made known by means of Normal Schools to the great body of teachers." THE FIELD PAEKS. On the thirty-first day of last October, the four surviving sons of Eev. David Dudley Field, D.D., celebrated the seventy- fifth anniversary of their father's marriage, by presenting to the town of Haddam two tracts of land for public parks, one known as Meeting House Grreen, the other including Isinglass Rock, west of the Brainard Academy, and comprising ten acres. The grounds of the Brainard Academy are thus virtually enlarged and made exceedingly attractive. The whole park, finely laid out with drives and walks by F. L. Olmsted of New York, the landscape gardener, and adorned with the choicest ornamental trees indigenous and imported, is a grand contribu- tion to the taste, sociality, good fellowship,* education, growth and prosperity of the town. The high bluff, "Isinglass Hill," commands for many miles a magnificent view of the river and its valley, with the long range of hills beyond. This valuable addition to the grounds of the Brainard Academy suggests and invites a corresponding enlargement of its funds. Brainard Academy, useful as it was in Dr. Field's day, is now crippled for want of an endowment. Dr. Field was long the most prominent and pronounced friend of popular education in this town and county. He took great interest in the common schools and especially in the Brainard Academy. Says A. B. Cook of Chicago, " I well recollect how we boys in Haddam liked to have Dr. Field visit our school, with his genial, kind face and benevolent smile of recognition j'^r us all, and how he cheered us in the Academy when we began the higher branches." Hon. D. N. Camp speaks in strong terms of the pleasure and profit with which, more than thirty-five years ago, he "listened to his timely lectures on public schools, ably setting forth broad and earnest convictions of the importance of educational progress." The history of the Brainard Acad- emy and its early association with Dr. Field, its beautiful and healthful location, its surroundings in an orderly, intelligent and * It is ah-eady decided to hold in this park an annual festival to cultivate public spirit and stimulate an interest in fuither village improvements. 72 moral community, and this grand park in the rear, practically a part of its own grounds, render this a most eligible site for a first class institution of learning, A large group of towns sur- rounding Haddam are unfavorably situated for the maintenance of separate High Schools, from which a well endowed Academy in this central position, easily accessible, both by railroad and river, would draw a liberal patronage. There is a hope, not to say expectation, that some generous benefactions will place this institution on such a basis of wide and permanent usefulness as shall realize the desires and anticipations of Dr. Field. What worthier monument could be erected to his memory than the liberal endowment of this school, for the upbuilding and im- provement of which he labored with such well directed zeal. The Field Memorial Park is here noticed for the double pur- pose of calling attention to the pressing needs of Brainard Academy and giving a cordial acknowledgment of the dona- tion of the Field brothers. In behalf of the friends of educa- tion so far as I may represent them, I desire to express a high appreciation of their grand gift to Haddam and thus to Con- necticut, for our Slate takes a lively interest in the growth and prosperity of each of her towns. This worthy example ought to make many others, opportune as it is, in view of the growing interest in rural adornment throughout our State. There is hardly one of our towns that has not at home or abroad some favored sons who, by forming parks or founding schools or libraries, could easily render this most fitting tribute to their mother soil. The sentiment that honors and cherishes one's birth-place is noble and ennobling. I am aware that a popular prejudice associates weakness and effeminacy with such taste, refinement and liberality. But this sentiment has ever characterized the greatest and best of men and is a prime element of true man- hood. The cold and selfish soul is sterile in heroic virtues. There is a New England railway king, now a millionaire, who seldom visits his native town, takes no interest in it, does noth- ing for it^ and leaves even the old homestead and grounds, though still owned by him, neglected and forlorn. Indeed such examples are too common. On the other hand, the greatest grandeur of intellect accords with fervor of filial feeling, with 73 fondest home attachments and with refinement and delicacy of taste. It is perfectly in keeping with the intellectual greatness of Daniel Webster to find him fondly cherishing and beautify- ing the old homestead, enriching and improving the paternal acres and eloquently discoursing on the sacred associations of home, the transcendent sweets of domestic life, the happiness of kindred and parents and children. Washington was as delicate, courteous and affectionate in his domestic relations and attach- ments as he was wise in council and courageous in war, A beautiful trait in Bryant's character was evinced by his devotion to the old homestead and the little secluded town of Cumming- ton among the Hampshire hills, hallowed to him by the memo- ries of father and mother, and the sacred association of child- hood. To that little town which he did so much to adorn and enrich and educate, he ever deemed it a privilege to make an annual visit — a summer visit with his household, often pro- longed for weeks and months. That the old early associations might remain, raising the old house, he built beneath and around it a stately mansion, so that the paternal rooms remained intact. It is a good omen that public interest in the embellishments of rural homes and villages is widely extending, and that the varied charms of the country with its superior advantages for the physical and moral training of children are attracting many thoughtful men to the simpler enjoyments and employments of rural life. With this growth of public taste, the day is not distant when fine parks, though not as beautiful as "Isinglass Hill," and elegant country villas and villages will abound throughout our State. Dr. Bushnell, with his keen observation and intense love of rural scenery was wont to vsay, " No part of our country between the two oceans is susceptible of greater external beauty than Connecticut. It is not in the great cities nor in the confined shops of trade, but principally in agriculture that the best stock or staple of men is grown. It is in the open air, in communion with the sky, the earth, and all living things, that the largest inspiration is drunk in and the vital energies of a real man are constructed." A taste for rural adornment is a source of physical, mental and moral health as well as enjoy- 74 ment. The parentage of parks, lawns, trees, flowers, vines and shrubs becomes a matter of just pride and binds one to the spot he has adorned. This park will be a school for coming generations where young and old alike may study nature in her fairest forms and learn new lessons of truth and beauty. Nature is the great educator. Birds, flowers, insects, and all animals are our practical primary teachers. In Grod's plan, facts and objects as best seen in the country are the earliest and the leading instruments of developing the faculties of the juvenile mind. They cannot be fully trained when cooped up within brick walls, witnessing only city scenes. The excessive passion for city attractions and ambition for easier lives and more genteel employments have brought ruin to multitudes and financial disaster to the nation. A great peril to the land to-day comes from the swelling throngs, rang- ing from the reckless tramp to the fashionable idler, who are ever devising expedients alike foul or fair, to get a living with- out work. The disparagement of country life has been one of the worst tendencies of the times. The country has ever been the great school of mind, and has sent forth far more than its proportion of gifted men to the centers of influence. An illustration is found in the striking fact that the Chief Justice of the United States and two of the Associate Judges were born within thirty-five miles of Haddam.* Every influence should therefore be combined to foster these home attachments, for there is protection as well as education in the fervent love of home with its sacred associations. Patri- otism itself hinges on the domestic sentiments. When one's home becomes the Eden of taste and interest and joy, those healthful local ties are formed which bind him first and most to the spot he has embellished, and then to his town, his Stale and country. Whatever adorns one's home and ennobles his domestic life, strengthens kis love of country and nurtures all the better elements of his nature. On the other hand, any man without local attachments can have no genuine patriotism. As happy in one place as in another, he is like a tree planted in a tub, portable indeed, but at the expense of growth and strength. Said Monsieur Lariaux, the French Deputy to the American * Chief Justice Waits was born in Lyme, Judge Field in Haddam, and Judge Strong in Somers. 75 Evangelical Alliance, in his farewell address, " your homes, homes, sweet homes — these are the safeguards of your freedom. Oh pray, as you gather at your family altars, that my poor France may have such homes." Dr. Field really was the father of the Brainard Academy. He started the project, selected the site, planned the building and prompted the Brainard brothers to build and endow the school. He was chairman of the Board of Trustees and the chief man- ager of the school. He laid the corner stone and gave an able address on that occasion, June 8, 1839, which was published entire in the Middletown Constitution, a copy of which is furn- ished me by the kindness of a citizen of Haddam who heard it. A few extracts from this address are here pertinent. " The corner stone of Brainard Academy on this beautiful site is now laid. The institution owes its existence to the liberality of the two brothers N. and Gr. Brainard. May they live to see the good effects of their bounty in the growing intelligence, virtue, and good order of this community. The Academy is designed particularly for intellectual education, but knowledge should be inculcated in connection with those principles and motives which are most likely with the Divine blessing to lead youth to virtue and piety. Our capacity for knowledge suggests the importance of education. Endowed with understanding, we are criminal if we do not cultivate our intellects. What is so plainly a duty is also essential to our happiness. Ignorance instead of being " the mother of devotion" is the mother of errors, crimes, and abominations innumerable. Penitentiaries and prisons confirm this declaration. Ignorance is the mother of nothing good. The animal gratifications which may be enjoyed without education are the lowest allotted to man, and even these education regulates and refines. Knowledge every- where is power, but associated with virtue, it is power for doing- good, power to get property, without which the great ends of civilized society cannot be attained. The arts involved in hus- bandry, manufactures and commerce are based upon science. Were education more extended and elevated, more inventors like Fulton and Whitney would arise to bless mankind. For the want of education, how few things have savages to make life comfortable. The attachments of husbands and wives, of 76 parents and children, and of members of their tribes, are more like! the attachments of bears and tigers to their mates, their young and company. There is nothing of the taste and refine- ment needful to make home wholly sweet home. But some, admitting the importance of a common school education, affirm that the higher branches are not needed. This is a mistake. Both are essential to important purposes in society. Both need to be more cultivated and elevated than they have ever yet been anywhere in the world. Besides, the common branches of education will not be cherished without the higher. The common schools of our country were introduced by the best educated men of the times. None know the value of education so well as those who have enjoyed its benefits the most. These are the most efficient and able advocates of education in all its branches. All the light possessed and reflected by the inferior orbs comes down from the sun. In view of these principles, with what emotion should we regard the commencement of an institution like this — an institution long needed here, long hoped for, and now about to be realized. Such an institution duly managed promises unspeakable good. And who are inte- rested in this ? Primarily the youth whom I see around me and who will soon experience its blessings. Many will attend this Academy who could not command the means of going out of town for their education. All may here gain a superior education and enjoy at the same time the guardianship of parents and the kind offices of friends. Parents are interested for they live in their children. The patriot, the philanthropist, the Christian is interested. Who then is there that loves the young, that loves society, that loves the church, that loves the soul, who will not pray that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, that our daughters may be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a -palace. Pray we must for except the Lord build this house they will labor in vain who build it. Except He prosper us, our fond anticipations for this institution will not be realized." The dedicatory prayer which Dr. Field then offered is remembered to this day by the older citizens of Haddam as an earnest and almost an inspired production. It is fitting to follow this address of Dr. Field by that of his eldest son given at the dedication of the Field Park. 77 '' Ladifjs AiSTD 4tENTLEMEN : — You know that we are here to deliver into your hands the parcel of ground on which we are standing, and that other which lies in view before us, to be kept as pleasure grounds for the people of Haddam in all time to come. We give them in memory of our father and mother, who were married seventy-five years ago to-day, and came immediately afterward to make their abode on this river-side, where he was soon to become the pastor of the church and con- gregation. Here they lived active and useful lives, in the fear of God and love of man, doing faithfully their several duties, he in public ministrations from pulpit and altar, at bridal, baptism, and burial, and she in the quiet tasks of her well-ordered house- hold. Though now, after more than fifty years of wedded life, they sleep side by side in the pleasant valley beyond the Con- necticut hills, where their last days passed serenely away, they were faithful until death to the love of their early home. Natural indeed it was, for here they passed their first years together ; here they raised their first domestic altar, and here most of their children were born. For this cause, and in grate- ful remembrance of their love and sacrifices for us, we, their surviving children, four of us only out of ten, present these memorials, not of cold stone, though the hills about us teem with everlasting granite, but of shaded walks, green lawns, and spreading trees, where this people may find pleasure and refresh- ment, generation after generation, so long as these fertile meadows, these rugged hills, and this winding river shall endure. And remembering that "beauty is truth, truth beauty," we hope that they will cultivate here that love of nature, which is a joy in youth and a solace in age ; which nourishes the affections, and refines while it exalts; which rejoices in the seasons and the months as they pass, with their varying beau- ties ; catches the gladness of June and the radiance of the October woods ; and in every waking moment, sees, hears, or feels, something of the world around to take pleasure in and be grateful for. We trust that they will come, not in this year only or this century, but in future years and centuries, the fair young girl, the matron in the glory of womanhood, the boy and the man, grandson and grandsire, in whatever condition or cir- cumstance, poverty or riches, joy or sorrow, to find here a new 6 78 joj or a respite from sorrow ; to driuk in the light of sun and moon, listen to the music of birds aud winds, feel the fresh breath of life-sustaining air, thank Grod and take courage. Reverently then we dedicate these memorials of our parents, to the enjoyment forever hereafter of those, and the descendants of those, whom they loved, and among whom they dwelt." The following letter of Governor Hubbard will be read with interest. Executive Department, State of Conn,, ) Hartford, October 29, 1878. \ I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your invita- tion to be present at a memorial presentation by the Messrs. Field, of a public park to the town of Haddam. Engagements which I caimot control will oblige me to be absent. I regret this necessity; for, in the first place, I should be glad of an opportunity to present my respects to the very distinguished, gentlemen to whom you are so much indebted for this endow- ment, and whose generosity and filial piety will cause the names of both father and sons to be remembered by your townsmen from generation to generation. In the next place, I should be glad to mark my interest in a work of Village Improvement, which will not fail, I trust, to\ awaken public attention and provoke imitation throughout our whole State ; and I shall not regret it, but hail it rather, if this addition to the attractions of your picturesque and historical old town, furnished by gentlemen from without the State, one of them from the other side of the continent even, shall excite and even shame our own people into a larger public spirit and better eflbrts to redeem from negligence our rural homes and villages. Nearly all our towns are full of objects of natural beauty easy of development, and very many of them rich in legendary and historical associations. What is greatly wanted is some- thing more of rui-al art and adornment. Something which shall beautify our country villages, educate public taste, make the homes of the fathers dearer to their sons and the local associ- ations of childhood dearer to old age, and thus turn back, in part at least, the tide of migration from the rural towns, and make the city seek the country life and make it what it used to be in our own State, and what it still is in the oldest and most cultivated nations of the world. I beg to remain with the highest respect. Your obedient servant, R D. Hubbard. CLINTON KURAL IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION. As calls are often made for a plan for Village Improvement Societies, I insert that adopted in Clinton. i. This Association shall be called "The Eural Improvement Association of Clinton." 2. The object of this Association shall be to cultivate public spirit, quicken the social and intellectual life of the people, promote good fellowship, and secure public health by better hygienic conditions in our homes and surroundings, improve our streets, roads, public grounds, side-walks, and in general to build up and beautify the whole town, and thus enhance the value of its real estate and render Clinton a still more inviting place of residence. 3. The officers of this Association shall consist of a President, a Vice-President, a Treasurer, a Secretary, and an Executive Committee of fifteen, six of whom shall be ladies. 4. It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to make all contracts, employ all laborers, expend all moneys, and superintend all improvements made by the Association. They shall hold meetings monthly from April to October in each year, and as much oftener as they may deem expedient. 5. Every person, who shall plant three trees by the road side, under the direction of the Executive Committee, or pay three dollars in one year or one dollar annually, and obligate himself or herself to pay the same annually for three years, shall be a member of this Association. 6. The payment of ten dollars annually for three years, or of twenty-five dollars in one sum, shall constitute one a life member of this Association. 7. Five members of the Executive Committee present at any meeting shall constitute a quorum. 8. No debt shall be contracted by the Executive Committee beyond the amount of available means within their control, and no member of the Association shall be liable for any debt of the Association, beyond the amount of his or her subscription. 80 9. The Executive Committee shall call an annual meeting, giving due notice of the same, for the election of officers of this Association, and at said meeting, shall make a djetailed report of all moneys received and expended during the year, the number of trees planted under their direction, and the number planted by individuals, length of side-walks made or repaired, and the doings of the Committee in general. 10. This constitution may be amended at any annual meet ing by a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting. SCHOOLS AND COMMUNISM, NATIONAL SCHOOLS, AND OTHER PAPERS- B. G. ^^OETHEOP. [From Report of Connecticut State Board of Education for 1879.] NEW HAVEN: TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR. PRINTERS. 18V9.