IDUCATIONAl DOCUMiPS. 
 
 WISCONSIN, JANUAM, 1850. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 I Inauguration of the Chancellor of the 
 University, - - - - 3. 
 
 II. Report of the Board of Regents, - 59. 
 
 Ill Report of the Superintendent of Pub- 
 lic Instruction, - - - 95, 
 
INAUGURATION 
 
 01 
 
 Boi. JOHN e. immi ii i 
 
 CHANCELLOR OF THE 
 
 UNIfEISlTf OF WISCONSIN, 
 
 AT THE CAPITOL, 
 
 MADISON, JAKUAKY 16. 1850. 
 
 SENTINEL AND GAZETTE POWER PRESS PRINT,. 
 185C 
 
l^:} 
 
 b 
 
 \j 
 
INAUGURATIO 
 
 At a Special Meeting of the Regents of the Universi- 
 ty of Wisconsin, holden at Madison on the 21st of No- 
 vember, it was 
 
 Resolved, That the Inauguration of the Chancellor elect take place on the 
 i6th day of January next, at the Capitol. 
 
 Whereupon Messrs. Mills, Dean and Root, were ap- 
 pointed a Committee of Arrangements. 
 
 On the 16th of January, 1850, both Houses of the Leg- 
 islature having adjourned over in honor of the occasion; 
 the Supreme Court, the State Medical Society, and the 
 Rail Road Convention, having each intermitted its session, 
 there was no rival attraction to divert the attention of ci- 
 tizens and strangers from the great event of the day. 
 
 Punctually at 10 o'clock, A. M., Gen, WilHam R. 
 Smith, Marshal of the Day, formed the Procession in the 
 following order: 
 
 1. Madison Brass Band. 
 
 2. Students of the University. 
 
 3. Citizens and Strangers. 
 
 4. Governor and Chancellor.; 
 
 5. President and Chaplain. 
 
 6. Regents of the University., 
 
 7. Judges of the Supreme Court. 
 
 8. Lieut. Governor and Senate. 
 
 9. Speaker and Members of the Assembly. 
 
 10. Committee of Arrangements. 
 
 Arrived at the entrance to the Capitol, the first three 
 divisions opened to the right and left, while the others 
 passed in. The Gallery of the Hall of the Assembly was 
 already crowded with ladies, and the floor of the Cham- 
 
her, spacious as it is, was speedily filled to its utmost ca- 
 pacity. 
 
 When the numerous auditory had come to order, Hon. 
 John H. Rountree presiding, the appointed exercises fol- 
 lowed in the order prescribed in the Programme of the 
 Committee of Arrangements: 
 
 1 . Music by the Band. 
 
 2. Prayer by Rev. Mr. Lord. 
 
 3. Music. 
 
 4. Address by A. Hyatt Smith, Esq., on behalf of the 
 Board. 
 
 5. Music. 
 
 0„ Address by the Hon, J. H, Lathrop, Chancellor of 
 the University. 
 
 7, Music. 
 
 8. Benediction, 
 
 On the conclusion of the exercises in the Assembly 
 Chamber, the Procession was re-formed in order, and re- 
 turning to the U. S. Hotel, at 1 o'clock was dismissed. 
 
 kt an adjourned Meeting of the Board, after the exer- 
 cises, it was 
 
 PvESOLVED, That the Chancellor and A. Hyatt Smith, Esq., be and they are 
 hereby requested to furnish for publication, copies of the Addressee delivered 
 by them at the Inauguration, which has just taken place, and that a number, 
 lit, the discretion of the Executive Committee, not exceeding five thousand 
 copies, be published for the use of the Board of Regents. 
 
 The foregoing request of the Board having been com- 
 plied with, the Executive Committee thereupon ordered 
 an edition of three thousand copies — two thousand copies 
 of the Chancellor's Address having been printed, by order 
 of the Assembly, for gratuitous distribution. 
 Signed J. T. CLARK, 
 
 Secretary of the Board of Regents 
 of the University of Wisconsin, 
 
g^ss 
 
 4 
 
 ON BEHALF OF THE REGENTS^ 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE BOARD. 
 
 Fellow Citizens: — 
 While I could wish that the part assigned to me for this 
 .•occasion by my colleagues of the Board of Regents, had 
 been intrusted to one possessing more abihty to do it jus- 
 tice, I rely upon your liberality and candor, as an ample 
 guaranty that whatever remarks I may offer you, in dis- 
 charge of the duty thus devolved upon me, will be receiv- 
 ed in a gracious spirit. It is, therefore, without hesitancy 
 that I shall proceed to lay before you such observations 
 and suggestions as have seemed to me pertinent to the 
 purpose for which we have assembled. 
 
 The numerous and respectable audience I have the hon- 
 or of addressing, by their attendance to witness the cere- 
 mony of inaugurating the Chancellor elect of tlie Univer- 
 sity of Wisconsin, evinces, I trust, that strong interest in 
 the institution, which is the best encouragement that can 
 be given in the outset to those who have it in charge. — 
 From the promptitude with which the people through our 
 Legislature, have taken the preliminary steps towards 
 
availing themselves of the munificent provision made hy 
 the Federal Government for the establishment in our State 
 of an institution of this grade, it is reasonable to believe 
 they are fully determined to do all in their power to pro- 
 mote its advancementi The auspices under which the 
 work is commenced, are, indeed, most favorable ; and 
 there is good ground for hope that it will be rapidly 
 brought to successful consumation. 
 
 Wisconsin, Fellow Citizens, became a member of the 
 Union under circumstances more propitious, and with pros- 
 pects more brilliant, than marked the early existence of 
 any of her sister sovereignties. Especially is this remark 
 true as to the advantages she possessed for educational 
 enterprise, for upon the wise improvement of these will de- 
 pend, in a very great degree, her future welfare ; and' 
 these are considerations of the strongest nature which 
 siiould compel her to make the most of them. Let her 
 look to the history of those of the older States that have 
 done most for the cause of education, and contrast her fa- 
 vored lot Math the trials, hardships and poverty they had 
 to endure through a long protracted infancy. With such 
 examples before her it w^ould indeed be a deep disgrace 
 sihould she fail to achieve for the same cause the splendid 
 results which are within her capacity. 
 
 Massachusetts, whose metropolis is now fitly designa- 
 ted ''the Athens of America," passed through more than 
 a century of her colonial condition before she had gather- 
 ed strength to march vigorously onward in the prosecu- 
 tion of the purpose which, from the earliest period of her 
 settlement, had been dear to the hearts of her people, — a 
 purpose which she has ever steadily kept in view, and by 
 diligent and vigilant adherance to which she has made her- 
 self a standard for the emulation of the worlds That 
 
purpose was and is the education of the public mind, — the 
 thorough enlightenment of all her citizens, — preparing 
 them for the intelligent exercise of their privileges as 
 freemen. Scarcely lesa distinguished for their achieve- 
 ments in the cause of education, her sisters of New Eng- 
 land had to fight their way through all the privations and 
 difficulties incident to a long colonial vassalage — like her 
 own bleak and barren region — -without other means than 
 those furnished by their own inteihgence, industry, econo- 
 my and integrity; but despite all the obstacles they had 
 to contend with, they ever kept in mind the interests of 
 education, and wisely laid the foundation upon which they 
 have reared educational systems that constitute their high- 
 est glory. From these six States of the Jfew England 
 have gone forth the pioneers of civiHzation over all this 
 western world. Along the paths of their swift progress 
 — from the banks of the Hudson to the hills and plains be- 
 yond the Mississippi — they have left their marks in mon- 
 uments of deeper interest than the sculptured marble or 
 majestic column, that recall to the mind of the traveller 
 in other lands the story of departed glories; for the mon- 
 uments they have reared point to the future, not the past, 
 and give token of the higher and still higher advancement 
 yet to be attained in all that elevates and enobles human- 
 ity. Humbly they rise upon the soil of our free western 
 home, but they are the evidence to all who journey hith- 
 er, that the men who built them had well learned and well 
 remembered the true glory of the country whence they 
 came, and that in leaving the scenes of their childhood, 
 they brought with them all that zeal for the promotion of 
 popular education so distinctively the characteristic of 
 their fathers. Scarcely has the plough traced the first 
 furrow for the future harvest of the eastern immigrant 
 before up springs the common school Busied as he is in 
 
delving the earth for the subsistence of his family, he can 
 find time to make provision for the intellectual cultivation 
 of the generation grov^ing up around him. 
 
 Such, briefly, were the beginnings of communities now 
 forming a large proportion of the aggregate strength and 
 greatness of our confederacy — their citizens more pros- 
 perous, happy and generally intelligent, than can be found 
 in an equal number on any other portion of the earth. — 
 Let us glance now at the history of Wisconsin — her pres- 
 ent position — her prospects — the advantages with which 
 ihe is blessed, and the obligations which rest upon her to 
 anprove them and to develope the abundant resources with 
 tvhich she is endowed. 
 
 But the brief period of seventeen years has passed 
 since the attention of citizens of the States was first di- 
 rected to her fertile prairies and beauteous openings. On 
 the trail of the army which drove hence the bands of sav- 
 ages that had then raised the tomahawk against the peace 
 of the Northwest, came the colonist who laid the founda- 
 tion of this young Republic. They found a country which 
 nature had well fitted to dispel from their hearts all regret 
 for their place of nativity, and in which they might read- 
 .ly make for themselves new homes, attractive as those 
 .hey had left. They sent back a good repor* 'if the land, 
 md soon others came, and still others, until population 
 ,'olled on in a fuller stream than ever before witnessed in 
 the progress of American colonization. Settlers' cabins, 
 and soon more substantial mansions were seen at no dis- 
 tant intervals throughout a wide territory — Churches and 
 school houses began to abound — the rivers yielded their 
 (>ower to the control of man, and manufactories were es- 
 tablished to prepare for consumption the rich harvests of 
 our prairies, A few years passed linder territorial organ- 
 
9 
 
 ization, and Wisconsin entered the Union — her population 
 exceeding that of any other territory that has yet claim- 
 ed this privilege. Less than two years have elapsed 
 since the date at which she was invested with the dignity 
 of a State Soverignty, and in that brief space, immigra- 
 tion has sw^elled the number of her inhabitants by at least 
 the number w^hich, under the present ratio of representa- 
 tion, would entitle her to claim another voice in the Coun- 
 cils of the Nation. Politically, she already occupies a 
 position in the Union, but httle behind that of States which 
 were in enjoyment of the honors and privileges of separ- 
 ate government, when as yet the stillness of her sohtude 
 was unbroken by the presence of civilized man, save where 
 the self sacrificing Jesuit missionaries, proclaiming to the 
 red man the religion of the Cross, or some lone trader- 
 held his post; and the day is not remote when her impor- 
 tance may be so enhanced, that she may well claim rank 
 with the foremost of her sisters. 
 
 You will not, I am sure, fellow citizens, consider the 
 destiny thus predicted for this youngest descendant of the 
 Old Thirteen, the vain imagining of an over credulous 
 mind. Well acquainted, as you are, with the home of 
 your adoption — looking at the structure of the large ter- 
 ritory it embraces — its whole extent presenting no por- 
 tion unfit for agricultural purposes, but every where a 
 soil for natural fertility unsui'passed — broken by no moun- 
 tains — a country ready prepared by the hand of Provi- 
 dence, for the occupation of mas — with water courses 
 sufficient for every requirement of the manufacturer — a 
 long extent of coast upon one of the chain of great lakes 
 — ^in short, with every element necessary to the support 
 of a great agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial 
 people. Add to these advantages, the easy communica- 
 tion which, in a few years, will be afibrded by the lines of 
 
Rail Road improvements now fast extending their iron 
 bands from the east towards the Mississippi, and give the 
 whole that consideration which its magnitude may well 
 awaken, and one can scarcely predict a destiny too bright 
 for the State in which we live. We are indeed a favor- 
 ed people — none more so — and it becomes us, in a spirit 
 of gratitude for the many blessings we enjoy, well to re- 
 flect upon, and faithfully perform the duties Heaven has 
 allotted us — to improve to every possible extent the trust 
 which has been confided to our care. Nations as well as 
 individuals, have missions to fulfil, and if through design, 
 or through heedlessness, they fail to pursue them, they 
 may look for the righteous indignation of the Ruler above, 
 who will hold them to a stern and fearful accountability. 
 
 Yes — Wisconsin has her mission assigned. She is one 
 of the great company of free communities, bound togeth- 
 er for the extension and and perpetuation of civil and re- 
 ligious liberty, and placed in the van of all the Nations of 
 the Earth, to lead the march of human progress. To 
 these United States the people of old Europe are looking 
 for the light that is to guide them through the difficulties 
 that beset them on all hands, in their effisrts to eflfect po- 
 litical reformation, and escape from the thousand govern- 
 mental abuses, to which their Kings and Aristocracies 
 cling for the preservation of their own power and pre-emi- 
 nence. Under our Federal form of Government, each 
 soverigri State is left so to regulate her own affairs as to 
 her citizens shall seem best for the advancement of her 
 prosperity, and while as a confederation we present to the 
 world an undivided front, our country comprehends with- 
 in its limits, separate communities, left in perfect indepen- 
 dence each of the other, emuiously struggling to attain 
 the highest point of improvement in all the pursuits of en- 
 lightened humanity. We have thus our independent part 
 
11 
 
 to perform in the great work of sustaining and elevating 
 the national character, as well as that which belongs to us 
 in the exercise of those Federal privileges which we hold 
 in common with the other States of the Union. What- 
 ever we may do here in Wisconsin for her glory and her 
 good, will help to swell, also, the happiness and glory of 
 our common country, while the errors we may commit, 
 or the evils we may let loose among ourselves, will b© 
 mainly ours in all the injuries or disgraces they may oc- 
 casion. It rests with her citizens to say whether she 
 shall come up to the expectations which her first rapid 
 growth awakened, whether she shall reach the pitch of 
 greatness for which she seems to be destined. 
 
 Will they be true to themselves ? It is a question that 
 time will answer, and that answer will be found in the 
 measure of their fidelity to one great leading cause — the 
 cause of popular education. Under a form of government 
 existing by the will of the people, depending for its wise 
 administration upon their intelligence and virtue, there can 
 be no hope for a permanent prosperity while the minds of 
 the masses are neglected and their moral training uncared 
 for. They would then but offer fit material to be wrought 
 upon by selfish demagogues — to be moulded by the ambi- 
 tious and unprincipled to subserve unhallowed and unpat- 
 riotic purposes. 
 
 Popular education is the one thing needful in European 
 countries to ensure the demolition of governments origin- 
 ating in ages when might made right, and the strong hand 
 alone asserted authority. A general enlightenment of 
 the popular mind would in time result in the downfall of 
 tyranical institutions — and not in this alone. It is not 
 the fashion with American democrats (I use the term in 
 no partizan or restricted sense,) to believe that, even on 
 this side of the Atlantic, the sum of political truth has been 
 
12 
 
 discovered and reduced to system in forms of governmentr, 
 On the contrary, among our statesmen and scholars — 4nen 
 of the professions and those who are engaged in agricul- 
 ture and the mechanic arts — in all classes of society — we 
 see earnest thinkers, men who love the truth and who 
 strive to comprehend all of it that can be brought within 
 mortal ken, laboring to devise means for the removal of 
 defects in the existing order of things which they may 
 have discovered, or may think they have, and suggesting 
 social and political projects for ameliorating the condi- 
 tion of their fellow men. The conclusion at which they 
 arrive may be erroneous or the reverse — the measures 
 they recommend may be calculated to do good, or they 
 may be such as, if carried into practice, would I'esult in 
 evils worse than those they are designed to eradicate — 
 but be this as it may, the people have to pass judgment 
 upon them and say whether new propositions shall become 
 the law of the land, or the progress of experiment be 
 stayed and innovation be forbidden. They are the judg- 
 es to decide what will best promote the general welfare — 
 the ballot box is the medium through which they speak 
 their sentiments. The will of the majoritj' must be obey- 
 ed, and the legislators who frame the statutes are but the 
 representatives and instruments of that will. 
 
 But more than this — we of America are not a homo- 
 geneous race. Within the United States dwell represen- 
 tatives from every nation of Europe, and the population 
 of this State has a large proportion of foreign born citi- 
 zens. They have brought with them their own respect- 
 ive languages — they are marked with the distinctive char- 
 acteristics of the various States whence they came — they 
 are unlike each other in their habits and they differ much 
 in sentiment. They have come to cast in their lot with a 
 strange people— to Uve with us and be of us. We wel- 
 
13 
 
 come them, for our land is broad and we need their num= 
 bers and their aid to occupy it. We welcome, them, for 
 we know that attracted by the fame of our country's 
 freedom many of them have come from oppression at 
 home, and, free ourselves, we gladly hail them freemen 
 and fellow citizens. Yet to learn our laws- — to become 
 habituated to our customs and fully imbued with the spir- 
 it of our people is for them a work of time, of observa- 
 tion and study. Their children must receive the instruc- 
 tion that they cannot give them. They must grow under 
 the same system of education with our own, and that sys- 
 tem must be one so uniform anc^ equal in its operation 
 that all alike, whether foreign born or native, shall be its 
 subjects and receive its benefits. To arrange the econo- 
 my of such a system — so to form it that as far as possi- 
 ble, in all of its provisions, it shall be just and impartial, 
 conferring equally upon all, its privileges and its blessings, 
 is a task which may well claim the attention and the efforts 
 of our best and wisest men. 
 
 Common schools are those to which we are taught to 
 look as the proper seminaries for the instruction of the 
 people. The prefix in that designation belongs to the 
 times when it was not deemed practicable to give the 
 children of those most likely to avail themselves of the 
 benefits of such schools more than the simplest rudiments 
 of learning. It is to be hoped that this notion has ceased to 
 find either advocates or behevers, and, in saying this, 
 I do not mean to cast censure upon those by whom the 
 common schools of the country have been supported, 
 managed and fostered. They have done, it is not to be 
 doubted, incalculable good. But the time has come when 
 our efforts should be directed in all earnestness to the 
 elevation of the educational standard, and it is gratifying to 
 see the talents of many of the ripest scholars of the day 
 
14 
 
 exerted in the advancement of a purpose so laudable. 
 What, I may here inquire, is the prominent defect of 
 the common school system 1 It is that the teachers em- 
 ployed in such schools, for the most part, are utterly unfit 
 for the performance of their duties. They have but a 
 scanty stock of learning, and that little they know not 
 how to impart to their pupils. Most of- them have enter- 
 ed upon the business of teaching without any intention to 
 remain in it, adopting it only as a temporary means of 
 support, and prepared to leave it so soon as they can find 
 another occupation more profitable. 
 
 There is an obvious»remedy for this evil. The business 
 of teaching must be elevated to the dignity of a profes-- 
 sion, by requiring of those who desire to engage in it, a 
 competent share of learning, and by paying them more 
 liberally for their labor. It is because these essentials have 
 been disregarded that the occupation has been so gener^ 
 ally held in contempt, and many well qualified for it, who 
 would be willing to make it the employment of their lives^. 
 could they obtain from its exercise a respectable support, 
 and honorable consideration in the community, disdain, as 
 things are now, to meddle with it. Until a reform is ef- 
 fected in this matter, the common schools of our State 
 will not be capable of effecting a tithe of the good intend-- 
 ed and expected to be derived from them. 
 
 How shall this reform be brought about 1 In my hum- 
 ble opinion the only feasible mode is to educate youth for 
 the profession of teaching, with the same care that is 
 taken to educate those who are designed for what is cal- 
 led the learned professions. The establishment of Nor- 
 mal Schools is imperiously demanded, to ensure the suc- 
 cessful operation of our common school system, and so 
 soon as by the sale of school lands, funds sufficient for the 
 purpose shall have accumulated in the Treasury of the 
 
15 
 
 State, one or more such schools ought to be instituted. 
 
 The University of Wisconsin will be of inestimable 
 benefit to the State, if it shall be made to render efficieut 
 service towards effecting the reform of which I have been 
 speaking. Were its usefulness to cease here, it would 
 still be a most beneficent Institution. The Board of Re- 
 gents, in view of this object, have determined to establish 
 a Normal professorship, the incumbent of which, togeth- 
 er with the Chancellor, are to constitute the " Faculty of 
 the Theory and Practice of Elementary Instruction." — 
 The students in this department will be entitled to the in- 
 struction of the University free of charge, but will b« 
 placed under written obligations to pay the regular tui- 
 tion fees, in case they shall not pursue the business of in- 
 struction during two years, within the four next succeed- 
 ing the period of their connection with the University. — 
 At the close of the course, they are to receive an appro- 
 priate degree, and a Diploma in testimony thereof, from 
 the hands of the Chancellor. The sixth section of the 
 ordinance creating this department, states: 
 
 "That it is the fixed intention of the Regents to make the University of 
 Wisconsin subsidary to the great cause of popular education, by making it, 
 througli its Normal Department, the nursery of the educators of the popular 
 mind, and the central point of union and harmony to the educational interest 
 of the commonwealth." 
 
 In the department thus intended to be established, will 
 be, it is anticipated, as many students, soon after its open- 
 ing, as can be faithfully instructed. There are, doubtless, 
 many young men in every county, who will be glad to 
 avail themselves of its privileges. It will, therefore, be 
 the first in the University to exhibit its fruits, and if its 
 design b^ rigidly adhered to, (and in the character of the 
 gentleman who will have its supervision, there is ample 
 assurance that it will,) it is confidently hoped that the 
 people will esteem it a praiseworthy feature in the organ- 
 ization of the Institution. 
 
The other Departments designed to be placed in opera- 
 tion, will be so ordered as to afford to the members of 
 €he University, the means of as perfect an education in 
 €he arts and sciences, as can be obtained in the best Col- 
 leges of the Union.. 
 
 The learned gentleman who is to follow me, will unfold 
 Ihe principles which will distinguish the plan of instruc- 
 tion, and govern the prescription of the course of studies. 
 
 To the people and to the Legislature of the State of 
 Wisconsin the Regents and the Chancellor look with con- 
 fidence for every proper encouragement in the prosecu- 
 tion of the arduous work with which they have the honor 
 to be charged. The munificent endowment bestowed by 
 Congress will, before a long time shall elapse, be fully 
 •available for all the purposes of the Institution. Let it be 
 wisely appropriated, and we shall have a University that 
 will be an honor to the State — an honor to the whole 
 country. Properly conducted, it will be the head of a 
 great system of popular instruction, and we shall have no 
 need to go abroad for the education of our teachers and 
 law givers. It will be a proud reflection that the learning 
 of every department of human knowledge may be had 
 here, without resort to foreign assistance. The way is 
 •clear for the attainment of this great object. There is no 
 difficulty to deter — not even the shadow of an obstacle to 
 delay. 
 
 Sir:— 
 
 A most pleasant part of my duty on this occasion re- 
 mains to be performed. The Board of Regents of the 
 University of Wisconsin, fully appreciating the impor- 
 tance of securing for the station of Chancellor of the In- 
 stitution, the services of a competent scholar and gentle- 
 man, spared no pains to obtain such information as was 
 
17 
 
 necessary to a judicious selection. The distinguished rep- 
 utation you have enjoyed in a similar position in another 
 State induced them to terminate their inquiries by confer- 
 ring upon you the appointment you now hold. Having 
 done so, they feel entire confidence that you will, by your 
 exercise of the office, justify to a community deeply in- 
 terested in the promotion of education, the choice thus 
 made. 
 
 In the name then, of the Board I have the honor here 
 to represent, I salute you Chancellor of the Univerity of 
 Wisconsin, and invest you with all the authority, privil- 
 eges, and emoluments to which, in that capacity, you are 
 now or may hereafter be entitled. 
 
 n 
 
BY THE 
 
 CHANCELLOR. 
 
 That germ of vegetable existence, which ages ago was- 
 quickened into life on the genial lap of earth, taking root 
 downward — sending its branches upward-:— contending 
 successfully with wind and storm — gathering vigor from 
 every conflict, struggled at length into its period of matu- 
 rity, declined into age, bowed its hoary head in the dust, 
 and yielded up its elements to the common mother on 
 whose bosom it had been nurtured ; giving place to its 
 successor, to accomplish in like manner its destiny. 
 
 We discover in all this no law of progress. The histo-. 
 ry of the individual at one period, is the history of the 
 individual at every other period. Each lives to itself, 
 each dies to itself, leaving to the seedling of to-day none 
 of the elements of a higher and better life, than nature 
 had av/arded to each previous representative of the spe- 
 cies, while accomplishing its day upon earth. — deriving 
 nothing from it parentage save bare existence, and leaving 
 nothing to its species but an endless power of propaga-. 
 tion. 
 
 But when we look further into the Divine economy and 
 enquire, for what purpose is this endless exhibition of 
 
20 
 
 individual existences — vfhy this power of ceaseless prop- 
 agation — wliat the final cause of the perpetuation of the 
 species, we do not fail to discover that the unnumbered 
 forms of vegetable life are accomplishing their destiny, 
 by furnishing sustenance to the sensitive beings — the 
 round of an animated existences, which throng the earth, 
 instinct with the powers of perception and enjoyment. 
 
 In the animal, as in the vegetable kindom, we are pre- 
 sented with the incident of change; and here again, it is 
 change which attaches to the individual rather than to the 
 species. The animal of to-day, derives nothing from its 
 progenitors near or remote, save bare existence. Like 
 them it has its birth, growth, maturity, decay, death. It 
 mingles with its fellow dust— leaving to its offspring the 
 same phases of existence, the same power of producing 
 its like, the same dissolution of its bodily organization, the 
 same yielding up of its elements to the common mother 
 of all animated being. 
 
 We see in all this no law of progress. It is the destiny 
 of the indivdual to perpetuate his species, not improve it. 
 And for what end is the species perpetuated 1 What the 
 design of this unending succession of vegetable and ani- 
 mal-forms — the splendid panorama which nature presents 
 to us in the world of organized being, ever varying, and 
 yet ever the same. 
 
 How obvious is it, that all this living apparatus — this 
 nicely adjusted mechanism, is a vain creation, unless there 
 be a higher, a better, a more spiritual life, dependent on 
 its ministrations for sustenance and enjoyment. To cre- 
 ate the orb of day, and pour light upon a universe on 
 which no eye is ever to open, would be no greater im- 
 peachment of the wisdom of the Author of the universal 
 scheme of things, than to set up the great kingdom of 
 
21 
 
 nature, without providing a lord to have dominion over 
 it, with capacities adapted to its arrangments — with the 
 power, and with the will, to convert to the uses of his own 
 more elevated being, the countless forms of subject exist- 
 ences. 
 
 It is in perfect accordance with this idea that we see 
 MAN — made little lower than the angels — crowned w^ith 
 glory and honor, and set over the works of the Creator's 
 hands. Without man, the exhaustless treasures of nether 
 earth — ^the mighty elements of the physical world — the 
 wonderful mechanism of organized existences — the nice- 
 ly adjusted forms of animal and vegetable life — the gar- 
 niture of the heavens — the universal scheme of things — 
 all, all were a mighty maze w^ithout a plan. Without 
 man, the primeval six days work, which built up the 
 fabric of the material world, would have been an unmean- 
 ing, a capricious exliibition of creative povv^er. The morn- 
 ing stars Vv'ould have had small occasion to sing together, 
 or the sons of God to shout, in expression of their own 
 joy, or in praise of the divine Architect. 
 
 The crowning work whidi gave significancy and value 
 to all the rest, was the creation of man upon the earth, 
 with an animal constitution exactly adapted to the physi- 
 cal scene on which he is placed — with a spirit at once sen- 
 sitive and rational, fitting him for the dominion he is enti- 
 tled to exercise, for the trial he is to undergo, and for the 
 momentous destinies which await him, when dropping this 
 earthly envelope, he shall open the eye of the spirit, pure 
 and disembodied, on the light of eternity — a change how 
 essential — a crisis in his being, how full of interest: 
 
 Through chinks styled organs, dull life peeps at light, 
 Death bursts the involving cloud, and all is day. 
 
 Jn turning our contemplations from animal and vegeta- 
 
22 
 
 ble life to man, with his two-fold nature, and with his cor- 
 responding relations to the material and the spiritual, it 
 v/ould be strange indeed, should we not develope new 
 laws — accumulate stronger and higher evidences of the 
 wise and beneficent action of that great Being, who has 
 not only built up the material fabric, but has made it the 
 residence of immortal mind. 
 
 It is here, for example, that we. for the first time, ob- 
 serve the LAW OF PROGRESS, as a distinguishing principle 
 and characteristic of the species. 
 
 It might seem, indeed, to the chance observer who 
 notices only the visible and the tangible — the objects of 
 his own individual perception — the results of his own in- 
 dividual experience, that man has no advantage, in this 
 particular, over the various species of organized being by 
 which he is surrounded — that whatever is gained to the 
 race by the birth, growth, and maturity of the individual, 
 is lost by the decay and death — the unvarying sequel in 
 the history of organized being. And it might seem hard 
 indeed to contend, against this view, that the world is the 
 better for all Vk^ho have lived in it. The doom of the un- 
 profitable servant will be, by no means a rare one at the 
 last day; and at the exit of thousands in every age, death 
 may be hailed as the benefactor of our race, by ridding 
 the world of its monsters — the skilful architects of their 
 own ruin — the corrupters and destroyers of their species. 
 
 It is on the other hand no less true, that when death 
 has extinguished in mid-heaven some light of the age — 
 has stricken down in full life, some benefactor of his race, 
 that something seems to have been subtracted from the 
 sum of good which might have been saved to humanity, 
 had he not been called thus early to his reward, had he 
 not been bid to shine in some higher sphere. 
 
In all these cases, however, in which death seems to 
 the bare observer, to have interposed for manifest good, 
 or for evil; and even in that other case where the man 
 has so lived, that the profit and losg in death's doings are 
 so nicely adjusted, that the balance may escape detection 
 — in all cases, the individual has not failed to leave behind 
 him an inheritance for his species. No man liveth unto 
 himself, no man dieth unto himself. Each has left an im- 
 press on humanity, which time may never efiace, which 
 may affect the destinies of individuals, their powers of 
 perception and enjoyment, throughout the generations 
 which are to follow. 
 
 Circumstanced as man is, in present and close contact 
 with whatever ministers to organic pleasure, in lively and 
 absorbing sympathy with the objects of sensation, while 
 the pleasures which address themselves to all that is heav- 
 en-born and heaven-aspiring within us, are distant and fu- 
 ture, it is obvious that it is only through a long and pain- 
 ful conflict, that the individual man is able to establish the 
 ascendency of the spiritual over the material, to rise above 
 the downward tendencies of our constitution, to widen 
 the distance which separates us from the other orders of 
 animated being, earth born and earth bound, to advance 
 in the powers of perception and enjoyment — in all that 
 dignifies and blesses man — in all that identifies us with that 
 world of pure intelligences — our birthright, and if we sell 
 it not, our assured inheritance, our eternal home, when 
 this corruption shall put on incorruption, this mortal im- 
 mortality. 
 
 Whether our active powers of body and of mind, shall 
 obey the aspirations of our higher nature, or enlist in the 
 service of our lower propensities — whether the home of 
 our affections shall be in heaven or on earth — whether we 
 
24 
 
 shall successfully assert our claim to kindred with angelic 
 natures, or humble ourselves to the fellowship and the des- 
 tiny of the beasts that perish — ^whether, in fine, the spirit 
 shall gain the ascendency over the flesh, or the flesh over 
 the spirit, is the great question to be decided here on earth; 
 and as this question is decided here, so will be, so must be 
 our destiny hereafter. 
 
 It is manifest that the progress of the race of man, in 
 all which concerns his true dignity and happiness, is in- 
 volved in the settlement of this great question. Just so 
 far as our animal propensities, the appetites and passions 
 our fleshly tempters, lose their dominion over the will — 
 just so far as the bodily powers are brought to yield them- 
 selves ready instruments of the intelligent principle within 
 us — ^just so far as truth and reason establish' their empire 
 in the whole man, just so far are we making progress 
 towards the fulfilment of the high destiny which awaits us, 
 when dropping the flesh, our earthly trial past, we shall 
 enter upon the home of the spirit, with enlarged capacity 
 and scopCj for the cultivation and enjoyment of the intel- 
 lectual, the moral, the social, the divine. 
 
 The preparation of man for his immortal being, is then 
 his great business in this life — it is the end of his mission 
 into this lower world. It is an educational process which 
 terminates only with the grave — a process which, in the 
 harmony of the divine appointments, is compatible with — 
 nay requires, the intelligent and scrupulous discharge of 
 the duties which pertain to the relations in which we 
 stand to the objects of this earthly scene. In all questions 
 concerning human progress, this great fact should never 
 be lost sight of, that a habitual, scrupulous, and intelligent 
 performance of earthly duties, constitutes the appointed 
 training for the business and the enjoyments of that life> 
 
25 
 
 which awaits the tried and the faithful in their spiritual 
 home. 
 
 As the discipline of the child prepares him for the ma- 
 turer duties oi the man and the citizen, so in all the varied 
 relations of social life, as the guide, philosopher and friend 
 of his fellow, as the lawgiver in the mimic empire of his 
 own household, as the subject and the minister of the State 
 whose protection he claims, the good man, by the disci- 
 pline of his virtues, is ripening up into a good subject of 
 God's universal empire — a good citizen of that community 
 of pure intelligences for whose companionship he was 
 designed, and whose blessedness he shall enjoy, if the 
 Judge shall declare, as the result of his trial here, well 
 done good and faithful servant. 
 
 In this light, the question of human progress is a ques- 
 tion of engrossing interest. It is the great question 
 whether, in all that concerns the developement, the disci- 
 pline, and the gratification of our powers of perception 
 and enjoyment, each generation of the race of man is in 
 advance of those which have preceded it — whether the 
 individual man now enters upon Hfe, with advantages for 
 the clear understanding of the duties of this earthly scene, 
 and the due preparation of mind and of heart for their 
 faithful discharge, unknown to the men of an earher age 
 — whether he is now awakened, in the morn of his exist- 
 ence, to a more distinct perception of his high destiny, 
 and to better helps and greater inducements for the ac- 
 complishment of that destiny, than the earlier representa- 
 tives of the race. 
 
 That the history of man ought to exhibit the law of 
 progress as a specific distinction between him and the 
 various orders of organized being by which he is surround- 
 
26 
 
 ed, might be safely argued before hand, first from the 
 nature of man, and secondly, from the position he holds 
 in the creation of God. 
 
 In the first place, man is a rational being, capable of 
 reflecting upon the objects of sensation — their relation to 
 his happiness — of drawing lessons from every variety of 
 experience, and thence developing rules for the avoidance 
 of evil and the opening of fountains of more and more 
 abundant enjoyment. Indeed progress is the natural inci- 
 dent of the rational principle in man, and might be expect- 
 ed to exhibit itself in the individual, just in the proportion 
 that reason might assert its dominion, in his bosom, over 
 the earthly and sensual. 
 
 But were not man a social and a communicative being, 
 as well as rational, the progress of the individual would 
 not contribute to the progress of the species. Whatever 
 his attainments might be, as we have observed in the lower 
 orders of organized being, he would live unto himself, he 
 would die unto himself — leaving each individual of the 
 race to begin where he began, to struggle on with the 
 same temptations, to engage in the same conflicts, to gath- 
 er wisdom, if at all, from the same experience — and finally 
 wrapping his attainments, like a cloak, about him, to lie 
 down in the same grave, unblest of his species, for he has 
 left no blessing behind him. 
 
 It appears therefore that the progress of the race is fair- 
 ly inferrible from two elements in the nature of man: first 
 from the power of the individual to accumulate the results 
 of his own experience, and to make the items of knowl- 
 edge thus stored up available by reflection and judgement 
 to the purposes of his own being, to the improvement, the 
 advancement, and the elevation of his own powers of 
 perception pnd enjoyment; and secondly from the power 
 
2T- 
 
 of intercommunication, by which these results of individ- 
 al acquisition, are thrown into common stock, and become 
 the common property of the race. 
 
 The aggregate of individual experience, observation, 
 and reflection is thus converted into the wisdom of each 
 and of all — knowledge is no monopoly — it dies not with 
 the discoverer — it rests not in the grave with him — it is 
 the property, not of the individual, but of the species — 
 and while the species shall endure, human knowledge shall 
 be perpetually juvenescent. Time brings with it no decay, 
 age no decrepitude. As in the progress of the world's 
 existence, we day by day, and year by year, collect the 
 scattered fragments of the great body of truth — restore 
 limb to limb — the swelling outline assumes a new grace 
 and beauty, and an immortal vigor, ever springing, never 
 decaying, animates the breatiiing frame. 
 
 It is thus that the power of individual observation and 
 reflection lies at the foundation of all human knowledge. 
 Whatever has been gathered from nature, whatever has 
 been wrought up, in the laboratory of the mind, into forms 
 of utility or beauty, whatever of wisdom in its humbler 
 or more exalted conditions, has been accumulated for 
 man's advancement and elevation from the beginning until 
 the present hour, has been the product of individual exer- 
 tion, the fruit of individual cultivation, the result of indi- 
 vidual thought. Every item of human knowledge, except 
 what we have received from the direct testim.ony of God, 
 has come to us through the medium of observation and re- 
 flection, the observation and reflection of separate and in- 
 dependent minds. 
 
 And it is thus that the social principle — the power of in- 
 tercommunication — of making our thoughts mutually in- 
 telligible by means of language, has opened these several 
 
28 
 
 fountains of knowledge, and caused them to pour their 
 perennial contributions into the great ocean of truth, ever 
 deepening and widening, while sending its exhaustless tide 
 through ten thousand channels, fertilizing the field of hu- 
 man intellect, and adding to its productiveness a thousand 
 fold. It is thus through this power of intercommunica- 
 tion, that the common mind in each generation becomes 
 the depositary of the acquisitions of the gifted minds of 
 the age. It is thus that the men of each generation enter 
 on the rich inheritance bequeathed by their fathers — the 
 accumulated wealth of successive ages, which it is their 
 high privilege to transmit to their successors, not only un- 
 impaired, but greatly augmented by the improvements, 
 the discoveries, and the inventions of the day. 
 
 If men may thus ever continue to build on the founda- 
 tions of the past age, how splendid the temple of truth, 
 as it shall approximate towards its completion ! If the 
 goal towards which each generation is straining, may al- 
 ways be the starting post of the generation which fol- 
 lows, surveying with the eye of sober reason, the ever - 
 lengthening line of human progress, how evanescent the 
 distance which will separate the final representatives of 
 our race, from contact and companionship with angelic 
 natures. Contemplating the possible attainments of the 
 race even here on earth, in knowledge and felicity — the 
 garnered harvests of every recurring year of time — the 
 accumulating treasures, the rich yield of every mine of 
 human thought; beholding in vision the possible elevation 
 of the species, while each generation in its turn makes the 
 erections of the past the firm foundation for its own su- 
 perstructure, see the good man of the latter day, serene 
 above the fogs of sense, in communion with the spiritual, 
 and, although at home in the body, scarcely absent from 
 the Lord. 
 
J29 
 
 That these possible results of elements which He deep 
 m the nature of man will be realized in the progressive 
 civilization of the race, may be safely argued, in the sec- 
 ond place, from the beneficent administration of that Be- 
 ing vA\o has made us, who has placed us here, and estab- 
 lished the relations in which we stand to the material and 
 tlie spiritual, who has given us the dominion here on earth 
 over the v/orks of his hands. 
 
 This, our empire, is stored with elements capable of an 
 infinitude of combinations, adapted to the increase of hu- 
 man happiness by the refinement, as well as the gratifica- 
 tion, of our sensitive being. The discovery of these el- 
 ements, and the creation of these new combinations, furn- 
 ish never failing occupation for the intellect, discipline for 
 its powers, ever accumulating means for the gratification 
 of a growing thirst for knov/ledge, the best preparation 
 for the successful prosecution of its higher aspirations, a 
 bolder wing for its upward flight, from the contemplation 
 of the material, to a perception and enjoyment of the spir- 
 itual and the divine, 
 
 ' It is thus that the very position in which Vv^e are placed 
 in the creation of God, seems to impose on us the law^ of 
 progress, and clearly to indicate the design of the Crea- 
 tor. And it is in perfect accordance with this idea, that 
 He has spread out before us in his word, and especially 
 in the life and immortality brought to light in the gospel, 
 such ample inducements to accomplish our high destiny. 
 
 Indeed, to deny the fact of human progress, or to as- 
 sign hmits to such progress in the ages which are to fol- 
 low, would be to allege the imperfection of the divine ap- 
 pointments, no where else seen in His government of this 
 world — a defective adjustment of means to ends in that 
 part of the system, and that part only, to which all other 
 
30 
 
 parts are subordinate, and from which they derive all 
 their value. 
 
 The advancement of the race, therefore, in all that con_ 
 cerns its true dignity and happiness, is inferred, first /rom 
 the nature of man, and secondly, from the appointments 
 of the providence and the grace of God. Each individu- 
 al has a mission to accomplish on earth for the benefit of 
 his species. Is he among the greater or lesser lights of 
 his age 1 Men will v/alk in that light. Is he within his 
 sphere, the scourge of his race and his own destroyer 1 — 
 The abhorrence of his example, and the dread of his end, 
 will not be lost to human progress. No man liveth unto 
 himself; no man dieth unto himself Each leaves an in- 
 heritance of value to posterity. The beacon light saves, 
 as well as the guiding star. 
 
 The appeal to history brings back a cheering response. 
 The story of our race, notwithstanding its points of tragic 
 interest, its exhibitions of the stationary and the retro- 
 grade, is in the aggregate, the story of progress. The 
 past with its alternations of darlmess and light — of cloud 
 and of sunshine — its struggles — its conflicts — :and its tri- 
 umphs, is prophetic of a brighter day, of easier conquests, 
 of more regular and unimpeded advancement. The ex- 
 perience even of the Anglo Saxon race, rich as it is in its 
 treasured results, presents us but the types and the 
 shadows of the better dispensation, which awaits the 
 whole family of man in the years which are to follow. 
 
 It needs but a glance at the history of the past, to re- 
 veal to us the value of that inheritance which the men of 
 this generation have received from their fathers, wdth an 
 injunction to occupy with a becoming thrift — to enjoy 
 without consuming — to transmit, enriched by our discov- 
 
31 
 
 eries, enlarged by our acquisitions, not to our children 
 only, but to the whole race of man in all future time. 
 
 Of the exceeding riches of this inheritance it is enough 
 to say, that it is made up of the accumulated discoveries 
 of the generations which are past — of all the precious re- 
 cords of mind, which time has not obliterated — of all that 
 distinguishes the civilization and refinement of the Euro- 
 pean, from the purest specimen of savageis/n, in this or 
 any other age. 
 
 Or if the mind labors with the vain endeavor to take in 
 this whole idea, too vast for its comprehension, let us recur 
 in detail to the triumphs of intellect in the various fields 
 of science and of art. 
 
 Turn we to the laboratory of the chemist — the play 
 ground of the elements — the revealer of mysteries hid 
 from the foundation of the world ; to the cabinet and the 
 museum-^the vast, the varied, the accumulating collect- 
 ions, v»^here each subject in the three kingdoms of nature 
 is literally finding a local habitation and a name; to the 
 labors of the geologist, who with the master key is invit- 
 ing us to enter in through every opening door, to inspect 
 the great cabinet of nature's own arranging, and to wit- 
 ness her works of mystery and power; to the observatory 
 of the astronomer, who has introduced us to new worlds 
 — new systems — a new universe; to the theatre of the 
 anatomist, with its ten thousand demonstrations that man 
 is fearfully and wonderfully made, and judge hov/ much 
 we know of the fleshly tenement of the immortal spirit, 
 and of the physical scheme of things in the midst of 
 which we are spending the little day of our earthly trial 
 — how much we owe to the past, and how passing rich 
 the inheritance of natural science, which the present gen- 
 eration will bequeath for the benefit of the species. 
 
32 
 
 Turn we to the labors of art. Look at the nicely ad- 
 justed mechanism — the finished instruments— the untold 
 variety and perfection of the apparatus, which have given 
 science her power, and are sending her on from conquer- 
 ing to conquer. Look again at the astonishing products of 
 human invention — the complicated machinery — the pow- 
 erful enginery, by which art is in our day, under the 
 guiding hand of science, taming the wildest elements of 
 the physical world, and converting them into safe and 
 obedient instruments of the human will, commanding them 
 to do the work of man — ministering in ten thousand forms 
 to his ever springing, ever varying v/ants, and multiplying 
 in like manner his more refined and elevated enjoyments. 
 
 In the three great classes of our physical wants — food, 
 clothing and shelter, v/hat has not art, guided by science, 
 already done % How wonderful the contrast between the 
 rude and solitary ravin of the hunter state, and the boun- 
 teous and social board of cultivated life — between the 
 skins of wild beasts, and the vesture of civilization — be- 
 tween the wigwam of the savage, and th-e well designed 
 and well constructed abode of taste and refinement. 
 
 Look again at the vast and complicated machinery of 
 commercial intercourse — the triumphs of science and art 
 over difficulties but just now held to be insurmountable, 
 subjecting ocean itself to the dominion of steam, encircl- 
 ing continents with iron bands — thus bringing into close 
 and instantaneous and sympathizing proximity, localities, 
 and interests once distant and discordant — not only facil- 
 itating the exchange and stimulating the more abundant 
 production of physical wealth, but promoting the com- 
 merce of mind, the interchange of thought, and conse- 
 quently ensuring in our own day, and for the generations 
 which are to follow, a more rapid creation of the true 
 
33 
 
 riches — the treasures of intellect, and the accumulated 
 advancement of the race henceforth in the pathway of 
 its destiny. 
 
 The pursuit of natural science and its application to 
 the arts, thus calls out the energies of the mind, furnishes 
 a healthful discipline for its powers, and prompts to an ex- 
 tension of its dominion over the elements of the material 
 world. 
 
 But this is not all, Man has not been so intent on the 
 powers, relations, and possible combinations, of the mate- 
 rial elements, so much absorbed in the great end of es- 
 tablishing his dominion over them, of converting them all 
 into the safe and obedient instruments of his higher nature 
 — the sensitive, the intelligent, the spiritual principle with- 
 in him, as to neglect that nature — to take no thought of its 
 relations, its capabilities, and its destiny— to be ignorant 
 on that very point which, of all others within the univer- 
 sal scheme of things, most concerns a thinkina: bein^ — to 
 be ignorant of himself. 
 
 True, indeed, the philosophy of matter has always been 
 in advance of the science of mind — a fact consequent on 
 the ever present and conscious relations of the body to 
 the world without us — the felt sympathy of our sensitive 
 nature with the physical elements, absorbing our interest 
 and commanding our attention. 
 
 But after all, it is the effect of a general advancement 
 in physical science, to throw the mind back on itself. — 
 The disciphne of its powers in reducing to its dominion 
 the physical elements, strengthens and animates it for 
 fresh conquests in the world of mind. And a thorough 
 knowledge of mind prepares us again for a more extend- 
 ed dominion over the world without us. 
 
 *3 
 
34 
 
 The history of philosophy testifies to this mutual and 
 friendly relation between the sciences of matter and of 
 mind; and in no period have the spiritual tendencies of 
 of the race been more observable than in this, stigmatized 
 though it has been, as the mechanical, the material, the 
 iron age of the world. The science of mind has ceased 
 to be regarded as a subject of barren speculation. Its 
 practical bearings are felt and acknowledged. The treas- 
 ured results of metaphysical inquiry in past ages, since 
 the injunction, ''know thyself," first opened to the pu- 
 pil and the philosopher a region of mystery and doubt, 
 will pass to coming generations, enriched by the contri- 
 butions of the present, and distinguished by the sunlight 
 which our ow^n gifted intellects are shedding on the 
 science of mind. 
 
 But to tarry no longer in the vestibule, let us enter the 
 inner temple. The prosecution of physical^ metaphysical 
 or mathematical truth derives, after all, its chief value 
 from its bearing on, and connection with, the social prin- 
 ciple in man. It is the social part of his constitution in 
 which is centered mainly the value of an individual, eith- 
 er to himself as a sensitive being, or to the universe as 
 one of its component parts. 
 
 In all questions relative to human progress, therefore, 
 the burden of the enquiry must respect the social ad- 
 vancement of man. 
 
 This inquiry presents a two-fold aspect — the^. consider- 
 ation of man, first, as a portion of the universal empire of 
 God; and secondly, as a political or national society. The 
 constitutions and laws which concern him under the for- 
 mer aspect, are moral constitutions and laws; those which 
 concern him under the latter aspect, are political constitu- 
 tions and laws. 
 
35 
 
 Ask we then the ages what historical report they have 
 to bring in, of the progress of those moral arrangements, 
 by which God is inviting and enabling man to work out 
 the moral regeneration of his species, to prepare himself 
 for that spiritual hfe Avhich is to follow his trial here, for 
 the service, the society, and the felicity, of that glorious 
 inner temple, to which this physical scene, with its thou- 
 sands of revealed and still hidden mysteries, is but the 
 court and the vestibule. 
 
 They point us, in reply, to the schools of the philoso- 
 phers, those earth-born laboratories of ethical truth, to 
 the constitutions o( the Hebrews, divine in their original, 
 and to the more glorious and efficacious arrangements of 
 the Christian dispensation, remedial in its nature, and 
 adapted with a divine precision to the moral diseases of 
 man. And under this latter dispensation, in further ex- 
 emplification of the law of progress, they point us to the 
 canons of the Fathers, to the reformations of Germany 
 and England, to the dissent of the Puritans, to the rock 
 of Plymouth, to the thousand clustering institutions and 
 associations of this latter day, subsidiary to the instruc- 
 tions of the pulpit and the labors of the evangehst — all 
 intended, and becoming more and more adapted, to ren- 
 der the prevalence of the Christian faith as universal, as 
 its spirit is intelligent, and rational, and catholic, and be- 
 nign. They exhibit, in strong contrast, the moral dark- 
 ness which enveloped our pagan ancestry, with the sun- 
 light w^hich rests on the more favored portions of the 
 Christian world, enabling the behever with a briarht- 
 ening faith, and with a growing knowledge of his mani- 
 fold duties and high destiny, to discover and to pursue the 
 pathway which leads to the companionship of angelic na- 
 tures in his spiritual home. 
 
36 
 
 Ask we too the ages what they have done to develop© 
 tiie true theory of political organization^ to improve the 
 mechanism of the social system, to impart practical wis- 
 dom to its ministrations, in order that the State may dis* 
 charge its high duty to the citizen, for whose sake it ex- 
 ists, and v/hose allegiance it claims. They point us, in 
 reply, to the council of the Amphyctions, to the laws of 
 Lycurgus and of Solon, to the tables of the Roman law- 
 givers, to the body of the civil law, to Magna Charta, to 
 the Bill of Rights, and to the American Constitutions — - 
 those precious records of mind,- which stand up as pillared 
 inscriptions in the shadowy past, along the lengthened 
 line of civil progress. They exhibit in contrast the wild 
 war of anarchy, with the beneficent reign of social order 
 — the unmitigated despotism of the earlier goverments, 
 with the checks and balances of the constiutional mon- 
 archies of the day — the wild, unformed democracies of 
 the past, those first experiments of young freedom, with 
 tlie written constitutions, the perfect action, of the modern 
 representative republicSi 
 
 How manifest is it, then, that the age in which we hve 
 is an age of results, the causes of which lie far back in 
 the tide of time. Each age has, in its turn, been the 
 depositary of the treasures of the past— each generation, 
 for its period, the representative of the species, and if 
 faithful to its trust, has turned over to the future the orig- 
 inal deposit, increased by its own goodly gains — the re- 
 sults of its own thrifty occupation and enjoyment. 
 
 Taking our position on this stand point, commanding the 
 ages behind us and before us, how- manifest, how unspeak- 
 able our obligations to the past; how obvious, how imper- 
 ative our duties to the present; how magnificent, in the 
 eye of reason, is the destiny of the future. 
 
37 
 
 We of the "glorious 19th,-' surveying the great Babylon 
 which we have built, by the might of our power, for the 
 honor of oilj^ majesty, forget in our pride that we are 
 building on the firm foundations of the past, that we are 
 but conveying to their destined places in the structures of 
 the day, almost without the sound of the hammer, stones 
 hewn on the mountains in times perhaps long gone by.— 
 Take from us the materials and the instructions of the 
 fathers, and what are ice? — our kingdom departed — our 
 understanding gone — our bodies unclothed and unshelter- 
 ed, wet with the dews of heaven. What do we not owe 
 to the past 1 How rich the inheritance which has come 
 down to us from the fathers — ^^hovv^ passing rich the gar- 
 nered harvests, the treasured wealth, the successive con- 
 tribuiions of the ages. All that we have and all that we 
 are, is the product of the teeming, the mighty, the gen- 
 erous past. 
 
 What then are the DUTIES which devolve on the 
 present generation, as the heir of this inheritance, the de- 
 positary of this treasure \ Surely not to squander it in 
 thriftless enjoyment. From the species we have receiv- 
 ed it, and to the species we are bound by the most sol- 
 emn of all obligations, to return it, appi'eciated by our 
 cultivation, and greatly enriched by our contributions. 
 The voice of the rising generations — the voice of our suc- 
 cessors is abeady in our ears. It is the voice of author 
 ity. It speaks not for our children only, but for the race 
 of man in all coming time. Its language to us is, ''Be 
 faithful to your trust, occupy till I come, that I may re- 
 ceive mme own with usury — see to it that you let not 
 your day on earth be lost to human progress. 
 
 Let us keep our minds open to the greatness of our ob- 
 ligations — sfird ourselves to the task before us — do what- 
 
soever our hands find to do with our might, that we may 
 at last commit the works which follow us, with a just 
 pride, to the scrutinizing judgement of posterity. Let the 
 judgement of that tribunal be, ''Well done, good and 
 faithful" 
 
 And here we meet the practical question — how shall we 
 - — the men of this generation, discharge the acknowledged 
 duties, the felt obligations we owe to the race 1 How is 
 it that the acquisitions of this age shall be made the prop- 
 erty of man — that the wealth of this generation shall go 
 to swell, with its golden contributions, the inheritance we 
 have received from the fathers, and which we are bound 
 to transmit to posterity 1 I answer,-— first, by preserving 
 the literature of the past, and by placing on record in the 
 literature of the present, to be read in all coming time, the 
 discoveries, the inventions, the reasonings, the achiev- 
 ments of the gifted intellects of the age; — ^but secondly 
 and mainly, by the direct instruction of the rising gen- 
 eration — ^l3y the liberal culture of the young minds, the 
 gifted intellects, the future men v/ho will stand in our foot- 
 steps when we shall have gone to our reward. It is by the 
 education of the young mind that we of this generation are 
 to discharge our duty to man. It is by the educational 
 process that each past generation has contributed, more 
 or less faithfully and honorably, to the advancement of 
 our common humanity. It is by the educational process, 
 that each successive generation, the pupil of the past, the 
 instructor of the future, shall constitute itself in its turn 
 a co-worker with God, in the end for which God works, 
 the perfecting of his intelligent creation. So true is it, 
 that the cause of God in this world, is none other than 
 the cause of man. 
 
 The revolutions of time have at length placed the des- 
 
imy of the race in our hands. If we feel duly and ra- 
 tionally the dread responsibility resting upon us, if we 
 would discharge our obligations to the species, and be- 
 come, in our turn, its benefactors, we shall tell to our sons 
 more than the fathers told us. We shall educate the ris* 
 ing generation, nothing doubting that the voice of our in- 
 structions, reverberating from generation to generation) 
 shall be heard by our latest posterity; we shall enrich the 
 chosen minds which are opening a,bout us, with the treas- 
 ures of knowledge, with the full confidence that the 
 wealth we transmit will be the inheritance, not of our 
 children only, but of man, throughout the ages which are 
 to follow. 
 
 And here I need hardly say, that the UxNiversity of 
 modern times, acting in unison with the other public 
 schools of the civil State, is the appointed instrumentality 
 by which this instruction is to be renderedt The Univer= 
 sity is the depositary and the -almoner of the intellectual 
 treasures of the age^^of the inheritance of the past, and 
 the acquisitions of the present— treasures which increase 
 by the very process of communication — treasures which 
 must ever continue to accumulate by universal dissemina- 
 tion, provided the civil State shall awake to the full meas- 
 ure of her responsibilities — shall assume the support of 
 this instrumentality — shall sustain it in vigorous action, 
 and adapt its capabilities to the progressive educational 
 demands of society — provided the University be enabled 
 by its public endowments, to open its doors wide to every 
 son of the Republic^ and through its Faculties of " Sci- 
 ence, Literature and Arts," and of the " Theory and 
 Practice of Elementary Instruction," so to inform and to 
 disciphne those who enter in, that they may become, in 
 their turn, tlie exemplars and the instructors of the uni- 
 
40 
 
 versal mind — may bear to the household of every citizen, 
 the means and opportunity of Hberal culture, and thus in- 
 sure a higher civihzation than the world has yet seen. 
 
 It is a great fact, auspicious of good to man, and itself 
 a distinct way mark in the line of human progress, that 
 it is even now a prevailing sentiment, that it is the proper 
 business of the civil State, and its bounden duty, to pro- 
 vide an instructional system for the general culture of the 
 popular mind. 
 
 This great idea has forced itself on the potentates of 
 northern Germany. They have yielded to its power, and 
 are laboring to save the wreck of absolutism, now drifting 
 on the tide of opinion, by anchoring the monarchy deep 
 in the affections of the people, by making it the centre of 
 educational influence — the dispenser of intellectual light 
 and heat to every neighborhood and hamlet within their 
 borders. 
 
 The Prussian system reahzes this policy, by making 
 every intellectual and moral guide of the popular mind an 
 officer of the central government, commissioned to dem- 
 onstrate, as the almoner of the royal bounty, that the 
 monarchy is the most paternal and beneficent of human 
 governments. But notvvithstanding this insiduous attempt 
 to attract to itself the intellect of the State, such is the 
 force of popular culture under any form or guise, that 
 the days of the monarchy are numbered, and northern 
 Germany is fast preparing for the safe advent of free in- 
 stitutions. 
 
 France has so far profited by her system of public in- 
 struction, under the late constitutional monarchy, that the 
 bloody scenes of "92 have not been re-enacted. The 
 monarchy has gone quietly out — the star of Napoleon is 
 
 JWaA, i 
 
41 
 
 again in the ascendant — soon to pale, in the dawning of a 
 more perfect day of freedom than France has yet seen. 
 
 The condition of the degraded tenantry of Ireland, the 
 rapid deterioration of the yeomanry of England, and the 
 peasantry of Scotland, the dead weight of pauperism, and 
 tlie statistics of intemperance and crime, are now forcing 
 on the British mind the necessity of devising, and putting 
 into speedy operation at the expense of the state, a sys- 
 tem of universal popular instruction, as the only practical 
 compensation for the evils which follow inevitably in the 
 train of their existing system of land tenures — evils which 
 have culminated in Ireland, by crushing the tenantry, and 
 and at the same time rendering the the tenure worthless 
 to the landlord. Nothing short of the practical adoption 
 of the maxim, that the property of the realm is held sub. 
 ject to the sacred trust of educating every child of the 
 state, can save the property and the institutions of the 
 United Kingdom, from a violent social revolution. 
 
 Nothing short of the universal culture of the popular 
 mind, can save from dissolution the great fabric of Euro- 
 pean civilization — can save to man the expenditure of per- 
 haps centuries of effort to reconstruct out of its scattered 
 fragments, another fabric, doomed again to disappoint the 
 hopes of the philanthropist, if it do not embody the great 
 conservative element of universal education — of popular 
 intelligence and virtue. 
 
 But if I mistake not the signs of the times, and the ge- 
 nius and the character of our people, it is on American 
 soil, that the three-fold problem, what free institutions can 
 do for education, and what education can do for free in- 
 stitutions, and what both can do for human progress, is 
 destined to be most successfully and most gloriously illus- 
 
42 
 
 trated. Wherever in our country the principle of fre^ 
 schools has been directly submitted to the test of a popu- 
 lar vote, it has been carried triumphantly through. The 
 American mind has grasped the idea, and will not let it 
 go, that the whole property of the state, whether in com^ 
 mon or in severalty, is holden subject to the sacred trust 
 of providing for the education of every child of the state- 
 Without the adoption of this system, as the most po- 
 tent compensation of the aristocratic tendencies of her- 
 editary wealth, the boasted political equality of which we 
 dream, is but a pleasing illusion. Knowledge is the great 
 ieveler. It is the true democracy. It levels up-— it does 
 not level down. 
 
 By a wise foresight, the national Legislature has en- 
 abled the younger members of our confederacy, to give 
 early force and effect to this great American sentiment, 
 by ample grants of public lands, to be administered by the 
 states in which they lie, in trust for educational uses. 
 
 That portion of this truly paternal bounty which has 
 created the interest of the present occasion, is the grant 
 of seventy-two sections of choice lands, for the founda- 
 tion and support of a University in each of the new states. 
 
 Wisconsin has accepted the grant, located the lands, 
 and assumed the trust. 
 
 It is the sacred duty of Wisconsin, as the guardian of 
 this great interest, so to preserve and to administer these 
 lands, that at the earliest practicable period their entire 
 VALUE may be realized. Every act of waste committed 
 on these lands, every sale of any acre for less than its full 
 value, under whatever guise it may take place, is in fraud 
 of the general government, the donor of the fund, in 
 fraud of the substantial interests of the young mind of 
 
43 
 
 the commonwealth, and what is more than all, in fraud of 
 that progressive civihzation which alone can reahze the 
 hope and accomplish the proper destiny of man in this 
 world. 
 
 It is the sacred duty of Wisconsin to preserve the 
 PRINCIPAL of this fund inviolate forever, and so to 
 invest it that it may yield the largest increase compatible 
 •with safety, and with ease and economy of collection. 
 
 Money was styled by Tacitus the nerves of war, be- 
 cause money can buy the skill which comm.ands, the dis- 
 cipline which obeys, the courage which defies, the forti- 
 tude which endures, v^^ith '' the pride, the pomp and cir- 
 cumstance'' which have heen falsely held to make ambition 
 virtue. 
 
 Money may with equal propriety be termed the nerves 
 of learning, because money can command the books which 
 record the thought of the past and the present, the appar- 
 atus which is essential to extensive, accurate, and success- 
 ful research, and v/hat is more than all, the talent and the 
 character of the living instructor. 
 
 It is the further duty of Wisconsin to provide an able, 
 faithfal and responsible Regency, charged with the appli- 
 cation of the annual increase of this fund to the great 
 purpose of the trust. 
 
 Such Regency has been created, and the seats in the 
 board have been filled. And I deem it not improper to 
 say, even in this presence, that the delicate and responsi- 
 ble duty of selection has been discharged with perfect 
 discrimination and judgement, Wisconsin has abundant 
 reason to repose entire confidence in the wisdom, the 
 fidelity, and the energy of our University Council, and to 
 concede to it all that permanence and freedom, which is 
 
44 
 
 consistent with a just responsibility on the one hand, and 
 essential on the other, to the intelligent, systematic, and 
 successful performance of the sacred duties of their un- 
 speakably important trust. 
 
 All these things done, the obligations of Wisconsin are 
 discharged, and the responsibilities of the Regency begin. 
 
 In laying broad and deep the foundations of the Uni- 
 versity of Wisconsin, the Board have deemed it their first 
 duty to elect a Chancellor, and to avail themselves of the 
 benefit of his professional skill and experience. That the 
 choice of this honorable body, constituted as it is, should 
 have fallen where it has fallen, demands my most pro- 
 found and most grateful acknovv^legements — it demands a 
 course of official service which shall justify that choice, 
 it requires that I shall assume the responsibilities of the 
 station with a spirit of entire self-sacrifice — that, in apos- 
 tolic phrase, I should ^'know nothing among you" save 
 the University of Wisconsin in all its essential interests. 
 
 In accepting, Gentlemen of the Board, the office freely 
 tendered, I have placed my personal and professio/ial 
 character, to some extent, in your keeping. It is one of 
 the most delicate trusts which man can repose in man. — 
 It is a trust too, gentlemen, which in its discharge will try 
 you, far more than it can try me. That you will come 
 out of this trial with honor bright, with your character 
 as Christian gentlemen unsullied, it is my happiness to be 
 most perfectly assured. 
 
 As the duly constituted Regency of the University of 
 Wisconsin, I need hardly announce it as our leading 
 DUTY in the administration of the annual income of the 
 institution, to practice a sound and discriminating eco- 
 
 NOMY. 
 
45 
 
 In the use of the term economy, I shall not be under- 
 stood to recommend that penny wisdom, which would 
 grudge any good to the Institution, on the sordid ground 
 that it costs money. The money is performing its proper 
 office then and then only, when it moves freely to the ac- 
 comphshment of the great uses of the trust. But it will 
 not be forgotten that in a complex interest, Mke that which 
 we are called upon to administer, these uses will be vari- 
 ous and importunate. Rival claims for appropriation will 
 be constantly springing up, which in their adjustment will 
 call for examination, for judgement, and in the weighty 
 language of Locke, for that " large, sound, roundabout 
 sense, w^hich views the whole ground." 
 
 The caution I am now suggesting is, then, that a just 
 economy requires of us to push no one class of appropri- 
 ations so far as to cripple our resources, and to take from 
 our means of providing proportionately for other instru- 
 mentalities, without whose concurrent action the great 
 and valuable ends of the trust cannot be realized. 
 
 The legitimate objects of university expenditure may 
 be distributed into three classes; — first, the buildings and 
 grounds, constituting the real estate of the Institution; — 
 secondly, library, apparatus, and collections in the various 
 departments of science and art, constituting what may be 
 called the fixed capital, the machinery of education; — and 
 thirdly, the living instruction — the intellectual labor of an 
 able and accomplished Faculty — that agency which gives 
 direction, and force, and value, to all other educational 
 combinations. 
 
 To mistake then, as many literary incorporations in our 
 land have done, and as the superficial observer is prone to 
 do, the edifice for the University — the shell for the kernel ; 
 to erect costly structures; to incur a debt which shall eat 
 
46 
 
 up the income of years, leaving little for the machinery 
 of education, and still less for the living instructor, v^rould 
 be as far in us, as it has been in others, from realizing any 
 just conception of a sound and discriminating economy. 
 
 In our structures, the first study should be to adapt the 
 physical to the intellectual- — the material to the spiritual — 
 the temple to the worship which is to be maintained with- 
 in. And then, we should hand over to the accomplished 
 architect the task of demonstrating, that the most unex- 
 ceptionable taste is entirely compatible with an uncom- 
 promising utility, and a sound and discriminating economy. 
 
 Having provided those buildings and those only which 
 may be needful to the earlier uses of the University, 
 leaving subsequent structures to the occasions and the pe- 
 riods which may demand them, it is our business to pro- 
 ceed v/ith resources unexhausted to the foundation of a 
 library, which by the accumulations of this and of success- 
 ive generations, shall aim to embody all that is worth pre- 
 serving of the literature of every country and of every 
 age — the recorded thought of human mind-^the recorded 
 experience of human society. 
 
 We should provide, as rapidly as our occasions may de- 
 mand and our means permit, ample sets of finished appar- 
 atus, for illustration and analysis in Chemistry and Exper- 
 imental Philosophy, and for the extension and diffusion of 
 Astronomical knowledge among men. 
 
 We should further provide suitable depositories for ex- 
 tensive collections in the various departments of the science 
 of observation. There should be found entire suits ol 
 well selected specimens in Mineralogy and Geology, in 
 the Natural History of Plants and Animals, and prepara- 
 tions needful and suitable to demonstrations in Anatomy 
 
47 
 
 and Human Physiology, and well selected models illustra- 
 tive of the useful and the fine arts. 
 
 These are the hterary and scientific appointments which 
 together make up the fixed capital — the wealth, of the 
 seminary of learning. It is in these appointments more 
 than in aught else, that the superior advantages of our 
 time honored institutions are realized. In these are cen- 
 tered the attractions which draw to our older seats of 
 science, the scholar and the man of thought. It is by the 
 accumulation of these items of educational wealth, lar 
 more than by architectural adornings, however costly, 
 that the University of Wisconsin is to acquire considera- 
 tion, and weight, and character among the Colleges and 
 Universities of our land. 
 
 But while erecting the needful structures, and accumu- 
 lating ail the appliances of which I have just spoken, we 
 should, as the Regency of the Institution, keep it steadily 
 in mind, that needful and important as these two classes 
 of objects are conceded to be, they derive their practical 
 value mainly from the aid they render to the living in- 
 structor. The great truth must be distinctly apprehended, 
 and control our entire action, that the substance of an in- 
 stitution of learning consists in the living instruction it is 
 prepared to render. All else is subsidiary, and valuable 
 precisely because it is subsidiary, to the hving instructor, 
 
 A sound and discriminating economy, therefore, de- 
 mands of us that we should separate from other uses, 
 however importunately they may urge their claims, a 
 fund sufficient for the ample endowment of the several 
 chairs of instruction which the educational wants of the 
 community may require. 
 
 If these endowments shall be sacredly guarded, if they 
 
48 
 
 shall be made to assume before the literary public the char- 
 acter of liberality and permanence, we shall save ourselves 
 from the necessity of nursing the University of Wiscon- 
 sin through a long and dubious infancy. She will be able 
 by filling her chairs with talent and character, in the es- 
 sential element of Hving instruction, to place herself, in 
 the beginning, side by side with the older institutions of 
 our land — many of which, through fault of early economy 
 have been obliged, by long crying and stout begging, to 
 work themselves up, if at all, into a late maturity, and into 
 respectability and consideration among men. I indulge in 
 no poetic fancy when I say, that the University of Wis- 
 consin may start, Minerva like, into mature existence, 
 clad in her hterary panoply, and prepared to gather lau- 
 rels on the intellectual field, where the end of the keen 
 encounter is, not to desolate and destroy, but to discipline, 
 to elevate, to strengthen and to bless. 
 
 Such being the relative position of the hving instruction- 
 al agency in the organism of education, we cannot ap- 
 proach the exercise of the delicate power of appointment 
 with too much care, or with too much firmness of pur- 
 pose to do that and that only, which shall contribute in 
 the highest degree to the usefulness and the credit of 
 the University, and to the cause of good learning and 
 sound science in our State. And while I would by no 
 means discourage that competition for places which may 
 present to the Board a wide range of choice, it is not to 
 be forgotten for a moment, that dignity, and interest, and 
 duty, require of us, that the appointment, when made, 
 should be conferred on merit, and not conceded to impor- 
 tunity, whether of the candidate himself, or of those who 
 may be more interested in the preferment of a friend, than 
 in the success of the Institution. 
 
 The Professor should be a man of native vigor, of 
 
49 
 
 sound scholarship, of varied attainment, of devotion to his 
 especial department, of aptitude to impart instruction, of 
 fidelity to his associates and to the common cause, of 
 strength of purpose united "vs!:ith a conciliating demeanon 
 Superadded to all these, he should have the physical ability 
 and the v\^ill to labor. He should know men and things, 
 as well as books. He should be a man of the world, in 
 an unexceptionable sense of the term. As a subject of 
 God's moral government, his life should be regulated by 
 the Christian ethics, he should be unshaken in the Chris- 
 tian faith, should drink deep of the Christian spirit, and 
 be animated by the Christian hope. His good will to 
 man should enlist his sympathies in every struggle foi* 
 human right, and should inspire an abiding confidence that 
 the progressive civilization of his species can only ter- 
 minate in the predicted glories of the latter day. — 
 An American heart should beat high in his bosom, and 
 yet his patriotism should ever be chastened by a control- 
 ing philanthropy. With a profound reverence for the 
 great names which distinguish the heroic age of his coun- 
 try, his mind should be none the less open to the teach- 
 ings of experience, and to the progressive adjustment of 
 the civil institutions established by these fathers of the 
 Republic. They were men of progress in their day, and 
 if we are stationary in ours, we cease to be like them-^ 
 we cease to honor them. 
 
 Having found such a candidate for a chair of instruction, 
 fehall we require of him to lay down his independence as 
 the price of his preferment ] Shall we impose on him a 
 religious or a political testt Shall we demand of him a 
 subscription to the platform of some convention or con- 
 vocation, as if their concurrent vote could make truth 
 more true, or error less false 1 Shall we ask him to sub- 
 mit his reason to the dictate of mere authority? God 
 
 4* 
 
50 
 
 forbid. It is enough for us as the appointing power, that 
 in his high vocation, he is too profoundly Christian, to be 
 sectarian— that he is too intensely American, to be parti- 
 zan. 
 
 To a Faculty thus chosen, we need not hesitate to turn 
 over the responsibility of shaping the internal policy, and 
 of administering the immediate government of the Uni- 
 versity. The instruction and discipline of the Institution 
 is their especial trust, with which a wise Regency will not 
 intermeddle by naked acts of power. Without the clear- 
 est necessity, the power should never be invoked to pass 
 the line v^^hich, limits the mutual responsibihties of the Re- 
 gency and the Faculty. 
 
 A statement of my views in reference to the course of 
 instruction, and the mternal policy and discipline best 
 adapted to the liberal culture of the American youth, I 
 reserve to some future day,, I trust not distant, when we 
 shall have erected, on yonder beautiful eminence, our 
 temple of science, and shall dedicate it to truth, and to rea-. 
 son, and to the great cause of progressive civilization. 
 
 One suggestion more, and I have done. It is this. — 
 Most collegiate institutions in our land, limit their action 
 to the single object of providing for the liberal education 
 of those young men who enter upon the prescribed course 
 of study and pursue it through to graduation. 
 
 The University of Wisconsin will in like manner open 
 its doors, at a very moderate charge, to those young men 
 of the State, and of other States, who aspire, through the 
 advantages of a liberal education, to eminence and con-, 
 sideration among men. 
 
 But this is not all. The University of Wisconsin has 
 an additional function to discharge, another destiny to ac- 
 
51 
 
 complish. It purposes, through its Faculty of the Theo-, 
 ly and Practice of Public Instruction, to do for the great 
 cause of popular education in the State, what the Normal 
 Schools of other States have attempted to do only partial- 
 ly, and that at considerable charge on the income of the 
 school fund. The University will invite those young men, 
 who intend to do the State service in her public schools, 
 to come up to its halls, and to avail themselves of the in- 
 structions of its Normal Department, in all that may be 
 regarded as professional in the theory and practice of 
 teaching. 
 
 The University will do more. It will enroll the Teach- 
 er among its members, it will give him, in connection with 
 the regular classes, free access to the instructions of the 
 Faculty of Arts — in the analysis and structure of the 
 English Language — in Elocution — in the Philosophy of 
 Mind — in Ethical and Political Science. It will open to 
 him the laboratory and the cabinet. It will invite him to 
 the use of books and apparatus. It will give him a part in 
 the pubKc exercises of Commencement, and will extend 
 to him, if approved on examination, an appropriate Diplo- 
 ma by the hand of the Chancellor. All these educational 
 advantages and muniments, far transcending the scope of 
 the Normal Schools of other States, the University will 
 be prepared to offer to the Teacher without money and 
 without price. 
 
 The State acknowledges a vital interest in the intelli- 
 gence of her citizens, and it is with a high policy that she 
 offers, through her University, gratuitous instruction to the 
 intellectual educator of the popular mind. 
 
 The State too acknowledges a vital interest in the vir- 
 tue of her citizens, and with the same high policy will 
 offer, through her University, gratuitous instruction to 
 
52 
 
 every young man who intends to prepare himself, by sub* 
 sequent theological study, to become the moral educator 
 of the popular mind. 
 
 It is thus that oui* State University, by making the pub- 
 lic school and the pulpit the almoners of its intellectual and 
 moral wealth, may cause its benign action to be felt and 
 acknowledged in every neighborhood and every parish in 
 the Commonwealth. And thus Wisconsin may have the 
 honor of solving for herself and for man, the great problem 
 of the best educational organism for improving, informing 
 and purifying the common mind — a problem whose solu- 
 tion has, for a series of years, mocked the experience, and 
 eluded the analysis of the gifted minds of other states — a 
 problem on which depends, more than on aught else, the 
 progressive civihzation of mankind. 
 
 And who among us, my fellow countrymen, is not 
 proud to know, that the accents which are destined hence- 
 forth to instruct mankind, are the accents of his own 
 mother tongue — that the noble language which could 
 alone illustrate the thought of Burke and of Channing, is 
 to be the language of the civilization of the latter day — 
 that the life blood of that higher and still higher civiliza-' 
 tion is to be blood of the Anglo Saxon — enriched, it may 
 be, from the veins of Celt, Teuton and Scandinavian. 
 
 And where, I ask, on the surface of our globe, is the 
 civilization of this leading race to find an opening to a 
 more glorious developement than here, on the genial soil 
 of Wisconsm '\ 
 
 And where, I ask again, if Wisconsin shall be true to 
 her capabilities, is the mighty heart of this civilization to 
 beat, if not here in the bosom of this Institution, now 
 struggling into existence, about to send through its appro- 
 
53 
 
 priate arteries, the pulpit and the school, those life giving 
 pulsations of virtue and intelligence, w^hich shall be felt in 
 the remotest extremities of the social system. 
 
 It is in reference to these great ends, so honorable to 
 this commonwealth, and so auspicious to mankind, that 
 the University of Wisconsin asks for the fostering care of 
 the constituted authorities of the State, and will soon in- 
 vite the candid attention of the public to its claims for gen- 
 eral patronage and support. And if this State Univerity 
 be the chosen instrumentality by Vv^hich Wisconsin shall 
 discharge her duty to man, then shall it indeed accom- 
 plish a glorious destiny, by ministering, in no humble de- 
 gree, to the advancement of the cause of God in this 
 world, which is none other than the cause of human intel- 
 ligence and virtue — the great cause of an ever progress- 
 ive civilization. 
 
SECOND ANNUAL REPORT 
 
 BOAM OF MGEITS 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. 
 
 JANUABY 16, 18S0. 
 
REPORT. 
 
 University of Wisconsin, i 
 January 16, 1850. ) 
 To the Legislature of the State of Wisconsin: 
 
 The Board of Regents, in obedience to the provisions 
 of the 14th section of the charter of the University, make 
 this their Second Annual Report: 
 
 With a profound sense of the importance of the pubhc 
 interest committed to their care, and with an abiding de- 
 sire to render their administration of it productive of uni- 
 versal and lasting benefit to the people of Wisconsin, the 
 Regents, deeming it sound policy, as vsrell as manifest duty, 
 at their first meeting, October 17, 1848, proceeded to the 
 election of a Chancellor, in order that they might have, 
 from the beginning, the aid of professional skill and ex- 
 perience in all their councils. The proceedings of the 
 Board in this behalf were reported to the last Legislature 
 and approved. 
 
 The Chancellor elect, in the month of March, 1849, 
 signified his acceptance of the office tendered to him, to 
 take effect on the 1st of October following — during which 
 month he arrived in Madison, and has since been constant- 
 ly pnd actively employed in the discharge of the duties 
 of his position as the legally constituted President of the 
 Board and head of the University, 
 
 In shaping the measures preliminary to the full organi- 
 
58 
 
 sktion and mature action of a State Institution of learn- 
 ■ing of the highest grade, the attention of the Board has 
 been drawn to the following topics, and they submit their 
 action and their reflections thereupon to the notice and 
 consideration of the Legislature. 
 
 1-, THE TJNIVESISITY SITE. 
 
 The eminence one mile west of the capitol, heretofore 
 known as "College Hill," was selected by the Board at 
 their stated meeting, January, 1849, as the most eligible 
 location for the University buildings. The choice of the 
 Regents was duly reported, and received the legislative 
 sanction. 
 
 The Board have perfected their title to the quarter sec- 
 tion mentioned in their last report, as offered to them by 
 the agent of Hon. Aaron Vanderpool, of the city of 
 New York. As the whole University site was not inclu- 
 ded within the metes and bounds of that quarter section, 
 the necessary additional purchases have been made. 
 
 The site comprises about fifty acres, bounded north by 
 Fourth Lake, east by a street to be opened at right an- 
 gles with King street, south by Mineral Point Road, and 
 west by a carriage way from said road to the Lake. 
 
 A portion of the residue of the tract purchased by the 
 Board has been surveyed and laid out in streets and town 
 lots. It is believed that the proceeds of the sales of these 
 lots will prove an ample reimbursement of the purchase 
 money for the whole tract. 
 
 2. ISVSI.1DINGS. 
 
 At a special meeting of the Regents, in November last, 
 the Chancellor and Messrs Mills snd Dean were appointed 
 a building committee, whose standing duty it should be to 
 
pjTotect and lay out the grounds, to superintend such erec- 
 tions and improvements as should be ordered from time 
 to time, and to make report of their doings to the Boardi 
 The committee were also specially directed to report to 
 the Board, at their annual meeting, January 15th, 1850, 
 a plan and estimates for University edifices, and other 
 improvements of the University site. 
 
 The committee, after due deliberation, fixed upon the 
 follov^'ing plan, v^hich they reported to the Board at the 
 January meeting, namely: 
 
 1. A main edifice, fronting towards the capitol, three 
 stores high, surmounted by an observatory for astronom- 
 ical observations; said building to be one hundred and 
 forty feet in length, with an extreme depth of sixty feet, 
 containing thirteen public rooms for recitation, lecture, li- 
 brary, cabinet, &c., and also two dwelhng houses for 
 officers of the Institution. 
 
 2. An avenue, two hundred and forty feet wide, extend- 
 ing from the main edifice to the east line of the grounds 
 and bordered by double rows of trees. 
 
 3. Four dormitory building, two on each side of the 
 above mentioned avenue, lower down the hill, on a line 
 fronting towards the town, each building to be four sto- 
 ries high, 110 feet in length and forty feet in breadth, con- 
 taining thirty-two studies for the use of students, each 
 study having two bed-rooms and a wood room attached. 
 Assigning two students to each room or study, the plan 
 when completed will accomodate two hundred and fifty- 
 six. 
 
 4. Two carriage ways, fifty feet wide, bordered with 
 trees — one flanking each of the extreme dormitory build- 
 ings, and both parallel to the wide avenue. 
 
60 
 
 5. The spaces between the north carriage way and the 
 Lake, and the south carriage way and Mineral Point road, 
 to be divided into Professors' lots, and to be improved as 
 the Board may hereafter direct. 
 
 In providing the necessary drawings, estimates and spe- 
 cifications for the use of the Board, the committee were 
 so fortunate as to be able to avail themselves of the 
 services of J. F. Rague, Esq., an accomphshed Architect 
 in the City of Milwaukee. 
 
 The whole plan, as described above, and as represented 
 by the drawings of Mr. Rague, according to the estimates 
 of the architect, will cost $70,000, nearly. 
 
 The plan as reported was unanimously adopted by the 
 Board of Regents, subject to the approval of the Legis- 
 lature, according to the proviso in the 12th section of the 
 Charter of the University. In order to a more perfect 
 understanding of the plan, the drawings of the architect 
 are herewith transmitted for the inspection of the Legis- 
 lature. 
 
 3. TIME OF EESECTION &¥ EBSFSCES. 
 
 It will be observed that the plan admits of progressive 
 execution. The edifices first called for, and indeed indis- 
 pensable to a sucessful opening of the Collegiate and Nor- 
 mal Departments, are the two innermost dormitory build- 
 ings. The Board regard it as highly important that pro- 
 vision be made for the construction of both — certainly of 
 one — during the coming summer. The erection of the 
 main edifice maybe deferred for a year or two; and the 
 residue for several years, or until they can be built out of 
 the surplus income of the Institution, after providing for 
 the current expenditures. 
 
 In order to provide for the wants of the collegiate stu- 
 
6i 
 
 (ients as well as for the teachers' classes, it is deemed im- 
 portant to proceed thus early to the erection of the two 
 dormitory buildings. To enable the Board to accomplish 
 this very desirable object, it will be necessary to anticipate 
 the income to be derived from the sales of the University 
 lands, to a limited extent. 
 
 Although a portion of these lands will come into mar- 
 ket this year, and the interest is to be paid in advance, it 
 is not to be presumed that sufficient income will be realiz- 
 ed to enable the Board to proceed to the erection of these 
 needful structures without the aid of a loan. 
 
 In accordance with the view of the subject here pre- 
 sented, the Board would respectfully ask the Legislature 
 to empower them to borrow ^25,000 of the principal of 
 the school fund — the interest to be paid punctually out of 
 the income of the University fund, and the principal with-' 
 in a specified term of years. 
 
 So far as the school fund is concerned, this loan will be 
 an investment of the most unexceptionable character. — 
 It is entirely safe; and as the income of the University 
 fund is paid into the State Treasury, the payment of the 
 interest on the investment is simply a transfer by the treas- 
 urer, of money already in possession, from one fund to 
 the other. At the same time, by this investment, the 
 University will be enabled at an earlier day to begin to 
 discharge its proper functions in aid of the public schools 
 of the State. As the policy of the proposed loan was 
 placed in a strong light in the annual message of the 
 Governor, the Board make the application with great 
 confidence that it will meet with the favor of the Legisla- 
 ture. 
 
62 
 
 4. ORGANISATION OF THE COi:.E»E«flATE AW© 
 KOISMAIi BEPAKTMENTS 
 
 The ninth section of the Charter provides that the Uni-. 
 yersity shall consist of four Departments, as follows: 
 
 1. The Department of Science, Literature, and Arts. 
 
 2. The Department of Law. 
 
 3. The Department of Medicine. 
 
 4. The Department of the Theory and Practice of Ele-. 
 xnentary Instruction. 
 
 The Board deem it their manifest duty to provide for 
 the opening of the first and fourth of the above Depart-, 
 ments at as early a day as the finances of the institution 
 will permit. The educational wants of Wisconsin de- 
 mand it, and with the appropriate legislative action, these 
 wants may be promptly met and adequately provided for. 
 
 At their special meeting in November, the Board took, 
 the first step towards the opening of these Departments, 
 by the passage of an ordinance setting forth the plan of' 
 organization of the Faculties of Science, Literature and 
 Arts, and of the Theory and Practice of Elementary In-, 
 struction, of which the subjoined extract from the record 
 is a true copy : 
 
 AN ORDINANCE providing for the organization of the Departments of "Sci- 
 ence, Literature, and Arts," and of the "Theory and Practice of Elemen- 
 tary Instruction." 
 
 The Regents of the University of Wisconsin do ordain as 
 follows: 
 
 1. That there be hereby constituted, in said University, 
 a Professorship of* Ethics, Civil Polity, and Political Eco-. 
 nomy;" and that it be the duty of the chair to render instruc- 
 tion in Theoretic and Practical Morality, in the Science of 
 Government, in International and Constitutional Law, and 
 in the laws regulating the Production, Distribution, Ex-. 
 change, and Consumption of material Wealth, and to in-i. 
 
63 
 
 cuicate such knowledge and discipline as may be calcula-^. 
 ted to prepare liberally educated young men to become 
 good and useful citizens of the republic. The duties of 
 this chair will be discharged by the Chancellor of the 
 University. 
 
 2. That there be hereby constituted a professorship of 
 Mental Philosophy, Logic, Rhetoric, and EngHsh Liter- 
 ature; and that it be the duty of the chair, in its in- 
 structions, to treat of the powers and capabilities of the 
 human mind, the modes in which knowledge is acquired 
 and communicated,, the use of language in convincing and 
 persuading men, with a special adaptation of the whole 
 to the structure and capabilities of the EngHsh language. 
 The duties of this chair will be discharged by the Normal 
 Professor. 
 
 3. That there be hereby constituted a Professorship 
 ■of Ancient Languages and Literature; and that it be 
 the duty of the chair to render thorough and critical in- 
 struction in the Classical and Oriental Languages — those 
 ancient forms of human intercourse which have bequeath- 
 ed to us the elements of our native tongue — to develope 
 the philosophy of language, and to unfold the history and 
 the theory of a civihzation which has passed away, but 
 has left an abiding impression on huma.n society. 
 
 4. That there be hereby constituted, a Professorship 
 of Modern Languages and Literature; and that it be the 
 duty of the chair to render stated instruction in German 
 and French, to the regular classes, and occasional instruc- 
 tion in other modern languages, as classes may be formed; 
 to make the acquisition of German and French tributary 
 to the better understanding of the elements of the Eng- 
 lish tongue; and to render such assistance in the Depart- 
 ment of Ancient Languages, as the Chancellor may deem 
 expedient. 
 
64 
 
 5. That there be hereby constituted, a Professorship 
 '■of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Astronomy: and 
 that it be the duty of the chair to render instruction in 
 the pure and mixed Mathematics, in Civil Engineering, 
 Practical surveying, and other field operations, in experi- 
 mental Philosophy, and the use of apparatus, and in The- 
 oretic and Practical Astronomy. 
 
 6. That there be hereby constituted, a Professorship of 
 Chemistry and Natural History; and that it be the duty 
 of the chair to render courses of instruction in Chemistry 
 ■and its applications, in Mineralogy, Geology, the Natural 
 History of plants and animals, and human Physiology. — 
 It shall be the further duty of the Professor to superin- 
 tend the collections, in the various branches of physical 
 science, and to make and publish meteorological observa- 
 tions. 
 
 7. That the Chancellor, and Professors of the forego* 
 ing branches of instruction, together with the Tutor, of 
 the Preparatory School, and other Tutors, if more be 
 quisite, constitute the Faculty of "Science, Literature^ 
 and Arts;" and that it be the duty of the Chancellor to 
 equalize the burthen of instruction, and to adjust the 
 "claims of the several Departments. 
 
 The Regents of the Univer'sitj/ do /mother ordain: 
 
 1. That there be hereby established a Normal Profes- 
 sorship; and that it be the duty of the chair to render 
 instruction in the art of teaching, comprising the most 
 approved modes of inculcating knowledge and administer- 
 ing the discipline of the common school; and in such 
 branches of study as may best prepare the pupils in this 
 Department, for their honorable and useful vocation as 
 educators of the popular mind. 
 
66 
 
 ■2. That the Chancellor and the Normal Professor con- 
 stitute the Faculty of the '' Theory and Practice of Ele- 
 mentary Instruction," whose duty it shall be to hold annu^ 
 al sessions of at least five months, for the instruction of 
 the Teachers' Class, composed of such young men as may 
 avail themselves of the advantages of this Department, 
 with a view to the business of instruction in the academy 
 or the common school, within the limits of the State. 
 
 3. That the members of the Teachers' Class be mem- 
 hers of the Universiiy, entitled to its privileges and amen- 
 able to its disciphne ; that in addition to the instructions of 
 the Normal Department, they have free access, in con- 
 nection with the regular classes, to the lectures of the 
 other Professors, and have the use of the library and ap- 
 paratus on the same terms and conditions with the mem- 
 bers of the regular classes. 
 
 4. That the pupils of the Normal Department be en- 
 titled to the instructions of the University without charge; 
 and to this end it shall be the duty of the Chancellor to 
 admit to the Teachers' Class, any young man of suitable 
 age and unexceptionable character, who shall present the 
 certificate of the treasurer that he has executed his writ- 
 ten obligation, to pay the usual fees of tuition, conditioned 
 to be void, in case he shall have been engaged in instruc- 
 tion two years within the four next succeeding the period 
 of his connection with the University. 
 
 5. That at the close of the course, the members of the 
 Teachers' Class shall, if approved on examination, have 
 a part in the exercises of the Commencement, shall be 
 admitted to the appropriate Degree in the art of Teach- 
 ing, and receive in testimony thereof, a Diploma from the 
 hands of the Chancellor. 
 
 G. That it is the fixed intention of the Regents thus to 
 
 5* 
 
66 
 
 make the University of Wisconsin subsidary to the great 
 cause of popular education, by niaking it, through its 
 Normal Department, the nursery of the educators oi the 
 popular mind, and the central point of union and harmony 
 to the educational interests of the Commonwealth. 
 
 It was subsequently ordered by the Board, the the max- 
 imu?n of the salary of the Professors, payable out of the 
 income of the University Fuad, be fixed at $1,000 per 
 annum. 
 
 It will be seen that the first portion of the Ordinance 
 proposes such an organization of the Collegiate Depart- 
 ment, as will place it in a respectable position amoag the 
 literary Institutions of our land. 
 
 The second part of the Ordinance unfolds the views of 
 the Board relative to the great question of the proper re- 
 lation to be constituted and maintained between the Uni- 
 versity and the other educational agencies of the State. 
 As the question is now assuming a practical bearing and a 
 degree of interest in our State hitherto unfelt, the Soard 
 deem it not inexpedient to subjoin the following remarks: 
 
 The relations which our State University ought to bear 
 to the other educational agencies of the State, is conced- 
 ed to be a question of great import to the future destinies 
 of Wisconsin; and one v/hich should be settled on princi- 
 ples which look to the greatest good for the greatest num-> 
 ber. .--' , 
 
 In every Commonwealth, the preparation of the young 
 mind of the community for the successful working of free 
 institutions, and for a full appreciation of their importance 
 in securins: to the citizen whatever is of value in human 
 society, constitutes the most solemn duty and the most 
 interestins: trust confided to each successive veneration. — 
 
m 
 
 This preparation is wholly educational, It is the culture 
 of the child into the enlightened and virtuous man. It is 
 providing for, and realizing the condition of general intel- 
 ligence and integrity. 
 
 In this general culture, inasmuch as the University is 
 not immediately accessible to the entire young mind of 
 our State, it should invite, without fee or reward, to its 
 halls of instruction, to the acquisition of the intellectual 
 treasures there accumulated and dispensed, to the full en- 
 joyment of the benefit of the educational appointments 
 with which the professor is surrounded, every young 
 MAN who has resolved to become either an intellectual or 
 a moral instructor of the popular mind, and who will en- 
 gage for a specified time, to discharge the duties of his 
 high and responsible calling, within the limits of Wiscon- 
 sin. 
 
 It is through a well digested system of popular educa- 
 tion, which shall distinctly recognize and avail itself of 
 this important office of the University, the gratuitous in-^, 
 struction, namely, of the educators of the people, that the 
 State of Wisconsin will, in the judgement of the Board, 
 be able most directly, certainly, and efficiently, to meet 
 and provide for the intellectual wants of her whole pop- 
 ulation. It is by making our University the school of the 
 schoolmaster, that a corps of competent instructors is to 
 be best provided, and that all the educational agencies of 
 the State, from the highest to the lowest, may be made 
 tributary to the great end of training up the young mind 
 of Wisconsin to intelligence and virtue. 
 
 The teacher who shall avail himself of the advantages- 
 of the plan set forth in the Ordinance, will not only enjoy 
 the professional instructions of the Normal Department, but 
 will be able in connection with one or more of the regu- 
 
lar classes, to devote all the time not thus employed, ta 
 the acquisition of the useful and liberal branches of knowl- 
 edge, taugfit in the other Departments of the University^ 
 and thus may go out to the great work of informing the 
 popular mind, instructed not merely in the first rudiments, 
 but v\dth a mind enlarged by a liberal course of study. 
 
 Under the operation of such a system, sustained by a 
 Suitable provision for the support of men thus qualified, 
 we may confidently look forward to the day, when in 
 «very township in the State, may be found at least one 
 school, in which instruction may be rendered in Algebra, 
 in Geometry, in Surveying and Leveling, in the practical 
 applications of Chemical and Mechanical Science, in Elo- 
 cution, in Mental, Moral, and PoHtical Philosophy; when 
 the means of general culture in all that constitutes a peo- 
 ple wise, virtuous, great and happy, may be brought with'- 
 in the reach of every child of the Republic, 
 
 It is well known that so far as the professional instruc- 
 tors of common schools have hitherto formed a separate 
 and distinct class, they , have, in the popular sentiment, 
 been liable to the reproach, whether justly or unjustly, 
 of narrow and impracticable views, of an offensive pe- 
 dantry, of that ostentation of "a little learning," which 
 has been drunk in from shallow and unfrequented foun- 
 tains. The Normal School system of the Eastern States, 
 by v/ithdrawing the teacher, during his period of culture 
 from the action of the common mind, and by isolating 
 him from the influence, the sympathy, and the generous 
 emulation of th§ residue of the young intellect of the 
 country, is, in some sense, open to the objection of foster- 
 ing and perpetuating those distinctive characteristics of the 
 teacher, which have hitherto impaired his influence, and, 
 unfortunately for the public, have let down his position in 
 the social economv. 
 
69 
 
 By introducing the teacher, during the period of his 
 .professional cuUure, to the more Hberal instructions of the 
 University, and to the more varied action of mind on mind, 
 the Board hazard httle in the prediction, that as he goes 
 out to his work with juster views of the relations of the 
 sciences to each other and to the arts, with a mind better 
 balanced and better disciplined, and with a conscious abil- 
 ity and disposition to make his instructions useful to the 
 popular mind, he will find his reproach taken away, the 
 utility of his mission better appreciated and more cor- 
 dially acknowledged, his social position more fairly adjust- 
 ed, and his intellectual agency more cheerfully and am- 
 ply rewarded. 
 
 Under the conditions here presented, ail the education- 
 al agencies of the state act in harmony, and conspire to 
 the production of one common result. The University 
 no longer hoards its intellectual treasures, but makes the 
 teacher of the district school the dispenser of its bounty; 
 no longer standing aloof from contact with the common 
 mind, as the centre and heart of the whole system, its 
 pulsations send the tide of intellectual life to the remotest 
 -extremities of the social body. 
 
 The Board entertain the firm behef that the progress 
 of the mind of Wisconsin in intelligence and virtue, will 
 be greatly subserved by the relations thus established be- 
 tween the University and the other educational agencies 
 of the State; and that the University itself will be the 
 gainer, by its beneficent action on the popular mind. 
 
 With these remarks, the Board take leave of this branch 
 ©f the subject, and respectfully commend the whole mat- 
 ter to the candid consideration of the Legislature. 
 
 It is proper, however, to subjoin in this connection, that 
 
tfie Normal Department of the University will be made 
 to embrace suitable provisions for the professional instruc- 
 tion of Female Teachers; and also for a Model School 
 at Madison-; The plan is already under consideration, and 
 will be matured at an early day. 
 
 5. OF THE BEPAUTMENTS OF L>AW AWB MEl^aCUTVE. 
 
 Under advice of members of the Board, the Chancellor 
 has addressed communications severally to the Medical 
 Society of the State, and to the Court and Bar, inviting 
 suggestions from them, relative to the most suitable plan 
 of organization of each of the Faculties of L.aw and Me- 
 dicine. 
 
 In accordance with the obvious intention of the char- 
 ter, such Departments will, in due time, be opened. But 
 whether their connection with the University shall be 
 more than nominal, will depend on the degree of fidelity 
 and success with which the University lands shall be ad- 
 ministered, and on the amount of capital fund which shall 
 be derived from their sale. 
 
 Should the lands be sold for their full vaiue^ the Board 
 are of the opinion that the great educational interests con. 
 templated in the Collegiate and Normal Departments may 
 be amply provided for, and means remain for the founda- 
 tion of Medical and Law Schools which may be worthy 
 of the University and of the State» On the other hand, 
 should the University fund disappoint public expectation^ 
 and fall within the range of the ordinary endowment of 
 respectable Colleges in our country, the Board would re- 
 gard it as their imperative duty to confine their pecuniary 
 appropriations to the Collegiate and Normal Depaxt- 
 ments. 
 
71 
 
 6. VAI^IUATION AN1DSA£,E OF THE UMIVEISSSTY I>ANI>S.. 
 
 That it is the duty of the State so to administer these 
 lands as to reahze their whole value, seems to be univer- 
 sally conceded; and still, in manifest derogation of this 
 principle, pre-emption rights are claimed to a portion of 
 this trust, specially and wholly consecrated to University 
 uses. The Board have also discovered in the office of 
 the Secretary of State, returns of an appraisal of these 
 lands, made, so far as they can discover, without legal au- 
 thority on the part of the appraisers. 
 
 For a synopsis of this appraisal, the Legislature is res- 
 pectfully referred to Document marked A, in the Appendix 
 to this report. Some curious facts are exhibited by this 
 document. For example, while the school lands, which 
 are, of course, lands of ordinary quaUty, are appraised 
 at the average value of $3 44 per acre, the selected Uni- 
 versity lands are appraised at the average value of $2 78, 
 being sixty-six cents less per acre than the appraised value 
 of the school lands, The average per acre, as exhibited 
 in this Document, is: 
 
 In Iowa County, - - - - - 
 " Jefferson " - - - - 
 " Fond du Lac •'----- 
 " Calumet " . . - . 
 " La Fayette '' . ^ - > - 
 " Green ^' '' ^ 
 
 " Whole State, as above, w - - 
 
 Now, if this appraisal approximates towards correct- 
 ness, it is manifest that the University lands were very 
 xinfortunatehj selected, and are, in point of fact, of inferi- 
 or quality. If, on the other hand, "the selections were 
 made with judgment, and the lands are, as they ought to 
 be, of the best quahty, then this appraisal presents a sin- 
 
 §2 
 
 79 
 
 2 
 
 73 
 
 2 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 13 
 
 2 
 
 78 
 
73 
 
 gular anomaly in human judgement. The effect of the 
 proceeding has been to depreciate these lands in public es- 
 timation, and to induce the hope and the expectation that 
 they might be obtained at prices much below the market 
 value of lands of good quality. 
 
 So far as this valuation has any force and effect, its 
 tendency is to a very disastrous reduction of the capital 
 of the University fund. The aggregate appraised value 
 of the seventy-two sections of land, as the document 
 shows, is under $130,000 — a sum altogether inadequate 
 to the uses for which this munificent donation was design- 
 ed, and to which it should be faithfully applied. 
 
 The Board have presented these facts thus at large, in 
 the earnest confidence that the correcting hand of legisla- 
 tion will be promptly applied and the fund saved. 
 
 In order to this end, the Board v/ould suggest to the fa- 
 vorable consideration of the Legislature, the propriety of 
 passing an act fixing a valuation of $10 per acre, below 
 which no portion of the University lands shall be sold. 
 
 It is further recommended that discretionary power be 
 conferred on the Board of Regents to regulate the time 
 and the conditions of the sale of said lands: provided the 
 same shall not be incompatible with the minimum valua- 
 tion as fixed by the Legislature. 
 
 If these recommendations meet with favor, and this 
 great interest be permanently arranged on this basis, it is 
 the behef of the Board that the full value of the lands 
 will be be realized, and the benign ends of the trust be se- 
 cured in perpetuity t'o the people of this Commonweath. 
 
 In recommending this policy, the Board are fortified by 
 the example of the neighboring State of Michigan, whose 
 
73 
 
 minimum valuation in the sale of their University lands, 
 has not been less, as the Board are advised, than tvv^elve 
 dollars per acre. A large fund has already been accumu- 
 lated, ample provision has been made for the several 
 Chairs of instruction, suitable buildings have been erected, 
 a library has been founded, apparatus procured, and ex- 
 tensive collections have been made illustrative of the sci- 
 ences of observation. Although young in years, the Uni- 
 versity of Michigan is mature in character, and holds an 
 honorable position among the older educational establish- 
 ments of the land. 
 
 With equal wisdom and fidelity in the development of 
 her resources, the University ,of Wisconsin with mofe a- 
 bundant means, and more beneficent ends, may be made 
 to accomplish a still higher destiny. 
 
 The Board have the satisfaction of being able to pre- 
 sent the Preparatory Department in a sound and healthy 
 condition. It is in contemplation to form, next summer, 
 out of this mate-rial, at least two regular Collegiate Class- 
 es. For a more perfect understanding of the condition 
 of the Department, the Board would respectfully refer 
 the Legislature to the Exhibit of Professor Sterling, 
 marked B., in the Appendix to this report. 
 
 8. THE CABINET. 
 
 The Board would further refer the Legislature to doc- 
 ument marked C in the Appendix, for the report of H. 
 A. Tennev, Esq., Curator of the Cabinet. This valua- 
 ble paper exhibits a very gratifying increase of the con- 
 tributions which have been made during the year, of 
 specimens in Mineralogy and Geology, of Fossil Remains, 
 and in Conchology. The report will be read with great 
 
74 
 
 interest, and is illustrative of the value of the gratuitous 
 services of the Curator, and of those scientific gentlemen 
 who have so generously contributed their aid in advancing 
 the interests of the University, and the cause of Natural 
 Science in the State. 
 
 In conclusion, the Board beg leave to express the earnest 
 hope, that the educational resources of Wisconsin will be 
 faithfully and successfully administered, and to tender to 
 the constituted authorities of the State, the assurance of 
 their co-operation, to the extent of the means placed at 
 their disposal, in every endeavor to advance the intelli- 
 gence and virtue, the essential dignity and true glory of 
 the Commonwealth. 
 
 All of which is respectfully submitted. 
 
 JOHN H. LATHROP, 
 SIMEON MILLS, 
 HIRAM BARBER. 
 CYRUS V/OODMAN, 
 ELEAZER ROOT, 
 A. HYATT SMITH, . 
 HENRY BRYAN, ■ 
 
 A. L. COLLINS, 
 JULIUS T. CLARK, 
 JOHN BANNISTER, 
 JOHN H. ROUNTREE, 
 
 N. W. DEAN, 
 RUFUS KING. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 TO THE 
 
 [^ 1 ^ ® ^ IT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BOARD OF REGENTS. 
 
77 
 
 = A." 
 
 SYNOPSIS of the Appraisal of the University Lands so far as re- 
 ported to the Secretary of State, prepared by F. Hudson, Esq., at 
 the request of the Chancellor. 
 
 COUNTIES. 
 
 
 Total apprais- 
 ed valuation. 
 
 Av. value 
 per Section. 
 
 0^ . 
 
 Amt. pre- 
 empted. 
 
 Calumet, - - - 
 
 3 
 
 $2,500 00 
 
 $833 33 $1 30 
 
 
 Columbia, - - - 
 
 3 
 
 7,380 34 
 
 2,460 11 
 
 3 84 
 
 $2,526 87 
 
 Dane, - - - - 
 
 6^ 
 
 16,44U 00 
 
 2,435 56 
 
 3 81 
 
 560 00 
 
 Dodge, - - - 
 
 5g 
 
 11,853 37 
 
 2,107 27 
 
 3 34 
 
 6,706 73 
 
 Fond du Lac, - - 
 
 n 
 
 3,895 20 
 
 1,416 44 
 
 2 21 
 
 320 00 
 
 Green, - - - - 
 
 1 
 
 5,046 86 
 
 820 98 
 
 1 13 
 
 396 33 
 
 Iowa, - - - - 
 
 3g 
 
 6,472 30 
 
 1,785 46 
 
 2 79 
 
 
 Jefferson, - - - 
 
 3 
 
 5,245 62 
 
 1,748 51 
 
 2 73 
 
 320 00 
 
 La Fayette, - - - 
 
 10 
 
 8,095 05 
 
 728 -38 
 
 1 29 
 
 
 Racine, - - - 
 
 1 
 
 3,740 00 
 
 3,740 00 
 
 5 84 
 
 1,080 00 
 
 Richland, - - - 
 
 4^ 
 
 5,943 76 
 
 1,419 41 
 
 2 22 
 
 360 00 
 
 Rock, - - - - 
 
 3 
 
 10,040 50 
 
 3,346 83 
 
 5 23 
 
 670 00 
 
 Walworth, - - - 
 
 2 
 
 7,275 84 
 
 3,637 92 
 
 6 68 
 
 777 24 
 
 Washington, - - 
 
 1 
 
 4,520 00 
 
 4,520 00 
 
 7 06 
 
 1,080 00 
 
 Waukesha, - - - 
 
 1 
 
 3,180 00 
 
 3,180 00 
 
 4 97 
 
 980 00 
 
 Winnebago, - - 
 
 5i 
 
 10,574 61 
 
 2,009 07 
 
 3 14 
 
 
 Total, 
 
 63 I $112,176 351 $1,782 25i2 78! $15,777. 
 
 72 Sections at $1,782 35, - - - - $128,329 20 
 
 Deduct amount pre-empted, _ _ _ _ 15,777 17 
 
 $112,552 03 
 
 Suppose sold at an advance of 30 per cent., - 33,765 61 
 
 Would bo ------ - $146,317 64 
 
 Add amount pre-empted ----- 15,777 17 
 
 And the total University Fund will be - - $162,094 81 
 
 The Interest of this at 7 per et. is . - _ $11,346 64 
 
78 
 
 B.' 
 
 To. John H. Lathrop, LL. D. 
 
 President of the Board of Regents, 
 
 of the University of Wisconsin : 
 
 The undersigned, having in charge the Preparatory 
 School in the first Department of the University, would 
 respectfully present the following as his 
 
 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 In accordance with the action of the board of Regents, 
 at their first meeting, in October, 1848, the Preparatory 
 School vv^as opened at Madison, on February 5th, 1849. 
 
 The first Academic year, which consists of two terms 
 of twenty weeks each, will close on the 24th of the pres- 
 ent month. 
 
 A brief statement of facts will enable the Board to judge 
 of the present state and prospects of the school. 
 
 The following students have been in attendance during 
 the year : 
 
 FIMST TEMM, 
 Commencing February 4th,, 1849, 
 
 Levi Booth, - - Madison, Wis. 
 
 Byron E. Bushnell, - - " '' 
 
 Chas. Fairchild, - - u u 
 
 James M. Flowers, - - Sun Prairie, " 
 
 William H. Holt, - - Madison, " 
 Henry McKee, - - Platteville " 
 
 Stewart M,cKee, - - " " 
 
79 
 
 Daniel G. Jewitt, 
 Charles D. Knapp, 
 Francis Ogden, 
 Robert Ream, 
 Robert D. Rood, 
 Chas. D. Smith, - 
 Hayden K. Smith, 
 Wm. Stewart, 
 Geo. W. Stoner, 
 Chas. T. Wakeley, 
 Richard F. Wilson, 
 Albert U. Wyman, 
 Wm. A. Locke, 
 
 Madison, Wis. 
 
 Ancaster, Canada W. 
 
 Madison, Wis. 
 Whitewater, " 
 Madison. " 
 
 Lake Mills, '^ 
 
 SECOI^® TERM. 
 Commencing September 5th, 1849. 
 
 - " Madison, Wis. 
 
 Levi Booth, 
 Byron E. Bushnell 
 Chas. Fairchild, - 
 James M. Flowers, 
 Wm. H. Holt, - 
 Stewart McKee, 
 Daniel G. Jewitt, 
 Chas. D. Knapp, 
 Francis Ogden, 
 Robert Ream, 
 Galen Rood, 
 Chas. B. Smith, 
 Hayden K. Smith, 
 Wm. Steward, 
 Geo. W. Stoner, - 
 Chas. T. Wakely, 
 
 Sun Prairie, 
 Madison, 
 Platte ville, 
 Madison, 
 
 Ancaster, Canada W. 
 Madison, Wis, 
 Whitewater," 
 
Richard F. Wilson, - Madison Wis. 
 Albert U. Wyman, - - '< '« 
 
 Wm. A. Locke, - - Lake Mills, " 
 Horace Rublee, - - Sheboygan, *' 
 
 lessee S. Ogden, - - Madison, '* 
 Theodore Holt, - . « « 
 
 Jasper T. Hawes, - " " 
 
 Noah H. Drew, * . - Prairie du Sac, Wis. 
 Geo. M. Pinney, - - Medina, Wis. 
 Jas. H. Sutherland, - - Greenfield, " 
 John H. Lathrop, Jr. » Madison, " 
 
 Of the above pupils, twenty have been pursuing clas" 
 sical and other studies in the regular course of preparation 
 for the higher classes in the University. Eight or ten of 
 these, if they continue in the school, will be prepared by 
 the coming fall, about one half for the Sophomore, and the 
 others for the Freshman class, Two of them may be rea- 
 dy for the junior class. Most of the others in the regu- 
 lar course of study will be in readiness by the close of an- 
 other year, it is hoped, for the Freshman class. 
 
 There has been, in general, during the year, ^ regular 
 attendance on the part of the pupils ; and their attention 
 to their studies and the exercises of the school, has been 
 to a high degree, satisfactory. 
 
 The general character of the'students under our instruc- 
 tion, v;e have the highest opinion. Indeed, we have rare- 
 ly, if ever, known, in any school, so large a proportion of 
 young gentlemen of equal talent and promise. 
 
 It has been our constant effort to inculcate habits of in- 
 dustry and application, and by patient drilling, to lay the 
 foundation of thorough scholarship, and we have the sat- 
 isfaction of believing that our labors have not been unsuc- 
 cessful, 
 
81 
 
 It will be s(3en that nearly all the students who, thus far 
 have been connected with the Preparatory School, are 
 from this village or its immediate vicinity. That we have 
 no more from abroad is owing, in part, as we have good 
 reason to believe, to the difficulty of obtaining board at 
 Madison, upon sufficiently moderate terms, especially dur- 
 ing the session of the Legislature. We are sure that the 
 present num-ber of pupils would be more than doubled in 
 the coming year, if it should be generally known that 
 board could be obtained in this village at a cheap rate. — 
 Unless some provision be made to meet this want, it is to 
 be feared that some now in the school, will be under the 
 necessity of leaving. The number of pupils during the 
 past year, however, has been as great, under the circum- 
 stances, as could reasonably have been expected; and 
 from the provision which it is anticipated will soon be 
 made for the accommodation of students with cheap 
 board, as well as from the applications already made, it is 
 believed that there will be in the coming term, a large ac- 
 cession to our numbers. 
 
 J. W. STERLING. 
 ^Madison, January IMh. 1850. 
 
 ■5* 
 
83: 
 
 "■CJ 
 
 Hon. J. H. Lathrop : 
 
 President of the Board of Regents: 
 
 Sir :-^— In compliance with your request, I herewith sub- 
 mit a statement of the condition of the University Cabi- 
 net The list hereunto attached, embraces all the spe- 
 cimens thus far collected. The greater and best part 
 of these have been presented during the past year. — 
 It will be seen that v>fhile specimens have been obtained of 
 most of the minerals and geological formations in the 
 State, some of which are very valuable, that the Cab- 
 inet is yet but a skeleton of what it should be. Indeed, 
 to complete such a Cabinet as is desirable, must necessa- 
 rily be a work of years, and require the active co-opera- 
 tion of public spiritecf persons in all parts of the State. 
 
 I have taken considerable pains, in many v/ays, during 
 the year past, to enlist the interest of the public in favor 
 of this enterprise, and to induce a large contribution of 
 specimens. The result has been very gratifying, as the 
 list of contrmutions will show. At, the same time many 
 of them are only such specimens as have been picked up 
 casually, on account of some peculiarity of appearance, 
 without particular refei'ence to their importance in a sci-, 
 entific point of view. A thorough geological survey of 
 the State could alone furnish the complete suit desired. 
 
But as this will not probably be made for some* years, I 
 have cast about for other means of adding to the colIeG- 
 tion. The most obvious method which has suggested it- 
 self, is to send circulars, stating the wants of the Cabinet 
 somewhat at length, to teachers in the several district 
 schools in the , Statfe, and other scientific persons, urging 
 them to use efforts in their several localities^ to collect and 
 forward to this place for examination, specimens of all 
 minerals, fossils, rocks, shells, &:c., that can readily be ob- 
 tained therein. Whenever the teachers in the State will 
 interest themselves in this project, and set to work the 
 thousands of young hands under their charge, in making 
 collections, the end desired will have been to a great ex- 
 tent accomphshed, and not only the University Cabinet, 
 but all engaged, be mutually benefitted. In return, by a 
 judicious distribution of duplicate specimens, iall the im- 
 portant schools in the State may in time be furnished with 
 Cabinets. It seems to me that very much may be accom- 
 plished in this manner, and I would earnestly urge the 
 subject upon the attention of the public. 
 
 But very little is at present known of the mineral 
 wealth of Wisconsin. What is known, however, holds 
 out the strongest inducements to further and persevering 
 research. Within a period of eighteen months past, quar- 
 ries of granite, slate, rna'rble, water-lime, &c., have been 
 opened — some of them very extensive, and of the best 
 of their kind. Deposites of copper, lead, zinc, and iron 
 ores have also been discovei'ed in many new localities; 
 and the fact has been demonstrated that some of these 
 metals abound in geological formations, in which, hereto- 
 fore, their existence has not been suspected. Every ef* 
 fort made to extend this Cabinet, thus far, has had a ten- 
 cency to promote new discoveries of this kind, by arous- 
 ing the the public mind to the subject. 
 
85 
 
 A correspondence has been opened and carried on with 
 several scientific gentlemen in other states, in relation to 
 a system of exchanges. It is believed that large acces- 
 sions will be made to the Cabinet through this medium, 
 during the coming year. 
 
 I would respectfully recommend to the Board, to pur- 
 chase one or two complete suits of marine shells, during 
 the coming season. The expense would be trifling, and 
 they would form a valuable and attractive addition to the 
 Cabinet, 
 
 The names of persons who have made donations will 
 be found in the list annexed, in connection with their con- 
 tributions. I desir e toreturn pubHc and particular thanks, 
 in addition, to the following named gentlemen: — Hon. G. 
 W. Brownell, of St. Croix; I. A. Lapham, L. J. Farweli 
 and Charles Crane, of Milwaukee; Chas. Sweeny, of Po- 
 tosi; D. S. Durrie, Esq., of Albany, N. Y.; J. Bannister 
 of Fond du Lac; Hon. J. Catlin, and J. G. Knapp, Esq.. 
 of Madison; Hon. Chas. Larrabee, of Port Washington; 
 W. R. Smith, of Mineral Point; and A. Bronson, of 
 Prairie du Chien. 
 
 I have thus stated the principal points to which I would 
 request your attention. The prospects of the Cabinet 
 are very flattering; and persevering efforts are all that is 
 requisite to ensure complete success. 
 
 The expense of these collections thus far, exclusive of 
 cases, is as follows: 
 
 Bills of 1848, unpaid, - - - $7.50 
 
 Postage on circulars, &c., to 1849, - 3.00 
 
 Freight on Specimens, - - - . 5.50 
 
 Printing and mailing circulars, - - 10.00 
 
 Total, $26.00 
 
86 
 
 Which sums I have advanced at different times out of 
 my own funds. I am also individually responsible for the 
 cases ordered, and would request the Board to make pro- 
 vision for the payment of the same. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 H. A. TENNEY, 
 Curator of the University Cabinet. 
 
LIST OF SPECIMENS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 CABINET OF THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 
 
 =^1 
 
 
 
 
 C5 *l? 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 DONORS, 
 
 LOCAI-ITIES. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gray granite, 
 
 LA. Lapham, 
 
 Lake Superior, 
 
 
 do 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 Connecticut, 
 
 
 Red do 
 
 do 
 
 Ticonderoga, N. Y- 
 
 
 Black do 
 
 do 
 
 Mt. Defiance, 
 
 
 Gneiss, 
 
 I. A. Lapham, 
 
 Lake Superier, 
 
 
 Syenite, 
 
 do 
 
 Portland, Wis., 
 
 
 do 
 
 A. Vanderpool, 
 
 do do 
 
 
 Mica, 
 
 J. G. Knapp, 
 
 New York, 
 
 
 do 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 Olstead, N. H. 
 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 Schroon, 
 
 
 do black, 
 
 do 
 
 Ticonderoga, 
 
 
 Agate, 
 
 J. D. Berry, 
 
 Lake Superior, 
 
 
 do 
 
 Mrs. J. Oakley, 
 
 Lake Pepin, 
 
 
 do 
 
 D. Lambert, 
 
 Wabasha, Min. 
 
 
 do 
 
 T. Tracy, 
 
 Madison, Wis. 
 
 
 do 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 Long Island, 
 
 
 Quartz, 
 
 H. A. Tenney, 
 
 Ohio, 
 
 
 Pseudomprphous qu'rtz 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 Ticonderoga, 
 
 10 
 
 Crystals of quartZj 
 
 D. M. Holt, 
 
 Little Falls, N. Y„ 
 
 20 
 
 do do 
 
 C. E. Crane, 
 
 Hot Springs, Ark. 
 
 
 do do 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 Chestertown, N. Y, 
 
 
 Rose do 
 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 Falls of St. Croix, 
 
 
 do with schorl. 
 
 do 
 
 do do 
 
 
 Feldspar, 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 Brooklyn, L. L 
 
 2 
 
 do and graphite, 
 
 do 
 
 Ticonderoga, 
 
 
 Opalescent feldspar, 
 
 do 
 
 Crown Point, N. Y; 
 
 
 Porphyry, 
 
 do 
 
 Massachusetts, 
 
 
 Jasper, 
 
 do 
 
 Chilton Hill, 
 
 
 do red, 
 
 do 
 
 Sudbury, Vt. 
 
 
 Mica Schist with Gar- 
 
 
 
 
 nets, 
 
 J. Catlin, 
 
 St. Pauls, Min, 
 
88 
 
 LIST OF SPECIMENS, CONTINUED. 
 
 NO. 
 
 NAMES. [ DONORS. 
 
 liOCALITIES. 
 
 1 Crystals of garnet, 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 Lake George, 
 
 1 Tourmaline, 
 
 do 
 
 Massachusetts, 
 
 1 Argentine and graphite. 
 
 do 
 
 Ticonderoga, 
 
 1 Serpentine and tabular 
 
 
 
 spar, 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 1 Argilite, 
 
 do 
 
 do ^ 
 
 1 Serpentine, 
 
 do 
 
 Warrensburg, N. Y. 
 
 1 Asbestos, 
 
 do 
 
 Staten Island, 
 
 1 do 
 
 do 
 
 M.t. Holly, 
 
 2 Pumice Stone, 
 
 J. G. Knapp, 
 
 New York, 
 
 1 
 
 Argentine, 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 Ticonderoga. 
 
 1 
 
 Cocolite, red, 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 1 
 
 do black, 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 1 
 
 do brown, 
 
 do 
 
 Ft. Ann, N. Y. 
 
 1 
 
 Augite. i do 
 
 Ticonderoga, 
 
 1 
 
 Chalcedony. 
 
 do 
 
 
 1 
 
 Tremolite, 
 
 do 
 
 Mt. HoUy, 
 
 1 
 
 Flint, 
 
 do 
 
 Shoreham, Vt. 
 
 1 
 
 Epidote. 
 
 I. A. Lapham, 
 
 Lake Superior, 
 
 1 
 
 do crystals, 
 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 Falls of St. Croix, 
 
 1 
 
 Carnelian, 
 
 D. M. Holt, 
 
 do 
 
 1 
 
 Conglomerate. 
 
 C. B. Chapman, 
 
 Copper Harbor, 
 
 12 Trap, 
 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 Upper St. Croix, 
 
 1 do with copper, 
 
 W. Knowlton, 
 
 do 
 
 2 Amygdaloid trap. 
 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 Snake River dyke. 
 
 2 Micaceous do 
 
 do 
 
 Falls of St. Croix, 
 
 l|Phorphyritic do 
 
 do 
 
 Porcupine Mts. 
 
 14 Trap with carbonate of 
 
 
 
 \ copper, 
 
 do 
 
 Palls of St. Croix, 
 
 llGreen Stone with Epi- 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 dote, 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 3 
 
 Clinkstone, 
 
 J. Y. Smith, 
 
 Mt. Tom, Mass. 
 
 1 
 
 Red free stone, 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 Connecticut, 
 
 1 
 
 Schorl, 
 
 do 
 
 Chestertown, N. Y. 
 
 1 
 
 Sillimanite, 
 
 do 
 
 Connecticut, 
 
 SiHornblend slate, 
 
 J. Catlin, 
 
 Falls of St. Anthony, 
 
 1 
 
 slate, 
 Sandstone — 
 
 H. McFarlane, 
 
 Ft. Winnebago, 
 
 3 
 
 Old red sandstone. 
 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 Falls of St. Croix, 
 
 8 
 
 do with fossil impres- 
 
 
 
 
 sions. 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 1 
 
 Sandstone conglomer- 
 
 
 
 
 ate, 
 
 H. A. Tenney, 
 
 Baraboo Blufis, 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 I. A. Lapham, 
 
 Milwaukee, 
 
 1 
 
 Contorted sandstone, 
 
 H. A. Tenney, 
 
 Baraboo Bluffs, 
 
89 
 
 LIST OF SPECIMENS, CONTINUED. 
 
 ISO. 
 
 TSAMES. 
 
 DONORS. 
 
 1 
 
 Saccharoid sandstone, 
 
 N. Gray, 
 
 1 
 
 Ferruginous do 
 
 I. A. I^apham, 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 2 
 
 Black do do 
 
 2 ' 
 
 Fine grained do 
 Limestone, cf-c. — 
 
 A. Vanderpool, 
 
 
 Lower magncsian. 
 
 C. B. Chapman, 
 
 
 Middle do 
 
 E. Brigham, 
 
 
 Upper do 
 
 do 
 
 
 Blue fossiliferous, 
 
 C. B. Chapman, 
 
 
 do 
 
 J. G. Knapp, 
 
 
 do 
 
 W. R. Marshall, 
 
 
 do 
 
 D. Lambert, 
 
 
 Silicate of lime. 
 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 
 Corniferous, 
 
 L» A. Lapham, 
 
 
 Yellow porous, 
 
 do 
 
 
 Strontian, 
 
 do 
 
 
 Diluvial scratches on 
 
 
 
 slabs of 
 
 do' 
 
 
 Marble — 
 
 
 8 
 
 White granular, 
 
 A. S, Wood, 
 
 1 
 
 do do 
 
 Mrs. E. Dean, 
 
 4 
 
 Blue, purple,white, and 
 
 
 
 light green. 
 
 C. B. Chapman, 
 
 
 Browm, variegated. 
 
 C. Keuhn, 
 
 
 do 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 
 White, 
 
 do 
 
 
 Italian, 
 
 do 
 
 
 Parian, 
 
 do 
 
 
 Mottled, 
 
 .T. Catlin, 
 
 
 "Birds-eye," 
 Alabaster, 
 
 C. B. Chapman, 
 
 
 E, Canfield, 
 
 
 Column of ealc. spar. 
 
 Elizabeth Stone, 
 
 
 Crystals of 
 
 C. Sweeney, 
 
 
 Rhomb spar, 
 
 E Canfield, 
 
 
 Tabular do 
 
 do 
 
 
 Satin do 
 
 do 
 
 
 Dog tooth do 
 
 do 
 
 
 do 
 
 I. A. Lapham, 
 
 
 do 
 
 J. G. Knapp, 
 
 
 Fetid do 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 
 Calcareous do 
 
 do 
 
 2 
 
 do 
 
 J. J. Marvin, 
 
 3 
 
 do 
 
 \. A. 'Lapham, 
 
 12 
 
 Stalactites, 
 
 J. G. Knapp, 
 
 LOCALITIES. 
 
 Wisconsin River, 
 Milwaukee, 
 Falls of St. Croix. 
 Portland, Wis. 
 
 Rock Island^. 
 Blue Mounds, 
 
 do 
 Warren, Ohio, 
 Bay Settlement,. 
 St. Pauls, Min. 
 
 do 
 Falls of St. Croiz. 
 Sec. 4, T. 7, R. 2-i 
 
 Lockport, N. Y. 
 
 T. 10, R. 3, Rich. CO. 
 Vermont, 
 
 do 
 Brown Co. Wis. 
 Tieonderogg„ 
 Pittsford, Vt. 
 
 Montreal, 
 Davenport, low^a, 
 
 Potosi, 
 
 do 
 Athol, N. Y. 
 Mt. Holly, 
 Ticonderoga, 
 Lockport, 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 Horieon, N. Y. 
 Ticonderoga, 
 New Diggings, 
 Niagara Falls, 
 Cave, Dane Co. 
 
90 
 
 LIST OF SPECIMENS, CONTINUED. 
 
 iVO. NAMES. 
 
 DONORS. 
 
 LOCALITIES. 
 
 2 
 
 Stalactites, 
 
 J. Bannister, 
 
 Dubuque, 
 Cave, Dane Co. 
 
 1 
 
 Stalagmites, 
 
 J. M. Shields, 
 
 2 
 
 Hornstone, 
 
 B, Holt, 
 
 Blue Mounds, 
 
 1 
 
 Chert, 
 
 * do 
 
 do 
 
 1 
 
 Tufa, or inerusted 
 
 
 Milwaukee, 
 
 
 moss, 
 
 L A. Lapham, 
 
 St. Pauls, 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 J. Catlin, 
 
 Falls of St. Croix, 
 
 1 
 
 Tufa, 
 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 Ticonderoga, 
 
 2 
 
 do 
 
 E, Canfield, 
 
 Ft. Ann, 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 
 1 
 
 Potitone, 
 
 do 
 
 Nova Scotia, 
 
 1 
 
 Selenite, 
 
 do 
 
 
 'l 
 
 do 
 
 Mrs. E. B. Dean, 
 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 J. G. Knapp, 
 
 
 1 
 
 Clay, six varieties, 
 
 W. Welch, and 
 
 
 
 
 otliers, 
 
 Dane Co, Wis. 
 
 
 Fossils — 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Pentamerus oblongus, 
 
 I. A. Lapham, 
 
 
 2 
 
 Chain coral, 
 
 do 
 
 Sandusky, 
 
 :io 
 
 Coral, 
 
 E.' Canfield, 
 
 Lake Erie, 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 Ticonderoga, 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 D. Lambert, 
 
 Falls St. Anthony. 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 L A. Lapham, 
 
 
 2 
 
 Orthis testudinarj-, 
 
 H. Thomas, 
 
 Mineral Point; 
 
 2 
 
 Orthoceratite, 
 
 I. A. Laphan;!, 
 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 
 1 
 
 Base of, do 
 
 do 
 
 
 2 
 
 Pethyris, 
 
 do 
 
 
 1 
 
 Cyrtocei-ia, 
 
 do 
 
 
 2 
 
 Eueoid, 
 
 do 
 
 
 1 
 
 Orthoeeras ampiicha- 
 
 
 
 
 meratum. 
 
 ■ do 
 
 
 1 
 
 Ligulites, 
 
 do 
 
 
 6 
 
 Encrinite, 
 
 do 
 
 <5 
 
 2 
 
 Coscinopora, 
 
 do 
 
 
 1 
 
 Head of Trilobite, 
 
 do 
 
 
 1 
 
 Cast of, do 
 
 do 
 
 
 2 
 
 Catenipora escharoides 
 
 do 
 
 
 2 
 
 Cyathophyllum, 
 
 do 
 
 
 i 
 
 -Favosite striata, 
 
 do 
 
 
 2 
 
 Atrypa, 
 
 do 
 
 
 8 
 
 Atryda affinis. 
 
 do 
 
 Lockport, 
 
 1 
 
 Columnaria, 
 
 do 
 
 
 1 
 
 Retopora Infundibuli 
 
 
 
 
 formis, 
 
 do 
 
 
 3. 
 
 Favosite, 
 
 Mrs. E, B. Dean, 
 
 
LIST OF SPECIMENS, CONTINUED. 
 
 NO. 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 DONORS. 
 
 LOCALITIKS. 
 
 -^ ' 
 
 1 
 
 Cast of Lilly Encri- 
 
 
 
 
 nite, 
 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 Falls of St. C.oix, 
 
 3 
 
 Casts of Fossil shells. 
 
 J. G. Knapp, 
 
 
 6 
 
 Fossil shells in sand- 
 
 
 
 
 stone, 
 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 do 
 
 5 
 
 Limestone with veget- 
 
 
 
 
 able impressions. 
 
 A. Bronson, 
 
 Prairie du Chien, 
 
 1 
 
 Fossil plants from eoal 
 
 
 
 
 formation, 
 
 I. A. Lapham, 
 
 Tallmadge, Ohio. 
 
 8 
 
 Fossil, S£c., not named. 
 
 S. Beasley, 
 
 Bee Town, 
 
 2 
 
 do 
 
 C. Barr, 
 
 do 
 
 
 do 
 
 J. M. Scott, 
 
 Scott's Eills, t 
 
 
 do 
 
 Mrs. J. Catlin, 
 
 Madison, 
 
 
 Calymena, senaria, 
 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 Falls of St. Croix, 
 
 
 Petrified Wood, 
 
 Mrs. J. Catlin, 
 
 Chittenango,N. Y. 
 
 
 do 
 
 I^. J. Farewell. 
 
 Cairo, Egypt. 
 
 
 Qrganic remains, 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 Bridgeport, Vt. 
 
 
 Petrified Clam, 
 
 do 
 
 Cayuga Lake, 
 
 
 Coal, three kinds, 
 
 do 
 
 Pennsylvania, 
 
 1 Coal, 
 
 do 
 
 Scotland, 
 
 ORES. 
 
 
 
 Iro7i — 
 
 
 
 1 Brown oxide of 
 
 Miller &, Sterling, 
 
 Iron Ridge, Wis. 
 
 
 do 
 
 H. Barber, 
 
 Hubbard, Dodge Co 
 
 
 Red oxide. 
 
 S. Hugins, 
 
 do 
 
 
 Ferruginous iron. 
 
 J. 0. Peckham, 
 
 T. 8, R. 11, 
 
 
 do 
 
 J. G. Knapp, 
 
 Botkin's Prairie, 
 
 
 do 
 
 P. W. Matts, 
 
 Verona, 
 
 
 do 
 
 I. A. Lapham, 
 
 Hartford, 
 
 
 Bog ore, 
 
 J. Plum, 
 
 Millford, 
 
 
 do 
 
 I. A. Lapham, 
 
 Janesville, 
 
 
 Specular, 
 
 E. M. Williamson 
 
 Sauk Prairie, 
 
 
 Nodular, 
 
 J. Lawrence, 
 
 Rutland, Dane, Co. 
 
 
 do 
 
 W. Wyman, 
 
 Madison, 
 
 
 Magnetic ore, 
 
 Chas. Crane, .« 
 
 Hot Springs, Ark. 
 
 
 Oxide of 
 
 E. Canfield, 
 
 Orwell, Vt. 
 
 
 Sulphuret of 
 
 do 
 
 ShewslDury. 
 
 
 Ore, 
 
 do 
 
 Crown Point, N. Y. 
 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 Warrensbug, 
 
 
 Arsenical, 
 
 do 
 
 Connecticut, 
 
 
 Hematite, 
 
 do 
 
 Ticonderoga, ' 
 
 
 Pyrites, crystals of 
 
 C. Keuhn, 
 
 Twin Rivers, Wis. 
 
 10 
 
 do massive. 
 
 C. Sweeney, 
 
 Potosi, 
 
 
 do 
 
 L. J. Farwell, 
 
 Council BluiFs, 
 
 
 do 
 
 Dan'l. M. Holt, 
 
 Madison, 
 
 
 Radiated pyrites, 
 
 J. J. Marvin, 
 
 New Diggings, 
 
92 
 
 LIST OF SPECIMENS, CONTIiNUED. 
 
 >o. 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 DONORS. 
 
 LOCALITIES. 
 
 
 Copper — 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Native, 
 
 L. J. Farwell, 
 
 Lake Superior, 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 I. A. Lapham, 
 
 do 
 
 1 
 
 Native copper, 
 
 J. D. Berry, 
 
 Lake Superior, 
 
 3 
 
 Carbonate of do 
 
 E. M. Williamson 
 
 Barraboo, 
 
 4 
 
 do 
 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 Falls of St. Croix. 
 
 i 
 
 do 
 
 R. MeCloud, 
 
 Muscoday, 
 
 1 
 
 Purpl-e sulphuret of 
 
 I. A. Lapham,J 
 
 Lake Superior, 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 R. M. Briggs, 
 
 Bee Town, 
 
 1 
 
 Crystals of, in lead, 
 
 L. J. Farwell, 
 
 Council Bluffs, 
 
 -2 
 
 Copper in Epidote, 
 
 I. A. Lapham, 
 
 Lake Superior, 
 
 IB 
 
 Earthly carbonate in 
 
 
 
 
 trap, 
 
 G. W. Brownell, 
 
 Falls of St. Croix. 
 
 1 
 
 do. 
 
 Capt. Knowlton, 
 
 do 
 
 1 
 
 Copper "g-angue," 
 
 G. W. brownell. 
 
 do 
 
 1 
 
 do veinstone, 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 
 Lead — 
 
 
 ( 
 
 1 
 
 Crystals of, 180 lbs, 
 
 E. Root, 
 
 Potosi, Grant (Jo. 
 
 5 
 
 'do 
 
 Mrs. J. Oakley, 
 
 do 
 
 2 
 
 do 
 
 W. Hill, 
 
 Shullsburgh. 
 
 3 . 
 
 do (very small,) 
 
 L. J, Farwell, 
 
 Lake Superior, 
 
 1 
 
 Massive, 100 lbs. 
 
 C. Woodman, 
 
 Mineral Point, 
 
 2 
 
 do with sulphur. 
 
 L. J. Farwell, 
 
 Council BluflTs, 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 H. Brown. 
 
 Ellensville, N. Y. 
 
 1 
 
 do lower magnesian 
 
 
 
 
 limestone, 
 
 R. M. Briggs, 
 
 Bee Tov/n. 
 
 5 
 
 massive, 
 
 D. Lambert, 
 
 Sioux country, • 
 
 4 
 
 Carbonate of 
 
 E. Brigham, 
 
 Blue Mounds. 
 
 2 
 
 Mineral Pitch, 
 
 J. Bannister, 
 
 Fond du Lac, 
 
 1 
 
 Sulphuret of Zinc, 
 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 Carbonate, do 
 Gold, ore of 
 Shells— 
 
 L. J. Farwell, 
 
 California, 
 
 
 Fluviatile, 66 ^ec's, 
 
 H. A. Tenney, 
 
 Mostly from Ohio. 
 
 
 Terrestrial, 12 do 
 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 
 Marine, 118 do 
 
 do 
 
 Atlantic & Pacific. 
 
 
 do 23 do 
 
 D. S. Durrie, 
 
 Albany, from do 
 
 
 "Curiosties,''' — 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 Indian Arrows, 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 do Axes, 
 
 J. Lawrence, 
 
 Rutland^- Dane Co. 
 
 2 
 
 do do 
 
 G. W. WUcox, 
 
 Bee Town. 
 
 5 
 
 do do 
 
 G. Cone, 
 
 Waukesha, 
 
 1 
 
 do do 
 
 Hon. C. Larabee, 
 
 Horieon, 
 
 1 
 
 do do 
 
 C. M. Baker, 
 
 Geneva, Wis. 
 
 1 
 
 Pair of Elk horns, 
 
 I. W. Bird, 
 
 Botkin's Prairie, 
 
 1 
 
 Aztalan brick, 
 
 I. A. Lapham, 
 
 Aztalan, 
 
[^i ^® ^TT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 STATi SUPIRIITEIDEKT, 
 
 B^CEMBSB ^Ist, 1§49. 
 
-;t 
 
REPORT. 
 
 To the Legislature of the State of Wisconsin: 
 
 The Superintendent of Public Instruction, in accord- 
 ance with the law defining his duties, begs lea.ve to present 
 his 
 
 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 Our Constitution of State Government was adopted in 
 March, 1848. The change from a Territorial to a State 
 Government made great changes in our statutary law 
 necessary. The interests of our public schools have 
 been greatly effected by these changes during the past 
 year. 
 
 On the 1st of April last all those laws under which our 
 schools had been previously administered, gave place to 
 an act of our State Legislature of June, 1848. On the 
 1st of May, just one month after the above mentioned act 
 had taken effect, our present school law came into opera- 
 tion, and all previous enactments on the same subject were 
 repealed; so that during the present year our schools have 
 been under the widely conflicting .provisions of three difr 
 ferent systems of school laws. And this is not all. The 
 act that took effect on the 1st of May last, made no pro- 
 vision for the organization of schools in old districts, un- 
 der that act, by the election of the new school boards 
 before the last Monday of September following; conse- 
 
96 
 
 quently from May till October, the present school law 
 has been but partially in operation in a great majority of 
 the districts. The reports from the clerks of the Boards 
 of Supervisors of the different counties, herewith submit- 
 ted, exhibit the full force and effect of those adverse cir- 
 cumstances. In view of the difficulties that were likely 
 to arise, instructions were sent from this Department to 
 all school officers, containing suggestions in regard to the 
 proper course to be pursued to avoid those difficulties. — 
 These instructions have in may respects been generally 
 complied w^ith, and probably as fully as the nature of the 
 circumstances would permit. 
 
 In reference to the reports from clerks of county Boards 
 of Supervisors, in addition to what has already been said, 
 it is proper to remark, that by law, it is the [duty of the 
 clerks of school districts, to make a written report of the 
 condition of the several schools in the same, to the Town 
 Superintendents, between the 1st and 15th of September 
 in each year. A' similar annual report of the condition of 
 the schools is required to be made by the Town Superin- 
 ent to the clerks of the County Board of Supervisors 
 to the office of the State Superintendent, on or before the 
 10th day of November thereafter. It fwill be seen 
 by these requirements of the law most of the statistics to 
 be reported would be dated back to the 1st of September. 
 
 By one of the provisions of the school law the Town 
 Superintendents were required to divide all the territory 
 of their respective towns into convonient school districts. 
 This duty of the Town Superintendents was entered upon 
 after the 1st of May. It co«ld not be before because the 
 school law was not previously in force. The disch arge 
 of that duty has occasioned essential alterations in the 
 boundaries of many old districts, and the erection of a 
 great number of new ones. 
 
^iscq 
 
 
 V 
 
 145 
 
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 IS 
 
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 5 78 
 
 ,144 
 
 6 40 
 
 «• -* 
 
 5 66 
 
 7 86 
 
 8 00 
 
 4 75 
 
 9 43 
 
 * * 
 
 7 28 
 
 6 72 
 
 * * 
 
 4 50 
 
 6 52 
 
 6 48 
 
 6 14 
 
 6 67 
 
 5 76 
 
 6 92 
 
 ! 
 
(A) 
 
 ABSTRACT of tlie Clerks of tlie Board of Supervisors of tlie se^'eral Counties of tlie State of Wisconsin, for the yeai' ending September 1st., 1849. 
 
 COUNTIES. 
 
 llllOWN, - - - - - 
 
 Calumut, - - - • 
 columuia) - - - - 
 CiiAwroHU, - - - • 
 Dane, . . - - - 
 
 DoiXlli, . . - - - 
 FOKI) «U liAC, - - ' 
 GllANT, . - - - - 
 <lUKBK, - - - - . 
 loWA, - - - - - 
 
 JurrrnsoN, - - - • 
 La Faybttb, - - - 
 Manitowoc, - - 
 
 MAimUBTTK, - - - 
 MlLWAVJKKli, - - 
 VoUTAUli, - - - - 
 
 Hacink, - - - . 
 Rock, - - . . . 
 St. Ciioix, - - - 
 Sack, - - . . . 
 sukiuivo.vn, - - . 
 
 WAl.WllUlil, - - - 
 W.\SlllM! TON, - - 
 
 \Vm'K«su,\, - . _ 
 
 WiNNUIWOO, - - 
 
 Statu, 
 
 '::^ 
 
 -^ c° r ° I 
 
 G 
 
 'J 
 
 41 
 16 
 !)7 
 
 78 
 8!» 
 70 
 
 « 
 
 78 
 61 
 7 
 39 
 66 
 
 133 
 
 99 
 
 1 
 
 26 
 
 63 
 
 108 
 
 \Vi 
 
 81 
 
 38 
 
 
 
 
 
 6.26 
 3.60 
 3.18 
 6.00 
 3.76; 
 2.63 
 2.10 
 2.21 
 1.77 
 • 
 
 4.61 
 4.-I0 
 4.00 
 4.40 
 4.91 
 
 • 
 
 6.04 
 5.36 
 
 4.36 
 4.21| 
 
 4.43 
 4.01 
 6.13 
 1.98 
 
 00 
 
 o!oo 
 
 1918 83 
 
 • » 
 
 10676 
 64987 
 23676 
 
 • ! • 
 
 Sl',\ Ml 
 
 Mil 27 
 
 * I » 
 000 
 
 6022 14 
 
 * I * 
 1197;66 
 3026,21, 
 
 ♦ ♦, 
 6l'5l| 
 
 43374 
 3649 06 
 
 §1 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 %. 
 
 ox . 
 
 ■?1 
 
 "^s 
 
 
 
 O J 
 
 c.o 
 
 
 Tj-Sri 
 
 
 g.g 
 
 g be 
 
 •^•« 
 
 III 
 
 ■* S 
 
 £ w 
 
 
 
 
 ^ <=c 
 
 2 S) 
 
 
 
 S 2 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 !*> 
 
 
 
 •£-^ 
 
 [*. 
 
 s-s. 
 
 "^5 
 
 
 
 
 \^ h 
 
 aS 
 
 46 
 
 162 
 
 772 
 
 67 
 
 2232 
 
 1628 
 
 983 
 
 1843 
 
 1132 
 
 • 
 
 2030 
 
 1359 
 
 169 
 
 263 
 
 3736 
 
 2374 
 
 4298 
 
 * 
 
 4341 
 624 
 3296, 
 135i; 
 3423, 
 1163 
 
 854 
 399 
 1369' 
 360! 
 3991! 
 4970, 
 2832! 
 4723| 
 3406' 
 
 3525 
 3993* 
 
 219! 
 
 916, 
 8379 
 
 * I 
 
 7648, 
 
 6752 
 
 29 
 
 8471 
 2699 
 5817; 
 5433 
 3551 i 
 t761 
 
 397 
 
 210 
 
 707 
 
 175 
 
 2074 
 
 2364 
 
 1493 
 
 2449 
 
 1300 
 
 : 
 
 1728 
 
 1590, 
 
 126 
 
 476 
 
 4169 
 
 * 
 
 3886 
 
 3121 
 
 16 
 
 449 
 1389 
 3936! 
 3868 
 1867 
 
 379 
 
 4571 • 
 
 1891 4 
 
 662 6 
 
 176 2 
 
 1917 33 
 
 2616 27 
 
 1339 15 
 
 2273 24 
 
 1106 a 
 
 1797: 36 
 
 1403 7 
 
 931 3 
 
 44i; 1 
 
 4210; 24 
 
 * I * 
 
 3762, 13 
 
 2631; 21 
 
 13' * 
 
 398^ 
 1310 9 
 2881: 11 
 2570 1 
 1684 30 
 
 373 1 
 
 3.50 
 1.76 
 4.00 
 3.43 
 4.04 
 2.89 
 3.56 
 2.17 
 
 3.17 
 2.50 
 4.00 
 4.76 
 6.00 
 
 6 ! 4.16 
 
 5.31 
 
 * 
 
 3.56 
 3.50 
 6.87 
 3.63 
 3.47 
 
 316 1 60 lU30, 350! 4551 103i 3.93 1731361,; 32174 70457 3615S. 34299 263 219 3.76 
 
 
 0.00 
 1.65 
 4.00 
 2.76 
 3.03 
 2.54 
 3.96 
 6.00 
 
 1.94 
 2.67 
 4.00 
 3.25 
 6.31 
 
 3.02 
 2.64 
 
 * 
 
 2.75 
 4.13 
 3.04 
 3,16 
 3.66 
 
 *5 i: 
 
 O B 
 
 
 3.76 
 3.27 
 3.00 
 3.53 
 3.39 
 3.79 
 2.38 
 3.75 
 
 2.85 
 3.30 
 1.00 
 2.67 
 6.36 
 
 2.59 
 3,55 
 
 fccg 
 
 "5^1 
 
 
 i.:c. 
 
 •I * 
 
 00 
 1175 
 1250 
 1341 
 
 13 23 
 1216 
 19 49 
 
 14 17 
 
 14 12 
 
 16 00 
 23 50 
 
 ♦ * 
 
 1589 
 
 * .* 
 
 15 94 
 14 05 
 
 2.6011! 
 3.70 1 
 3.2ft ' 
 
 "^1 
 
 
 1 3.131! 3.27JJl522| 6)93 be 199 
 
 S 
 
 !' * 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 1SS8 68 
 
 179 49 
 
 394 2 
 
 6905 
 
 1429 33 
 8637 
 
 6022 14 
 
 *l * 
 
 162901 
 
 812,79 
 
 74 32 
 
 166 83 
 
 857 50 
 
 1626 87 
 
 * • 
 
 
 14770 70 436 79 
 
 179 
 
 105 
 
 27 
 
 
 •t^^ 
 
 IS 
 
 00 
 00 
 
 121089 
 6644 
 
 632 29 
 
 •. * 
 
 ebiejoo 
 
 •i • 
 
 1437,58 
 962,76 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 1073 06 
 
 157^9 
 
 846 96 
 
 13380,17116364 soil 12788 37L735 00|]l064 89 3614 84 
 
 * t No! roporUnl. } Fowr towns in Wiunebago County, do not roport under thi^ head, which causes this discrepancy. 
 
ABSTKACT— Continued. 
 
 NJ1ME8 OF 
 
 COUNTIES. 
 
 Buoww, - - - - . 
 
 Calumut, - _ - 
 c0i.umiiia, - - - . 
 
 CllAWFOKI), - - - 
 
 Dawe, - - - - - 
 
 DoDdB, - - - - - 
 
 .FoNi) im i,Ac, - - 
 (iiiArsr, - - . - _ 
 
 GuKBN, - - - - 
 loWA, - - . - . 
 ^ JnWi'MlHON, - - - 
 
 La Fa¥Kttb, - - - 
 m \nitowoc, - - 
 
 IVl AiniuuT ri;, - - - 
 
 MlI.WAHKUH, - - 
 
 I'OK'I'AOI'., - - - . 
 
 IIawnu, - - . . 
 Hock, - - - . . 
 H'r. Oiuux, - - - 
 Sauk, - _ - - , 
 
 t^llKllOVdAN, - . . 
 
 Wm.woici'ii, - - 
 Wasiiijsuton, - - 
 Wauuhsha, - - 
 
 WiNNlMlAOO, - - 
 
 Names of authors of Gram 
 rnarH most used in Bchools. 
 
 Urown. 
 
 Brown, Sniitli k Kirkhani, 
 
 yinitli ik, Urown. 
 
 Kirkham. 
 
 Kirkliam. 
 
 Kirklinm. 
 
 Kirklmin luul Sinitli. 
 
 Brown luul Kirkliuni. 
 
 * 
 
 Kirkliam. 
 
 Smith. 
 
 Smith and Kirkham. 
 
 * 
 
 Smith. 
 
 * 
 
 Urown, Kirkliam &, Baldwin 
 Brown. 
 
 * 
 
 Urown. 
 Hrown. 
 J\irklm\u. 
 Urown. 
 Brown nnd Kirklmin. 
 Brnwii. 
 
 Names of authors of Arith- 
 metics most used in schools 
 
 Names of authors ofRead- 
 m^ Books most used in 
 schools. 
 
 Names of authors of Spel- 
 ling; Books most used in 
 schools. 
 
 Names of authors of Geog- 
 raphies most used in 
 schools. 
 
 Smith. 
 Adams. 
 Smith. 
 Adams. 
 Adams. 
 Adams. 
 Adams. 
 Ray ond Adams. 
 « 
 
 Adams. 
 Adams. 
 Adams. 
 
 * 
 
 Davios. 
 
 * 
 
 Adam.-i, Kmorson. Thompson 
 Smith, Adams and Colhurn. 
 
 • 
 
 Adams. 
 Adams. 
 Adams. 
 Adams. 
 Adams. 
 
 Town. 
 
 Sanders. 
 Webster and McGufTey. 
 
 Sanders. 
 
 Sanders. 
 
 Sanders. 
 
 iMcGufiby. 
 Sanders and Goodrich. 
 * 
 
 Webster. 
 McGnfley. 
 Sanders and Goodrich. 
 
 • 
 
 MeGnffoy, 
 
 * 
 
 Sanders, .MHiufiby 8i Porter' 
 Sunders. 
 
 Webster. 
 
 Webster. 
 
 Webster. 
 
 Webster. 
 
 Webster. 
 Sanders and Webster. 
 
 Webster. 
 Webster and Sanders. 
 * 
 
 Sanders. 
 Webster. 
 Webster. 
 
 « 
 
 Webtor and McGuffoy. 
 
 Sanders and Webster. 
 Sanders. 
 
 Statu, 
 
 * Not ropurtod 
 
 Brown and Kirkhani. 
 
 Sanders and MeGufToy. 
 Sanders. 
 Sanders. 
 Sanders. 
 Sanders. ' * 
 
 Smith. Webster. Sanders, IM'GnrtV 
 
 Webster. 
 Webster and Sanders. 
 Sanders and Webster. 
 
 Webster. 
 
 Morsel and Barley. 
 
 Morse and Olnoy. 
 
 Olney. 
 
 Oliiey. 
 
 Mitehell. 
 
 Morse. 
 
 Smith. 
 
 Morse and Olney. 
 
 * 
 
 Morse. 
 Smith. 
 Morse. 
 
 » 
 
 Morse. 
 
 » 
 
 'Smith, Oliiov, Morse, Mitch 
 i CMney. [ell 
 
 I (Joddrich. 
 
 I Smith. 
 
 I OInuv. 
 
 I Smith. 
 
 Morso. 
 
 Smith. 
 
 Adams. 
 
 Sanders. 
 
 Sanders 
 
 Morse. 
 
S7 
 
 All this work had to be done between the 1st of May 
 and the 1st of September, if done in time for districts to 
 be organized and reported. In many towns changes so ex- 
 tensive could not be completed within this time; conse- 
 quently from all such towns we have no reports, or 
 if any have been made from any of them, they must 
 necessarily be more or less deficient. The effect of this 
 state of things upon the returns made to this office is such 
 as might be expected. 
 
 The absence of all reports from some Districts and 
 Towns, and the partial reports from others, have created 
 inaccuracies and discrepancies in the abstracts transmitted 
 by the Clerks of County Boards of Supervisors, which can- 
 not be corrected or particularly explained without refer- 
 ence to the originnl reports of clerks of school districts, 
 which are sent only to the Town Superintendents, and 
 are of course beyond the reach of this Department. 
 
 I do not know that it was practicable under the circum- 
 stances for more to be accomplished than has been, or 
 that blame is justly chargeable to those entrusted with 
 the duty of making the reports. A sufficient explanation 
 is to be found in the great changes and revolutions that 
 have taken place in the affairs of the school districts dur- 
 ing the past season; and from my knowledge of the fidel- 
 ity and zeal of the Town Superintendents and other 
 school officers with whom I have had intercourse, I am 
 inclined to be satisfied with that explanation. 
 
 The experience of another year under the benign influ- 
 ence of our present law will undoubtably place another 
 and better aspect upon all the affairs of our public schools. 
 We have made a beginning and it must be regarded as a 
 
 ^'7 
 
98 
 
 successful one, if proper allowance is made for the disad- 
 vantages under which we have laboi'ed. 
 
 In the abstract, under the head of money received and 
 expended, some items have undoubtedly been inserted in 
 the wrong column. Other mistakes have probably been, 
 made in stating average numbers and amounts. 
 
 To secure full and accurate reports hereafter, it is res- 
 pectfully suggested to the Legislature that the State Su- 
 perintendent be authorized to prepare and cause to be dis- 
 tributed to all school officers charged with the duty of mak-- 
 ing reports, printed blank forms for making the same, ac- 
 companied with the necessary instructions. 
 
 Condition of SoJiools. 
 
 In the foregoing abstract will be found all the informa- 
 tion concerning common schools contained in the reports 
 of the Clerks of County Boards of Supervisors to this 
 office. It comprises returns of the number of school dis- 
 tricts and parts of districts, the number of children be- 
 tween the ages of four and twenty years, the number 
 of months schools have been taught, the amount of money 
 received and expended, the text books most used, and the 
 condition of school houses, up to Sept. 1st, 1849. 
 
 It will be seen that from two Counties no returns are 
 reported, while in the remaining twenty-three from thirty- 
 four towns none are reported, maldng altogether fifty de- 
 linquent towns. The remaining 266 report 1430 whole 
 districts and 455 parts of districts, 350 of the former and 
 102 of the latter not reporting. 
 
 In regard to the two Counties not reported, a commu- 
 nication has been received from the Clerk of Portage 
 
99 
 
 County stating that no reports whatever have been made 
 to him by the Town Superintendents. From Iowa County 
 no explanation has been received.* 
 
 By calculating from the data in the abstract, giving to 
 each delinquent town the average number of districts and 
 parts of districts, the numbers not reported are increased 
 to 619 whole districts and 188 parts of districts respect- 
 ively, more than one third of the whole number in the 
 State. 
 
 This deficiency is to be accounted for in many of the 
 districts by the fact that at the date of the report they 
 were not fully organized. 
 
 The whole number of children stated as attending 
 school is 32,147. This must be much below the actual 
 number, for forty-six towns make no return of numerical 
 attendance of children, while they report in another col- 
 umn that schools have been taught, thus m.aking 96 towns 
 out of 317 not reporting on this point. This gives an 
 average of 146 children attending school in each town, 
 or 46,136 for the whole State, 
 
 The whole number of children between four and twen- 
 ty years of age residing in the State is reported to be 
 70,457, of whom 36,168 are boys, and 34,299 are girls.— 
 This, asrain, is below the true number on account of the 
 omission of 59 towns to report. By calculating from the 
 average for the State as I have done above, which is 
 the only method of approximating to the truth, 274 near- 
 ly, is the average per town, and 80,445 the whole num- 
 ber of children in the State. 
 
 *Since the above was written, a report has been received from Iowa County, 
 too late, however, for insertion. 
 
100 
 
 The smallest number of children reported in any towr* 
 is 25, the greatest number, 4,945, is in the city of Mil^ 
 waukee. 
 
 The average length of time for the State that schools 
 have been kept is 3.93 months, the teast time in any one 
 town being 0.-33 months, in the town of Albany, Green 
 County, and the greatest 12 months, in the towns of Ver- 
 <7na, Dane County^ .and White Oak Springs, La Fayette 
 County. 
 
 The fullest attendance of schools in proportion to the 
 number of Children i& in Rock County, the attendance 
 being nearly 75 per cent, of the whole number of childrefi;. 
 the greatest average length of time schools have been 
 taught, 5.26 months, is also in Rock County; the least, 1.77 
 months, is in Green County. The attendance for the 
 State is 54 per cent., using the corrected numbers. 
 
 The number of children ttnder four years of age at- 
 tending school is 268; the number over twenty, 219. 
 
 The average length of time children under twenty and 
 over four years of age have attended school is 3.76 
 months. This compares very well with the average 
 length of time schools have been been taught, but this is- 
 somewhat erroneous, for several of the Counties report 
 the average number of months attendance greater than the 
 average number of months schools have been taught,^ 
 which cannot be true. If all the children going to all the 
 schools of the County attended for the full term, with- 
 out any one losing a single day, the avera.ge time of at- 
 tendance would be exactly equal to the average time 
 school is taught. In no case can it be greater, and there 
 is no doubt but that in every case it is lesss- The report? 
 
101 
 
 of those CtDunties, then, which carry these evidences of 
 error, must be rejected from this column, and the average 
 number of months attendance of schools by children be- 
 tween four and twenty years of age is thus reduced to 
 3.46; and this is still very favorable. 
 
 The average number of months for the State that 
 schools have been taught by male teachers, 3.13; by female 
 teachers, 3.27. This also requires examination. 
 
 If, in a town, some of the district schools are taught by 
 male teachers, and the residue by female teachers, for a 
 whole term, then the sum of the average lengths of time 
 xschools have been taught by male and female teachers, 
 will be double the average number of months schools have 
 been taught. Or if all the district schools have been kept 
 part of the time by female teachers, the pverage number 
 of months schools liave been taught would be equal to the 
 sum of the average lengths of time schools have been 
 taught by male and by female teachers. But if, in the 
 more general case, some schools in a tow"n have been 
 wholly taught by male and some by female teachers, and 
 the remaining schools part of the time by male and part 
 of the time by female teachers, the average length of 
 time schools have been taught by male teachers, and that 
 by female teachers, will each be less than the average 
 length of time schools have been taught, and their sum 
 will be greater, but never double. The same rule holds in 
 regard to Counties- By applying this test to the abstract 
 it leads to the rejection of nine counties from these col- 
 umns, and alters the average time to 3.08 months for male 
 and 3.18 months for female teachers. 
 
 The number of days lost in schools by tardiness is re> 
 
10^ 
 
 ported to be 76; by absence, 159. These numbers are 
 of little value, as only nine towns reported on these sub^ 
 jects. 
 
 The average amount of wages paid to male teachers is 
 $lb,22; to female teachers, $6,92; the highest County 
 averages, for male teachers, #23,50; and for female 
 teachers, Crawford County, $12,50; but one town, how- 
 ever, is reported in Crawford County, giving its undue- 
 preponderance in the average. The highest wages paid 
 to teachers is in the town of Southport, Racine County, 
 and is $40 to male, and $20 to female teachers. 
 
 The whole valuation of school houses amounts to 
 $79,818,75 in 134 towns, 182 not reporting under this 
 head. This gives an average per town of $565,75^ 
 and for the whole 316 towns in the State, $181,637,00. 
 The number of school houses appears to be 704, of which 
 36 are built of brick, 25 of stone, 359 of logs, and 294 
 are frame buildings. The number of towns reporting in 
 this. matter is 171, and this gives an average result of one 
 brick school house to every seven towns, and one of stone 
 to every seven towns, two of logs in every town, and two 
 framed ones nearly, in every town. The estimate from 
 this, of the whole number of school houses in the State 
 is 1313, which is considerably less than the number of 
 school districts. 
 
 The highest valuation of any school house is $5000,00 in 
 the town of vSouthport, Racine County; the lowest is 
 seventy-five cents. 
 
 The number of school house sites reported as contain- 
 ing less than one acre is 511 ; the number unenclosed 582; 
 the number without separate privies for the different sex- 
 
103 
 
 es 519; the number of school houses without a black 
 board is 331; without maps, 474. These numbers, when 
 corrected for the State, stand 853, 1085, 968, 617, and 
 
 884 respectively. 
 
 The text books most used in the schools are Brown's 
 Grammar, Kirkham's Grammar, Adams' Arithmetic, 
 Saunder's Readers, Webster's Spelling Book, and Morse's 
 Geography. 
 
 There are 94 unincorporated private schools reported 
 with an average attendance of 25 pupils,, 2359 children 
 attending them all. This is only 2 72-100 per cen^of all 
 the children in the State. It remains to be seen from the 
 returns of future years, whether the attendance increases 
 or declines, and it will be a strong test of the success of 
 our public school system. 
 
 The number of incorporated academies reported is two ; 
 the average number of pupils is not reported. 
 
 The monetary affairs of the school districts have been, 
 during the past year, in great confusion, owing to the fre- 
 quent changes that have been made in the laws. Deriv- 
 ing no aid from the school fund, the school lands not having 
 been sold, the schools have been supported by private 
 subscription, by tax upon district property, and by amounts 
 received from Town and County Treasurers. The fre- 
 quent changes in the law have occasioned frequent changes 
 in school officers, and in the manner of receiving and pay- 
 ing out school moneys. Hence the discrepancies between 
 the amounts received and expended. 
 
 The " amount of public money received" is stated to 
 be $17,313 61. The amount received from County 
 Treasurers is reported $426 70; from Town Treasurers, 
 
104 
 
 #12,286 17, and from other sources, $5,254 86; their sum 
 is $17,967 76, and ought to balance the amount of "pub- 
 lic money." This, however, is not the case, the difference 
 being $654 15. 
 
 The amount of public money expended for teacher's 
 wages is $12,788 37; for libraries, $725 00; for other pur- 
 poses, $1,054 89; and the balance on nand is $2,541 84. 
 The sum of these is $17,083 10, which ought to balance 
 with the above, but is too small. 
 
 The amount raised by tax in districts and expended for 
 teachers wages is $10,1.12 30; on school houses $15,988,- 
 22; on libraries, $8 00; for fuel and other purposes, 
 $913 94; the sum of these is $27,022 47. Add to this 
 the amount of public money received, $17,313 61, and 
 we obtain for the "whole amount of money receivsd'" 
 $44,336 08; but the " whole amount of money received"' 
 is reported much below this sum. 
 
 Sclwol Fund. 
 
 Reports of the appraisal of school lands have been re- 
 ceived in the Secretary's Office from twenty-five Coun- 
 ties, some of which are far from being full. Four hun- 
 dred and five sections sixteen are reported; the aggregate 
 appraised value of wliich amounts to $960,968 06. De- 
 duct from this the valuation of Racine city, $74,205 25, 
 and we have 404 sections valued at $886,762 91, which 
 gives an average value per section of $2,194 96. 
 
 I. A. Lapham, Esq., of Milwaukee, [See Appendix A.] 
 estimates the area of the State at 54,816 square miles; 
 one thirty-sixth of which, 1,523, is the number of school 
 
105 
 
 sections. These, at the average value above found, 
 amount to . . - . $3,342,924 08. 
 
 To this add the Racine City section 16. 74,205 25,. 
 
 The Waukesha and Jefferson canal lands, 14,807 34 
 The balance of the 500,000, valued at the 
 
 average appraised value of school lands, 1,668,048 85, 
 And the five per cents for 1848 and 1849, 
 
 about, 20,000 00 
 
 And we obtain, - - - $5,11.9,985,52 
 for the school fund. To this must be added a certain 
 amount every year for the five per cents and fines, of 
 M^hich there is not sufficient data vv^ithin the reach of the 
 Department to make an estimate. 
 
 About $300,000 of the valuation of the lands so far re- 
 ported is pre-empted. Deducting this from the value of 
 the lands, and supposing the remainder to sell at auction, 
 on the average at thirty per cent, advance on the ap- 
 praised value, the fund would amount to $6,950,000 near- 
 ly, without including what may hereafter be derived from 
 fines and the five per cents. It will be safe, certainly, to 
 estimate the school fund at five millions of dollars. 
 
 A]yportionr)ient of the Income of tlw Selhool Fund, 
 
 By special act approved March 31st, 1849, persons 
 claiming pre-emption on lots in the Racine City section, 
 became entitled to receive a conveyance thereof on pay-, 
 ment either of the whole valuation, or ten per cent, down, 
 and bond and mortgage security for the remainder at op- 
 tion, the seven per cent interest in advance on the unpaic| 
 balance not being required. 
 
106 
 
 The whole value of this section by the last appraise- 
 ment including cost of appraisal was $74,405 00. Sales 
 were effected last summer to the amount of $74,474 7% 
 on which $9,511 86 was received, and the remainder se- 
 cured by 392 mortgages. Of the amount received $951 75 
 was paid into the County Treasury to defray the costs of 
 appraisal, and $8,400 of the remainder was loaned on 23 
 mortgages, making four hundred and fifteen mortgages, 
 altogether, on this section. The unloaned balance in the 
 hands of the Treasurer is $160 11. 
 
 The seven per cent, interest in advance on the $8,400 
 loaned as above by the Commissioners, amounts to $588, 
 and constitutes the income of the school fund for the 
 present year; this distributed as directed by law amounts 
 to eight and three-tenths mills per child. Milwaukee 
 County will receive the largest amount $69 63, and St. 
 Croix County the smallest, twenty-four cents. The av- 
 erage apportionment per town is $2 32 i; per district it 
 is forty-seven cents. A sum so very small will hardly be 
 worthy of distribution. 
 
 The sale of school lands which will take place in 1850, 
 will probably secure an income of at least thirty thousand 
 dollars to be apportioned among the several towns of the 
 State in the spring of 1851; till which time the schools 
 must be altogether supported in the manner now provided 
 by law. 
 
 Plans fo^' the ImipTovement and Management of 
 the Common School Fund. 
 
 The law passed by the last Legislature provides for the 
 sale of the school lands and the investment of the funds. 
 
10*^ 
 
 This law after prescribing the manner of selling and 
 leasing the lands further provides: that the nett proceeds 
 of the sales form a perpetual fund, the interest of which, 
 together with the revenue derived from the interest on un- 
 paid balances and rents, shall be appropriated to common 
 schools, academies, normal schools, and the purchase of 
 libraries and apparatus for the same. That the principal 
 be loaned out and the interest applied to the current ex- 
 penses. It empowers and obliges the Commissioners to 
 loan to citizens of thi^ State in sums not less than $100 nor 
 greater than $500, on security of bond and mortgage on un- 
 incumbered real estate of double the value of the sum loan- 
 ed, and they may appoint Commisioners to appraise the 
 premises offered on mortgage: mortgagee to show com- 
 plete chain of title and prove no incumbrance. It provides 
 that the mortgage shall be considered of record from its 
 date; that the moneys arising from the sale in any County 
 be loaned exclusively in that County, and fixes the interest 
 at 7 per cent, invariably in advance: that when any sum 
 greater than f 1000 is in the Treasury it shall be loaned as 
 above provided: that no loans shall be made for a longer 
 time than five years, but this time may be extended from 
 year to year by payment of interest, and may be paid up, 
 if mortgagee chooses, at any time when the annual inter- 
 est falls due: that all interest and re-payments be paid in- 
 to the State Treasury. It also further provides that when. 
 interest or principal falls due and remains unpaid, the 
 Commissioners shall collect by suits or by sale of mort- 
 gaged premises or by both, and may also obtain possession 
 by action of ejectment: that in case of suit and judgment 
 thereon, no stay of execution shall be allowed: that the 
 ■forfeited property be sold at auction and in case no sale 
 
1-08 
 
 can be effected, the Commissioners shall purchase on ae~. 
 count of the proper fund, and as soon as may be practica- 
 ble sell again to the highest bidder. 
 
 As no lands have been sold except the Racine City 
 school section, but a small sum as yet has been realized to 
 invest, and we have no experience in the working of the 
 law. I therefore do not feel called upon at the present 
 time to enter into any discussions of the mode of invest- 
 ment proposed. 
 
 CoTre^sjponderiQG. 
 
 It is made the duty of the Superintendent " to open 
 such correspondence abroad as may enable him to obtain 
 as far as practicable, information relative to the system of 
 common schools and its improvements in other States and 
 Countries, which he shall embody in his annual report to 
 the Legislature." 
 
 In compliance with this duty I herewith submit such 
 portions of the correspondence of the Department [see 
 Appendix B.] as relate to the subjects mentioned. It will 
 be found to express opinions of great weight on manv 
 topics of interest and importance to the citizens of Wis- 
 consin at the present time. 
 
 Counties visited. 
 
 The Superintendent of Public Instruction is required to 
 visit annually, as far as practicable, the different Counties 
 of the State for the purpose of promoting the interest of 
 public schools. 
 
 This duty has been complied with as fully as a proper 
 regard to pther officiai obligations would permit. From 
 
109 
 
 the 26th of March to the middle of October, my time Was 
 almost wholly occupied in visiting the different CountieSj 
 in holding conventions, visiting schools and conferring 
 with the citizens personally upon subjects connected with 
 common school education. Every County in the State 
 has been visited, except Portage, Richland, La Pointe 
 and St. Croix. 
 
 In most instances the conventions that have been held 
 ifi the different Counties have been well attended and 
 a degree of zeal and public spirit manifested on the part, 
 of citizens, highly auspicious to the interests of education. 
 All classes seemed to be animated by a desire to place our 
 public schools upon the best possible foundation for useful- 
 ness and success, and to incorporate into our system of 
 public instruction whatever improvements have been sanc- 
 tioned by the experience of other States. 
 
 The subjects presented to the citizens of the different 
 Counties for their consideration have related principally 
 to our system of free schools, the fund provided to sus- 
 tain it, the necessity of well qualified teachers, normal 
 schools and teacher's institutes, the proper classification 
 of scholars, and gradation of Schools, and the importance 
 of suitable school edifices. 
 
 These subjects were selected, not only on accotmt of 
 their general interest, but also becaiise their proper con- 
 sideration by us at the present time is necessary to a wise 
 detei'mination of what our common school system shall 
 be. Our circumstances are favorable to the establish- 
 ment of the best system, and it is confidently believed 
 that both reason and experience teach us abundantly what 
 the main features of that system must be. 
 
110 
 
 If the public jnind shall be sufRcieritly informed upon: 
 the topics above referred to, so as wisely to direct tt^ 
 well-known zeal and enterprise of our citizens, I have no 
 doubt that it will lead to the establishment of a system of 
 public instruction in this State unsurpassed in the liberaH- 
 ity of its provisions and the efficiency of its operation by 
 that of any other State. 
 
 This subject, our school system, from its intrinsic impor- 
 tance, will claim our attention for the remainder of this 
 report, and may properly be considered under 
 
 Plans for the hetter Organization of the Common 
 Schools. 
 
 The Superintendent is required to include in his report 
 plans for the better organization of the common schools. 
 Before proceeding to the consideration of any such plans 
 it will be necessary to glance a moment at what has al- 
 ready been done towards the establishment of a school. 
 
 system. 
 
 Our Sclwols are to he Free. 
 
 By the 3d Section, Article 10, of the Constitution, the 
 Legislature is required to "provide by law for the estab- 
 lishment of district schools which shall be as nearly uni- 
 form as practicable, and such schools shall be free and 
 without charge for tuition to all children between the ages, 
 of four and twenty years." 
 
 This being a constitutional provision cannot be disturb- 
 ed. It secures permanently to all the children and youth 
 of the State the benefits of a free pubUc school. In its 
 advantages they all without distinction, are permitted to 
 participate. None are excluded, — -none are condemned 
 
Ill 
 
 by the accidents of birth or fortune to grow itp in ignor- 
 ance. The State acts the part of a wise and affectionate 
 parent, and dispenses its bounty with an impartial hand to 
 all its children. It assumes their guardianship, and by 
 means of a virtuous education seeks to train them up so 
 as to render them; useful and honorable citizens. 
 
 In this way, by diffusing as widely as possible the means 
 of individual and social happiness, it aims at the general 
 elevation and improvement of the whole body of the peo- 
 ple. 
 
 This wise and beneficent policy is in perfect harmony 
 with, the principles of our free institutions; for nothing is 
 ,more fit and proper than that those who are in a httle 
 time to be invested with the rights of sovereignty and to 
 control the destinies of the country, should be properly 
 educated, — educated for the sphere in which they are to 
 move, and for the duties they will be called upon to dis- 
 charge. 
 
 The principle of free universal education is an Ameri- 
 ican principle. It was first proclaimed on American soil. 
 It was conceived in the minds of our early New England 
 ancestors and associated with their first thoughts and 
 first words of Liberty. Few at the present day . are 
 inclined to question its correctness, and in the general 
 progress of our institutions it is fast making its way to 
 universal" adoption. It has recently been engrafted on 
 the school system of New York, and sooner or later 
 it must form a part of the educational code of every 
 State in the Union. 
 
112 
 
 Haw -sustained. 
 
 in harmony with the enhghtened views that led to the 
 adoption of the free school system among ourselves is the 
 liberal provision made in our Constitution to sustain it 
 
 The school fund, as has already been stated, may be 
 safely estimated at not less than five millions of dollars. — 
 The interest of this at seven per cent, is to be appropria- 
 ted annually for the support of common schools. In ad- 
 dition to this, at least half as much more is required to be 
 raised annually by tax upon property for the same object. 
 
 The impression has been made upon the minds of some 
 that the school fund was unnecessarily large, and that the 
 income of a smaller fund would have been amply suffi- 
 cient to aid the districts in the proper support of their 
 schools. A little reflection will show all such impressions 
 to be erroneous. 
 
 To determine whether the fund is more than sufficient 
 for our educational purposes it will be necesrary to know 
 the number of children to be taught and the cost of in- 
 struction to each scholar. According to previous estimate 
 the present number of children entitled to instruction in 
 the common schools is 80,445. 
 
 The annual cost of education for each scholar, taking 
 all school expenses into account, cannot be estimated at 
 less than three dollars. The number of scholars to be 
 educated with the cost of their education, will be continu- 
 ally augmented in proportion to the increase of popu- 
 lation. 
 
 In 1840 the population of Wisconsin was 30,945; in 
 1847 it was 210,546. By this it appears that the popula- 
 tion has doubled every 2.5304 years. 
 
MS 
 
 If we suppose the original 30,945 inhabitants to have 
 increased naturally at such a rate as to double itself in 
 twelve years^ which is reasonable, (Malthus^ i, 6,) and the 
 remaining increase to have resulted from immigration, 
 that of each successive year increasing under the same 
 law, the yearly immigration would be 19,5^2. 
 
 Adopting the hypothesis that the population naturally 
 increases 5.946 per cent, per annum, (doubling in twelve 
 years,) and that every year the immigration amounts to 
 
 •30,000, in 1849, the population would be 
 
 277,517 
 
 ;. ig5Q u u u u 
 
 314,018 
 
 u I860 " " " " 
 
 799,648 
 
 u 1875 U U U U 
 
 2,325,230 
 
 The number of children reported in 1849, as stated 
 above, is 80,^45, which is 29 per cent, of the whole pop- 
 ulation. Now by adopting this percentage and estimating 
 the annual expenses per scholar of educating these child- 
 ren, as low as three dollars, we have in 1848 the number 
 of— 
 Children 80,445, costing $25T,'335, the int. at 7 per ct. - 
 
 of ------ - 83,447,643 
 
 1850 " 91,065, " 273,195, '' " 3,902,800 
 
 1860 " 231,898, " 695,694, " «' 9,938,500 
 
 1875 " 674,317, " 2,022,951, *' " 28,899,300 
 
 Estimating the school fund as low as five millions, 
 (supposing the school lands to have been sold and the in- 
 come of the fund to be now available) in 1850 it would 
 pay all the expenses and leave a balance; but in 1860 it 
 would pay but Kttle over one half, and in 187-5 not one 
 ■ fifth of the entire expense. 
 
 *8 
 
114 
 
 111 the above estimate no allowanee is made for the ex- 
 pense of school libraries, apparatus, and normal schools;; 
 which is also made chargeable upon -the income of the 
 school fund. 
 
 It may be objected that an immigration of twenty thou- 
 sand a year for twenty-five years is too large an estimate; 
 but it is not so. For there is no doubt that our popula- 
 tion is now over 300,000; and adop^ting this number, by 
 the same calculation as the one above, the immigration 
 for the last two years is found to have been nearly 32,000 
 per year, showing a great increase. Now the principal 
 cause which produced this increase, the bringing the pub-^ 
 lie lands into market, will operate for many years to come, 
 and though, undoubtedly, when the country becomes more 
 densely settled and land increases in price, the immigra- 
 tion will begin to diminish, yet for the next twenty five 
 years, I think twenty thousand may safely be adopted as 
 the average yearly immigration; especially if a proper 
 allowance is made for the certain effect of the internal im- 
 provements now in progressi* 
 
 It will be seen, then, that the numbers and rates of in- 
 crease assumed above are sufficiently moderate. The 
 calculation gives the population for the present year less 
 than 278,000; but there is little doubt, as has been already 
 stated, that it is actually over 300,000. The percentage 
 of children between four and twenty years of age is also 
 low. But I have preferred using these small numbers, 
 because even with them it is rendered sufficiently obvious 
 that in a little time our school fund will be wholly inade- 
 quate to meet the demands that will be made upon it by 
 our rapidly increasing population. The school lands are 
 
il5 
 
 ribt yet sold, and it will be some years before all the fund 
 will be made available. And if it shall be at the expira- 
 tion of twenty five years, its income will not then be 
 sufficient to pay one fifth of the expense of the schools, 
 leaving rising of ^1,600,000 to be raised annually by tax- 
 ation. 
 
 School Law. 
 
 At the last session of the Legislature a school law was 
 passed carrying out the provisions of the article in the 
 Constitution on the subject of education. 
 
 Agreeably to the directions of the legislature, four 
 thousand copies of this law with notes and instruction by 
 the State Superintendent, have been distributed among 
 the several school districts of the State, during the pres- 
 ent year. So little time has elapsed since the law was 
 passed, that there has been very Kttle opportunity to test 
 experimentally the sufficiency of its provisions for the 
 particular purposes intended, but I believe, generally 
 speaking, they are found to be satisfactory. 
 
 It provides for the divisi©n*of the territory of the towns 
 into convenient school districts, and for the organiza- 
 tion of such by the election of three district officers : 
 for the assessment and collection of district school taxes; 
 for the support of schools and the establishment of 
 school libraries; specifies the powers and duties of dis- 
 trict meetings, of Town Superintendents, of Town 
 Clerks, and Clerks of County Boards of Supervisors in 
 connection with the schools of their respective Towns and 
 Counties. It directs how suits shall be prosecuted against 
 school districts, and how judgment shall be collected, and 
 affixes penalties to the neglect or violation of duty on the 
 
part of all those officers of whom dude's are required tin' 
 der law. It requires teachers to produce certificates from 
 the Town Superintendents that they are qualified in res^ 
 pect to moral character, learning and ability, before they 
 can be employed, and specifies certain branches to b6 
 taught in every school. These branches are orthography; 
 reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, and English 
 grammar. It provides for the introduction of suitable 
 school and text books into the schools, and requires the 
 teacher to keep a register of the daily attendance, tardi- 
 ness and absence of his pupils. By another act relating" 
 to Towns and Town Officers, Town Superintendents are 
 to be elected by the electors of the several Towns annu- 
 ally at the April elections. 
 
 Such are the leading feattrres of the law under which 
 our schools have been organised during the past year ■ 
 and so far have we progressed towards establishing a 
 system of public instruction. The inquiry now arises, is 
 the system complete, and vv^ill it secure the attainment of 
 the great end in view, the piioper instruction of the youth 
 of our atate 1 In other words, will it secure to the pupils 
 in the schools a proper training of their mental powers, 
 affections, manners,', and habits, and a proper acquaintance 
 with the elements of knowledge which are there proposed 
 to be impartedt 
 
 Teachers, before they can be employed, are required 
 to be examined by the town superintendents. But the 
 sole object of this examination is to ascertain whether 
 they are qualified or not. Such an examination can have 
 no efficiency in imparting the knowledge and ability that 
 constitute the qualification. Neither is there any magi© 
 
S17 
 
 Im a town superintendent's certificate, to make the teacher 
 know more after he receives it than he did before. This 
 mode of examining teachers and certifying to their qual^ 
 ifications, has long been in use, and has undoubtedly done 
 some good. It has probably excluded from the schools 
 many grossly incompetent teachers, who otherwise might 
 have been employed in them. I would therefore retain 
 the mode for the little good it is calculated to do. What 
 we need is a system of means by which teachers may be 
 qualified. The business of teaching is professional, as 
 much so as that of law or medicine. It has its theoreti- 
 (;al principles and its rules of practice, and without an 
 acquaintance with these, he who arrogates to himself the 
 name of teacher, is a mere pedagogue. No matter how 
 accurate and extensive a man's general scholarship may 
 be, special training, a com'se of professional reading, in- 
 struction, and practice is deemed necessary to make him 
 a successful lawyer or pbysician. 
 
 This special training is as necessary to the teacher as 
 it is to those who engage in what are called the learned 
 professions, and more so; for the training of the youth- 
 ful mind and character is a more delicate and difficult 
 task, and one involving more momentous consequences 
 than any other committed to human hands, and before so 
 important a trust is committed to the hands of a teacher, 
 he should be thorougWy fitted for his work, and not only 
 be made acquainted with all the elementary branches of 
 knowledge, but should also be furnished with that ready 
 ability in regard to means and modes of procedure that 
 may be necessary in conducting the various educational 
 processes. But how can we expect to find such teachers 
 iinless special means are provided for training them for 
 
118 
 
 their business; and if a few good teachers could be ob- 
 tained without the use of such means, there would be 
 but few, and the general qualification of teachers would 
 be left where it always has been. 
 
 We must have, then, teachers' seminaries of some des- 
 cription, where the business of teaching is made a sys- 
 tematic object of .attention* 
 
 Normal Schools. 
 
 In Massachusetts and New York, where more has been 
 done for the proper qualification of teachers than in any 
 of the other States, teachers' seminaries, commonly cal- 
 led Normal Schools^ have been estabhshed. This term 
 '' Normal School" is borrowed from Prussia, where such 
 schools have long been in successful operation. There is 
 no fixed plan upon which such schools should be estab- 
 lished. The plan may be varied to suit the difference in 
 circumstances and social condition of different commu- 
 nities. 
 
 That institutions of this kind are needed in Wisconsin, 
 is not only obvious from general considerations of their 
 expediency, but provision has been made for their estab- 
 lisnment by express terms in the constitution. By Sec. 2 
 Art. X, of the Constitution, it is provided that after the 
 wants of the common schools shall ha.ve been supplied, if 
 there shall remain a balance of the income of the school 
 fund unexpended, a portion of the same shall be appro- 
 priated to the support and maintainance of Normal 
 Schools, and suitable libraries and apparatus therefor. 
 
 The subject of a seminary for teachers in New York 
 was first presented by De Witt Clinton in one of his an- 
 
119 
 
 hual messages to the Legislature of that State. The first 
 !A.ct in that State for the avowed object of promoting the 
 education of teachers was passed in 1827, by which the 
 income of $150,000 was distributed among the several 
 iicademies of the State, to aid them in estabHshing courses 
 of lectures and exercises for the preparation of teachers. 
 
 This act did not accomplish the object desigaed, and in 
 1834 another act was passed by virtue of which one acad- 
 emy in each of the eight senatorial districts of the State 
 was selected, and five hundred dollars appropriated to eh.ch 
 of them to purchase a library and apparatus adapted to 
 the use of those who w^ere preparing to be teachers; and 
 four hundred dollars to each to provide for a special course 
 of instruction in teaching. This act continued in force 
 till 1844 when it was repealed and the legislature by a 
 unanimous vote of both houses appropriated $10,000 a 
 year for five years for the establishment of a Normal 
 School at Albany. In the year 1848, the Legislature ap- 
 propriated the further sum of $15,000 for the erection of 
 a suitable building. The number of pupils in this school 
 is limited to 256, each county having the privilege of ' 
 sending twice as many pupils as it has* members of the 
 Assembly. Pupils admitted into the school have a right 
 to remain for a period of two years, or until they gradu- 
 ate and are thoroughly instructed in all the elementary 
 branches- The tuition is free and the pupils are furnish- 
 ed with the use of text books without charge. Besides 
 this, each individual receives four cents a mile on the dis- 
 tance from his county seat to Albany to defray his travel- 
 ing expenses. Each of the teachers educated in this Nor- 
 mal School, according to the estimate of the Executive 
 
120 
 
 committee, costs the State fifty dollars. The whole cost 
 of the school to the State for the last year, according to 
 the last report of the Executive Committee was $10,- 
 979 96, and this, it is calculated, will be about its annual 
 cost. 
 
 Such is the New York plan. I have given the history 
 of the measures that led to its adoption for the purpose 
 of shewing the im^portance attached to the subject in that 
 State. 
 
 In Massachusetts three Norma] Schools have been es- 
 tablished under the general direction of the Board of 
 Education. In these schools the number of pupils is not 
 limited as in New York. All who apply may be admitted 
 if found qualified according to certain conditions specified. 
 Tuition is free, but all other expenses are defrayed by the 
 pupils. The minimum time of study is fixed at one year. 
 Pupils who make good proficiency may receive at the ex- 
 piration of that time, a certificate of quaUfication. The 
 annual cost of these schools to the State is $7,000. 
 
 As I have already remarked, the establishment of Nor- 
 mal Schools in Wisconsin, is an object contemplated in 
 the Constitution. In addition to this, by an act incorpor- 
 ating the University, provision is made for the erection 
 of a Normal School Department in that Institution. 
 
 It will be seen by the following communication from 
 Chancellor Lathrop, that that Department is about to b& 
 organized, and it will be for the Legislature to determine 
 whether any and what other additional measures may be 
 necessary to be adopted on the subject of Normal School 
 education : 
 
121 
 
 University op Wisconsin, ^ 
 Madison, Dec. 12th, 1849. V 
 Hon. E. Root, 
 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction: — 
 Sir— I have the honor to transmit herewith to the De-- 
 partment of PubUc Instruction, a copy of an Ordinance 
 of the Board of Regents constituting in the University a 
 "Faculty of the Theory and practice of Elementary In- 
 struction." 
 
 You are aw^are of the fact that the charter of the Uni- 
 versity contemplates the estabhshment of such a faculty,, 
 with the wise intent of furnishing through this agency 
 the best possible means of preparing the educators of the 
 young mind of the State for their high and responsible 
 vocation. 
 
 You will please to regard this ordinance as evidence 
 of the desire of the Board to ca,rry out the benign object 
 of the charter, by making the University in the highest 
 degree "subsidiary to the great cause of popular educa- 
 tion." 
 
 I invite your attention to the ordinance, and will with 
 great pleasure receive and lay before the Board of Re- 
 gents any suggestions you may be pleased to make, cal-- 
 culated to make the University a more efficient auxiliary 
 to the Department of PubHc Instruction. 
 I am Sir, with great respect, 
 Your Ob't Serv't, 
 Signed, J. H. LATHROP, 
 
 Chan'r Univ. Wis. 
 
 Extract from "An Ordinance providing for the organ-^ 
 ization of the Department of < Science, Literature and 
 
122 
 
 Arts,' and of 'Theory and Practice of Elementary In- 
 struction.' " 
 
 "The Regents of the University do further ordain: 
 " 1. That there be hereby established a Normal Profes- 
 sorship; and that it be the duty of the Chair to render 
 instructi9n in the art of teaching, comprising the most ap- 
 proved modes of inculcating knowledge and administering 
 the discipline of the common school; and in such branches 
 of study as may best prepare the pupils in this department 
 for their honorable and useful vocation as educators of 
 the popular mind. 
 
 "2. That the Chancellor and the Normal Professor con- 
 stitute the Faculty of the " Theory and Practice of Ele- 
 mentary Instruction," whose duty it shall be to hold an- 
 nual sessions of at least five months, for the instruction of 
 the Teachers' Class, composed of such young men as may 
 avail themselves of the advantages of this department, 
 with a view to the business of instruction in the academy 
 or the common school within the limits of the State. 
 
 " 3. That the members of the Teachers' Class be mem- 
 bers of the Uiiwersity, entitled to its privileges and amen- 
 able to its discipline; that in addition to the instruction in 
 th3 Normal Department, they have free access in connec- 
 tion with the regular classes, to the lectures of the other 
 professors, and have the use of the library and other ap- 
 paratus on the same terms and conditions with the mem- 
 bers of the regular classes. 
 
 " 4. That the pupils of the Normal Department be entitl- 
 ed to the instruction of the University without charge; and 
 to this end it shall be the duty of the Chancellor to admit 
 to the Teachers' Class, any young man of suitable age 
 
and unexceptionable character, who shall present the cer- 
 tificate of the Treasurer that he has executed his written 
 obhgation to pay the usual fees of tuition, conditioned to 
 be void in case he shall have been engaged in instruction 
 two years within the four next succeeding the period of 
 his connection with the University. 
 
 " 5. That at the close of the course the members of the 
 Teachers' Class, shall, if approved on examination, have 
 a part in the exercises of the Commencement, shall be 
 admitted to the appropriate degree in the art of teaching 
 and receive a diploma from the hands ofthe Chancellor. 
 
 " 6. That it is the fixed intention of the Regents to thus 
 make the University of Wisconsin subsidiary to the great 
 cause of popular education, by making it through its 
 Normal Department, the nursery of the educators of the 
 popular mind, and the central point of union and harmo- 
 ny to the educational interests of the commonwealth." 
 
 It will afford the friends of common school education in 
 our State no little satisfaction to leara that this early ac- 
 tion has been had towards the orga.nization of this de- 
 partment in the University; for it is now made certain 
 that in a Httle time some efficient means of instruction 
 will be provided for the qualification of teachers. It is a 
 matter of pleasing reflection also that the University is to 
 be brought into this close and intimate connection with 
 the common schools, and to lend its powerful aid so di- 
 rectly and fully to their support. 
 
 The plan sketched in the ordinance submitted by the 
 Chancellor is worthy of our consideration. Its principal 
 features are as follows. There is to be a one term course 
 
124 
 
 of five months in each year, in which the studies to be 
 pursued and the instructions given are to have exclusive 
 reference to the theory and practice of teaching. The 
 Slumber to be admitted to the department is not limited ; 
 all vp'ho choose to engage in the business of teaching may 
 participate in its advantages. The instruction of the de^ 
 partment is to be free on condition that those who enjoy 
 its benefits do actually engage with,in four years after- 
 wards in teaching, for the period of two years. The pu- 
 pils of the department are to be members of the Univer- 
 sity — to have the use of its library and apparatus and 
 free access to the lectures of the other professors. They 
 will also be entitled, if found qualified on examination, to 
 an appropriate degree at the University Commencement, 
 
 The plan of this department, it will be perceived, is 
 entirely different from the plans of those of New York 
 and Massachusetts above referred to. It does not pro-. 
 pose, like the schools in those States, to educate teachers 
 in those branches that are commonly pursued in our 
 common schools. Its design appears to be to afford to 
 all the teachers of the State who may choose it, an opT 
 portunity of receiving a thorough and practical course 
 of instruction in the best " modes of inculcating knowl-; 
 edge and administering the discipline of the schools." — <■ 
 It will embrace as a matter of course, a review of the- 
 branches to be taught in the common schools, with instruc- 
 tions in such other branches as may be essential to the 
 teachers' profession. The term to complete the course be- 
 ing five months, and the tuition being free, it will place it in 
 the power of every teg,cher in the State to avail himself of 
 the benefits of the departrnent Somie, and probably ver j 
 
325 
 
 jTjiany teachers would have been excluded, had the course'' 
 been extended to a period of twelve months or two years. 
 Many would have been excluded by the expense of boardv 
 for teaching has never been a lucrative business. But I 
 trust the growing interest and intelligence of the people- 
 on the subject of education will be attended with such an 
 increase of compensation as to render the profession of 
 teaching more desirable to those who qualify themselves 
 for it, than it has been. The five months course is 
 well adapted to the wants of those who are in lirhited pe- 
 cuniary circumstances, and it is trom this class principally 
 that we niust expect to furnish our schools with teachers. 
 ThoSe in opulent circumstances will be allured by such 
 pursuits as are more tempting to their ambition. It can- 
 not be objected to the shortness of the course that its 
 effect will be to make teachers superficial; for the stand- 
 ard of qualification for graduation in the department will 
 Undoubtedly be made sufficiently high to guard against 
 such an objection. The pupils of the department will be 
 members of the University and entitled to its privilegeSj 
 and when they completed the course required, may become 
 graduates of the University. 
 
 The instructions and honors of the institutions being 
 thus gratuitously tendered, we rriay reasonably expect 
 that the Depa/tment will be crowded with pupils as soon 
 as it shall be organized, and that a new impulse will be 
 imparted to the cause of popular education in the State. 
 
 Such, it seems to me, are the reasonable anticipations 
 that may be entertained in regard to this Department of 
 the University, if it shall be organized in the manner con- 
 templated. 
 
126 
 
 It is proper here to remark, that I am informed by the 
 Chancellor, that in connection with the Department, ar- 
 rangements will be made for the proper instruction of 
 females who may wish to become teachers, also for the 
 establishment of a model school. 
 
 The question now arises, will this Normal School De- 
 partment of the University be sufficient to supply the de- 
 mand of our schools for well qualified teachers. 
 
 If aided by some subordinate agency such as the 
 Teachers' Institute, I am inclined to believe that for the 
 present it will be sufficient: and hereafter if it shall be 
 found that other schools of the kind are necessary, the 
 school fund will be available for that purpose. 
 
 Teaclieri Institute. 
 
 This is an instrumentality of great value, and should 
 not be overlooked in the arrangement of our means for 
 the advancement of common school education. 
 
 An Institute, as ordinarily constituted, is " a voluntary 
 association of common school teachers, assembled for 
 mutual improvement in a knowledge of the sciences and 
 the art of teaching them with great ability." It is a sort 
 of temporary normal school, and can be chea,ply and con- 
 veniently adapted to the wants of any number, large or 
 small. It is comm.only so organized as to "hold a session 
 varying in length from two to four weeks in a year, under 
 the general direction of one or more experienced scholars 
 and practical educators. The exercises of an Institute 
 consist principally of lectures upon educational topics, 
 discussion of modes of teaching, a review of the branches 
 of school study, and a free interchange of opinion upon 
 
127 
 
 every subject connected with the teacher's profession.-— 
 Teachers' Institutes have been in successful operation in 
 all the Northern States for a number of years, and the 
 testimony of experience is universally in their favor. In 
 several of them it has been permanently incorporated 
 into their school systems. 
 
 In 1846y the legislature of Massachusetts made an an- 
 nual appropriation of the sum of $2,500 for the purpose 
 of defraying the expenses of Teachers Institutes at such 
 places in the State as should be appointed by the Board 
 of Education. 
 
 In 1847, the Legislature of New York appropriated a 
 still larger sum to the different Comities in that State, 
 for the same object. 
 
 In 1848, the General Assembly of Connecticut provided 
 by law for holding " schools of teachers" in sixteen dif- 
 ferent places in that State, in the months of September 
 and October annually. 
 
 In 1849, the Legislature of Ohio made an annual ap- 
 propriation of $100, to be expended in each County of 
 the State, for the support of Teachers' Institutes, where 
 half such sum should be subscribed by a certain num- 
 ber of resident teachers, for the same purpose. 
 
 During the past year, voluntary associations of the kind 
 have been formed in every County of our State that I 
 have visited, except one; and I have reason to believe 
 they will be zealously sustained by the public spirit of our 
 citizens. But in order to establish them on a foundation 
 of permanent usefulness, some Legislative aid is necessa- 
 ry. I would therefore respectfully recommend that their 
 
"support be suitably pfovided for by law. Abstracts of 
 the laws of the States above referred to, on this subject, 
 are herewith submitted for the information of the Legis- 
 lature— (Appendix C.) 
 
 SgJwoI Houses, 
 
 The following suggestions on the subject of school edi- 
 fices, their structure and furniture, were inserted in the 
 instructions that accompanied the school law published by 
 the direction of the Legislature, They are believed to 
 be in accordance with modern improvements and were 
 prepared to answer the many inquiries that were address- 
 ed to this department on that subject. 
 
 "As inquiries are continually addressed to the State Su- 
 perintendent, in relation to the proper structure of school 
 houses, he deems it his duty in this place, to make such 
 suggestions on that subject, and others connected with it, 
 as may be sufficient to inform and direct the judgments 
 of those interested. 
 
 '■' A few suggestions only can here be made. 
 
 " The site of the school house should be located in a 
 dry, healthy and sheltered situation, and so remote from 
 the highway, and from the vicinity of public business, that 
 the order of the school may not be disturbed by noise or 
 sight of passing objects. 
 
 " The quantity of land embraced in the site, should not 
 be less than one acre. It should be sufficiently spacious 
 to afford ample room for play grounds, and for the erec- 
 tion of separate out buildings for the different sexes. It 
 should be planted with shade trees, if a natural grove can- 
 not be had, and inclosed with a neat and substantial fence. 
 
129 
 
 ** The school edifice should present to the eye, nti at" 
 ^iractive exterior appearance and good architectural pro- 
 portions. In calculating its size the two following par*, 
 ticulars must be regarded: 
 
 "Ist. There should be a separate entry for each sex, 
 •distinct from the school room, furnished with a scraper, 
 hooks, shelves, sink, &c. 
 
 "2d. The principal ro»©m or rooms, should be sufficiently 
 ■spacious to allow, at least 162 J cubic feet to each scholar. 
 This allowance includes the space necessary for alleys 
 •around and between the rows of desks, and what may 
 be necessary for a stove, and the conducting of recita- 
 tions. 
 
 " The school room should be well lighted, with win- 
 ■dows on two sides only, and not in the direction in 
 which scholars are required to sit with their faces. 
 
 " Suitable means should be provided by which the echool. 
 room may be properly warmed, and thoroughly and con* 
 veniently ventilated. Stoves are commonly used to warm 
 school rooms; but the walls should be high, so as to per- 
 mit the pipe to be carried at a considerable elevation. 
 above the heads of the pupils. To give the powers of 
 the mind easy play, it is necessary that the head be kept 
 ■cool, and the feet warm. Twelve feet is not too great a 
 height for the walls of a school room, but the height 
 should in no case be le^s than ten feet. Air, when it has 
 been breathed loses its vitality, becomes foul and noxious, 
 and should be permitted to escape through air passages at 
 the top of the walls of the room. To supply fresh air, 
 •■an opening may be made through the floor under the 
 
 *9 
 
130 
 
 stoves, connected with a tube leading through the out-side 
 wall of the building. Such opening can be closed when 
 necessary. 
 
 "Seats and desks for a school room, should be so con- 
 structed as to secure the health, comfort and convenience 
 of the scholars. They should be arranged, so that each 
 scholar may pass to or from his seat, without being hind- 
 ered, and without interfering with or jostling others. The 
 top of the desk should be horizontal, or nearly so; and 
 the front of the seat should be directly under the outer 
 edge of the desk lid, 
 
 ''Every school room should be furnished with, at least,. 
 a black-board and out-line maps. The black-board should 
 be fastened to the wall, and made sufficiently large to ac- 
 commodate a number of scholars at the same time. — 
 Maps, charts, cards, and pictures in good taste and suited 
 to a proper moral effect, are desirable and useful decora- 
 tions of a school room. 
 
 " The following plans are given for the purpose of illus-- 
 trating the proper internal structure and arrangement of 
 school edifices. As far ps the size of the building is concern- 
 ed, these plans are not designed as models exactly to be 
 followed; but from their inspection it is presumed abetter 
 idea can be had of the objects intended, than can be con- 
 veyed by any written description. The size of the school 
 house must be determined by the number of scholars ta 
 be accommodated; and its architectual style will be de- 
 termined by the wealth, taste and public spirit of the 
 inhabitants of the district where the house is to be erected... 
 
 "The first plan is of a school house with one school 
 room.. 
 
131 
 
 •*' The second plan is of a school house with two school 
 •rooms. In the more wealthy and populous districts, it is 
 desirable that school houses should be built with two 
 rooms, for the better classification and instruction of the 
 scholars. In such cases, female teachers can be econom- 
 ically employed to teach the primary scholars, in one of 
 the departments. 
 
 '^' The third plan is of a union village school house, with 
 different departments under one principal, aided by assis- 
 tant teachers, 
 
 ^' The fourth plan is designed to exhibit in perspective 
 u suitable form for a school room desk and seat." 
 
 The plans referred to are on the most approved models, 
 ajid the engravings of the same are well executed. 
 
 In addition to the suggestions above made 1 would fur- 
 ther remark, that on the subject of school houses, as well 
 as every other connected with the education of our youth, 
 a prudent regard should be had to the feelings and cir- 
 cumstances of the different classes of society whose 
 friendly co-operation is necessary to success. 
 
 Such measures should be adopted, if practicable, as will 
 secure the support of all classes. We need good school 
 houses, and there is no danger that they will be too good; 
 the danger is all the other M'ay. 
 
 The more refined and wealthy portion of every com- 
 munity cherish a feeling of pride in the education of their 
 children that they will never be willing to compromise: 
 and if the structures that are erected for the accommoda- 
 tion of our pubHc schools are offensive to all principles of 
 correct taste, and their internal arrangements and fitting 
 
13^ 
 
 tip imperfectly and coarsely adapted to the end in tieW/ 
 private schools with better accommodations will spring up 
 to the detriment of pubHc schools^ and disparaging dis-- 
 tinctions will be made among children of the same neigh- 
 borhood, that will be of the most hurtful tendency to all- 
 The policy to be carried out in the establishment of our 
 public schools, is to make them in every respect good 
 enough for all; and the school houses should be of that 
 I'espectable character that will secure a community of 
 feeling,, and a union of interest and eftbrt in every neigh- 
 borhood^ and among all classes^ in favor of the school? 
 that are taught in them. 
 
 I am happy in being able ta &tate that more enlightened 
 views are beginning to be entertained by our citizens at 
 the present time, in every part of the State, on this im- 
 portant subject. Many neat, commodious, and substan- 
 tial structures have already been erected, which reflect 
 great credit upon the taste, liberality, and public spirit of 
 those who contributed to their erection. Others of a sim- 
 ilar character are in contemplation, in other places, and 
 it is believed that could some aid be afforded^ all the more 
 populous districts would soon be provided with suitable 
 edifices for the accommodation of their scholars. I would 
 respectfully suggest, that the Commissioners for the sale 
 of School and University lands, be authorized to vest a 
 part of the fund arising from such sales, in loans to school 
 districtSu for that purpose. Such loans would be made se- 
 cure by becoming a lien upon all the taxable property of 
 the district, which might become so indebted. 
 
 Should this course be adopted, it would be necessary 
 Ihat any alteration of a school district indebted on ac- 
 
133 
 
 count of such loan, should be prohibited till such indebt-' 
 -edness should be paid« 
 
 GloMsijication of Scholars and Gradation of 
 Schools. 
 
 Let it be remembered that the object of our inquiry is 
 to ascertain as far as practicable what the leading features 
 of our system of public instruction should be, and must 
 be, if we are to, accomplish the great object we have in 
 view, the proper education of the children and youth of 
 the State. Bearing in mind the principle of free schools 
 asserted in the Constitution, the provisions made for an 
 ample school fund, and what has been said in regard to 
 the necessity of well qualified teachers, and of suitable 
 school edifices, we come now to a subject not less impor- 
 tant, certainly, than those we have been considering, and 
 to which our candid attention should be given, if we 
 would escape the charge of unpardonable ignorance or 
 criminal neglect. 
 
 That subject is, the proper classification of scholars and 
 gradation of schools, which I will endeavor to present as 
 fully as the brief space allotted to this report will allow. 
 
 By referring to our school law it will be perceived, that 
 the principle of classification and gradation is no where 
 recognized. A school is required to be taught in every 
 district, and the branches to be taught are specified. — 
 Further than this, no provision has been made; and car- 
 rying out the law as it now stands, all the children of a 
 district from four to twenty years of age with their va- 
 rious studies, will be collected in the same school and be 
 taught by the same teacher. 
 
134 
 
 This is the plan contemplated in the law; no ojiher i& 
 indicated, and if a different and better method has been 
 or shall be any where attempted, there is no legal provis- 
 ion to ensure its efficiency or permanency, or its general 
 adoption. 
 
 It is unnecessary to remark, that the above is the old 
 fashioned common school plan, which has nothing to rec- 
 ommend it, but the long period it has been in operation. 
 
 The inadequacy of it for the purposes intended, has 
 long been felt, and it should be tolerated by us no longei" 
 than till a better can be substituted in its stead. 
 
 With the defects of the plan, all who have ever engag- 
 ed in teaching, or who have been taught in a common 
 school, are more or less familiar. The necessity of a re- 
 form on this subject has been one of the standing topics 
 of discussion among the friends of education, in every 
 part of the country, for the last twelve or fifteen years. 
 Say the Board of Education of Massachusetts, in theii* 
 eighth annual report, in speaking of a school constituted 
 as ours novf are under the law, '' Suppose a school to 
 consist of seventy pupils, and to be divided into classes of 
 equal numbers,' each class attending to a particular study 
 from the alphabet upwards. Suppose such a school to be 
 kept for six hours per day for the space of thirty-three 
 weeks. Dividing the time equally, each scholar will re- 
 ceive, individually, five minutes of instruction daily, one 
 half of an hour weekly, and sixteen and a half days in 
 the whole time ! Now, here are seventy immortal minds 
 which are to be taught the alphabet, spelUng, reading, 
 writing, arithmetic, geography, grammar, the definition 
 of words, philosophy, &c., &c.j and two and a half min- 
 
185 
 
 wtes is the average time allowed to each pnpil every half 
 day. If it is said that by a classification of the school, 
 the time spent by the teacher in the instruction of a class 
 is, in fact, instruction given to each individual scholar, it 
 is conceded that this is true with pupils of cultivated 
 minds. But what shall be said of those who have but 
 just begun the study of letters, or simple words, who are 
 engaged in learning characters and sounds, and words 
 without ideas, things of themselves possessing no interest, 
 and which require the most assiduous care of a judicious 
 teacher to take from the exercise its utter irksomeness 1 
 "\^hat shall be said of a system which, after a few min- 
 utes employment, in designating to the learner the appa- 
 rent difference in, the various letters of alphabet, leaves 
 the young searcher after wisdom to one of three most 
 distressing alternatives: either of listening to recitations 
 which, of necessity, he cannot understand; or infringing 
 upon the laws of the school, by whispering and disorder; 
 or, what is the worst of the three, of spending the re- 
 maining hours of the day in a state of intellectual inac- 
 tion." 
 
 Similar views were expressed in 1841, by Horace 
 Mann, then Secretary of the Board of Education of Mas- 
 sachusetts: "A more trying situation for a person of 
 judgment and good feelings cannot well be conceived, 
 than that of having sole charge of a school of sixty, sev- 
 enty, or eighty scholars, of all ages, where he is equally 
 expose to censure for the indulgences that endanger good 
 order, and for the discipline that enforces it. One of 
 the inquiries contained in the circular letter to the school 
 committees, in 1838, was respecting the ages of the child- 
 yen attending our public schools. By the answer it ap- 
 
13& 
 
 peared, thati n very many places, the schools were attend- 
 ed by scholars of all ages between four years and twenty ; 
 and ill some places, by those between two years and a half 
 and twenty-five; and thus the general regulation of the 
 school, as to order, stillness, and a code of fixed laws, 
 were the same for infants but just out of the cradle, and 
 for men who have been enrolled seven years in the mili- 
 tia. Now, nothing can be more obvious, than that the 
 kind of government appropriate, and even indispensable, 
 for one portion of these scholars, was flagrantly unsuita- 
 ble for the other. The larger scholars, with a liberal re- 
 cess, can keep their seats and apply their minds for th^ee 
 consecutive hours. But to make -small children sit, both 
 dumb and motionless, for three successive hours, with the 
 exception of a brief recess and two short lessons, is an 
 infraction of every law which the Creator has impos- 
 ed upon both body and mind. There is but one motive 
 by which this violence to every prompting of nature can 
 be committed, and that is an overwhelming, stupifying 
 sense of fear. If a world were offered to these children, 
 as a reward for this prolonged silence and inaction, they 
 would spurn -it; the deep instinct of self-preservation 
 alone, is sufficient for the purpose. The irreparable inju- 
 ry of making a child sit straight, and silent, and motion- 
 less, for three continuous hours, with only two or three 
 brief respites, cannot be conceived. Its effect upon the 
 body is to inflict severe pain, to impair health, to check 
 the free circulation in the system — -all which leads to de- 
 formity. In regard to the intellect, it suppresses the ac- 
 tivity of every faculty, and it is a universal law, in re- 
 gard to them all, that they acquire strength by exercise, 
 and lose tone and vigor by inaction. The inevitable con- 
 
137 
 
 sequence is, both to diminish the number of things thev 
 will be competent to do, and to disable them from doiiTg- 
 this limited number so well as they otherwise might. In 
 regard to the temper and morals, the results ai'e still more 
 deplorable. To command a child, silent in regard to 
 speech and dead in regard to motion, when every limb 
 and organ aches for activity — to set a child down in the 
 midst of others, whose very presence acts upon his social 
 nature as irresitably as gravitation acts upon his body, 
 and to prohibit all recognition of, or communication with 
 his fellows, is subjecting him to a temptation to disobedi- 
 ence which it is alike physically and morally impossible 
 he should wholly resist. What observing person, who 
 has ever visited a school where the laws of bodily and 
 mental activity are thus violated, has failed to see how 
 keenly the children watch the motions of the teacher, how 
 eagerly, the first moment when his face is turned from 
 them, or any object intervenes to secure them from view, 
 they seize upon the occasion to whisper, laugh, chafler, 
 make grimaces, or do some other thing against the known 
 laws of the school. Every clandestine act of this kind 
 cultivates the spirit of deception, trickery and fraud; it 
 leads to the formation not of an open and ingenuous, but 
 of a dissembhng, wily, secretive character. 
 
 The Secretary of the Board of Commissioners of Com- 
 mon Schools of Connecticut, in his report of 1840, says; 
 " The importance and difficulty of a judicious arrangement 
 of the studies and classes of a school, so as to diminish the 
 surface over which the teacher must spread his labors, and 
 enable him to act most efficiently on the greatest number 
 at a time, is glaringly manifest in the district school, com- 
 
138 
 
 posed as it is of children of different ages, from four years 
 and under, to sixteen and upwards, of both sex, in dif- 
 ferent studies, from the alphabet of knowledge, up to the 
 higher branches of mathematics, in a diversity of school 
 books, and those of different editions, in every stage of 
 proficiency, arising from difference in school attendance, 
 parental co-operation, individual capacity, and habits of 
 study, and to crown the whole, with one teacher in the 
 summer, and another teacher in the winter. These cir- 
 cumstances combined, set almost every principle of class-' 
 ification at defiance, and hence I have found' as many 
 classes as there were studies in the school, increased by 
 diversity of books, age and proficiency. The time of 
 the teacher was divided into minute portions, and his at- 
 tention distracted by such a variety and complexity of 
 duties, that there could be very httle satisfaction or pro- 
 gress to either teacher or scholars." 
 
 Similar expressions of opinion on this subject, abound 
 in the various published documents of other states, and 
 indicate, unequivocally, the strong conviction in the pub- 
 lic mind every where, of the great defects of the present 
 system. 
 
 The character of the measures that we should adopt 
 for the introduction of a better system, will depend, in a 
 considerable degree, upon the extent to which the course 
 of study and instruction of common schools shall be pro- 
 posed to be carried. As far as I have been able to ascer- 
 tain the feelings and wishes of our citizens on this subject, 
 I am persuaded that in addition to the common English 
 branches, provision will be required for instruction in the 
 higher English branches also. In a great many of the 
 
139 
 
 common school?!, algebra, natural philosophy, and chemis- 
 try, to some extent, are already studied. 
 
 As our law contemplates the continuance of scholars in 
 school from the age of four to that of twenty, I see no 
 I'eason why a course of study should not embrace all 
 those branches that might be properly pursued and com- 
 pleted within the limits of that period. A great majority 
 of the children, it is to be presumed, will continue in 
 school till they are sixteen at least, and it will be an easy 
 matter, by a systematic course of training and instruction, 
 to make them thorough scholars by the time they arrive 
 at the age of sixteen, in all those branches that are usti- 
 ally pursued in the best private schools and academies. 
 
 Taking it for granted that it is the intention of our citi- 
 zens to carry the course of study in the common schools 
 to this extent, the changes that we may introduce into our 
 system should be suited to that purpose. It is obvious 
 that the present system can be improved only by intro- 
 ducing the principle of classification and gradation, above 
 referred to; for without it, there can be no proper me- 
 thod adopted for imparting instruction, or administering 
 discipline — no intelligent adaptation of means to the end 
 in view. 
 
 Instead of collecting all the children of a district with 
 their various ages, studies, and degrees of proficiency, in 
 one school room, under the charge of one teacher, they 
 should be placed in separate classes, in different depart- 
 ments, under different teachers, with a course of study 
 defined. In arranging the classes and departments, or 
 ofrades of schools, reference should be had to the acje and 
 proficiency of the scholars intended to be accommodated. 
 
140 
 
 This is the only rational mode by which our present sys- 
 tem can be improved. How this is to be done specifi- 
 cally, remains to be considered. 
 
 Several plans have been proposed, of which the fol- 
 lowing are the most worthy of attention. 
 
 Plan prdposed in Palmer's Prize Essay. 
 
 " Let a female school be kept in every district, through- 
 out the year, with the exception of two short vacations; 
 the teachers being engaged not for any specific time, but 
 as long as both parties remain suited. Let the studies, in 
 such schools, be confined to reading, writing, composition, 
 (which of course includes orthography, and a certain ex- 
 tent of grammar, and the structure of sentences,) arith- 
 metic and geography. Let these be considered as the 
 primary schools, through which every child must, of ne- 
 cessity pass, to prepare himself for a different series, in a 
 higher grade of schools, to be called central, or high 
 schools. Of these, let there be one, or in large popu- 
 lous towns, two in each town. Generally these central 
 schools would only be kept during the winter; though 
 some of the larger villages might, perhaps, afford them 
 employment throughout the year. In such cases, addi- 
 tional assistants would be wanted during the winter sea- 
 son, Mdien the larg'er children of the farmers, &c., would 
 generally attend. To prevent the younger childrenj who 
 live convenient to those central schools, from pressing in 
 too soon, and at the same time, to avoid the invidiousness 
 of preliminary examination, it would be well to adopt as 
 an undeviating rule, that no instructions should be given 
 in the branches taught in the primary schools, excepting 
 In composition, which should be attended to on a more 
 extended gcale, one afternoon in the week. 
 
141 
 
 " The central schools should be considered as town 
 schools, and of course should be partially supported by « 
 proportion of the public funds from all the districts. It 
 would not be proper^ however, that these contributions; 
 should be in an equal ratioi They should be adjusted on 
 some principle favoring the districts, in proportion to their 
 distances from the school house. It would scarcely be 
 practicable to suggest a rule that would apply fairly, and 
 in all cases; but something like the following might prob-» 
 ably be satisfactory in the greater number. Let such 
 neighborhoods, (within certain limits^) as would agree to 
 furnish the school house^ or make the most hberal offer 
 towards that item of expense, have the right of fixing the 
 site, and also have the use of the building for purposef* 
 not inconsistent with its character, when not occupied 
 as a schools With respect to the other expenses, that 
 part of the teachers' wages not paid by the public 
 money, might be raised by an equal tax on the schol- 
 ars; while, in addition, the expense of board might be 
 defrayed by those living witTiin one mile of the school 
 house, and of the fuel by those within from one to two 
 miles. The more distant families would thus be compen- 
 sated for the inconvenience of their remoteness, by theii' 
 exemption from these expenses^ Besides, as the children. 
 would not probably be prepard for thefcentral school till 
 about the age of twelve, the increased distance would 
 then be a matter of but trifling moment. 
 
 "Attached to the central school house, there should al- 
 ways be a long shed for the accommodation of the teams 
 of distant families, who would probably make some ar- 
 rangement to furnish such a convenience by turns; while 
 those who were unprovided, might pay a reasonable por- 
 
142 
 
 tion of its expense by their labor. The school house it- 
 self should be on a scale sufficiently large to admit a few 
 lodging rooms for those female pupils, whose health might 
 be too delicate to go daily to their distant homes. Here, 
 with a trifling inconvenience, and without any additional 
 expense, save the transport of their provisions, and a 
 little necessary furniture from home, they might board 
 themselves. But the boys should, in all cases, return 
 home; as it is more important that they should be under 
 the eye of their parents, as they have, generally, more 
 or less evening and morning duties to perform. 
 
 "The distance from the furthest corner of the toAvn 
 would probably, in no case, exceed four or five miles. — 
 Should there be any pupils to whom it might be inconven- 
 ient to furnish means of conveyance, daily, it might easi- 
 ly be arranged, that they should have longer tasks, and 
 attend the school for recitation only two or three times a 
 week. And, if their leisure time was properly spent at 
 home, it is highly probable, that improvement would be 
 more rapid, under such an arrangement, than where the 
 school was attended more constantly. For it would cer- 
 tainly have the tendency, in most cases, to induce habits 
 of patient perseverance, and confidence in one's owm ex- 
 ertions, — habits of^much more importance than the mere 
 attainment of science. In all schools there is too much 
 leaning on the teacher, too httle patient research and self-, 
 dependence. 
 
 "As the languages and higher branches of mathematics 
 should be taught in the central schools, it would be neces- 
 sary to have a gentleman of liberal education at its head; 
 but probably, so great has been the improvement of fe- . 
 
143 
 
 male education within a few years, there would be little- 
 difficulty of procuring a sufficiency of well quahfied as- 
 sistants of that sex." 
 
 Flan pi'oposed hy Horace Ma/rm. 
 
 " It seems not unconnected with this subject to inquire, 
 whether, in many places out of our cities, a plan may not 
 be adopted to give greater efficiency to the means now 
 devoted to common school education. The population of 
 many towns is so situated as conveniently to allow a gra- 
 dation of the schools. For children under the age of 
 eight or ten years, about a mile seems a proper limit, be- 
 yond which they should not be required to travel to 
 school. On this supposition, one house, as centrally situ- 
 ated as circumstances will permit, would accommodate 
 the population upon the territory of four square miles, or, 
 which is the same thing, two miles square. But a child 
 above that age can go two miles to school, or even rather 
 more without serious inconvenience. There are many 
 persons whose experience attests, that they never enjoyed 
 better health, or made greater progress, than when they 
 went two miles and a half, or three miles daily, to schooL 
 Supposing, however, the most remote scholars to live only 
 at about the distance of two miles from the school, one 
 house wdll then accommodate all the oMer children upon 
 a territory of about sixteen square miles, or four miles 
 square. Under such an arrangement, while there were 
 four schools in a territory of four miles square, i. e , six- 
 teen square miles, for the younger children, there would' 
 be one central school for the older. Suppose there is 8600 
 to be divided amongst the inhabitants of this territory of 
 sixteen square miles, or ;$150.. for each of the four dis- 
 
144 
 
 iHcts. Suppose, farther, that the average wages for male 
 teachers is $2b, and for female, $12 50 per month. If^ 
 according to the present system, four male teachers are 
 employed for the winter term, and four female for the 
 summer, each of the summer and winter schools may be 
 kept four months. The money would then be exhausted; 
 1 e., four months summer at $12 50-$50, and four months 
 winter, at $25=$100; both=$150. But according to the 
 plan suggested, the same money would pay for six months 
 summer school instead of four, in each of the four dis- 
 tricts, and for a male teacher's school eight months, at 
 $35 a month) instead of four at $25 a month, and would 
 then leave $20 in the treasury. 
 
 "By this plan, the great superiority of fem.ale over 
 male training for children under 8, 10 or 12 years of age,, 
 would be secured; the larger scholars would be separated 
 from the smaller, and thus the great diversity of studies 
 and of classes in the same school, which now crumbles 
 the teacher's time into dust, would be avoided; the 
 female schools would be lengthened one half; and the 
 length of male schools would be doubled, and for the in- 
 creased com.pensation, a teacher oi four fold quahfications 
 could be employed. Undoubtedly, in many towns upon 
 the Cape or among the mountains, the course of the roads 
 and the face of the territory would present insuperable 
 obstacles to the full reduction of Jiiis scheme to practice^ 
 But it is as unquestionable, that ii- r.iany others no physi- 
 cal impediments exist to its immediate adoption; especial- 
 ly if we consider the legal power of different towns to 
 unite portions of their territory for the joint maintenance 
 of schools. We have not yet bro'jght the power of united 
 action to bear with half its force upon the end or the 
 
145 
 
 means of education. I think it will yet be found more 
 emphatically true in this department of human action, 
 than in any other, that adding individual means multi- 
 plies social power." 
 
 Plan ])ro^osed hy Henry Barnard^ Secretary of the 
 Board of Commissioners of Common Schools of 
 Connecticut, 
 
 ''To remedy in all or in part, the evils thus summarily 
 presented, it is proposed that so far as practicable, the 
 younger children with the primary studies, be assigned to 
 female teachers, and the older children and more advanced 
 studies, to male teachers, and that both classes of teach- 
 ers be well quahfied for their appropriate grade of schools. 
 This it is thought can be done in one of the following 
 modes: 
 
 "1st. By employing in every district numbering over 
 tifty children in school, two or more teachers, as is now 
 ■clone in more than eighty districts. There are several 
 hundred districts which could adopt this course, 
 
 '■'■ 2d. By the union of two or more adjoining districts, 
 for the purpose of maintaining a union school for the older 
 -children of such associating districts, while the younger 
 ■children of each, are left in the district schools. There 
 IS scarcely a school society in the State, where at least 
 •one such union district cannot be formed. 
 
 "3d. By the establishment of a central school, where 
 the circumstances of the society will admit of its being 
 4one, for the older children of all the districts. 
 
 "By the establishment in each society, of one central 
 
 10* 
 
146 
 
 school, or one or more union schools, for the older chil- 
 dren, and more advanced studies, the district school will 
 be relieved of at least one-half the number of classes and 
 studies, and the objections to the employment of female 
 teachers in the winter, on account of their alleged inabil- 
 ity to govern and instruct the older boys, will be removed. 
 
 *' As the compensation of female teachers is less than 
 one-half that paid to males, every instance of the employ- 
 ment of a female teacher in place of a male teacher in 
 the district school, will save one-half of the wages paid 
 to the latter, which can be expended in increasing, part- 
 ly the wages of the former, and partly the wages of the 
 male teacher in the union or central school. It will be 
 found that the same amount of money now expended in 
 three districts, on three female teachers in summer, and 
 three male teachers in winter, will employ three female 
 teachers for the whole length of the summer and, winter 
 school, and one male teacher for the winter, at an ad- 
 vance of one-third or one-half of the average rate of 
 wages paid to each. 
 
 "Thi's arrangement will thus lead to the moire perma- 
 nent employment of a larger nuniber number of female 
 teachers, at an advanced compensation^ thus holding out 
 an additional inducement to females of the right charac- 
 ter and qualifications, to teach in the district school. It 
 will also reduce the demand for male teachers, except of 
 the highest order of qualifications, and increase the wage s 
 of those who are employed. In both ways it will dimin- 
 ish the expense, the loss of time, and other evils of a con- 
 stant change of teachers in the same school, and give 
 permanence and character to the profession of teacher. 
 
147 
 
 " It will enable the teachers of the several schools to 
 introduce studies, discipline and instruction appropriate to 
 each. In the district primary school, the younger child- 
 ren need no longer be subjected to the discomforts and 
 neglects which they now experience, or the primary 
 studies be crowded one side, to make room for the higher 
 branches. In the union or central school, the scholars, 
 coming V as they would from the primary school, well 
 grounded in the fundamental branches, will be prepared 
 to enter profitably upon studies which are now pursued to 
 advantage only in academies and other private schools of 
 a similar grade. Thus ail that is now accomplished in 
 the district school will be better done, the course of study 
 very much extended, and the advantages of a more 
 thorough and complete education be more widely diffused." 
 
 In reference to the practibility of these plans, it is suf- 
 ficient to remark, that under the name of union schools, 
 they have, to a limited extent, been already substantially 
 carried out in many of the cities, villages, and more pop- 
 ulous districts of the Eastern and Western States. The 
 schools in Southport and Geneva (see Appendix D.) are 
 of this kind. Milwaukee, Janes ville, Beloit, Green Bay 
 and Sheboygan are making preparations for the establish- 
 ment of similar schools. These partial sanctions of tne 
 principle, and the great improvement that has been made 
 in ail those schools where it has been practically applied, 
 are strong additional inducements to its general adoption. 
 
 The article in the Constitution on the subject of educa- 
 tion, requires the the Legislature to " provide by law for 
 the establishment of district schools, which shall be as 
 nearly uniform as practicable." The system that is prop- 
 
er to be adopted in cities and villages, should, if practica-- 
 ble, be extended to the rural districts. 
 
 In a city or village, on account of the compactness ol 
 the population, it is comparatively easy to assemble all 
 the children in one school buildings classified in different 
 departments, under separate teachers, as we see exempli- 
 fied in the union schools. The- system would have to be 
 modified if it should be applied to the rural districts, where 
 the population is more sparse, and more remote from a 
 common centre. And this is practicable. Our towns are 
 generally six miles square; so that nearly four-fifths of 
 the whole area of a town is within three miles of its geo- 
 graphical centre. The remote corners are within 4i- miles. 
 As our towns are now divided into districts, we will take 
 one of them, for example, that is composed of nine equal 
 districts. On the supposition that a school is taught in 
 each district four months in the winter by a male teacher 
 at #15 per month, and four months in the summer by a 
 female teacher, at $8- per month, the whole expense of 
 teachers' wages for the Town would be ^828. This 
 would be the cost of the schools of the town on our pres- 
 ent plan. Could female teachers be employed in the dist- 
 rict schools for eight months instead of four, and male 
 teachers be dispensed with, the cost would be f 576, which 
 Would be a saving of $252, The sum thus saved would 
 be sufficient to sustain a school of a higher grade for 
 eight months and twelve days, to be taught by a male 
 teacher at 830 per month. 
 
 If this school were situated in the centre of the town, 
 it would be generally, it is believed, within three miles of 
 four-fifths of all the scholars who might be of sufficient 
 
149 
 
 'Age and sufficiently advanced to attend it. Were it to be 
 taught by an accomplisiied male teacher, and furnished 
 with a good library and apparatus, it would furnish as 
 .good instruction in all the higher branches as any private 
 school or academy. On this plan, two grades of schools 
 would be furnished to all children of the districts. One 
 for the instruction of those under 12 or 14, to be taught 
 by females in the primary studies, the other for the in- 
 jitruction of the older and more advanced pupils, to be 
 taught by a male teacher in the higher English studies. 
 
 If it should he objected to this, that the requisite num- 
 ber of female teachers could not be found for so many 
 schools, the answer is, that the establishment of such a 
 system would lead females more generally to qualify them- 
 selves for teaching, because then the business would be 
 rendered more permanent, respectable, and profitable. — 
 Or, if it should be. objected that some of those over twelve 
 or fourteen years of age would have too far to go to 
 school, the answer to this is, that such an objection will 
 never be made by any, except the lazy few. It never 
 will be made by those who desire for their children "sound 
 minds in sound bodies." 
 
 If such a system as this should be adopted, it would 
 furnish to the children of the rural districts advantages 
 of education equal, or nearly equal, to those enjoyed, or 
 that may be enjoyed, by the children of the villages and 
 cities in their union schools, and it would be carrying out 
 the principle of our fundamental law, and making our dis- 
 trict schools throughout the State '* as nearly uniform as 
 practicable." 
 
 Whether any, and what provisons of law should be 
 
150 
 
 adopted to carry out these suggestions is not for me to 
 determine; but I would most respectfully urge the subject 
 upon the candid attention of the Legislature, with the ex- 
 pression of my most settled conviction, that unless the 
 principle of classification of scholars^ and ^gradation of 
 schools, in some suitable form,, is embodied in our school 
 system, our scheme of public education will be too de- 
 fective to secure the services of educated and competent 
 professional teachers,, or the support of intelligent parent>s 
 who have children to be educated. 
 
 I herewith submit extracts from the* laws of some of 
 the other States on this subject, for the information of 
 the Legislature, (See appendix E,) 
 
 School JoumaL 
 
 Without a School Journal, the means of sustainiKsg our 
 schools will be incomplete. As a medium of communi- 
 cation between the State Superintendent and the school, 
 officers of the different towns and counties, it will be in- 
 dispensable. Private communication through the mail 
 will be too slow, burdensome and expensive to meet all 
 the exigencies of the schools, that will arise. In addition 
 to this, it would be a most valuable auxiliary in the dis- 
 semination of intelligence on the general subject of educa- 
 tion. If we expect to make any decided advancement to- 
 wards the attainment of the great object we have in view^ 
 in the establishment of a proper school system, the public 
 mind must be enlightened and the popular enthusiasm 
 aroused. To effect this, it is necessary to employ means 
 that will reach directly every district and neighborhood of 
 the State, 
 
151 
 
 The press alone can furnish such means. A journal is- 
 sued monthly or semi monthly, would find its way into 
 every district and neighborhood, and the people every 
 where would be put into direct communication with the 
 best sources of intelligence. 
 
 Such journals have been established in many of the 
 other States, and have produced the most beneficial re- 
 sults. The expense that would attend the establishment 
 of such a journal would be trifling, when compared with 
 the good that would be secured by it. Individual enter- 
 prise would be suflicient to undertake the work, and sus- 
 tain it, if it could be encouraged by the sanction and pat- 
 ronage of the public authority. A bound volume of such 
 a journal, placed in each school library, would be an in- 
 teresting library book, and a valuable historical record of 
 the progress of education in the State. A portion of the 
 income of the school fund is to be appropriated to the 
 purchase of school libraries, A subscription on the part 
 of the State, for a sufficient number of copies of a school 
 journal, to place one in every school library, would be 
 all the aid that would be necessary to be given by the 
 State to encourage its establishment. I would therefore, 
 respectfully recommend that the Governor be authorized 
 to make such a subscription, and that the expense of the 
 same be directed to be paid from the income of the school 
 fund. 
 
 Respectfully sumitted, 
 E. ROOT, 
 State Superintendent. 
 
 Madison, Wis., Dec. 31st, 1849. 
 
APPENDIX. - 
 
 "A." 
 
 A TABLE showing the area of the State of Wuconsin, (excluding the surfaces 
 of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Winnebago, and Green Bay,) l/i 
 sqjiare miles or Sections. Prepared bi/ I. A. Lapham, of Milwaukee, 
 
 
 
 
 North of 
 
 
 
 South of 
 
 North and 
 
 the Neenah 
 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Neenah &, 
 
 West of the 
 
 and East of 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 theWiscon- 
 
 
 
 River. 
 
 River. 
 
 sm. 
 
 
 Adams, 
 
 
 637 
 
 650 
 
 1,287 
 
 Brown, 
 
 1,467 
 
 
 5,473 
 
 6,940 
 
 Calumet, 
 
 317 
 
 
 
 317 
 
 Chippewa, 
 
 
 7,240 
 
 • 
 
 7,240 
 
 Columbia, 
 
 635 
 
 64 
 
 83 
 
 782 
 
 Crawford, 
 
 
 5,980 
 
 
 5,980 
 
 Dane, 
 
 1,235 
 
 
 
 1,235 
 
 Dodge, 
 
 900 
 
 
 
 900 
 
 Fond du Lao, 
 
 718 
 
 
 
 718 
 
 Grant, 
 
 1,152 
 
 
 
 1,162 
 
 Green, 
 
 578 
 
 
 
 578 
 
 Iowa, 
 
 765 
 
 
 
 765 
 
 Jefferson, 
 
 676 
 
 
 
 576 
 
 La Fayette, 
 
 630 
 
 
 
 630 
 
 La Pointe, 
 
 
 3,930 
 
 
 3,930 
 
 Manitowoc, 
 
 480 
 
 
 
 480 
 
 Marquette, 
 
 388 
 
 
 
 1,512 
 
 Milwaukee, 
 
 237 
 
 
 
 237 
 
 Portage, 
 
 
 5,150 
 
 
 6,909 
 
 Racine, 
 
 616 
 
 
 
 616 
 
 Richland, 
 
 
 582 
 
 
 582 
 
 Rock, 
 
 864 
 
 
 
 864 
 
 Sauk, 
 
 
 990 
 
 
 990 
 
 St. Croix, 
 
 
 3,800 
 
 
 3,800 
 
 Sheboygan, 
 
 510 
 
 
 
 510 
 
 Walworth, 
 
 576 
 
 
 
 676 
 
 Washington, 
 
 648 
 
 
 
 648 
 
 Waukesha, 
 
 576 
 
 
 
 576 
 
 Winnebago, 
 
 186 
 
 
 3,300 
 
 3,486 
 
 Total, 
 
 14,054 
 
 28,373 
 
 12,389 
 
 54,816 
 
 Deduct ] pr. ct. foi 
 
 
 
 
 
 lakes and mean- 
 
 
 
 
 
 dered streams. 
 
 140 
 
 284 
 
 124 
 
 548 
 
 Area of land, 
 
 13,914 
 
 28.089 
 
 12,265 
 
 54,268 
 
 No. of School Sec. 
 
 386 
 
 781 
 
 340 
 
 1,507 
 
MiiiWAUKEE, December 3d, 1849. 
 I)2AR Sir: In compliance with your request, I send you 
 the accompanying table, calculated by the aid of the most 
 recent surveys, showing the area of each County in the 
 State, the area of the three natural divisions indicated by 
 you, and the number of school sections in each divison. — 
 it may be relied upon, to be as near the truth as can 
 now be ascertained. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 I. A. laphaM. 
 
 E. Root, Esq., 
 
 Sup't Pub. Inst. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 "B." 
 
 The following communications are answers to a circu- 
 lar sent from this department containing these enquiries: 
 
 1st. Should not a uniform course of study, with uni- 
 form school and text books, be established in all the com- 
 mon schools of the State 1 If so — - 
 
 2d. Should not the Regents of the University or some 
 other bod}^, together with the Superintendent of Public 
 Instruction, be clothed with authority to establish such a 
 course of study in the common schools, with uniform text 
 books; also, to determine the proper apparatus for schools, 
 and the books to constitute the school libraries 1 Should 
 they not also have the power to establish a general plan 
 for the construction of school houses ? 
 
 3d. Do not great evils unavoidably arise from crowding 
 into the same school, pupils of a great variety of ages, 
 with a corresponding variety in their studies? If so, 
 what is your opinion of the following gradation of schools, 
 to be established in every town where circumstances will 
 permit, as the mode best calculated to remedy such 
 evils '? 
 
 I. District schools for the younger children, with the 
 primary studies. 
 
156 
 
 II. A centra] school for the older children of all the 
 districts of the town, with the more advanced Studies. 
 
 4th. The fourth department in the University, being a 
 Normal School department, wall it not be well to provide 
 for the estabUshment from time to time, as the income of 
 the school fund may permit, of other Normal Schools in 
 the northern, southern, eastern and western districts of 
 the State, to be connected with the Normal School de- 
 partment of the University, with a regular course of 
 study, and a prescribed mode for the graduation of their 
 classes in the University, as teachers 1 
 
 .5th. Are Teachers' Institutes in your judgment, valu- 
 able auxiliaries to the cause of common school education ? 
 If so, what is the best plan for organizing and conducting 
 them ? 
 
 Letter from Geo. B. Emerson., Esq,, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Mr. E. Root:— 
 
 Dear Sir: — In your printed letter, you asked for re- 
 plies to several important questions relating to common 
 school education. Had it been in my power, I should at 
 an earlier day, have given you a much fuller answer than 
 I can now offer. Such opinions as I have time to give, I 
 jespectfully submit to your consideration. 
 
 To the first inquiry I would say — 
 
 That it is highly important that the best course of study 
 
151- 
 
 f'or the schools of various grades should be stscertstiricd^ 
 and this course should be established for all the common 
 schools of the State, But it is my opinion that uniform 
 school books or text books should not be required. For 
 this last opinion^ I would offer the follovving reasons: 
 
 If any one set of books should be fixed on for all the 
 schools of th-e State, it would immediately become ex- 
 ceedingly difficult to change any of them.. A vast inter- 
 est would be enlisted in their favor; they could not be set 
 aside without great disappointment and loss to the holders 
 of the rights, and whatevei improvements might have 
 been made in a book or books, offered as a substitute for 
 one or more of them, the proposed improved book would 
 have to contend against the powerful interests and strong 
 prejudices which would be actmg in favor of that which 
 %vas already in use. Wisconsin, instead of being able to 
 avail herself of all the advantages of her position as a 
 new StatCj would presently find herself bound down in 
 this important particular, by the corruptions and vices of 
 an old establishment* 
 
 Great changes are now taking place in elementarv 
 scliool books. Greater changes are needed and will be 
 likely to be made. To have the door wide open for all 
 the improvements of change, the State ought not to be 
 pledged to any system, even one which should now be 
 unanimously adopted as best. The children of Wiscon- 
 sin will bO) in many respects, differently situated from the 
 children of any part of the world. They need a differ- 
 ent education. A stranger, here in Massachusetts or 
 elsewhere, cannot anticipate what will be best for them. 
 There, as every where else, teachers must be guided by 
 
158 
 
 experience; and a new light will be as likely to spring up 
 in the schools of Wisconsin as in those of New England- " 
 Better books than now exist, may within ten years, be 
 made for the children of Wisconsin by a teacher of Wis- 
 consin. Those books, whenever they shall appear, ought 
 to have a fair chance of being adopted. 
 
 I should say, therefore, that while the law ought to re- 
 quire certain things to be taught in all the schools, it 
 should leave the methods and the means by which they 
 shall be taught, to the wisdom of those who are hereafter 
 to have the supervision of instruction in those schools. 
 
 2, The Regents of the University, or some other body, 
 together with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
 should be clothed with authority to establish a uniform 
 course of study, to determine what apparatus should of 
 right belong to the different grades of schools, and to rec- 
 ommend suitable works for a school library^ They should 
 <ilso be required to examine from time to time, the plans 
 for school houses which may be presented, and to select 
 and make generally known such as they shall think best: 
 and whenever a school house is to be erected, the officers 
 of the town, whose duty it is to superintend and direct its 
 erection, should be furnished with plans by the Superin- 
 tendent, from which they should be at liberty to select 
 such plan as to them shall seem best, and to make im- 
 provements thereon if any occur to them. During the 
 last twelve years, numerous improvements, have been made 
 in the plans and construction of school houses in many 
 different towns of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Ver- 
 mont. 
 
 3. Great evils do unavoidably arise from collecting in 
 
159 
 
 the same school, pupils of a great variety of ages and a 
 corresponding variety of studies. Tiiere should therefore 
 be, in every town whose circumstances will permit, at 
 least two grades of schools, viz: 1st. District schools for 
 the younger children, in which the elementary studies 
 should be pursued, and which may be generally best 
 taught by females; 2d. A central school for the older 
 children of the whole town, with more advanced studies; 
 and the schools of each grade should be furnished with 
 apparatus suitable to illustrate all the several branches of 
 study pursued therein. 
 
 4. The Normal School Department of the University 
 should as far as practicable, be kept entirely distinct from 
 every other department, it being most important that all 
 the branches pursued at the Normal School Department 
 should be examined and studied with special reference to 
 the best modes of communicating instruction in those 
 branches. To this end, a prominent object in the Normal 
 School Department should be, to bring out and educate 
 the faculty of expression in all its forms and develope- 
 ments. All the pupils therein should be taught, not so 
 mnch to answer questions, as to take up the subject of 
 each lesson and present it fully and distinctly to the mind 
 of the hearer in continuous discourse, with illustrations 
 by the slate and blackboard, and by apparatus of every 
 kind. 
 
 So vast is the saving of time and labor which might be 
 made in the instruction of each individual child, if he 
 could, from the beginning of his course and in every stage 
 of it, be carried along by a person who had been careful- 
 ly prepared to present every truth to the mind in its right 
 
160 
 
 order, form and time, that it is extremely desirable that; 
 a^ early as possible Normal School instruction should be 
 provided for every part of the State. It will be there- 
 fore wise, that besides the Normal School Department of 
 the University, other Normal Schools may be established 
 as the income of the school fund may permit. 
 
 5. Teachers' Institutes are at all times most valuable 
 auxiliaries to the cause of common school education. At 
 present, and until Normal Schools shall be generally es- 
 tablished, they are of incalculable value, as they are the 
 best substitutes for Normal Schools that have been yet 
 devised. Even after Normal Schools shall have been 
 made so universal, that every person intending to teach 
 shall be able to avail himself of their aid in preparing for 
 his duties^ teachers' Institutes will be highly valuable, 
 as they will give the teachers of a County the opportuni^ 
 ty of contributing each of the different fruits of his own 
 experience for the benefit of all. Teachers' Institutes 
 ^erefore deserve and must long deserve the amplest em 
 couragement which can be afforded them. 
 
 The organization of each Institute must depend some^ 
 what upon the ability of its members. The most essen- 
 tial things to be secured are, that those most capable 
 of conduciing them shall be called to this office, that 
 every one who has made, or thinks he has made im^ 
 provement in any branch of teaching, shall have an op- 
 portunity of giving a specimen of his improved method, 
 in a lesson to his fellow teachers acting as a class to be 
 taught; that those who have been most successful in or» 
 ganizing or governing schools, shall have an opportunity 
 of exhibiting their art and skill; that any one who has 
 
180 
 
 made a discovery, shall have an opportunity to present it; 
 and that any one who has become convinced that some- 
 thing not already taught should be taught, shall be able 
 to urge its importance. It would be well, if the members 
 are seriously so disposed, that each session should be 
 opened with prayer. It is desirable that music should be 
 introduced at intervals. It is almost essential that there 
 should be nearly as great a variety in the exercises of 
 each day, as should be always found in the exercise of a 
 day in the district school 
 
 To give the Normal Schools their greatest efficiency, a 
 Board of Examiners should be appointed, of say six per- 
 sons, three of whom should be persons practically ac- 
 quainted with teaching, who should hold their office for 
 six years, but one of whom should retire from office each 
 year. These should examine each ef the Normal Schools 
 fully and carefully, for a period of not less than four days 
 each, at least once every year. The pay of these Ex- 
 aminers should be such as to command the services of the 
 ablest in the community. 
 
 In devising a general plan on which the schools shall 
 
 be organized, it is important to guard against those abuses 
 
 that have crept into schools, and are retained only because 
 
 they are there. Vastly more can be done in common 
 
 schools than is usually done. There is no reason why all 
 
 that is now done in the most costly and select schools, 
 
 should not be done in all the common district shools of a 
 
 whole State. There is on an average, as much capacity 
 
 among the children of a country village, as in those of 
 
 the first city in the world; there is usually more ability 
 
 to teach, among the females to whom the cliildren of the 
 
 11 
 
161 
 
 common people are intrusted,, than among the men wha 
 have charge of the children, of the favored classes. — - 
 Among all classes in our country, time enough in each year 
 may be devoted to learning, from the age of four to twenty, 
 to learn all that the mind is capable of. The time of vaca- 
 tion is probably saved rather than lost, as it is spent in 
 gaining health, and in learning things more important than 
 wha,t is learned at school. If, therefore, the teachers can 
 be properly qualified, andif a proper selection can be made 
 among studies, by the exclusion of those v^hich are useless, 
 all the children of every country village Inay be as well ed- 
 ucated as the most favored portion of the children of the 
 best inhabitants of citieso 
 
 There are several things in which time is now wasted. 
 The principal of these are 1, Spelling; 2, Grammar; 3, 
 Cyphering. All the time now spent in oral spelling is 
 lost. Usually it is worst than lost, as it does all that it. 
 can do. to form the worst possible habits. 
 
 Most of the time now spent in studying books of Gram- 
 .mar is lost. It, also, is worse than lost, as the study is an 
 attempt to comprehend what is, to the child at an early 
 age, incomprehensible.. 
 
 All of grammar which is of any use to children under 
 twelve ought to be given orally — without book. The phi- 
 losophy of language is, logically, one of the last things to 
 be studied. 
 
 Mental arithmetic ought to take the place of most of 
 the cyphering now in use. In all the business of common 
 life, the numbers that are the mostly used are the small 
 numbers which may be easily retained in the mind. 
 
162 
 
 If now, all the time which is lost in these three opera- 
 tions were saved, it would be sufficient to enable the child 
 to learn well all those things which I am about to set down 
 as proper to be learnt at the primary schools. 
 
 In the schools for the youngest children should be 
 taught, all the characters used to express the sounds of 
 our language, with their names and powers; a clear, dis- 
 tinct and ready utterance of all the sounds of the lan- 
 uage, to be practiced without the names of the letters and 
 combinations of letters by which they are expressed. 
 
 The appearance, sound and meaning of all the common 
 words of the language, arranged in narrative, or in short, 
 intelligible sentences, which are to be introduced thus and 
 rendered familiar, associated with their meaning to the 
 eye, before they are arranged into columns, if that is ever 
 to he done, for spelling. This should be done, first with the 
 shortest words, those most completely comprehensible and 
 manageable by the eye and organs of voice of the child. 
 
 All names of senses, organs, parts of the body, house- 
 hold things, elements, common external objects, relations 
 of kindred, friendship and social life, introduced in intelli- 
 gible and interesting sentences and stories; 
 
 Writing on slate or paper, so that, from the beginning, 
 all words shall be read first in significant connexions, 
 written next, spelt, if at all, orally, last; 
 
 The names of all the common animals, with a short ac- 
 count of them; the names of all common metals, with an 
 account of their uses. 
 
 The names of all common sounds, actions, and changes ' 
 arranged in famihar sentences and stories; 
 
163 
 
 The names of all the colors, with the objects exempli- 
 fying them; all the elementary shapes and forms with fig- 
 ures — -circles, O, ellipses, o, squares, n, triangles, a, 
 &c., showing them, and the commonest shapes of solids, 
 such as balls, spheres, cubes, pyramids, cylinders, cones, 
 also with figures, and illustrated by sentences, showing 
 what objects approximate to these forms; 
 
 The elements of dimension, to be taught by lines pre- 
 cisely, 1, 2, and 3 inches long; squares precisely 1, 2, and 
 3 inches square, those of 2 and 3 divided into 4 and 9 
 squares; 
 
 All the words of the language which are sounded alike 
 and differ in spelling, arranged in sentences to show their 
 meaning, and afterwards in columns; 
 
 All the points and abbreviations in common use ; 
 
 The elementary principles of arithmetic, taught men- 
 tally and orally; then 
 
 The Arabic and Roman numbers; 
 
 The elementary principles and facts of grammar, orally. 
 
 The apparatus for these schools should be, 
 
 Pictures of all the common animals and of those spoken 
 of in the Scripture, on pasteboard, on a uniform scale, 
 arranged in portfolios; specimens of the metals and com- 
 mon alloys; specimens of the colors; specimens of the 
 more important rocks, such as granite and its ingredients, 
 flint, limestone, &c.; specimens of all the common seeds; 
 and if possible, good figures of the most important plants; 
 blocks of wood of all the elementary shapes, such as pyra- 
 mids, cones, cubes, "rounds, cylinders, ellipsoids, ovoids, 
 spheroids; cubes of precisely 1 inch, 2 inches, 3 inches, 
 deeply grooved with inch squares, to give the elementary 
 ideas of solid measure. 
 
164 
 
 For schools or classes from 8 or 9 to 12 or 14 the stu- 
 dies should be, 
 
 Reading lessons, containing valuable instruction, and 
 also reading lessons for exercise in the various styles of 
 reading; 
 
 Writing on paper; 
 
 Dravt^ing on slates and paper; 
 
 Arithmetic, principally mental, but also Vi^ritten, and to 
 some extent also general arithmetic or algebra; 
 
 The elements of plane geometry; 
 
 The most important facts in human anatomy; 
 
 The most important laws of human physiology; 
 
 The elementary facts and principles of Natural Philos- 
 ophy, including the general properties of matter, the lead- 
 ing facts and laws in Mechanics, Pneumatics, Hydrostat- 
 ics, Magnetism, Electricity, Light and Heat; 
 
 The most important facts and laws of Chemistry, par- 
 ticularly the constitution and properties of air and water, 
 of the common earths and most useful metals, of the two 
 or three most powerful acids and most useful salts; 
 
 Book keeping or accounts; 
 
 Geography; 
 
 Astronomy; 
 
 The principles of English Grammar, to be taught as 
 they are to be used, by writing, in connection with the art 
 of readings 
 
 Some of the general principles of Natural History; 
 
 The description of a tree, with enough of Vegetable 
 Physiology to show its structure, the circulation of its 
 sap, and the uses of its roots and leaves; 
 
 A short course of American History; 
 
^he atppara.tus for the use of these classes should be. 
 Geometrical models; 
 
 A human skeleton, or large plates of anatomy; 
 Philosophical apparatus; 
 A few articles of chemical apparatus; 
 Globes, maps and astronomical apparatus. 
 The studies for a still higher school, or for higher cj^sse? 
 may be, 
 
 Geometry, spherical, solid, applied; 
 Algebra, somewhat further pursued; 
 A fuller course of Natural Philosophy; 
 
 '* *' Chemistry, including animal and veg- 
 
 etable Chemistry; 
 " " Astronomy; 
 
 Vegetable Physiology, with an account of the more im- 
 portant trees, grasses, and useful herbs: 
 A short course on general history; 
 " '' Moral Philosophy; 
 
 " '^ Mental Philosophy, 
 
 '•' " of English Literature in connection 
 
 with something of Rhetoric and Logic; 
 
 A fuller course of Natural History, including the gen- 
 eral principles of Geology, Mazology, Ornithology, Herp- 
 etology, Ichthyology, Entomology, &c.; 
 A short course on the useful arts; 
 The principles of Domestic Architecture, with the best 
 models of houses, and the best mode of ventilating, warm- 
 ing, and so building as best to guard against cold and 
 heat. 
 
 I suppose that few schools may be established and main- 
 tained in which so wide a course of instruction as the 
 
166 
 
 's?.bove can be given. I give the course thus fully to illus- 
 trate my idea of the proper order and subordination of 
 studies. 
 
 1 am, Dear Sir, 
 
 Very Respectfully Yours, 
 GEO. B. EMERSON. 
 
 :Extt'act from a letter from tlw JRev. Ba/rnalas 8em% 
 Secretary of the Board of Education of Massa- 
 cJiusetts. 
 
 Dear Sir: — In respect to your first inquiry, I confess 
 I have my doubts. The grounds of my doubts are — 
 
 1. I fear the people would consider it as surrenderine; 
 too much of their liberty. All our towns or districts in 
 Massachusetts, hold with great tenacity to the idea that 
 each town or district is a little independent Republic. — ■ 
 They cannot complain on political or religious grounds 
 that improper books are imposed upon them, for they 
 have things their own way. I think it very important 
 that there be uniformity of text books in the same town. 
 
 2. The booksellers are a difficult class to get along with 
 at any rate. Whether they would make more trouble on 
 the plan you contemplate I cannot say with confidence. 
 
 3. Revolutions in books, which should be simultaneous 
 all over the State, might perhaps, be a greater evil than 
 those petty revolutions which are liable to be going on at 
 different times and for different causes in single towns. 1 
 know this question has two sides to it; and you will per- 
 
167 
 
 ceive that I am speaking not of the abstract questionv 
 which would be the better, if both were practicable, but 
 of the practical question which is the safer, and less liable 
 to be influenced by the fluctuations of party politics, or 
 party religion. 
 
 Your second inquiry is so connected with the first, that 
 I pass it over for the present, except to remark that I have 
 no better expedient to suggest. From the State of New 
 York and perhaps some other States, where experiments 
 nearer like what you propose than ours are, have been 
 tried, you will probably receive suggestions. 
 
 To your third point with its subdivisions, I should reply, 
 in general, affirmatively. Gradation and classification, 
 are, in my opinion, indispensible. How many classes of 
 schools there should be, depends on the situation and pop- 
 ulation of the towns. Perhaps, in larger towns, primary, 
 intermediate, and high schools may be necessary. Of 
 that, I cannot, with my limited knowledge of your towns, 
 judge. 
 
 In respect to the fourth topic, I would say I think there 
 would be advantages in a large State having more Nor- 
 mal Schools than one ; because the indirect influence upon 
 other schools will be greater. You will, probably, be 
 obliged to depend, in part, upon teachers trained in other 
 than Normal Schools for several years. You may diffuse 
 the spirit of improvement, by having good models at sev- 
 eral points, much earlier than you can supply the whole 
 State with teachers trained by yourselves. Only let your 
 Normal Schools have so long a course, (if possible,) and 
 so high a character, as to deserve the prominence they 
 claim. This will be one of your chief difficulties. The 
 
168 
 
 people will desire immediate results and large numbers in 
 the Normal Schools. The temptation will be to turn out 
 large grists, coarsely and rapidly ground; and it will be 
 lucky if such do not disgrace and dishonor the whole con- 
 cern. Our Normal Schools can, as yet, require only one 
 year's attendance of their pupils. I hope they will yet 
 be able to require three. 
 
 As to Teacher's Institutes, they produce greater imme- 
 diate effects in improving the schools, than any other 
 means of equal cost. They may be rendered so effectual 
 as to make it possible to take more time to train thorough 
 teachers in the Normal Schools, Let the spring and au- 
 tumn vacations be employed in holding such Institutes. — 
 Let about ten days be spent with a hundred teachers, 
 more or less, in showing them the best method of teach- 
 ing all the elementary studies. Let this be done by 
 example — by giving actual specimens, making the Insti- 
 tute in every respect a model school. Yourself or a sub- 
 stitute will hold them. Employ only model teachers of 
 the highest and best stamp, and the impression will be 
 valuable. 
 
 Yours sir, with respect, 
 (Signed,) BARNABAS SEARS, 
 
 Secretary of the Board of Education 
 of Massachusetts. 
 
169 
 
 LetUr from Hon. Horace Mann., M. C. 
 
 E. Root, Esq.: 
 
 Dear Sir — Ever since the receipt of your letter, I have 
 sought in vain to find a half hour in which to reply to it. 
 Even now I have not time to set forth the reasons of this 
 apparent neglect, though I assure you they are anything 
 rather than indifference to the cause to which your inqui- 
 ries pertain. 
 
 I have no hesitation in giving a general affirmatwe an- 
 swer to all your inquiries. I cannot go into detail in giv- 
 ing my reasons. On almost all the topics I have dwelt at 
 length in my annual reports, and in the Common School 
 Journal. In those documents you will find page after page 
 devoted to their discussion. 
 
 I feel the deepest interest in the success of your cause; 
 and though not any longer officially connected with the 
 educational movements, yet no jot or tittle of my interest 
 in its progress is lost. 
 
 Very truly and sincerely yours, 
 (Signed,) HORACE MANN. 
 
 Letter from Salem Town., Msq.^ Cayuga County., 
 NeiD Yo7'Jc. 
 
 E. Root, Esq., Sup't, &c.: 
 
 Dear Sir: — Yours of the 13th instant was received 
 yesterday. My answers to your interrogatories must 
 necessarily be brief. But first of all I congratulate you 
 and the citizens of your State, in view of the ample con- 
 
\76 
 
 stitutional provisions made in behalf of popular education. 
 This is a happy indication of your future prosperity. 
 
 Primary schools carry elementary instruction to every 
 man's door, and characteiize nttionsd literature. The cul- 
 tivation of the intellectual faculties and moral susceptibil- 
 ities, are indispensable to the attainment of everything 
 desirable in civil intercourse, attractive in refinement, 
 lovely in morals, and stable in polity. These little nurs- 
 eries are the glory of our nation and the safeguards of 
 her institutions. Let them be sustained and we have 
 nothing to fear. 
 
 The people — -all the people should be educated, and as 
 agricultural pursuits, manufacturing operations, and me- 
 chanical arts give employment to the great body of our 
 citizens; as our social, civil and pohtical institutions are 
 based on that intelligence, moral and intellectual, which 
 qualifies men for self government, the education of the 
 people should be adequate to the successful prosecution of 
 their several employments, and the discharge of incum- 
 bent duties in their several employments, and the dis- 
 charge of incumbent duties in their several relations. 
 
 As to your first inquiry I would saj^, the elementary 
 course in primary schools, is necessarily orthography, 
 reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, and geog- 
 raphy. After the attainment of these the future course 
 must be governed by time and circumstances. 
 
 The uniformity of text books throughout the entire 
 State is not thought important, even if it were practica- 
 ble. That question has been ably discussed at one of our 
 State Conventions of County Superintendents, in which 
 many distinguished educationists from abroad were pres- 
 
171 
 
 ent and took a part; but the decisioo was almost unani- 
 mous in the negative. The several reasons assigned I 
 cannot here enumerate. Uniformity, however, in each 
 school is of the utmost importance, and the same may be 
 extended to towns, and perhaps to the county. 
 
 As to the second inquiry, I would say, there should be 
 a competent board in each Town or County, to examine 
 and recommend such text books as they approve for their 
 several schools; and as the State Superintendent cannot 
 examine and license all the teachers of the State, let the 
 same board perform this duty within their territorial 
 bounds. The State Superintendent should have power 
 to nullify any certificate given by such boards, on the dis- 
 covery of .incompetency in the licentiate. 
 
 As to school apparatus and libraries, there should by 
 all means be a State board to decide on those matters, and 
 the State Superintendent should, ex-officio, be one of that 
 board, 
 
 The suggestions under the third inquiry are good if they 
 can be carried out. If distance should be no obstacle^ 
 such an arrangement would be highly beneficial. 
 
 Fourth inquiry. A Normal Department in the Uni- 
 versity would not begin to furnish a supply of teachers; 
 if, therefore, four others in different parts of the State 
 could be established under the supervision of the Regents, 
 and in all respects subject to the same discipline as the 
 University Department, I would strongly recommend the 
 measure. 
 
 Fifth inquiry. Teachers' Institutes, when properly con- 
 dui^ted, are of inestimable value to the great bady of com- 
 
rilon school instructors. They are temj^orarij Normal 
 Schools, and afford an opportunity for improvement to 
 the entire mass of teachers, many of whom could not be 
 reached in any other way. 
 
 The schools in the State of New York have been im- 
 proved more by County Superintendents and Teachers' 
 Institutes, than by any other instrumentalities hitherto 
 devised, I have been called to organize these institutions 
 in five States besides New York, and have conducted 
 thirty-three, in all of which were about five thousand 
 teachers. By request of our State Department, I have 
 just prepared a full report, giving in detail the mode of 
 organizing the Institute, and conducting its several exer- 
 cises to a successful issue. As soon as that document is 
 published, I will send you a'*copy^. 
 
 Respectfully," yours, &c., 
 (Signed,) S. TOWN. 
 
 Letter from S. S. Raiiddll, Deputy Superintendent 
 of CbmriKm Schools far the State of New Yorh. 
 
 Hon. E. Root: 
 
 Dear Sir: I cheerfully avail myself of the earliest 
 opportunity since the receipt of your circular to reply to 
 the various inquiries which you propose. Before, how- 
 ever, taking up the subjects in the order in which they 
 are propounded, suffer me to congratulate you, the citizens 
 of Wisconsin and the friends of human advancement 
 throughout our beloved Union, upon the enlightened wis- 
 dom and forecast which dictated, and the comprehensive 
 
17S 
 
 good sense and discriminating sagacity which sanctioned, 
 by the clear expression of the popular voice, the noble 
 system of free Common School educa^on for every child 
 of the State. The foundations of permanent well-being,, 
 prosperity and happiness have thus been firmly laid, and. 
 the superstructure of your future greatness as an integral 
 portion of our great commonwealth, rests upon a sure 
 and immovable basis. I look forward, with full assurance 
 of faith, to the general recognition throughout our widely 
 extended confederacy, of the great principle which you 
 have thus asserted, and of which Massachusetts is a 
 standing illustration; and trust the day is not fai distant 
 when the education of every child in the land, shall be 
 regarded as an indispensable and paramount duty, worthy 
 of the utmost efforts of statesmen, legislators and patriots. 
 A free repubhc, resting • solely upon the intelligence and 
 virtue of the great body of its constituent members, 
 must, it is obvious, rapidly decHne and speedily perish, 
 where those vital elements of its existence are not syste- 
 matically provided for. As we value, therefore, the per- 
 petuity of our glorious institutions, we shall, as you have 
 done, freely open the portals of knowledge to all. 
 
 I proceed, now, to give you my views, derived from 
 some experience in the field of common school education, 
 in reference to the particular topics comprised in your 
 circular. 
 
 1. I am decidedly of opinion that a "uniform course of 
 study, with uniform school and text books," should be es- 
 tablished as far forth as may be practicable and consistent 
 with the paramount object of giving to each child a com- 
 prehensive and "generous" mental and moral culture. I 
 
174 
 
 am well aware of the importance and desirability of 
 uniformity in school and text books. 
 
 But, while I would give to this measure all the effect 
 which may legitimately be claimed for it, I would not ex- 
 tend it so far as to sanction a permanent and exclusive se- 
 lection for the whole State, and even for any considera- 
 ble portion of it, of a particular work or series of works, 
 however meritorious, or however impartial and discrimi- 
 nating may be the tribunal to which the selection is com- 
 mitted. I see no very serious objection to the recommen- 
 dation by some properly constituted Board, or by a pubHc 
 officer, of works, in their or his judgment, best adapted 
 to the purposes of teachers and pupils, leaving such 
 works to find their way into the schools, upon their mer- 
 its, and leaving both teachers and pupils free to avail 
 themselves of such other authorities as in their opinion 
 might most effectually aid their investigations. Where- 
 ever good teachers are, as they should be, permanently 
 employed, practical uniformity would, I think, speedily 
 result from such a process; whereas, were a certain se- 
 ries to be authoritatively imposed upon every teacher and 
 every school, I should entertain serious doubts whether 
 equal progress would be made in the various branches of 
 study, as if greater latitude of selection had been allowed. 
 Great injustice, it seems to me, likewise, would be done 
 to authors and compilers of school-books, by thus virtually 
 granting a monopoly to the fortunate few to whose books 
 the preference is given. If each teachei', at the com- 
 mencement of his term, were allowed to select the various 
 text books he might prefer, from a list comprising a pretty 
 extensive variety, sanctioned by the Superintendent, or 
 
175 
 
 Board of Regents of the University, and the books thus 
 selected were to be regarded as authoritatively establish- 
 ed for the entire term during vv^hich such teacher should 
 be engaged, I am inclined to believe the principle of uni- 
 formity would be carried to as great an extent as would 
 be permanently beneficial, especially under a system 
 where properly qualified teachers may be expected to 
 occupy the schools for terms ranging from one to three, 
 five and even ten years. This arrangement, while it 
 would secure all the benefits of uniformity to each school, 
 would leave room for all those shades and degrees of 
 preference for favorite and particular authors which 
 teachers might feel, and, at the same time, furnish ample 
 inducements to more improved works in the various de- 
 partments of Education. 
 
 This whole subject came up for consideration, and was 
 subjected to the practical test of experiment, in New 
 York, between the years 1843 and 1846, and after the 
 most mature deliberation and full discussion and observa- 
 tion, the plan of uniformity of school and text books to 
 be prescribed by competent authority for the whole State, 
 was abandoned as impracticable and inexpedient. 
 
 County Superintendents were authorized to recommend. 
 and Town Superintendents only io prescribe such a series; 
 and I myself became convinced that but for the general 
 prevalence of short terms of instruction and the frequent 
 changes of teachers, even this limited right of prescrip- 
 tion might be regarded as of doubtful utility. 
 
 2. I should apply substantially the same principles with 
 those above indicated to the selection of school libraries 
 a»d apparatus, and to plans for the erection of 'school- 
 
!76 
 
 hou^e-s. As few restrictions as may be at all consistent 
 with the attainment of the great object in view, the hberal. 
 'supply and wide dissemination of sound and useful knowl- 
 edge, seem to me most in consonance with the dictates of 
 enhghtened wisdom and practical titility. School libra- 
 ries should, as a general rule, be selected either by. a 
 committee specially chosen for that purpose, or by the 
 Superintendent of town or county, and such selection 
 should be made from a general list prepared and approved 
 by the State Superintendent, or Board of Regents of the 
 University. In- practice the adoption of such a plan, 
 especially the requisition to make the local selections from 
 a carefully prepared general list, will be found almost in- 
 dispensable to prevent the introduction of improper and 
 hurtful publications. 
 
 In connection with this subject^ permit me respectfully 
 to suggest the expediency of centi'al town libraries of -a 
 somewhat iii^er grade than the district Hbraries, and de- 
 signed chiefly for the use of adults. By the annual di- 
 version of a portion of the funds designed for the pur- 
 chase of libraries in the several districts, a very large and 
 valuable central library may, in a short period, be pro- 
 cured, which, in conaection with the central schools pro- 
 posed to be organized, will be found combining many ad- 
 vantages not attainable through the medium of district 
 libraries only. 
 
 In reference to the construction of school houses, so 
 
 various are the means, the wants, and the tastes of difter^ 
 
 ent districts, that I apprehend no standard which could 
 
 be adopted, would prove generally acceptable. Mr. 
 
 Barnard, of Rhode Island, recently shed such a flood of 
 
 12 
 
177 
 
 light upon this subject, in all its branches, that the officers; 
 and inhabitants of no district need longer be at a loss for 
 the most perfect and approved models suited to every di'- 
 yersity of means and taste. 
 
 3. The plan suggested by you, of organizing primary 
 district schools for the younger class of children, and a 
 higher and central school for the older and more advanced 
 pupils, is, in all respects, in my judgment sound and prac- 
 ticable. Under the name of "Union Schools" the prin- 
 ciple which it involves has been satisfactorily tested in 
 many of the rural districts of New York; and so far as 
 my observation and experience extend, with the happiest 
 results. I think the primary department should, as far 
 as practicable, be placed under the charge of compe- 
 tent female teachers, who will almost invariably be found 
 best adapted to the development and proper direction of 
 the mental and moral faculties of the younger class 
 of children, while the central or higher school would be 
 most advantageously conducted by an experienced male 
 teacher, without, however, excluding, where circumstan- 
 ces would admit, female assistants of proper qualifications. 
 
 4. The gradual establishment, as the income of the 
 school fund, the enligntened liberality of individuals and 
 communities, and the progress of educational science 
 may demand, of Normal Schools for the education and 
 preparation of teachers, I regard as indispensable auxili- 
 aries to an efficient and comprehensive plan of elementary- 
 public schools. Without this feature any approximation 
 to that excellence, which, by its aid, has been attained in 
 Europe, and in many portions of our own country, and 
 which should constitute the miniinum standard, below 
 which no community should be satisfied, can scarcely be ' 
 
178 ■ * 
 
 hoped for. In the absence of a competent spuply of thor- 
 oughly quahfied teachers of both sexes, embracing this 
 profession as the business of their lives, aspiring after 
 excellence in their vocation with all that ardor and en- 
 thusiasm M^hich inspires the efforts of statesmen, the ar- 
 tist, the advocate, the poet, or the orator, and deeply im- 
 bued with the vast and varied responsibility of their 
 high calling, no system of elementary education, worthy 
 of the name, can ever be effectually organized. With 
 our present experience in this department of human ef- 
 fort, the connexion of universal education with Normal 
 Schools, is, and must ever be indispensable and vital.-j- 
 The former can only he attained through the beneficent 
 agency of the latter. 
 
 5. Teachers' institutes, properly organized and con- 
 ducted, are, beyond all question, exceedingly valuable 
 auxiliaries to the cause of common school education.-—. 
 Coming as they do in aid of the higher teachings, and 
 more extended course of instruction of the Normal 
 Schools, adapted as they are to the wants of many in 
 every section of the State, whom it is impossible for the 
 Normal Schools to include within their limited accommo- 
 dations, and bringing together as they do, for several 
 weeks, practical teaxhers and those designing to enter 
 upon this profession for the purpose of mutual improve- 
 ment, discipline and culture, I know of no agencies de- 
 manding so inconsiderable sacrifices of time and pecu- 
 niary means, niore valuable and efficient in their results 
 to the cause of common school education. For the best 
 plan of organizing and conducting them, I beg leave to 
 refer you to that veteran champion of common schools 
 and practical educator, Salem Tow.n, who is entirely 
 
179 
 
 familiar with this department of modern instruction; tc 
 an able work on the same subject by William B. Fowle, of 
 Boston, and a recent publication on the same subject by 
 Prof. S, R» Sweet, of New York. 
 
 In. conclusion, my dear sir, permit me to express the 
 confident assurance I feel that Wisconsin, the youngest 
 daughter of the American confederacy, with her noble 
 system of Free Schools, School Libraries, Normal 
 Schools, and Teachers' iNSTiTuttes, is destined spee- 
 dily to overtake, (I sincerely hope she may not be able 
 to pass) the most favored and enlightened of her sister 
 states. With sincere regard, 
 
 I remain yours, «fec. 
 (Signed) SAMUEL S, RANDALL. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Lojiv of Massachusetts^ entitled -An act to establish 
 Teacliers' Institutes^ 
 
 Be it enacted, 8fc. 
 
 Section L Whenever, reasonable assurance shall be 
 given to the Board of Education, that a number, not less 
 than seventy, teachers of common schools, shall desire to 
 assemble for the purpose of forming a Teachers' Insti- 
 tute, and to remain in session for a period not less than 
 ten working days, the said board by a committee of their 
 body, or by their secretary, or in case of his inability, by 
 such person or persons as they may delegate, shall ap- 
 point a time and place for said meetings make suitable ar- 
 langements therefor, and give due notice thereof. 
 
 Sec. 2. For the purpose of defraying the expenses 
 of rooms, fires, lights, attendance, and other necessary 
 charges, ?nd for procuring teachers and lectures for said 
 Institute, the said board, their secretary, or other person 
 or persons duly appointed by them, may draw upon the 
 treasurer of the commonwealth for a sum not exceeding 
 two hundred dollars for any one Institute, from such 
 fund as may be in the treasury under the general war- 
 rant of the Governor for said purpose. 
 
181 
 
 Sec. 3. To meet the expenses aforesaid, the Governor 
 is hereby authorized to draw his warrant upon the treas- 
 urer for a sum not exceeding $2500 per annum, to be 
 taken from the capital of the school fund, and to remain 
 in the treasury subject to the drafts provided for in the 
 second section of this bill. 
 
 Approved, March 12, 1846.— (p. 62.) 
 
 An Act in addition to tJie ahom. 
 
 Be it enacted, 8^c. 
 
 Section 1. Whenever reasonable assurance shall be 
 given to the Board of Education that a number not less 
 than fifty teachers of common schools shall desire to as- 
 semble for the purpose of forming a Teachers' Institute^ 
 according to [the act above] the Board of Education 
 shall appoint a time and place for said meeting, in man- 
 ner and form as prescribed in the act aforesaid. 
 
 Sec. 2. Any thing contained in the act aforesaid con^ 
 trary to the provisions of this act, is hereby repealed. 
 Approved February 11th, 1849. — (p, 603.) 
 
 An Act relating to Teacher^ Institutes. 
 
 Be it enacted, Sfc. 
 
 Section 1. The Board of Education is authorized to 
 determine the length of time during which the Teachers' 
 Institutes [established under the above] shall remain in 
 session. 
 
 Sec. 2. Any thing contained in the acts aforesaid, 
 contrary to the provisions of this act is hereby repealed. 
 Approved March 27th, 1849.~(p. 37.) 
 
182 
 
 1848 — 0(mnecti(Mt~-Ilesoktti()n in relation to 
 Schools for Teachers. 
 
 ''Resolved hj the Assembly, That the Superintendent of 
 common schools ^be, and he hereby is directed to employ- 
 suitable persons to hold, at not more than sixteen con- 
 venient places in the different counties of the State, in 
 the months of September and October annually, schools 
 of teachers, not exceeding one week each, for the purpose 
 of instructing in the best modes of governing and teach- 
 ing our common schools; and the compensation of the 
 persons so employed, shall not exceed three dollars per 
 day, in full, for services and the expenses for the time 
 occupied in teaching and travelling to and from the places 
 where the schools may be held, which compensation shall 
 be paid from the civil Kst funds of the State; and the 
 accounts of said teachers for services shall be taxed and 
 audited by the Superintendent of Common Schools, and 
 presented to the Comptroller, who shall draw an order 
 for the same on the Treasurer of the State. 
 
 '^ Resolved, That the Superintendent of Common 
 Sehools be, and he hereby is directed to give seasonable 
 notice to each school society of the times and places of 
 holding said schools, and to give such other notice as he 
 may deem expedient." 
 
 Law of Ohio entitled — An act to amend an act en- 
 titled ^^an Act to encourage Teachers^ Institutes^ 
 
 \ Be it enacted, 8fc. 
 
 Section 1. That the County Commissioners of the 
 several counties mentioned in the act to which this is an 
 
18S 
 
 amendment, shall be, and they are hereby authorized, afe 
 their June session in each year, whenever, for any cause, 
 the sum of one hundred dollars shall not arise from the 
 means and source as provided in the first section of the 
 aforesaid act, to appropriate such sum as shall be suffi- 
 cient to make up said sum of one hundred dollars from 
 any monies in the county treasury not otherwise appro- 
 priated. 
 
 Sec. 2. That in case there are no monies at the dis- 
 posal of the said County Commissioners, they are hereby 
 authorized to levy a tax (in the usual manner) for the 
 purpose named in the preceding section. 
 
 Sec. 3. That no part of the money appropriated by 
 virtue of this act, or the act of which this is an amend- 
 ment, shall be ordered by the County Auditor to be paid 
 over, except upon the petition of at least forty practical 
 teachers who shall therein declare their bona fide inten- 
 tion to attend such association within their respective 
 counties, and who shall also, at the time of petitioning as 
 aforesaid, be permanent residents in the county in which 
 application shall be made; and which payment and ap- 
 propriation shall be approved and recommended in writing, 
 endorsed upon said petition by the Board of School 
 Examiners of such county. 
 
 Sec. 4. That said sum of one hundred dollars, nor 
 any part thereof, shall not be ordered by the County Au- 
 ditor to be paid over as aforesaid, until said teachers shall 
 have raised and paid over, or secured to be paid over, ta 
 said Board of School Examiners, for the purposes and 
 benefits of such association, at least one half the sum for 
 which they shall so petition said County Auditor, and 
 
184 
 
 which payment or security for payment as aforesaid^ 
 shall be made known to said Auditor by the receipt or 
 the certificate in writing of said Board of School Exam- 
 iners. 
 
 Approved February 16th, 1849. — (p. 19.) 
 
16^ 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 To E. Root, Esq., Sup't of Schools; 
 
 The village of Southport is divided into two school, 
 districts. District No. 1 includes the 1st and 3d Wards 
 of the village; district No. 2 includes the 2d Ward of the 
 village. The number of inhabitants within the limits of 
 ■distinct No. 1, is over three thousand. Of the school 
 house and school in district No. 1, I will give a brief acj 
 count. 
 
 The school house was completed in July last. It is a 
 substantial brick edifice, 70 feet by 43, two stories high 
 above the basemont. The main halls (one on each story.) 
 are about 50 by 40 feet; the rooms are 14 feet high and 
 well lighted. There are, adjoining the main hall in each 
 story, two recitation rooms and a wash room; also a 
 library room in the second story. Each main hall has a 
 rostrum 40 feet in length by 6 in width, elevated about 
 two feet above the floor. The entire side of the w^all 
 •above the rostrum, in eaclj hall, is faced with a black 
 hard'finish, affording an ample black board 40 feet in 
 length by 12 feet in height. The standards of the seats 
 and desks are of cast iron, and constructed in a manner 
 to give durability, as well as economy in the use of room. 
 All the seats have desks in front; each desk is designed 
 to accommodate two scholars and is numbered. 
 
186 
 
 The house cost $4,500, without including the ht on 
 which it stands. The house, although a good one, and 
 at present the best in the State, cannot be regarded as a 
 Tnodel school house. Since the school has been in opera- 
 tion, several defects in the arrangement of the house have 
 been detected; the most important of which is, the reci- 
 tation rooms are quite too small in proportion to the size 
 of the main halls. 
 
 The number of scholars in regular attendance is about 
 500; these are classified without distinction of sex, ac- 
 cording to their respective studies, and a given number 
 of classes assigned to each teacher. The studies pursued 
 comprise all the branches of Enghsh education usually 
 taught in common district schools and academies, also Lat- 
 in and French. 
 
 The pupils engaged in learning the alphabet, commence 
 in the lower room, under the charge of a teacher to whom 
 is committed that department of elementary instruction; 
 as he progresses in learning, he rises successively to high- 
 er departments of study, and he has every facihty afford- 
 ed him in the school of obtaining a good Enghsh educa- 
 tion, as well as a knowledge of some of the languages. 
 
 The school has seven teachers, each having charge of 
 particular departments of study. All the teachers are 
 female except the Principal. The Principal exercises a 
 general supervision over the scjiools both in the upper and 
 lower rooms. In addition to this general supervision, there 
 is in each hall a sub-principal. The school is opened ev- 
 ery morning by reading the Scriptures and vocal music, 
 ^fter which the classes are summoned to their respective 
 recitation rooms, in 'th6 order of arransrement. Half an 
 
187 
 
 hour is allowed to each class at a tune; classes are also 
 heard in the same room by the Principal and sub-princi- 
 pals- 
 
 The order maintained in this school is good, there be- 
 ing less noise and confusion among 500 scholars than is 
 frequently witnessed in common schools numbering 40 
 children. The teachers, however, for the purpose of 
 maintaining order, do not pretend to be wiser than Solo- 
 mon; hence they do not, in every instance, dispense with 
 the maxim, " A rod for a fool's back." 
 
 The expenses of the school per a.nnum are as follows: 
 The Principal has a salary of $800 a year; the sub-prin- 
 cipal in the upper hall, $350; the sub-principal in the low- 
 er room,, $250; all the others, $200 each. Add to this 
 $100 for contingencies, making $2,500; equal to $5 00 
 per scholar for each in regular attendance. Considering 
 the great variety of studies for which the school affords 
 facilities, the expense is low — slower probably than any 
 school in the State, where an opportunity is afforded for 
 pursuing as great a number of branches of education. — ■ 
 There are, on the average, 70 scholars to each teacher, 
 which might seem too great a number of scholars to be 
 advantageously instructed by so few teachers; but by 
 classification it is believed that better justice can be done 
 by one teacher to seventy scholars than can be done to 
 thirty-five by one teacher, in a school comprising all ages 
 and made up of the usual variety of studies. 
 
 The policy of union schools, or of consolidating as 
 large a number of scholars as practicable within the lim- 
 its of a single district, cannot in my judgment, be too 
 .strongly impressed on the friends of education in this 
 
188 
 
 State. Its advantages are many. It affords means for 
 the erection of better school houses and the employment 
 of more competent teachers. Its economy is illustrated 
 by reference to district No. 1, in Southport, above men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 M. FRANK, 
 
 I Geneva FiMi/i School, 
 
 The building is fifty feet long and tw^enty-eight wide> 
 containing two rooms and a small room for apparatus. — 
 The cost of the building was nearly $1000. There are 
 two departments in the school, the primary and higher, 
 with two principal teachers, and two female assistants.— 
 The primary department under charge of C. B. Smith, 
 contains 80 scholars, and two teachers. The studies in 
 this department are: spelling, reading, writing, mental 
 arithmetic, geography, and primary grammar; also, juve- 
 nile music. 
 
 The higher department, under the charge of H. B. Coe, 
 contains sixty scholars, and two teachers, the branches 
 taught are: spelling, rhetorical reading, writing, mental 
 and written arithmetic, geography, grammar, and philos- 
 ophy, with illustrations and explanations in astronomy to 
 the whole school, by the use of apparatus. Music taught 
 as a regular exercise in this department, and a weekly 
 exercise in declamation, composition and letter writing. 
 
 The apparatus consists of a small air pump, electrical 
 machine, orrery, tellurium, tide dial, and other things de- 
 
5S9 
 
 signed more for use than show; also a set of Holbrookes 
 Common School Apparatus. The apparatus with a clock, 
 thermometer, &c., is furnished by Mr. Coe for the use of 
 Jhe school. The funds are raised for procuring a bell, 
 and it will be obtained as soon as possible. The rooms 
 are provided with ventilators and means of lowering the 
 windows, &c., &c. The school has been in operation 
 only one quarter, under the present arrangement. 
 
 The whole number of scholars enrolled during the last 
 quarter was 170. 
 
 HORATIO eOE, Principal 
 
190 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 "E." 
 
 jR.evised Laws of Massachusetts.. 
 
 PAET I, CHAPTER 23. 
 
 Section 5. Each town containing five hundred fami- 
 lies, or house-holders, shall, besides the school prescribed 
 in the preceding section, maintain a schoolj to be kept by 
 a master of competent ability and good morals, who shall 
 in addition to tlie branches of learning before mentioned, 
 give instruction in the History of the United States, 
 Book-^keeping, Surveying, Geometry and Algebra; and 
 such last mentioned school shall be kept for the benefit of 
 all the inhabitants of the town, ten months at least, exclu- 
 sive of vacations, in each year, and at such convenient' 
 pl,ace, or alternately at such places in the town, as the 
 said inhabitants at their annual meeting shall determine ; 
 and, in evei'y town containing four thousand inhabitants, 
 the said master shall, in addition to all the branches of 
 instruction, before required in this chapter, be competent 
 to instruct in the Latin and Greek languages, and general 
 history, rhetoric and logic. 
 
 Sec. 6. Anv town containinsr less than five hundred 
 
191 
 
 families or house-holders, may establish and maintain such 
 a school, as is first mentioned in the preceding section, for 
 such term of time in any year, or in each year, as they 
 shall deem expedient. 
 
 Sec. 9. The several towns are authorized and directed 
 at their annual meetings or at any regular meeting called 
 for the purpose, to raise such sums of money, for the 
 support of the schools aforesaid, as they shall deem nec- 
 essary; which sum shall be assessed and collected in like 
 manner as other town taxes. 
 
 Sec 10. The inhabitants of every town shall, at their 
 annual meeting, choose, by written ballots, a school com- 
 mittee, consisting of three, five, or seven persons, who 
 shall have the general charge and superintendence of all 
 the public schools in such town. 
 
 Sec. 1L In any town containing five hundred fami- 
 lies, and in v/hich a school shall be kept for the benefit of 
 all the inhabitants, as before provided for in this chapter^, 
 the school committee, chosen in the preceding section^ 
 shall perform all the like duties in relation to such school, 
 the house where it shall be kept, and the supply of all 
 things necessary therefor, which the prudential committee 
 of a school district may perform in such district. 
 
 Sec. 15. The school coftimittee shall determine the 
 number and qualifications of the scholars to be admitted 
 into the school, kept for the use of the whole town, as 
 aforesaid, and visit such school., at least qnarter-yearly, 
 for the purpose of making a careful examination thereof, 
 and of ascertaining that the scholars are properly supplied 
 with books; and they shall at such examination inquire 
 into the regulation and discipline of the schools and the 
 habits and proficiency of the scholars therein. 
 
' 192 
 
 Law of Massachusetts entitled — An act to autho- 
 rize adjacent towns to unite for school purposes. 
 
 Be it enacted, &fc. 
 
 Section 1. Any two adjacent towns, having not more 
 than two thousand inhabitants each, may form one high 
 school district, for establishing such a school as is contem- 
 plated in the fifth section of the twenty-third chapter of 
 the revised statutes, whenever a majority of the citizens 
 of each town, in meetings called for that purpose, shall so 
 determine. , 
 
 Sec. 2. The school committees of the'two towns, so 
 united, shall elect one from each of their respective 
 boards, and the two, so elected, shall form the committee 
 for the management and control of such school, with all 
 the powers conferred upon school committees and pru- 
 dential committees. 
 
 Sec. 3. The committee provided for in the foregoing 
 section, shall determine the location of such school house 
 as shall be authorized to be built by the towns forming 
 such district, or authorize the location of such school al- 
 ternately in the two towns, whenever the towns shall not 
 determine to erect a house for its permanent location. 
 
 Sec. 4. In the erection of any school house for the 
 permanent location of such school, and in the support and 
 maintenance of the same, and in all incidental expenses 
 attending the same, the proportions to be paid by each 
 town, unless otherwise agreed upon, shall be according to 
 the proportions of such towns in the county tax. 
 
 Approved May 9th, 1848.--(p. 764.) 
 
 13 
 
193 
 
 Revised Statutes of Connecticut — Title X^ Gha^y 
 ter 2. 
 
 Section 1. Every school society, established as such 
 'by the general assembly, and the inhabitants living within 
 the limits of any ecclesiastical society, incorporated with 
 local limits, or such portions of the same as have not 
 been specially incorporated, shall constitute a school so- 
 ciety, and as such shall be a body corporate, and re- 
 spectively have power to estabhsh and maintain common 
 schools of different grades; to purchase, receive, hold, 
 and convey any ?eal or personal property, for school 
 society purposes; to build and repair school houses; to 
 levy taxes; to sue and be sued; and to make all lawful 
 agreements and regulations for the useful education of all 
 the children of the society. 
 
 Sec. 27. Whenever a common school of a higher 
 grade, for the older and more advanced children of either 
 sex, shall be established and maintained by any society, 
 such school shall be subject to the management of the 
 Board of Visitors, unless otherwise desired by the socie- 
 ty, and shall receive such portion of all money provided 
 for the support of the common schools in such society, 
 as the number of scholars attending such high school, 
 shall be to the whole number attending all the schools 'of 
 the society. 
 
194 
 
 Laws of New HampsMre — Page 223, Chap. 2. 
 
 AN ACT to authorize contiguous Scliool Districts 
 to associate together to establish and maintain 
 High Schools. 
 
 Be it enacted 8^c. 
 
 Section 1. Any two or more school districts, in any 
 town or towns of this State, may associate together and 
 form a union for the purpose of establishing and main- 
 taining a high school, or high schools, for the instruction 
 of the older and more advanced scholars belonging to the 
 several associated districts; but no vote of any district to 
 associate with another or others, shall be vahd, unless 
 passed by two-thirds of the voters present at a regular 
 meeting, called and holden for the purpose. 
 
 Sec. 2. When a union shall have been so formed, the 
 associated districts shall be a body politic and corporate, 
 under the name of the High School Associated Districts 
 of (the town in which they may be) and shall have and 
 possess, and enjoy ail the powers and privileges conferred 
 and be subject to all the duties and liabilities imposed on 
 school districts by the general law of the State, except as 
 herein otherwise provided; and to all laws in relation to 
 calling meetings in such school associated districts and to 
 choosing officers thereof, and their duties, except as here- 
 in otherwise provided. i 
 
 Sec. 3. The oificers of high school associated dis- 
 tricts shall be a moderator, clerk and prudential com- 
 mittee. The several prudential committees of the dis- 
 tricts so associated shall be membeis of and constitute 
 the prudential committee of the high school associated 
 
195 
 
 districts; but if, in any district, the prudential committee, 
 shall consist of more than one person, the chairman only 
 of such committee shall be a member of the prudential 
 committee of the high school associated districts. Said 
 last mentioned committee shall have the power to deter- 
 mine the age and qualifications of the scholars who may 
 attend the high school or schools, and make rules and 
 regulations for the studies and discipline of such schools, 
 ■v^hich shall not, however, be in force until approved by 
 the superintending committee of the town. 
 
 Sec. 4. All high school associated districts shall have 
 power to purchase land for building school houses there- 
 on; to build school houses and other necessary buildings; 
 to remove, alter, repair and furnish the same; to hire school 
 houses, or other buildings or rooms, for keeping a high 
 school or schools therein; and to raise money for the 
 several purposes aforesaid. And the mode directed by 
 the laws now in force to be pursued to raise and collect 
 money in school districts for building school houses, shall 
 be pursued in raising and collecting money for the above 
 purposes in high school associated districts. 
 
 Sec. 5. A portion of the school money assigned by 
 the select men to each of the several districts so associa- 
 ted, not exceeding one-fourth of the same, shall be ap- 
 propriated to the maintenance of said high school or high 
 schools, and shall be paid to the prudential committee of 
 the high school associated districts. And said committee 
 in conjunction with the superintending school committee 
 of the town, shall annually determine what portion of 
 said school money shall be so appropriated and paid ; 
 which determination shall be in writing and recorded. 
 
1^ 
 
 Sec. 6. The teacher of every high school shall be 
 ■competent to instruct in all the branches of EngHsh edu- 
 cation prescribed to be taught in common schools, and 
 shall also be competent to teach History, Philosophy, 
 Chemistry, Botany, Book-keeping, Surveying, Geometry. 
 Algebra, Rhetoric and logic, all which branches, and also 
 the ancient and modern languages, may be taught in high 
 schools. 
 
 Sec. 7. The said high school associated districts may 
 raise money to be appropriated exclusively to paying, in 
 part, the salaries of the teachers of the high schools 
 therein; the same proceedings being had which are pre- 
 scribed by law for raising and collecting money to build 
 school houses; but no vote to raise money for that pur- 
 pose shall be valid unless passed by two-thirds of the 
 voters' present. 
 
 Sec. 8. This act shall apply to such towns only, as at 
 -any annual meeting shall have adopted its provisions, an 
 article being inserted for that purpose in the warrant for 
 said meeting. 
 
 Sec. 9. This act shall take effect from and after its 
 passage. 
 
 Approved, July 3d, 1845. 
 
 An act relating to ScJwol Dist?'ict No. 3, in Som- 
 TYiersworth. — Chapter 63. 
 
 Be it enacted, Sfc. 
 
 Section 1. That the selectmen of the town of Som- 
 merworth, shall annually, on or before the twentieth day 
 
1-97 
 
 ©f April, appoint a superintending school committee for 
 school district numbered three, in said town, consisting of 
 not less than five, nor more than seven, all resident in 
 said district, who shall hold their offices for one year and 
 until others are appointed in their place. And when any 
 vacancy may occur in said committee, the same may at 
 any time be filled by appointment by the selectmen. 
 
 Sec. 2. Said committee shall choose a chairman and 
 secretary, and shall be vested with all the powers and 
 perform all the duties in said district that superintending 
 school committees are authorized or required to perform 
 in towns by virtue of any law, now existing, or which 
 may, from time to time exist, in relation to superintend- 
 ing committees of town schools. They may appoint 
 sub-committees from their own board, and prescribe their 
 powers and duties and may adopt by-laws for their own 
 government and for regulating the schools in said dis- 
 tricts. 
 
 Sec. 3. There rpay be kept and maintained in said 
 district one or more high schools, in which may be taught 
 all the branches usually taught in English grammar 
 schools, and such additional branches as the superintend- 
 ing committee may direct, and the teachers of such 
 schools shall be quahfied to instruct youth in the various 
 branches required to be taught in English grammar schools, 
 together with such additional branches as the superin- 
 tending committee shall direct to be taught in such high 
 schools. 
 
 Sec. 4. The said superintending committee shall di- 
 vide the scholars in said district into such divisions and 
 classes, according to location and acquirements, or both, 
 
198 
 
 as they may consider judicious, and shall dii'cct what 
 school each class or division shall attend; shall prescribe 
 the qualifications necessary for admission into the high 
 schools, and regulate the transfer of scholars from one 
 school to another. 
 
 Sec. 5. Said dis'trict is hereby authorized to purchase 
 and hold such quantity of land for school-house lots, not 
 exceeding three acres in any one lot, and erect such 
 school-houses thereon, as may be determined on by vote 
 of the district. 
 
 Sec. 6. Wherever the cost of any school-house shall 
 exceed two thousand dollars, including the cost of the 
 lot, said district may hire the excess above two thousand 
 dollars on the district note, signed by the prudential com- 
 mittee, or any other persons or committee authorized by 
 vote of said district; and the same so hired, with interest 
 thereon, may be assessed and collected in future years, 
 as said district may by vote determine. 
 
 Sec. 7. Any provisions contained in the general laws 
 of this State, relating to schools, which may be inconsis- 
 tent with the provisions of this act, shall not be in force 
 in said district after the time when this act shall take 
 effect therein. 
 
 Sec. 8. This act shall be in force from its passage, 
 but shall not take effect in said district, until adopted by 
 vote thereof, at a meeting called for that purpose. 
 
 Approved^ June 19th, 1848, 
 
199 
 
 Afi act to empower ScTiool Districts to establish mid 
 maintain High Schools. — Chap. 78. 
 
 Be it enactedj &fc. 
 
 Section 1, That the provisions of the act passed 
 June 19th, A. D., 1848, entitled "An act relating to School 
 District No. 3, in Somers worth," are hereby extended 
 and made appHcable to all School Districts which may 
 adopt said act, in legal meetings held for that purpose, 
 and all the authority and power given in and by said act 
 to School District No. 3, in Sommersworth, are hereby 
 conferred upon any School District which may adopt the 
 same. 
 
 Sec. 2. Any school district which may adopt the said 
 act, may elect their own superintending committee at any 
 legal meeting held for that purpose, in the month of 
 March, annually, and in case such committee shall not be 
 chosen by the district, then the selectmen of the town in' 
 which such district may be located, shall appoint a, 
 special superintending committee for said district. 
 
 Approved, Dec. 19th, 1848. 
 
 ERATA. 
 
 Page 33 for "accumulated" read "'accelerated. 
 
 " 37 " "generations," " "generation.'^ 
 
 •' 43 " "purpose" " "purposes."' 
 
 " 46 " "science" " "sciences," 
 
 R ,S 'HQ