"2ly. That from the begining of the first moneth vntill the end of the 7th, hee [the master] shall eu'y day beginn to teach at seaven of the Clock in the morning and dismisse his schollers at fyue in the afternoone. And for the other fyue months, that is, from the beginng of the 8th month vntill the end of the 12th month he shall eu'y day beginn at 8 of the clock in the morning, & [end] at 4 in the afternoon. "3ly. Eu'y day in the yeere the vsuall tyme of dismissing at noone shalbe at 11, and to beginn agayne at one, except that

4ly. Eu'y second day in the weeke he shall call his schollers togeither betweene 12 & one of the Clock to examin them what they haue learned on the saboath day pleding, at web tyme also he shall take notice of any misdemeanor or outrage that any of his Schollers shall haue Committed on the saboath, to the end that at some convenient tyme due Admonition and Correction may bee administered by him according as the nature and qualitie of the offence shall require, at weh sayd examination any of the Elders or other Inhabitants that please may bee present, to behold his religious care herein, and to giue there Countenance and approbation of the same."

The fifth article very emphatically hints at that democratic principle which tolerated no caste, or class, or social distinction which should abridge the legal and political rights of any. It provided that the schoolmaster should receive “equally and impartially such as shall be presented and committed to him for that end, whether theer parents bee poore or rich, not refusing any who have right or interest in the schoole."

The sixth is also an article of interest to us at this day:

"Such as shall be Committed to him he shall diligently instruct, as they shalbe able to learne, both in humane learning and good litterature, & likewyse in poynt of good manners and dutifull behauviour towards all, specially there supiors as they shall haue occasion to bee in there presence, whither by meeting them in the streete or otherwyse."

Among the "rules and orders" then put in operation is one requiring the wardens "from tyme to tyme to see that the schoole house be kept in good and sufficient repaire," and if necessary to repayre to the 7 men of the towne for the tyme being, who shall have power to tax the towne with such some or sommes as shall be requested for the repayering of the schoole house as aforesayed.”

*

Another provision was "that every year at or before the end of the 9th month there bee brought to the schoole house 12 sufficient cart or wayne loads of wood for fewell * * the cost and charge of which sayd wood to bee borne by the schollers for the tyme being who shalbe taxed for the purpose at the discretion of the sayd wardens."

The placing of the public school in the hands of three prominent citizens was certainly a wise provision, and proved in the years to come a most helpful aid to the development of our free-school system. It had in mind simply the proper nurturing of their own children, but it resulted in laying the foundations "on which future ages should build a temple at once large and grand and beautiful, for here was established the principle of representation." Horace Mann says: “As an innovation upon all preexisting policy and usages, the establishment of free schools was the boldest ever promulgated since the commencement of the Christian era. As a theory it could have been refuted and silenced by a more formidable array of arguments and experience than was ever marshaled against any other opinion of human origin. But time has ratified its soundness. Two centuries now proclaim it to be as wise as it was courageous, as beneficent as it was disinterested. It was one of those grand mental and moral experiments whose effect can not be determined in a single generation. But now, according to the manner in which human life is computed, we are the sixth generation from its founders; and have we not reason to be grateful, both to God and man, for its numberless blessings?

The sincerity of our gratitude must be tested by our efforts to perpetuate and improve what they established. The gratitude of lips only is an unholy offering." The three following propositions described the broad and everenduring foundation on which the common-school system of Massachusetts reposes:

The successive generations of men, taken collectively, constitute one great Commonwealth.

The property of this Commonwealth is pledged for the education of all its youth up to such a point as will save them from poverty and vice, and prepare them for the adequate performance of their social and civil duties.

The successive bolders of this property are trustees, bound to the faithful execution of their trust by the most sacred obligations; because embezzlement and pillage from children and descendants are as criminal as the same offenses when perpetrated against contemporaries.

Becognizing these eternal principles of national ethics, the constitution of Massachusetts-the fundamental law of the State-after declaring (among other things, in the preamble to the first section of the fifth chapter, that "the encouragement of arts and sciences and all good literature tends to the honor of God, the advantage of the Christian religion, and the great benefit of this and the other Cained States of America," proceeds in the second section of the same chapter to set forth the duties of all future legislatures an 1 magistrates, in the following noble and impressive language:

- Wadom and bowledge, as well as virtue, diffusei generally among the body of the peogue, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties, and as these legend in spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legislators an 1 magistrates, in all future periods of this Commonwealth :: derish the interests of literature an 1 the sciences, and all seminaries of them, specially the Tiversity of Cam'ridge, pale schools, and grammar schools in the to wast to encourage private societies and palle institutions, rewards and mamas, for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, TALKIES, and a matrai istry of the comma; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and ginemi benevilence, public and private charity, industry and fungalty, bonesty and punctuality in their lealings; sincerity, good immer. and al social ifxmons and generous sentiments among the people.”

As the is setters in New England the people of Plymouth deserve special meno a da der soggles in reelliming the wilderness, their sufferings Šem the Inis der bes by havase in 1 other cases prevented them for many 747 m Ilang my pale provision for the education of their children. In the records of Plymouth micny the frea modice with reference to schools occurs Au * zemna przessings of the year 1962. us 3 Lows: "It is proposed by the court to the several i vaigs in this parishion, as a thing that they ought to Ar servas nuns derin i some ocarse may be taken, that in every so wa fere may be a schoolmaster et train up children to reading and Is would be far, then to issue that previous to this date there were ne pubite sciocis in the micny, Dongh is any as twelve towns had already been incorporated. A pomeriton and more had the fore, grown up without the advantages of painu sufinodis, though mewatin was evidently given at home, in prov12 stucris, and by the pază maker - In 1967 it was enacted that in every

- Tanta magurs. If the start of He Iusahibeta kävi of education. 1 car Linn.

Ester of Sings Penth. Tworn Mass. Est. See. Coll, Vo! XIV. p. 79.

*Pile comun raguunt Joe Bagani `fenerally assigned to the ministry of religion” of gregaring Troy ne ar slege.

town of fifty families £12 be ratsed by tax for the support of grammar schools. But this act, as well as that of 1663, seems to have been disregarded, for no definite action was taken to establish schools until public support was promised to them. Accordingly, in 1670, the "general court of his majesty, holden at New Plymouth, did freely give and grant" such profits as might annually accrue to the colony from fishing at Cape Cod, etc., "to be improved for and toward a free school in some town of this jurisdiction for the training up of youth in literature for the good and benefit of posterity." In addition to this grant by the general court, the town of Plymouth, in 1672, voted to give the profits that might arise from the improvement of a certain tract of land toward the maintenance of a school. About this time a schoolhouse was built by subscription, several of the citizens of Plymouth, "out of their good affection," giving "of their own estate" for this purpose. In 1671, the building having been finished, the first public teacher of Plymouth, "Mr. John Morton," opened the school. His duties were stated to be: To teach the children and youth to read the Bible, to write, and to cast accounts. But it would seem that the school was not permanently maintained, for Mr. Josiah Cotton, who was born there in 1679 and began to teach the Plymouth school in 1698, says, "I do not recollect that I ever went to any town school."

The giving of public lands in perpetuity, the income of which should be devoted to the schools, was inaugurated at the very beginning of the free schools of Plymouth, and resulted most favorably for the cause of education. In 1705 sundry inhabitants bound themselves to pay £20 annually for seven years, with the understanding that all children that did not belong to the subscribers of the fund should pay a certain rate per week, and that the rate of those living more than a mile away should be only half that required of those living nearer. Thus it will be seen that in Plymouth colony, as in the Massachusetts, care was taken that the benefits of education should be enjoyed by all. Barry, in his History of Massachusetts, says that "instances of neglect were exceedingly rare. Poverty prevented many from giving their children the highest advantages, but comparatively few could be found whose instruction had been wholly overlooked.

*

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A preparation for the duties of practical life was sought by the most; the ambition of some soared higher."3

EDUCATION IN CONNECTICUT.1

The colonies of Connecticut and New Haven zealously emulated those of Massachusetts and Plymouth in their liberal policy in the establishment of free schools. So deep was the interest taken that, even before there was any legislative action, the ministers and magistrates were found pleading for an allowance out of the common treasury for the support of public schools, and entreating parents of all classes to send their children to them. Foremost among these early promoters of learning were the Rev. Mr. Davenport and Governor Eaton, both of the New Haven colony, whose plan contemplated: First, common town schools where all their sons might "learn to read and write and cast up accounts and make some entrance into the Latin tongue;" second, a common or colony school with a schoolmaster qualified to teach Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, "so far as shall be necessary" to prepare the youth for college; third, a town or county library; fourth, a college for the colony "for the education of the youth in good literature to fit them for public service in church and commonwealth." The effect of such an enlightened policy was most fortunate, laying, as it did thus early, the founda

1 History of Free Schools in Plymouth Colony, Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., Vol. XIV, p. 80-1.

2 See Mass. Rec., II, p. 203, and Plymouth Col. Laws of 1671, p. 39.

3 Barry's History of Mass., p. 313.

4 See American Journal of Education for 1857, Vol. IV, pp. 657-709 Barnard in American Journal of Education for 1855, p. 298.

tion for the great prosperity which has since followed. Besides a lopting largely the school laas of Massachusetts, it was thought best "that grammar schoolma ters shod be approved by the selectmen of the town and the minister of the seme or a neighboring town.”

The first school in the New Haven colony of which we have any record was oposed in New Haven in 1659, and here Ezekiel Cheever, at the age of 25, began his long career as a teacher. It was not at first a free school, for the general conr* Led at New Haven in the early part of 1611 "ordered that a free school be set up in this tow.." For its maintenance the pastor and magistrates were to con-der "what yearly allowance is meet to be given to it out of the common stock of the town," and also what rules should be observed in and about the me." The early records of New Haven are full of entries referring to moneys appropriated to teachers and to reports of committees on the subject of schools. The committees always included among their number the governor, minister, and magistrate or deputies. In 1612, seven years after the first house was built, a school was established in Hartford, in the Connecticut colony, and an appropriation of £30 was settled upon it. The master was to receive a salary of £16 a year, and those parents or guardians who were willing to send their children to school and could bear the expense should pay "20 shillings the year;" others should have their children instructed "at the town's charge."

In general in both colonies the mode of supporting the schools was made partly a charge on the general funds or property of the town and partly a rate bill or tuition, paid by the parents or guardians of the children attending school, "paying alike to the head." But this did not apply to the poor, who were sent free of charge. The tax for this purpose was levied in every town with the annual State tax and payable proportionately only to those towns which should establish schools according to law. Trumbull says that for the permanent support of the schools "large tricts of land were given and appropriated by the legislature."2

The public school was one of the earliest subjects of municipal legislation, as much, for example, as the roads and bridges, the support of public worship, and protection against the Indians, these four being the principal objects of care and at ntion. The code of 1650, the first that was drawn up by the Connecticut colony, provided for the "family instruction of children and the maintenance of schools by towns," and was the same as that of Massachusetts. It remained ou the statute books, with only slight modifications, for more than a century and a half. The school system embraced every family and town, all classes of children and youth, and all the then recognized grades of schools. In this way the State laid the basis "not only for universal education, but for a practical and social equality which has never been surpassed in the history of any other community."3 Governor Eaton in 1655 drew up a code of laws for the government of the New Haven colony, then numbering six plantations, in which he laid special stress upon the duty of parents and masters to educate their children and apprentices, and imposed fines in case of neglect. He also ordered, as in the Connecticut code of 1650, that as a last resort children and apprentices should be placed with others "who shall better educate and govern them," both for their own and the public good.

Trumbull's History of Connecticut, Vol. I, p. 303.

At a later date (in 1795, but not incorporated into the State constitution until 1818) the legislature of Connecticut established a permanent irreducible fund, the income of which shall be applied to the support of common or public schools. This fund was obtained by the sale of lands in New Conne ticut, or the so-called Western Reserve in the northeastern part of Ohio, and the income from it, as stated in the North American Review for April, 1823, amounted in 1822 to more than $00,000. This was apportioned among the school districts according to the number of pupils in each. See Letters on the Free Schools of New England, pp. 20, 21, by J. G. Carter. * National Department of Education, September and October, 1567, in Education in the United States.

Very early in the history of the Connecticut colonies an appeal came from Harvard College to all the people to contribute toward the maintenance of poor scholars at the college. In response to this the general court of the New Haven colony "ordered that two men shall be appointed in every town within this jurisdiction who shall demand what every family will give, and the same to be gathered and brought into some room in March; and this to continue yearly,' as it shall be considered by the commissioners." It was determined that about a "peck of wheat," or the value of it, 12 pence, should be contributed by every family that was willing, and in 1644 one of the commissioners "reported that he had sent 40 bushels of wheat, the gift of New Haven to the college" at Cambridge. Soon after, that is, as early as 1647, they were seriously considering the expediency of having a college of their own, to "be set up as soon as their ability will reach thereunto." But at a general court, held at Guilford June 28, 1652, it was voted that "the matter about a college at New Haven was thought to be too great a charge for us of this jurisdiction to undergo alone."

The earliest legislation in Connecticut respecting the education of the Indians is found in the code of 1650, wherein the court orders that the teaching elders shall go among the Indians and endeavor to give them religious instruction. Schools were also established among them, the most successful one being at Farmington. This was taught from 1648 to 1697 by the minister of the parish, and as late as 1736 notices of this school are found in the colonial records, which show that it was still in existence. Some very promising boys were educated at this school, and among them one Samson Occum, who afterwards became quite famous.

In 1665 the colony of New Haven formed the union with the Connecticut under the charter of Charles II. In 1671 county grammar schools were established and the former town grammar schools discontinued. These new schools were accordingly located at Hartford, New Haven, New London, and Fairfield, there being at the time but four counties in Connecticut. To aid in endowing these schools the general court appropriated 600 acres of land to each of the four county towns forever, the same to be improved in the best manner and the income applied for the benefit of the grammar schools. Of these schools two, namely, those of Hartford and New Haven, the court decreed should be of a higher grade and also free. They were to teach “reading (but pupils before entering must be able to read distinctly the psalter), writing, arithmetic, the Latin and English languages," and were to have "the more extensive and special enjoyment" of the income derived from the legacy left by Governor Hopkins. From that time theymostly as free and always as public schools-have provided facilities for preparing young men for college. The one at New Haven, called the Hopkins Grammar School, has, however, kept the more nearly up to the high ideal of its early patrons. The Hartford school, having in time lost its character of a public grammar or Latin school, became "the main reliance of the town for the education of all its children," and so continued until 1798, when the general assembly restored it to a grammar school, in accordance with the original intent of the donor." The

3

1 This gift to the college at Cambridge continued to be annually made until 1671.

2 Quoted in President Dwight's Travels in New England, p. 200.

3 The will of Mr. Hopkins was made in 1657, shortly before his death. In 1664 the two surviving trustees signed an instrument allotting £400 to Hartford for the support of a grammar school and appointing that the rest of the estate "be all of it equally divided between the towns of New Haven and Hadley, to be managed and improved for the erecting and maintaining a school in each of the said towns." President Dwight, in Travels in New England, p. 206, says, in regard to the distribution of this legacy, that about £2,000 intended by Hopkins for Yale College "fell through a series of accidents partly into the hands of her sister seminary [H. C.] and partly into the hands of trustees of three grammar schools-one at New Haven, one at Hartford, and one at Hadley, in Massachusetts."