good promise of trout, Meinrad left them to pursue their sport, and strolled about, meditating on the joys of that solitary life after which he secretly pined. After a while, returning to his scholars, he found that their fishing had been unusually successful, and taking up their baskets, they retraced their steps to the village of Altendorf, where they entered the house of a certain matron to rest and refresh themselves with food. Whilst the boys ate and drank, and enjoyed themselves in their own way, Meinrad and their hostess engaged in conversation, and Meinrad, who was full of the thoughts to which his mountain walk had given rise, opened his whole heart to her. 'Beyond all riches,' he said, 'I desire to dwell alone in this solitude, that so I might wholly give my self to prayer, could I but find some one who would minister to me in temporal things.' The good lady immediately offered to provide him with whatever he wanted, in order to carry out his design; and the result of that day's fishingparty was the establishment of the former scholasticus of Bollingen in a little hermitage which he constructed for himself out of the wattled boughs of trees. But he found himself in one way disappointed; he had sought the desert to fly from the world, and the world followed him thither in greater throngs than he had ever encountered at Reichenau. The saints possess a strange power of attraction, and neither mountains nor forests are able to hide them. In his own day men compared St. Meinrad to the Baptist, because the multitudes went out into the wilderness to hear him preach penance and remission of sins. For seven years he continued to dispense the Word of Life to the pilgrims who gathered about him from all parts of Europe. But one day unable to resist his longing for retreat, he took his image of Our Lady, a missal, a copy of St. Bene dict's rule, and the works of Cassian, and laden with these, his only treasures, he plunged into the forest, and choosing a remote and secluded spot, erected a rude chapel which he dedicated to Our Lady, and a yet ruder dwelling for himself. There he lived for thirty years, and at the end of that time he was assassinated in his hermitage by some ruffians who hoped to find some hidden treasure in his cell. His body was carried back to Reichenau, and in after years (about 988) the great sanctuary of Einsiedeln rose over the site of his hermitage, where is still venerated the image of Our Lady which he had formerly carried thither with his own hands. EINSIEDELN. The Abby of Einsiedeln, after encountering many disasters by fire and spoliation, has outlived the sanctity and present usefulness of both St. Gall and Reichenau, and is still the resort annually of thousands of pilgrims from all parts of Europe. In 1861, on the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of its foundation, an almost incredible concourse of people assembled to make their offerings to Our Lady of the Hermits.' On this occasion, the King of Prussia and Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen presented the Abby with two valuable historical paintings by Mücke, of Dusseldorf, one representing St. Meinrad preaching on the Etzel, and the other the presentation of the Sacred Image by Hildegarde, first Abbess of the convent of Zürich. The Abbey now num bers sixty priests, and twenty brothers of the Benedictine order, with a number of lay brethren for the management of the property. MODIFICATIONS IN PLAN FOR 1873. SINCE the issuing of the Number for June (National Series No. 30, Entire Series No. 75), and indeed since the printing of the greater portion of the present Number (for October, 1873,) we have found it necessary to modify the plan of publication as announced in the Prefatory Note on page 5, and in the Contents of the Volume on page 8. We have found it impossible to revise and print the entire series of volumes which constitute the American Library of Practical Education, or to make out the GENERAL INDEX, based on the Special Indexes of the twenty-four volumes of this Journal-the Contents of the entire series, and the Indexes, special and General, it was calculated, would occupy the volume (xxiv.) after page 544. The Indexes, special and general, together with the Contents and Indexes of the separate treatises which have been, or may be made up of chapters first published in the American Journal of Education, will be issued in a Supplementary Volume in 1873. This Volume (XXV) will be issued in parts of the usual number of pages, at $1.25 each, or $4.00 for the year, payable on delivery. HARTFORD, Oct. 15, 1873. HENRY BARNARD. Number 31 (Entire Series No. 76), for October 15, 1873.... 1. THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES.. 1. The College in the English Universities.. 2. The College in the older Continental Universities. 3. The Domestic Side of University Life.. II. MILITARY SYSTEMS AND SCHOOLS IN RUSSIA.. 1. Military Schools... 2. Naval Schools........ III. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE OF ANCIENT GREECE IN ENGLAND....... WILLIAM ROBINSON-Robinson Female Seminary, Exeter, N. H............. V. ENDOWMENTS OF AMERICAN COLLEGES. 1. Harvard. 2. Yale.. VI. SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION-HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 1. Higher Education in Greece... Schools of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Museum of Alexandria. 2. Higher Education among the Romans....... Athenæum of Rome-University of Athens.. 3. Christianity and Academic Study..... Tetradirion of Constantine-Law School at Rome.. 4. Origin and Organization of Faculties..... VII. THE EARLIEST CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS. 1. Catechetical School at Alexandria and Berytus. Origin-Subjects and Methods of Teaching. 2. St. Benedict and His Rule...... The Benedictine Convents and Schools... VIII. MODIFICATION OF PLAN OF PUBLICATION FOR 1873. IX. SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE...... Plans in Report of U. S. Commissioner for 1867–8.. Number 32 (Entire Series No. 77), for December 15, 1873.. II. AMERICAN PUBLIC INSTRUCTION........ PAGE. 417-640 ....... 401-416 401 402 410 417 418 431 433-436 433-450 439 ..... 446 447 451-452 451 453-512 553 454 467 477 486 487 495 515-536 515 516 525 533 545-546 546 647-656 647 657-848 659-698 659 679 693 697-724 1. School Legislation of Massachusetts-Colonial and State...... 697 2. Constitutional Ordinances Respecting Schools and Education since 1867........ 713 III. REFORMATORY SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION.. Merging and Association of Individual Schools.. VII. SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 1. Spain-University of Salamanca-Alcala.. 2. The Netherlands-Louvain..... 3. Scandinavian States-Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.... 737-740 737 742-744 745-758 INDEX to Volume VIII., National Series-(XXIV., Entire Series).. 835 PLANS OF BOSTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL-HOUSES. BY HON. JOHN D. PHILBRICK, SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Before describing our latest school edifice (the Norcross Grammar School-house, in South Boston, completed and dedicated March 10, 1868), which embodies in design, construction, and equipment, several excellent features, not found in any one of its predecessors, it may be desirable to note the successive modifications which have been introduced into buildings for this class of schools. The Boston Grammar School-house of forty years ago, was a two story edifice, cach story containing one hall or school-room, with seats for about one hundred and eighty pupils. These halls were wholly destitute of such appendages or conveniences as recitation rooms, clothes-rooms, closets, and blackboards. In each of these large rooms there were usually three teachers, and their recitations had to be carried on at the same time, while the pupils not occupied in reciting were expected to close their ears to the surrounding din, and attend to their tasks. Of this type was the old Mayhew School-house, which continued to be occupied until 1846. The first modification of this type consisted chiefly in the addition of a third story, the two upper stories being appropriated to the two halls as before, and the lower story to a ward-room or to Primary Schools. An illustration of this modified type is found in the Wells School-house, a cut of which Mr. Mann introduced into his Report on School-houses, as the best City Grammar School-house in 1838. It was subsequently remodelled, and is just now being replaced by a structure of the Norcross type. There was, of course, some improvement in respect to style of finishing and furnishing, but no new feature of importance added. The first important steps of progress consisted in the addition of two recitation rooms of moderate dimensions to each of the two large school-rooms or halls. This was instituted about the year 1840, and from this time until 1848, the recitation rooms were embraced in all the plans for new buildings, and most of the old buildings were enlarged for the purpose of securing these much needed conveniences. The Brimmer Schoolhouse, erected in 1843, was an example of this improvement. Recently it has been remodelled and enlarged. In 1848, the Quincy School-house was erected, a description of which is contained in Barnard's School Architecture. This building was not, properly speaking, a modification of what had preceded it, either here or elsewhere. It was a NEW type. Its main features were these. 1. It was large. Up to this time, a Grammar School containing four hundred pupils was considered very large. This building had six hundred and sixty seats in its school-rooms, exclusive of the hall. 2. It contained a separate school-room for each teacher, twelve in all, and, of course, recitation rooms were not needed. 3. It contained a hall large enough to seat comfortably, all the pupils that could be accommodated in the school-rooms, and even more. 4. It contained a clothes-room attached to each school-room, through which the pupils passed in entering and leaving their respective rooms. 5. It contained a separate desk and chair for each pupil. This was probably the first Grammar School-house into which this feature was introduced. All the Grammar School-houses which have been built in this city during the past twenty years, have been of this type. Modifications more or less important have from time to time been introduced, but the type has not been changed. The chief modification of this type which has been made in the plans of the buildings erected during the past fifteen years, consisted in increasing the number of school-rooms to fourteen by cutting off about two-fifths of the size of the hall for this purpose. This modification, so far from being an improvement, was undoubtedly a retrograde step. The rooms thus gained were too near the sky for ordinary school purposes, the hall was rendered too small in proportion to the size of the school, and the number of schoolrooms was too great for a single Grammar School, containing one series of grades. The Prescott Grammar School-house, erected two years ago, a description of which may be found in Barnard's Journal of Education, Vol. XVI., is an improvement on the modified Quincy type which had been in vogue for some years, inasmuch as it is only three stories high, and has a sufficiently spacious hall. It is a noble edifice, but it is too large, having sixteen school-rooms, and the plan is more costly in proportion to the accommodations than that of any other building which has been built in this city. The Superintendent of Schools, in a report submitted to the School Board in 1867, set forth his objections to the buildings which he calls modifications of the Quincy type, and advocated the adoption of a plan for a Grammar School-house, as a model or standard, which should provide for only three stories, and only ten school rooms, with a hall spacious enough to seat comfortably all the pupils that the ten school-rooms would accommodate. In determining the plan of the Norcross building, the Superintendent's recommendation was considered, but not adopted in full. The Committee on Public Buildings of the City Council who really had all the power to decide what the plan should be, concluded to adopt a plan which may be called a compromise between that of the modified Quincy and that recommended by the Superintendent. The improvements on the Quincy type consist in its architectural character, in its style of finish, in its heating and ventilating apparatus, and in some minor details, especially for security against fire. [Before giving Mr. Philbrick's description of the Norcross Schoolhouse, we will introduce the plans of the houses above referred to, with descriptions written at the time of their completion, to mark the successive modifications of this class of houses, together with statistics and remarks in the dedicatory exercises, to show the interest taken in their Public Schools by the most eminent citizens of Boston. H. B.] |