public schools was at once established, and within the last ten years has been developed into proportions and efficiency, especially in the large towns, which may challenge comparison with any in the country. Without noticing the successive enactments, many of them important, by which the system was developed, we find in the constitution, and revised school law the following features: 1. A State Superintendent, elected for a term of four years. 2. A State Board of Education, consisting of the Governor, the State Superintendent, the Principal of the State Normal School, the Superintendent of the city and county of San Francisco, and of the respective counties of Sacramento, Santa Clara and San Joaquin, and two professional teachers holding State certificates of competency and experience, nominated by the State Superintendent and elected by the Board. To this Board is assigned the duty of adopting a course of study, and rules and regulations for all public schools, to prescribe a uniform system of text-books, and a list of books suitable for school libraries, and to grant diplomas to teachers and regulate their examinations."

3. A County Superintendent for each county, elected at the general election, to hold office for two years, who must visit all the schools in his county at least once a year, distribute and see to the enforcement of all regulations and circulars of the State Board, hold Teachers' Institutes, keep on file the State Educational Journal, and all printed reports and documents of the Superintendent, and all reports of school officers and teachers, as well as an official record of his own doings and of the county board of examination, on the penalty of a forfeiture of $100 from his official salary in case of failure.

4. Three trustees for each school district, one elected each year and holding office for three years, to whom the local management of the school, as to teachers, books and school-houses belongs, subject to the regulations of the State and county officers.

The law provides for a State Normal School, Teachers' Institutes, and State and County Boards of Examination composed of teachers, exclusively. It also deals specifically with many points which are left doubtful or discretionary in other States, such as: a gradation of schools in primary, grammar and high; a limitation of school hours for children under eight years to four hours, and for all schools to six hours, and a school month to twenty school days, or four weeks of five school days; making the parents of pupils liable for damages to school property of any kind; making profanity and vulgarity good cause for suspension, and continued

willful disobedience and open defiance of the teacher's authority, good cause for expulsion; exempting all teachers from professional employment on days as may be declared public holidays, State or national; the necessity of teachers attending the Institute for their county, and of the State Superintendent subscribing for a copy of an Educational Journal in which the official circulars, decisions and laws relating to schools are published, for each county and city and district officer. Teachers are enjoined 'to instruct their pupils in the principles of morality, justice, and patriotism, and to train them up to a true comprehension of the rights, duties, and dignity of American citizenship.'

The State Board in 1873 adopted and prescribed a uniform graded course of study for all the schools of the State-and this course it is the duty of county superintendents, local school trustees, and teachers to enforce. The course is based on an organization of the lower schools into three grades. The third or lowest grade has four divisions or classes, and the second and first grades have each two divisions-the eight divisions corresponding, we suppose, with the first eight school years, from six to fourteen. These three lower grades are followed by an advanced or highschool grade, with three divisions or classes.

The course for the first division includes reading, spelling, printing, arithmetic, object lessons (definitely prescribed), and language (oral). In the second division, writing is substituted for printing, and composition (sentence-making), and local or home geography are added. This course is continued to the sixth division, when grammar (oral) is added. The course for the seventh and eighth divisions includes reading, spelling, penmanship, arithmetic, physiology (oral), natural philosophy (oral), composition, grammar, geography, and the history of the United States. The advanced course includes nearly all the branches of study usually taught in high schools.

Evening schools for adults, as well as for children who have passed the ordinary limits of school attendance, and a free public! library, are recognized as part of the system of public instruction.

According to the official reports, there were in 1870, 1,354 public schools, under 1,687 teachers (961 females), maintained at a total expenditure of $1,290,585, of which 8847,229 was raised by tax. The productive capital of the school fund is $2,000,000.

The census of 1870 returned 24,877 persons over 10 years old who could not read, and 312,716 who could not write.

CONNECTICUT.

Connecticut on becoming a State continued the educational policy commenced in the colonial law of 1650, and much earlier in the original towns, which composed both the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven-in all of which schools were instituted within one year after the first settlements were made, viz., in Hartford in 1637, and in New Haven in 1639-the first settlers came as a community and a church, with their families, pastors, teachers, and craftsmen, and at once entered on the business of administering churches and schools, as well as of homes, farms, shops, and roads.

At the beginuing of this period the system of public instruction embraced (1.) a common school in every neighborhood where at least twelve children could be gathered for elementary instruction; (2.) an endowed grammar school, or academy, in the county town, or one or more private schools for classical instruction in all the large parishes of the State; (3.) a college for superior instruction at New Haven, with special reference to the ministry, and the 'learned professions' of law and medicine. The common school authorities were: (1,) a school committee (of three persons) for each school society (which corresponded to the parish-and of which there was one or more for each town), which looked after the financial affairs; (2,) a district committee, appointed by the society, for each district, to employ the teacher and look after the local matters; and (3,) school visitors, (of which the clergyman was always a member).

In 1795 school districts were authorized, by a vote of two-thirds of all the qualified voters, at a special meeting called for that purpose, to lay a tax to build a school-house and procure a site, and by subsequent acts, especially the acts of 1810, 1837, 1839, and 1853, they were clothed with corporate powers and general authority to lay taxes for all school purposes.

In 1795 the avails of the sale of lands in Northwestern Ohio, known as the Connecticut Reserve (because reserved by the State in its deed of cession to the United States in 1782), of all claims to territory beyond its own western bounds, was appropriated to the support of schools, and thus the policy of a permanent State school fund was inaugurated, which is now a part of the school policy of every State. Wisely applied, a school fund gives efficiency to the weak portion of a school system, and equalizes the burden of taxation between the rural and urban towns.

In 1799 a thorough revision of the school laws was had, on the

basis of which substantially the schools remained for a half century. By its provisions the powers before exercised by the towns was conferred upon school societies, with territorial limits and corporate powers as ecclesiastical societies, sometimes co-extensive with a town, in some cases part of a town, and in other cases made up of two or more towns, as might be convenient for public worship, which mainly determined their formation. So long as ecclesiastical societies determined the religious activity of the people, no detriment to the schools ensued, either in respect to support or supervision. The societies were authorized to appoint visitors, whose duty it was to examine instructors at any of their meetings; to displace such as were found deficient in any requisite qualification, or would not conform to their regulations; to superintend and direct the instruction of youth in letters, religion, morals, and manners; to appoint at their discretion public exercises for the youth; to visit the schools twice, at least, during each season of schooling, at which two or more should be present: and particularly to direct the daily reading of the Bible by such youths as are capable of it, and the weekly instruction in some catechism by them approved, and recommend that the master conclude the exercises of each day with prayer; and continue in office during the pleasure of the society.'

In 1810 the expenses of keeping a district school above the amount of public money was apportioned according to the number of days' attendance of each person at school, which is the origin of the Connecticut Rate Bill system, although the system of parental payments had been the practice of this State from the beginning, and under it a lively interest in school matters had secured universal instruction no where else realized.

In 1820 an act was passed providing that the appropriation of $2 upon every $1,000 of the tax list of every school society (the regular State tax for schools) should not be made obligatory whenever the income of the school fund amounted to $62,000, which it did next year; and from this date the fund operated injuriously to the schools by relieving the towns of the obligation and the habit of school taxation, and limiting instead of increasing the resources of the districts, or throwing the increasing expenses of the schools on the rate bill of the scholars. From this date the income of the fund was appropriated to the several societies and districts, according to the number of persons over 4 and under 16 years of age, which necessitated an official enumeration of children, and thus made known the requirements of the districts for school accommodation and pecuniary means.

In 1827 an agent was employed by the Hartford School Society to visit the different parts of the State and collect statistics of schools, and almost every year henceforward the details of school improvement were discussed in conventions, until 1837, when, on motion of Henry Barnard, member of the House from Hartford, the school visitors and the society committee were required to make returns to the comptroller respecting the condition of the schools in certain specified particulars; and in the year following, the same work was done by Mr. Baruard by circulars addressed to school visitors and teachers.

In 1836 the State's proportion of the United States Surplus Revenue (amounting to $764,670) was received by the State aud deposited with the towns, on condition that at least one-half of its entire income should be devoted to the promotion of education in the common schools. In 1855 the entire income was required to be appropriated to the same object.

The State exercised a direct supervision of the common schools for the first time in 1838, when, on motion of Mr. Barnard, a Board of Commissioners of Common Schools was instituted, with a secretary as its executive officer. The duties of the Board were mainly to collect and disseminate information and awaken public interest in behalf of the schools, and the means of popular education generally.

In 1839, by an act drawn up by the Secretary of the State Board, who was chairman of the House Committee on Education, the school districts were authorized to tax themselves to the amount of $30 for the first year, and $10 for each subsequent year, for school libraries, and to associate for the purpose of supporting a union or high school; school societies were authorized to maintain common schools of different grades to secure the free, equal, and careful instruction of all the youth thereof, and to distribute the school money to the districts according to the actual attendance in each;' and the school visitors to appoint a special committee to examine teachers, visit schools, and exercise all the duties of the whole Board, and receive compensation for their time. In 1841 these and other provisions were incorporated into the revised school code. In 1842 the act constituting the Board of Commissioners was repealed, but the powers of the secretary were assigned in 1845 to the Commissioner of the School Fund, who was made ex-officio Superintendent of Common Schools. During this period the former Secretary of the Board of Commissioners prepared all the official circulars and the annual reports to the legislature, and in