York system of public schools, consists in the general interest which is felt and manifested in their behalf, as well on the part of the numerous officers engaged in their administration and supervision, as on that of the community. Scarcely a day passes in any of the schools without the official visits of one or more of the school officers, and in many of the most advanced as well as primary departments, one day in each month is specially set apart for the reception of visitors. These occasions are regarded as holydays by the schools. The regular exercises are suspended. The pupils, in their holyday attire, are assembled, and the spacious halls are crowded with parents, friends, and visitors. After the usual opening ceremonies are concluded, a few of the highest class are examined in the various branches of study in which they are engaged. Compositions are read and premiums awarded for good conduct and scholarship; specimens of Drawing, Penmanship, Book-keeping, and Embroidery are displayed, and the exercises are agreeably diversified by music and singing, and appropriate addresses. A favorable opportunity is thus afforded to all who are interested, to observe the condition and progress of the schools, while both pupils and teachers are encouraged in their efforts for advancement and excellence. There can be no doubt that these frequent and periodical receptions exert a most favorable influence on the prosperity and welfare of the schools; enabling, as they do, the public to appreciate their value and to witness the results they are producing.

A thorough and complete public examination of the several pupils, by classes, is, also, semi-annually made by the Superintendents, in the presence of the school officers of the respective wards, and such others as choose to attend; and in addition to this, the officers of the wards themselves hold periodical examinations.

In the opinion of competent judges, no class of schools of a similar grade, which the city affords, are superior, in point of scholarship, general appearance, good order and discipline, and moral training, to those under the charge of the

Board of Education. Composed, as they are, of the children of all classes of the population, rich and poor, high and low, humble and exalted in station, the standard of intellect and of virtue is conspicuous in all, and all the influences which surround and pervade them are eminently favorable to the acquisition of correct habits, sound and useful knowledge, and Christian principles.

Having thus passed in review the principal features of the system, and of the public schools themselves, the incidental and auxiliary provisions which so essentially contribute to their advancement and success, remain to be considered. These are:

1. The normal schools, of which there are three in number-one for male teachers, one for female, and one for teachers of the several colored schools. These consist of all those teachers in the employ of the Board of Education who do not already hold certificates of qualifications of the highest grade, entitling them to fill the place of Principals or Vice-Principals of any of the schools. The female normal school assembles in the hall of the Board of Education, on Saturday of each week, and remains in session for six hours. It numbers between five and six hundred teachers, all of whom are actively engaged in teaching during the other five days of the week, and is under the immediate charge of a Principal, VicePrincipal, and twelve assistants, selected by the Executive Committee of the Board, and acting under their general supervision. The course of instruction comprises all the branches of a complete English education. The male normal school consists, in like manner, of all the male teachers of the several public schools, not holding full certificates, and assembles at the same place, on the afternoon of Tuesday and Friday of each week. The colored normal school assembles, on Saturday of each week, at one of the ward schools appropriated to their use. Hitherto, no institution has been organized for the special instruction and preparation of those designing to become teachers, but who have not

yet entered upon the active duties of the profession. The Board, however, have taken the necessary preliminary measures for the establishment of such an institution at the earliest practicable period.

2. The evening schools. These are thirty in number, comprising an attendance of nearly thirteen thousand pupils, and are in session for a period of five months, from the first of October in each year, to the first of March succeeding. They are designed exclusively for the benefit of those whose avocations and pursuits prevent attendance in any of the day schools. The range of instruction includes most of the branches ordinarily taught in the ward schools, with the addition of specific instruction in such of the practical applications of science, as are specially adapted to the peculiar wants of the class of pupils generally in attendance. The attendance in these schools is rapidly increasing, as their benefits and advantages become more generally and extensively known and appreciated; and they are unquestionably destined, at no distant day, to become an important and prominent feature of the general system. They are also under the special charge of an Executive Committee of the Board of Education, and the teachers employed are chiefly drawn from those on daily duty in the ward schools.

3. The schools for the instruction of colored children. These are chiefly included in the enumeration, above given, of the ward and primary schools and departments; and, although occupying separate buildings, are, in all other respects, on the same footing, and enjoy all the benefits and advantages of those schools. There are three large ward schools, divided into male, female, and primary departments, and five smaller and primary schools; comprising, in the whole, about three thousand pupils. The general standard of scholarship and deportment, in these schools, is of a very high order, and the qualifications of the teachers, and their success in the management and discipline of the schools under their charge, is worthy of all commendation.

4. Corporate schools, participating in the annual distribution of the school moneys. There are twelve of these institutions, numbering in the aggregate about five thousand pupils, with an average attendance of about half that number, under the immediate charge of teachers appointed by the institutions themselves. Their sole responsibility to the Board of Education, consists in the proper expenditure of the funds which they derive from this source. They are subject to the visitation and inspection of its officers, and the general course of instruction corresponds essentially with that of the several primary departments and schools. Among these institutions may be enumerated the House of Refuge, the several Protestant and Catholic orphan asylums, the Leake and Watts Orphan House, the House of Industry, and the juvenile asylums.

5. The free academy for boys. This is, to all intents and purposes, a collegiate institution, designed to carry its pupils through the entire course of studies requisite to complete a full collegiate education. Any male pupil of one year's standing in the ward schools, and who has attained the age of twelve years, is entitled to admission to the Preparatory department of the academy, provided, on examination, he shall have been found to possess the requisite qualificationsa thorough and accurate acquaintance with all the branches ordinarily pursued in the public schools. The full course of instruction in the academy occupies five years, at the expiration of which the pupil is graduated, with all the usual collegiate honors and degrees.

The institution is under the general supervision of a special committee of the Board, and the immediate charge of a Principal, (Horace Webster, L. L. D.,) twelve professors, and seven tutors. The number of pupils at present somewhat exceeds five hundred. An active and vigorous competition exists, among the several schools, for the honor of furnishing the greatest number of pupils generally to this institution; and the high inducements of a finished education, free from charge, operate as a powerful stimulant to all who are eligible

to admission. A similar institution for the complete education of the female graduates of the ward schools will, doubtless, speedily be established under the authority conferred on the Board for that purpose.

CHAPTER III.

SCHOOL SYSTEMS OF THE WESTERN STATES.

THE provision for public education in the western States, is intimately connected with the munificence of the Congress of the Confederation. In 1785, by the cessions of the origi nal States, whose conflicting claims to the western wilderness had endangered the revolutionary cause, the region north-west of the river Ohio had become a domain, with the exception of the Connecticut Reservation, and some indefinite stipulations in behalf of Virginia military claimants. These western lands were regarded as a great resource for revenue; the right of Congress to dispose of them was unclogged by conditions; and yet the Congress of the Confederation determined to recognise, in the earliest legislation for their survey and sale, the paramount interest of public education.

On the 20th of May, 1785, "an ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the western territory, was perfected by Congress, and became the foundation of the existing land system of the United States; and, by one of its provisions, a thirty-sixth of every township was expressly reserved from sale, "for the maintenance of public schools within the said township."

A township of land, under the surveys of the United States, contains 23,040 acres. This area is six miles square, and is subdivided into thirty-six equal divisions, called sections. Each section contains 640 acres, and every sixteenth