perform admirable service, meet the desideratum and amply and satisfactorily fill up the existent deficiency? THOMAS BAYNE, Irasburgh.

Probably the greatest difficulty the system has to encounter in this town, is the almost hopeless condition of the schoohouses. Many of them are old and dilapidated, and even those more recently constructed, and intended to be excellent houses, are unfit for the purposes for which they were built. Their design is miserable and their execution worse. It is strange that people will not learn how to build schoolhouses. I think the interest in the cause of common school education is increasing among the parents of this town; but it is still, in some districts, in a feeble state. Some schools in town were not visited by a single parent during the winter term. In spite of these difficulties we have had some excellent schools, which I think was due mostly to the superior teachers placed in them.

While some of the Registers were filled with much care and neatness, others exhibited, very plainly, much ignorance and carelessness on the part of teachers and district clerks.

ROYAL CUMMINGS, Newport.

The schools in this town show a marked improvement. Four years ago there was not a schoolhouse in town that was at all fit for the use to which it was applied. Now there are four good schoolhouses, and the other districts are agitating the question of building new houses. Wherever the new houses have been built, the increased interest in the schools is very manifest. I think too much cannot be done to make the schoolhouse a place that the children will love. It cannot fail of having a good effect upon their after lives. They should learn to love the beautiful as well as their A. B. C. It costs money, but we are apt to prize that most which costs us most. I consider that a good argument for defraying the whole expense of the school upon the Grand List. No man that paid his tax to board the teacher and furnish fuel would like to see their female teachers wallowing through the snow to and from some remote boarding place, or consent to have a little pile of green wood covered with snow and the bigger boys digging it out and consuming half of the forenoon, perhaps, in getting the fire started, and perhaps before that is accomplished, an axe has been sent for, and a board or rail from some neighboring fence has been impressed into service! No, put the whole thing upon the Grand List, then teachers would have good boarding places; there would be warm schoolhouses, a good woodhouse well filled with dry wood, everybody in the district well satisfied. Those having large lists and no children would feel an interest in the schoolhouse and all that pertained to it,- -a warm house because it took less wood, and good dry wood for the same reason. But there is another thing a fixed fact-a principle, from which no man that is a man would wish to dodge, the property of the country should educate the children of the country. There is no getting away from this; and no man that wishes to tax a poor man, with a large family, to support the school, is a real lover of his country.

CHARLES BLAKE, Salem.

The schools of our town have prospered the past year, better than any previous year since I have been a citizen of the town.

The practical workings of the school law are felt and seen in our good schools. It is a matter of encouragement to all interested in the subject of education, that we are favored with a school law so practical in its workings, and so beneficial in its results.

The schoolhouses in our town are not as good as they should be, yet the people are waking up in this respect. The people at the South Village have a large and commodious house in process of erection; and other districts are talking strongly of shifting their "old hovels" for new, modern styled schoolhouses. May "God speed the right." M. F. VARNEY, Troy.

In six districts in town, the schools have not been visited by the Prudential Committee during the past year. They hired the teachers and set them to work; that was their duty; but was that all? Their own consciences, unless they are sadly perverted, must answer, No. The length of time in which schools have been maintained, exceeds

that of the previous year by about eighteen months. Some of the schools have been excellent; others not what they ought to have been, nor what they might have been had the teachers had the active and earnest co-operation of the parents in their labors.

There has been no improvement the past year in the conveniences or comforts of the schoolhouses. The remarks and suggestions made in regard to them, a year ago, are as pertinent now as they were then. So long as these things are neglected, so long the benefits derived from schools will continue to be meagre and unsatisfactory. The irregularity and want of punctual attendance upon the schools are evils which might and ought to be remedied. Many parents seem to think it a matter of no great importance whether a child is regular in attendance upon school or not,-whether he is always prompt and punctual, or uniformly tardy. Nothing detracts more from the efficiency of school, or tends more to discourage and dishearten a teacher than irregularity and tardiness in attendance. It should not be left optional with children whether they will go to school or not. They should be taught at home that it is not only their duty to go, but a privilege they ought to prize.

The great majority of the people fail to realize fully the necessity of the public schools to the life and permanence of the State. Most regard them a very convenient arrangement in which they have no particular interest unless they happen to have children to send. The true principle on which the common school is based, is that of necessity; and every citizen of the State has a direct and personal interest in the well being of its schools. New England's schools have raised her to her present high position. Her citizens are loyal, intelligent and thoughtful. Had the South possessed similar means for the mental and moral culture of all classes, the slave rebellion would never have cast its dark shadow over the land. The strength of our government consists more in the intelligent minds of the people than the muscles of their arms. Republicanism depends on the intelligence of the people; despotism rests upon ignorance.

R. D. KING, Benson.

I have nothing of special interest to add concerning the schools in this town, more than to say that, as a general thing, they have been well conducted and quite successful, and will, no doubt, compare favorably with those of any other town. But still I am painfully conscious they are not what they ought to be, nor what they might be, if there could only be a more general and abiding interest taken in them by the inhabitants of the town and of the various school districts. Such an interest would make them at once twice as efficient and successful as they now are. It would cure the tardiness and the too numerous dismissals, which now operate so unfavorably upon the school. In my report to the town, I called special attention to this fact, and said that this was a matter that could be corrected only by the parents and guardians of the children-the teacher could here exercise no arbitrary control. I know of no way in which this great evil can be remedied, but by a deepening of the interest which all should feel in the success of our schools. The schoolhouses through the town, with one exception, are in good condition and eligibly located.

I would also suggest that the school Registers be more firmly bound, as they can hardly be made to last in their present condition through two terms of school.

L. MARSHALL, Castleton.

There has been some advance in the condition of schoolhouses in this town the past year. One new one has been built, and a very neat, convenient and comfortable house it is. Most of the school houses in town are inconvenient, uncomfortable and unhealthy things-not but what they have ventilation enough for health, but it is not within the control of the teacher. In most of them, it is obtained by loose floors, smashed doors, broken windows, cracked ceilings and open roofs. Most of them infringe upon the highways, and none have fenced grounds. With such accommodations the influence upon our scholars is anything but what it should be.

There does not seem to be much interest taken in schools by parents in this town, if visiting schools is an index of their feelings on this subject. I see recorded in the Registers the visits of but two or three parents. All seem to think that if they vote money, hire a teacher and compel their children to attend school, it is all that is required of them. If parents would visit schools more, it would not only stimulate the scholars but the teachers, and make them feel the responsibilities upon them, and that their hands were upheld by those of the parents. Parents would also be better able to judge of the fitness of their teachers, the comfortableness of their schoolhouses, and the

progress of their children. If parents in this town were obliged to attend school one day in each week, in most of the schoolhouses in town, we should soon see a great change in them.

WM. O. HARRISON, Chittenden.

I am aware that from the awkward, and in many instances erroneous manner in which District Clerks have made their returns in the Registers, it is almost impossible to approximate any where near accuracy in returning statistics; and I find, upon comparison of the sums and numbers in this report, that there are many inaccuracies in it. I have, however, followed the Registers, and used them as the foundation of this report. Upon comparison of the reports filed in the Town Clerk's office by District Clerks, last February, and the sworn returns of the same officers in the school Registers, I find there is a variance in the two sets of reports, of over ninety in the number of children between four and eighteen, in town. Also, in one district where I have heard much complaint of high taxes, the District Clerk reports the amount raised upon the Grand List at fifty cents, while in another, we are informed, by the same authority, that the district has raised upon the Grand List, during the year, the enormous sum of seventeen cents.

We have one schoolhouse in town which is an ornament to the district to which it belongs, and two or three more may be regarded as decent, while the remainder are not fit for sheep pens. There does not appear to be sufficient interest taken by parents in the educational progress of their children. The manner which will bring the year around with the smallest outlay of dollars and cents, is regarded as the only feasible plan, and if an individual suggest an idea for the improvement of our schools or schoolhouses, he must demonstrate that it will cost nothing before he can ensure a hearing by the majority of those upon whom rests the responsibility of preparing the rising generation to act their part in their department of human usefulness.

That property should be made the basis of taxation in all cases, I believe to be the true theory. It is not only impolitic but unjust to support governments by a per capita tax entirely upon the citizens of such government; and the same principle holds good in the practical working of our school system. The Grand List of the school district is the only basis which should be used in managing the financial affairs of the district. The advocates of raising money to sustain schools by a tax upon the scholar, are yearly growing less in number, and the system itself is fast going into disuse.

I, too, most heartily deprecate the practice of school teachers boarding " around." My experience as a teacher, and my observation as an individual, has fully convinced me that it is a great inconvenience for both the boarded and the boarder, and has not a single advantage or pleasant feature to redeem it from its disadvantageous and inconvenient consequences, and I hope soon to see that practice, now so prevalent, a subject of history.

When the people will exhibit a suitable taste in the construction and adornment of their schoolhouses, when the vocation of the teacher shall be regarded in the light of a profession, and the development and the progress of the human soul shall assume a higher place in the minds of men than a few paltry dollars, we may expect to see the common schools of our State in the exalted position which their importance deserves. J. C. BAKER, Danby.

The Teachers' Institute, held here last spring, has had a beneficial influence upon the citizens as well as the teachers of the town. The suggestions made at that time have been well received by the people, and have waked up an interest in our common schools, seldom if ever, manifested here before, and in most instances, the schools in the several districts in town have been improved by this healthful influence. The attendance upon school meetings in the several districts, is double what it has been in any preceding year, and this interest seems to be in the scholar rather than in the dollar.

The new school law gains friends, and is doing a good work here. All expenses in the several districts (except what the public money defrays,) are paid by a tax raised on the Grand List.

A new schoolhouse, 45 by 65 feet, has been completed and furnished, in the center district, during the past year; and in its use this fact has been demonstrated, that a convenient and well arranged school room has much to do with the progress as well as the health of the scholars.

There is a remissness on the part of the District Clerks in making their returns, which should be remedied. In many items the Superintendent might as well guess at

the figures as to take those given by the Clerk. To illustrate-question No. 15, "State the number of weeks school sustained with other monies than those drawn from the Town treasury," has been answered by only one Clerk in town, and others, of vital importance, are left blank. The way in which many Clerks make their returns, is something after this manner: They sit down in their rooms, figure out what they can from the teachers' answers and guess at the rest, giving as a reason for so doing, "The district refuses to compensate them for their services, and they do not feel disposed to hunt up statistics for nothing." Ought there not to be some sum specified by law which they shall receive as compensation for their services?

J. W. EDDY, Fair Haven.

We have had some very good schools in town the past year. The most and the best have been taught by females. Good female teachers seem to lend a good moral tone to their schools and scholars, not imparted by male teachers, especially such young men as can be procured in rural districts, where the Grand List is small, and public funds in a corresponding state.

I think the law, in regard to the support of schools, gives good satisfaction in this town. In fact, I think it better to have it remain as it is. There are in many districts wealthy men, that constitute a majority, either by numbers or influence, who have no children to send to school, but feel a sufficient interest in the welfare of the rising generation to be willing to pay their share of the taxes to pay teachers' wages and keep schoolhouses in repair; whereas, if the school was to be wholly supported by tax on the Grand List, they would manage the thing so as to have no school at all, and no taxes. Again, it has a tendency to secure a better attendance on schools, for those who have to board and furnish fuel will have their attention called to the subject more frequently; and practicing natural economy, they will desire to get as much in return as possible for the outlay. So, instead of their children being allowed to run in the streets, they will see that they are in the schoolhouse.

C. W. FAY, Hubbardton.

I believe the desire in this town to have good schools, as well as the disposition to look after them, is on the increase. During the year two districts have been made from four. There are others. as 1 believe, which might be united with advantage. I hear of no objection to the existing school law. It is much easier to discover wrong than it is to right it. It seems to me that improvement, in respect to schools, is the result of well considered, well directed effort, and like charity begins at home. I shall insist this year upon a higher standard of qualifications for teachers, and shorten the period they remain in school, after ceasing in a good degree to be useful. Whatever other influences may unite, it is impossible to secure a good school without a good teacher. And it is well known that good teachers do not succeed equally well in different schools. It should be an object, then, with a district when it finds a teacher that is what it needs, to retain his services frem year to year, to increase his pay if necessary, and surround him with its sympathy and confidence. This practice would secure that preference of the faithful teacher which is his due; it would give those that are adapted to the work and are earnest in it, a reputation, and would tend to keep down growth of worthless teachers. This growth is the more rank in proportion as the distinction between good and poor teachers disappears.

It strikes me, Mr. Secretary, that out of the ages between four and eighteen, there are enough of us to be educated. One of the saddest effects of ignorance is, that it clings so fondly to itself. Not only is there a shameful and prevailing lack of knowledge of the laws under which we live-there is an absence of manly thought, and purposes and aims which stir men to become wiser and better, and which you are laboring to create in public schools. There is many a man at this late day who will not see that it is for his benefit to school "other folks' children." There are many districts which spend an amount of energy and thought and wrangling that, properly directed would secure a marked improvement in the schools. There is many a man that would be a blessing to his district were he stirred by thoughtful care to benefit the boys and girls growing up around him, rather than by seeking every occasion to impress upon others what he has long been clearly convinced of himself, that he is the greatest toad the puddle boasts of. A great detriment to the well-being of schools, as any one connected with them will not fail to see, is an under estimate of their importance, and lack of faith in them. One is often struck by the contrast between the character of a school as derived from

personal inspection and acquaintance, and the same as it exists in the minds of those who might and ought to be well acquainted with it. I account for this from the fact that, being bad often times ourselves, and conscious of it, we seek satisfaction in believing others bad. Too many of us would rather hear something bad of a person than any thing that is good. We prefer horrors to pleasant facts at the same price. We are willing for others to be taken down, for then, relatively, we are higher. Children instinctively see what is expected and most satisfactory, and come home to tell, not of the thousand delights of school life, but of enormities enforced, and rights cloven down, cr attempts to subvert the authority of the teacher in which the narrator is a brilliant actor, all of which is colored as we can bear it. The consequence is that parents come to have erroneous and lowered ideas of schools, and the teacher meets from them, as well as from scholars, a suspicion that has to be met and disarmed before he can be useful. CHARLES PARMENTER, Mt. Holly.

The fee allowed is a poor compensation for the toil endured in faithfully superintending common schools. But to know that the hearts of most of the youth and children beat kindly at the remembrance of one who has labored for their good, is real wealth.

And we have reason to hope, that when those whose characters are now" in process of formation" in common schools, shall come to act in our town meetings and council chambers, we shall find few, very few, who will lightly esteem the important work of Town Superintendents of common schools, or be unwilling to listen to the annual report of such Superintendent.

J. H. WOOD, Pittsford.

The importance of care and good judgment in the selection of teachers, whether male or female, can hardly be overrated. Most of our schools have been taught by female teachers. In the choice of female teachers rather than the other sex, we do not imagine districts are unfortunate. Providence seems to have designed that woman should be the teacher of children. I think those who accurately observe our schools, agree in attributing to female teachers a greater degree of tact and skill in teaching, than is usually possessed by males. They qualify themselves for teaching by attending Institutes, and otherwise and consequently make better and more successful teachers.

I am happy to observe that the custom of changing teachers with every term is gradually falling into disuse. No school can be really a good school which changes its teachers twice in every year. A teacher requires the experience of at least one term to become acquainted with his pupils. He has to classify them,-no easy task when the schools have not been graded. Then he must ascertain what mode of instruction is best adapted to the capacity of each one of them,-must study the peculiarities of their minds, else he cannot instruct them as he ought. We need teachers in whom is lite intellectual and moral, for it is life they are to create or quicken in their pupils. None but living teachers can make living scholars,-enkindle within the pupil that enthusiasm and desire for improvement, which being enkindled, the task is half completed. Such teachers secured, together with the co-operation of parents, cannot fail of producing schools of no ordinary character. A more direct interest must be taken by the parents and patrons of our schools before we can bring them to that standard which ought to be aimed at by the people of Vermont. Some measure should be taken by Legislative action, or to awaken the people by some means to the importance of the punctual and regular attendance of pupils upon public schools. It is alarming, even with the great progress that has been made, to know how many of the children of our State are even without any education, and are not availing themselves of the opportunities that are so freely offered them by our system of education. I believe that the work the Board of Education is doing for our commonwealth, must convince every reasonable man that no money in our State is so well appropriated, and from which so great a benefit is to be derived, as the money expended for public education under its direction, and I trust the day has passed when hindrances will be placed in the way of its success and the accomplishment of its holy mission.

HENRY CLARK, Poultney.