BOARDING ARRANGEMENTS.

Although the tuition of the Normal School is free, it was found that the main item of expense, the board, had increased until it threatened seriously to embarrass the operations of the institution. Accordingly in September, 1864, a suitable building was secured and fitted up as a boarding-house for the use of the female pupils and teachers. By having a considerable number together, it was found that the expense to each student could be considerably reduced. The first experiment was so successful that the house was enlarged in 1865 so as to accommodate ninety boarders. The building, as thus enlarged, is 135 feet long by 37 feet wide, and three stories high. It is planned with a special view to the wants of such an establishment, and is particularly convenient and attractive. The rooms are of good size, each suited to the accommodation of two pupils; they are neatly carpeted, and supplied with the necessary furniture, with one double bed, and with two large deep closets, one for the exclusive use of each occupant. The beds are furnished with mattresses, but not with pillows or bedding, each boarder being required to furnish these articles for herself.

One of the leading Professors, with his family, lives in the building, and he and his wife have the charge of the establishment. The arrangement altogether is giving the greatest satisfaction to the patrons of the school. Such an establishment was particularly needed for female pupils. Young ladies away from home, and boarding promiscuously through a large town, are exposed to social temptations, and they often lose much time in consequence, even when they do not form undesirable acquaintances, or fall into worse evils. Parents are reluctant to send their daughters to a distant town to attend school, where there can be, from the nature of the case, no adequate guaranty for an efficient supervision and protection out of school-hours. Besides these grave considerations, there is the important matter of economy, the cost of attendance at school having been reduced almost one-half.

The large boarding-house being entirely filled, and there being numerous applicants for admission, who could not be accommodated, the Trustees, in the summer vacation of 1867, took another large building adjoining the former, and fitted it up in similar style for the accommodation of forty additional boarders. This building also was immediately filled.

The resident Professor and his family, in consideration of their services in the management of the household, live in the house entirely free of cost. A charge of one dollar a week is made to each pupil, for rent and fuel. Under "fuel" is included all that is needed for cooking and washing, and for heating every part of the establishment; and under "rent" is included all that is necessary to pay interest, taxes and insurance on the cost of house, furniture and grounds.

The Trustees assume that an assessment of $1 a week on each boarder will cover these items. This sum is a regular and fixed charge. Beyond that, the pupils are charged the actual cost of their living, and this

fact constitutes a very important feature of the plan. The actual cost of the remaining items has been maintained now for more than three years at $2.50 a week, with a variation of only 25 cents for a single term, and the accommodations, both as to quantity and quality, have been such as to give entire satisfaction. But were the Trustees to undertake to board the pupils outright for this sum, there would be less care in regard to waste and breakage, and a more ready disposition to find fault and be discontented. Having paid a fixed sum, the boarders would feel like consuming the full worth of their money. On the contrary, the sum being contingent, they are more ready to acquiesce in any little economies which are to keep their expenses within bounds,

The boarding arrangements which have been described, are exclusively for the use of the female pupils and teachers. A similar establishment for the accommodation of gentlemen is imperatively needed, and is in contemplation.

FARNUM PREPARATORY SCHOOL.

The Farnum Preparatory School at Beverly was established and endowed by the liberality of Paul Farnum, Esq., and opened for the reception of pupils, on the 8th of October, 1856. It has a Board of Trustees of its own, but is designed as an auxiliary of the State Normal School, and an appropriation is made by the Legislature towards its support. As indicated by its name the course of study is preparatory, and has special reference to the more thorough and professional course of the Normal School. A large proportion of the pupils are from Beverly and the vicinity, but those qualified are admitted to the classes in the Normal School at Trenton, on successfully passing the required examination. One hundred and forty pupils were admitted the first term. This number has been increased successive years, and in 1867 amounted to two hundred and eighty.

PLANS AND DESCRIPTION OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL OF NEW JERSEY. The buildings occupied by the State Normal School of New Jersey, are two in number, one of which is occupied exclusively by the Normal School proper, and the other by both the Normal School and its adjunct, the Model School, but principally by the latter. The two were built and furnished at an expense of about $55,000.

The plans are drawn on a scale of thirty-two feet to the inch. Each building is in the form of a Greek Cross, the main edifice running nearly north and south with wings or projections on the east and west. The front wing of the Normal School on the east, terminates in two towers, 10 by 10 feet.

The great objects secured in the adoption of these plans, are the highest degree of convenience and adaptation to the purposes of a school for both sexes, symmetry, tastefulness, economy in cost of construction, with ample facilities for lighting and ventilation, the ingress and egress of pupils, together with a full supply of water in the proper place, and for every desirable purpose.

The rooms are all large, airy, and commodious. The uses of each apartment will be understood by reference to the numbers indicated on the diagrams, and the accompanying explanation. Each building is heated by four of Boynton's first class furnaces, and ventilated by means of air passages leading from each room to a large chamber for the purpose in the attic, under the ventilator. These air chambers are heated by stoves, thus creating a forced draught from each apartment to the ventilator.

The furniture is of the latest and most approved character, and there are in the two buildings, fifteen hundred feet of the best Vermont and Lehigh wall slates.

1, Main entrance and Hall. 2, 2, Cloak Rooms for each sex. 3, 3, Toilet Rooms for each sex. 4, 5, Halls and entrances. 6, 6, 6, and 7, 7, 7, Recitation Rooms. 8, 8, Extra Cloak Rooms. 9, 9, Privies. 10, 10, Halls for each sex.

21, 22, Drawing Room and Models. 23, Bell Ringer's Room. 24, Passage to Observatory. 25, Lecture Room. 26, Recitation Room. 27, Room for Mechanical Drawing. 28, 28. Rear Halls. 29, 30, Apparatus Rooms.

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11, Reception Room. 12, Library. 13, 14, Teachers' Toilet Rooms. 15, 16, Halls and Stairways, each sex. 17, Assembly Room seated for 240. 18, 18, Recitation Rooms. 19, 19, Extra Cloak Rooms. 20, 20, Privies.

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Fig. 4. THIRD STORY.

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