VERMONT LITERARY AND SCIEN TIFIC INSTITUTION, Brandon. A. H. Bingham, Principal. S. L. Bates, Assistant. WASHINGTON CO. GRAMMAR SCHOOL, Montpelier. Charles R. Ballard, Principal. Salary $700. This School re WEST RANDOLPH ACADEMY, West ceives an annual fund of $256 from Randolph. George Dutton, A.B., Principal. A. V. Spalding, Assistant. the State. HIGH SCHOOLS. THERE are very few High Schools in this State, Academies generally supplying their place. We have been able to obtain statistics of the following only. VERMONT HISTORICAL AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. This Society was incorporated November 22, 1838. Its library and collections are as yet very small. The President, Henry Stevens, Esq. of Barnet, possesses a very valuable collection of books, newspapers, manuscripts, &c., illustrative of the history of the State, amounting to about 1,500 volumes. Its officers are as follows:- President, Henry Stevens, Barnet. Vice-Presidents, George P. Marsh, Burlington; James H. Phelps, W. Townsend. Librarian, B. F. Stevens, Barnet. Recording Secretary, D. P. Thompson, Montpelier. Corresponding Secretaries, George R. Thompson, Montpelier; Benjamin F. Stevens, Barnet. Treasurer, Jasper Curtis, St. Albans. Councillors, George F. Houghton, St. Albans; Charles G. Eastman, Montpelier; Daniel Baldwin, Montpelier; A. Hunton, Bethel; David Roberts, Burlington. IV. MASSACHUSETTS. Capital, Boston.-Area, 7,250 square miles. Population, 1855, 1,133,123. FROM the Twentieth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board of Education we gather the following particulars relative to the School Fund, and educational finances of Massachusetts. By a statute of 1834, chapter 169, it was provided that from and after the first day of January, 1835, all moneys in the treasury derived from the sale of lands in the State of Maine, and from the claim of the State on the government of the United States for military services, and not otherwise appropriated, together with fifty per cent of all moneys thereafter to be received from the sale of lands in Maine, should be appropriated to constitute a permanent fund for the aid and encouragement of common schools; it being provided that said fund should never exceed one million of dollars. It was also declared, that the income only of said fund should be appropriated to the aid and encouragement of common schools. The statute of 1851, chapter 112, allowed the fund to accumulate until it should amount to a million and five hundred thousand dollars; and by a statute of 1854, chapter 300, the intention of the Legislature of 1851 was actually consummated by a grant of authority to the Treasurer of the Commonwealth to transfer to the School Fund such a number of shares held by the Commonwealth in the Western Railroad Corporation as would, at the rate of one hundred dollars a share, increase the principal of said fund to the amount of one million and five hundred thousand dollars. But the statute of 1854 made an important change in the disposition of the income of the fund. By a previous law (statute of 1846, chapter 219) the entire annual income of the fund was distributed among the cities and towns for the direct "aid and encouragement of common schools," while the appropriations for general educational purposes were made a charge upon the moiety of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, and in case that resource in any year proved insufficient, the deficiency was to be met by a payment from the School Fund already invested. The acts of 1834 and 1846 contemplated the establishment of a fund of a million of dollars, the entire income of which should be distributed among the towns and cities in aid of their schools. The law of 1854 made a change in this respect, though it looked to the accomplishment, ultimately, of the same result. By the lastnamed act, one half of the income of the fund was to be apportioned and distributed for the use and support of common schools, in the manner then provided by law for the apportionment and distribution of the whole income of the fund; and all appropriations for general educational purposes, unless otherwise specially provided for by law, were to be chargeable to and paid from the other half of the annual income of said fund. And in case this half of the annual income should in any year exceed the sums drawn from the treasury for general educational purposes in such year, the surplus was to be carried to the account of the principal of said fund, and added thereto, until said principal should amount to the sum of two millions of dollars. The maximum amount of the School Fund, two millions of dollars, only furnishes the means of aiding and encouraging the common schools contemplated by the law of 1834, which limited the fund itself to one million of dollars. The sum now distributed is equal to about twenty cents for each person between the ages of five and fifteen years, and it is not likely ever to be greater, as the population of the State will increase at a ratio corresponding with the accumulation of the fund. On the first day of June, 1856, the principal of the fund was $1,627,467.28, and the income for the preceding year was $ 90,566.30. SUMMARY OF STATISTICS RELATING TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE COMMONWEALTH FOR THE YEAR 1856 - 7. 674 18,935 on private schools, Estimated amount paid for tuition in private schools, $339,719.74 Amount expended in erecting or repairing school-houses, or providing school-rooms for public schools, in 1855, $588,213.55 Amount annually expended to promote popular education in Massachusetts, including the annual expenditure for erecting and repairing school-houses, the annual expense of the Normal Schools, Teachers' Institutes, Board of Education and its Secretaries and Agents, &c., and exclusive of the cost of school-books, and of instruction in collegiate, professional, and charitable institutions, $2,400,000 Including the estimated cost of school-books in public and private schools, the interest of money invested in school edifices at their present cash valuation, and not including the cost of instruction in colleges, professional schools, and reformatory institutions, the sum expended for popular education in Massachusetts amounts annually to more than $12 for every person in the State between five and fifteen years of age. BOARD OF EDUCATION. [Established by an Act of the Legislature, April 20, 1837.] The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, ex officiis; Rev. Edward Otheman, of Chelsea; Hon. Isaac Davis, of Worcester; Henry Wheatland, M.D., of Salem; Hosea Ballou, 2d, D.D., of Somerville; Ariel Parish, of Springfield; Prof. Cornelius C. Felton, of Cambridge; Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, of West Roxbury; William A. Stearns, D.D. Hon. Thomas Kinnicutt, Treasurer. Hon. George S. Boutwell, Secretary of the Board of Education. B. G. Northrop, of Saxonville, State Agent. PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS. THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, ANDOVER. FACULTY. Rev. Calvin E. Stowe, Associate Prof. of Sacred Literature. Rev. Austin Phelps, Bartlet Prof. of Rev. Edwards A. Park, Abbot Prof. Rev. William G. T. Shedd, Brown of Christian Theology. Rev. Elijah P. Barrows, Seminary Prof. of Eccl. History, and Lecturer on Pastoral Theology. Prof. William Russell, Teacher of Elocution. This institution is under the direction of the Trustees of Phillips Academy, which was founded April 21, 1778, and belongs to the Orthodox Congregationalists. The number of students for 1857-58, as given in the last Catalogue, 109. Conditions of Membership. — The Seminary is open for the admission of Protestants of all denominations. Candidates are examined with reference to their personal piety, their object in pursuing theological studies, and their knowledge of the classical languages. If they have not received a collegiate diploma, they are further examined in Mathematics, Logic, Rhetoric, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, and Intellectual Philosophy. Terms and Vacations. This institution is designed to give the most thorough theological culture that can be obtained by a course of not less than three years' study. The Anniversary is held on the first Thursday in August. The First Term commences six weeks after the Anniversary; and continues till six weeks before the first Thursday in May. The Second Term commences on the first Thursday in May; and continues till the Anniversary. Course of Instruction. -The plan of study is designed to concentrate attention, as far as this is practicable, upon single departments in succession. Accordingly, the first year of the course is given mainly to the study of the Scriptures; the second, to that of Systematic Theology; and the third is necessarily divided between the departments of Ec |