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one vote in the Senate, Mr. Carter established such a seminary in Lancaster, as a private enterprise, in the same year; and in 1830 a similar seminary was established at Andover, with the expectation that Mr. Gallaudet, of Hartford, would become its principal, but was opened under the direction of Rev. S. S. Hall, who had been a teacher of teachers in a private seminary in Concord, Vermont, from 1822, and whose lectures read to his pupil-teachers, were published in 1829 under the title of 'Lectures on SchoolKeeping,' almost the first contribution to this department of American literature.

In 1827, the school laws were thoroughly revised, by which, among other modifications, in each town of fifty families the teacher or teachers must be employed, must be of good morals, and competent to instruct children in orthography, reading, writing, English grammar, geography, arithmetic, and good behavior, for at least six months in the year;' and in towns of one hundred families, the following branches must be added-history of the United States, book-keeping by single entry, geometry, surveying, and algebra; and in every city or town of four thousand inhabitants, the master shall be able to teach, in addition, the Latin and Greek languages, history, rhetoric, and logic.' All towns are authorized to raise by tax any amount of money they may think necessary for the support of schools. Each town may, in addition to the school committee, appoint one person for each district in the town, a resident of the district, to be called a prudential committee, or they may authorize the districts to choose their own committee. The committee are forbidden to prescribe books favoring any particular religious sect.

In 1829, the first public effort to educate the blind was made in Boston, by the incorporation of the New England Asylum for the Blind, and turning over to its use any unexpended balance of the State's appropriation for deaf mutes.

In 1830, the American Institute of Instruction was formed at Boston, composed of members from all parts of the country, and incorporated by the legislature of Massachusetts in 1831, and in 1835, through the influence of James G. Carter, (who more than any other one man was the mover in all the advanced legislation of the State from 1830 to 1838), was aided by an annual grant of $350 to meet the expense of the publication of the annual volumes, which now amount to 42.

In 1834, provision was made for a State School Fund (out of the sale of lands in Maine, and claims of the State on the govern

ment of the United States for military services, to which have since been added other sources), which was originally limited to $1,000,000, but from time to time the maximum was raised, until in 1872 the capital was $2,233,366. In the same year the employment of children under the age of fifteen years, in any manufacturing establishment was forbidden, unless such child had attended some public or private school taught by a teacher qualified according to law, at least three of the twelve months next preceding, on a forfeiture of $50 for each offense, for the use of the common schools in the town. This provision has been modified from time to time, until now the main object of school attendance, the elementary instruction of such children, is secured.

In 1836, the school laws were revised, and appear in the statutes under the title of Public Instruction.' In this revision the school committee are required to include in their annual school returns the number and attendance in all private schools and academies. 'No apportionment of the income of the school fund can be paid to any town which does not make the return required by law, or raise by taxation, for the wages of teachers only, a sum equal to one dollar for each person belonging to such town between the ages of 4 and 16.' This sum has been increased until it now stands at $1.50 for each person between 5 and 15.

In 1837, the legislature authorized the expenditure of $20 for each district for the purchase of a district school library. To supply the want of books suitable for this purpose, the State Board caused to be prepared a selection of books, entitled 'The School Library,' consisting of two series, one for children 10 and 12 years of age and under, and the other for advanced scholars and their parents. This action of the Board, however, met with considerable opposition, as being meant to control the reading facilities of the public, and the enterprise, after reaching thirty volumes, was abandoned by them. To encourage districts in the purchase of school libraries, the State appropriated to each district of sixty children between the ages of 4 and 15 years, the sum of $15 towards the purchase of the same; and for districts having over sixty children, the sum was increased proportionately to the number. In 1843, any town or city in the commonwealth was authorized to raise and appropriate to school libraries a sum equivalent to $15 to each grouping of sixty children, which in 1851 was extended to maintaining a public library for the use of the inhabitants of the town, and providing the same with suitable rooms under proper regulations for its government; and to appropriate annually

a sum not exceeding fifty cents for each of its rateable polls in the year next succeeding that in which such appropriation is made.

Social libraries may be established by seven or more proprietors associating themselves into a corporation for the purpose of establishing, extending, or enlarging such library. According to the returns of 1872, there were 60 city and town libraries, with an aggregate of 500,000 volumes, beside 265 social libraries, with 643,866 volumes.

In 1837, school districts were authorized to raise money to establish and maintain a common school library and apparatus for the use of the children therein, to the amount of $50 for the first year and $10 for each succeeding year. This provision has been modified until now all towns and cities may establish libraries by tax.

In the same year, in place of a State Superintendent, as asked for, a Board of Education was instituted, to consist of the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and ten persons, holding their offices respectively for eight years, whose duty it was made to submit to the legislature in a printed form, annually, an abstract of the annual school returns made by the town committees; 'to appoint a secretary, who, under their direction, shall collect information of the actual condition and efficiency of the common schools, and other means of popular education, and to diffuse as widely as possible. through every part of the commonwealth, information as to the most approved and successful methods of arranging the studies and conducting the education of the young, to the end that all children who depend upon common schools may have the best education which they can be made to impart; and to submit annually to the legislature a detailed report of all its doings, with such observations as their experience and reflection may suggest upon the condition and efficiency of our system of popular education, and the most practicable means of improving and extending it.' Of this board, Horace Mann, at the time an eminent lawyer, and president of the State Senate, was made Secretary.

In 1838, the school committee are required to make annually a detailed report of the condition of the several public schools, designating particular improvements and defects in the methods or means of education, to be read in open town meeting, or be printed and distributed for the use of the inhabitants, deposited in the office of the clerk of the town, and an attested copy transmitted to the secretary with the official return required by law.' The committee must also select and contract with the teachers in the town and the districts,' unless the town shall determine otherwise in

respect to the districts; must enter in a record-book all their proceedings, and deliver over the same, at the expiration of the year, to their successors in office; shall fill up all the blanks and answer the inquiries in the form of return prescribed by the State Board, and cause the school register prescribed by said Board to be faithfully kept in all the town and district schools.' The committee thus charged with new and important duties are required to be paid 'one dollar each per day, and such additional compensation as the town may allow.' In the same year, the secretary in addition to his other duties, is required to attend in each county a meeting of teachers, school committees, and friends of education generally, and diligently apply himself to the object of collecting information of the condition of the public schools of such county, of the manner in which school committees fulfill the duties of their office, and the condition of the districts in respect to teachers, pupils, books, apparatus, and methods of education, in order to furnish requisite material for the report of the Board.'

In the same year, the establishment of special institutions for qualifying teachers for common schools, first systematically presented by Thomas H. Gallaudet and James G. Carter in periodicals in 1824-5, and issued in pamphlet form in the year following, and subsequently advocated almost every year in educational conventions and addresses, and particularly after 1835 by Rev. Charles Brooks-was secured by the offer of the sum of $10,000, by Edmund Dwight, of Boston, then a member of the State Senate and of the Board of Education, on the condition that a like sum should be appropriated by the State for the same object. The offer was accepted, and the sum of $10,000 appropriated by the State, and both sums placed at the disposition of the Board of Education; and three schools were opened at Lexington, Bridgewater, and Barre. The former was subsequently removed to West Newton, and still later to Farmingham, and the latter to Westfield. In 1853, a fourth school was opened in Salem, and in 1872, a fifth was established in Worcester. A city normal school was opened in Boston, in 1853; and various other special trainining schools exist in other cities.

In 1839, every school averaging 50 scholars was required to employ a female assistant, and contiguous districts were authorized to associate for the purpose of maintaining a Union school for the older children of such associating districts. This (and a similar Act in Connecticut of the same year) is the germ of the whole system of Union and Graded schools which now prevails in every State.

In 1840, a vigorous attempt was made in the legislature to reverse the policy of a State provision for educating teachers, by returning to Mr. Dwight the gift made by him to the State, for this purpose, and to abandon all State supervision of schools; and at one period it was anticipated by Gov. Everett, and Mr. Mann, that the proposition would succeed by a small majority in both Houses.

In 1841, the town of Springfield appropriated the sum of $1,000 as a salary for the Superintendent of Public Schools, to be selected and appointed by the town committee. This office was filled by the appointment of S. S. Green, afterwards Professor in Brown University, and was an important step in the improvement of school supervision in Massachusetts. Several other towns followed the example of Springfield. But in Lowell the right of the town to appoint such officer was contested, which led to the passage of an Act in 1854 requiring the school committee to appoint a superintendent wherever the town or city shall so determine, and gradually the practice of appointing a superintendent has extended to all the cities and many large towns. In Boston, after the subject had been discussed for years in the School Committee and City Council, the office was created in 1851, and filled by the appointment of Nathan Bishop, at that time occupying the same position in Providence (since 1839,) the earliest officer devoting his whole time to the work, in the United States.

In 1842, the sum of $6,000, annually for three years was appropriated to continue the Normal Schools which were for the first time designated State institutions; and the policy of district school libraries was extended to towns and cities.

In 1845, an important decision was made by the Supreme Court, by which the right of all towns to vote such sums of money for the support of town schools, and to make the public schools as good, as long, and as numerous as in the exercise of an honest discretion they may deem it expedient, was affirmed. In this case the town of Newburyport had provided for the support of all the schools, including the town grammar school, required by law, and also voted to raise money for the support, and did support a Female High School for the purpose of teaching book-keeping, algebra, geometry, hygiene, mental, moral, and natural philosophy, the Latin and French languages, and other higher branches than were taught in the grammar schools of the town. The court held this to be a town school within the meaning of the revised statutes, and the money for its support could be legally raised by tax.

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