Boston City (part 9 of 67)

Recent statistics show the magnitude and importance of these schools. More than half the children educated at the public expense attend them, and nearly all the rest have gone out from them to enter the higher grade. Boston has now four hundred and six primary schools, with the same number of teachers, and twenty thousand seven hundred and thirty schol¬ ars.2 Previous to 1862 children were admitted at four years of age; since that time those under five have been excluded.3

It is a noticeable fact that until primary schools were instituted we had not begun to recognize the great value of woman's assistance in the instruc¬ tion of the young. In this new field that assistance was indispensable, and its success so evident that women soon became teachers in our grammar and high schools, and are now a powerful aid in every educational movement.4

1 From a communication by him in the Daily Advertiser of April i, tS r 8, we copy the follow¬ ing passage, which will show his philanthropic spirit and his earnestness in advocating what he believed to be right : -

" In the report of the School Committee we are told that the number of children between the ages of 4 and 14 is 526, who go to no school. What are those children doing ? Who has charge of them ? Where do they live ? Why are they not at school ? The committee have not informed us. Have they not the right to a good bringing up, and to a common-school edu¬ cation? and have they not a right to a common share of the friendship of the community ? If their parents neglect to provide them a school, is it not the duty of the town to do it ? And if the town takes no interest in their welfare, is it not the duty of the Legislature to make laws for the purpose of saving these dependents, - these sufferers ? "

2 When first instituted, the Primary-School Committee consisted of thirty-six members, the number of schools under their care was twentyfive, and the number of children about one thou¬ sand. When this committee became extinct, in t855, by a transfer of its duties to the Boston School Board, there were one hundred and ninety-six members, one hundred and ninetyseven schools, and over twelve thousand chil¬ dren. The reasons for a change were : (1) The questionable legality of its organization ; (2) Be¬ cause, as a deliberative or executive body, it had become too numerous for its purposes; (3) Be¬ cause of the mode in which its members were elected and vacancies filled ; (4) Because its con¬ tinuance perpetuated a want of unity in our school system.

3 Attendance from five to seven was volun¬ tary. In the compulsory system the aim is to include only those children whose physical and mental development renders them able to attend school at all seasons of the year. For this reason the lower limit of legal age in most countries is fixed at six years, - in Massachusetts at eight. In England compulsory attendance begins at five years of age, but children are admitted to the infant schools at four. See Annals of the Boston Primary School Committee, from its first Establishment, in 1818, to its Dissolution, in 1855, by J. M. Wightman. Boston, 1S60.

4 Women are equal to men in teaching, and superior to them in forming the tastes and man¬ ners of their pupils. Few members of our School Board would dissent from this opinion, and yet the compensation given to women bears no comparison with that given to men. There have been many evidences of progress in our educational system, - we look for one in this direction. In the census of 1870 it appeared that there were two hundred thousand teachers in the public schools of the United States, and of these one hundred and nine thousand were women. According to the report of the United States Commissioners of Education, published in 1879, there were in Massachusetts one thou-

In connection with the primary schools should be named the Kinder¬ garten, one of which was begun in 1870, with the understanding that if successful it should be continued and others established. No one has ever questioned the success of the experiment; indeed, the best friends of education were enthusiastic in their admiration of its results. We like the system of Froebel, because it allows children to be children, and governs them by no iron rule.1 The training of those of Kindergarten age must be by persuasion, not compulsion. " There should be as much life, joy, and nature," says Arthur Helps, " put into teaching as there can be." The School Committee found no fault with the results of the experiment, but were unwilling to continue one school of this class, which as they believed would be for the benefit of a favored few, and were so alarmed at the pros¬ pective cost of adopting the system, that they discontinued it altogether.

Fortunately for Boston the friends of Froebel and his admirable mode of training young children determined that what was so well begun and had proved so successful in its results should not be abandoned. Through their activity and public spirit the means were obtained for establishing several Kindergarten schools. One Boston lady, Mrs. Pauline A. Shaw, whose lib¬ erality and right appreciation of the interests of the young will be held in honored remembrance, is sustaining at her own cost no less than thirty of these schools and fifty teachers in different parts of the city. A large proportion of the recipients of her bounty come from the poorest classes, many from homes where they suffer from neglect and ill-treatment. On reaching these schools, the wants of the body as well as of the mind are cared for; the ragged clothing is thrown aside, and cleanliness is allowed its claim among the higher virtues.2

In 1821 the English High School for boys was established; and George B. Emerson, LL.D., a graduate of Harvard University, and one of our most accomplished and successful teachers, was elected head-master. This sand one hundred and eighteen male, and seven thousand three hundred and ninety female teach¬ ers in the public schools, - the former receiving the average salary of $75.64 and the latter $33.04 per month. There are in Massachusetts, be¬ tween the ages of five and fifteen, two hundred and ninety-seven thousand two hundred and twentytwo school-children, and an average attendance of two hundred and twenty-two thousand seven hundred and four. [See further on the position of women as educators and intellectual workers, Mrs. E. D. Cheney's chapter in this volume. - Ed.]

1 Froebel's purpose, as indicated by himself, is " to take the oversight of children before they are ready for school-life; to exert an influence over their whole being in correspondence with its nature ; to strengthen their bodily powers ; to exercise their senses ; to employ the awaken¬ ing mind ; to make them thoughtfully acquainted with the world of nature and of man; to guide

2 It would cheer the hearts of our philan¬ thropists, it would soften the hearts of the cynical, to visit one of these institutions and watch the bright, happy faces of the little ones, whether at their lessons or their sports. Says Longfellow : - is one of the last as well as one of the best monuments of the action of the old town of Boston. Some of the latest town-meetings previous to the adoption of the city charter were held in reference to the founding of this school. Its object has been to provide for the graduates of the grammar schools a thorough English education and the means of fitting them for any department of commercial life.1

The English High School has now four hundred and fifty-one members and nineteen teachers, Erancis A. Waterhouse, a graduate of Bowdoin Col¬ lege, being the head-master. It has always been popular, always progres¬ sive in its methods of study and discipline, and is still administered in a liberal and common-sense manner.2 The Rev. James Fraser, an English Commissioner, said in his excellent report on the Common-School system of the United States, presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty: "Taking it for all in all, and as accomplishing the end at which it professes to aim, the English High School of Boston struck me as the model school of the United States. I wish we had a hundred such in England." 3

This is the testimony of a competent judge, one who must have been unprejudiced and impartial. In another part of his report he says: " I have already mentioned this school as the one above all others that I visited in America which I should like the Commissioners to have seen at work as I myself saw it, - the very type of a school for the middle classes of this country, managed in the most admirable spirit, and attended by just the sort of boys one would desire to see in such a school." The im¬ pressions of an intelligent foreigner should always be welcome. They are likely to differ from ours, and will therefore afford an opportunity for profit¬ able comparison.

1 How much this was to include may be in¬ ferred from the following prescribed course of studies : mathematics, rhetoric, English litera¬ ture, music, physiology, botany, drawing, history, chemistry, ethics, physics, astronomy, book-keep¬ ing, metaphysics, and political economy. To these were afterward added the French and German languages. "Experience has proved," says Francis Adams, " that elementary education flourishes most where the provision for higher education is most ample. If the elementary schools of Germany are the best in the world, it is owing in a great measure to the fact that the higher schools are accessible to all classes. In the United States the common schools have always produced the best results where the means of higher education have been the most plentiful." - Massachusetts State Report, 1S77.

2 [See Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the English High School, May 2, 1871, Oration by J. IV. E chnands, with Historical Appendix. Bos¬ ton, 1871. - Ed.]

the Educational Bureau were in progress, Mr. G. F. Hoar declared upon the floor of Congress, that the only respectable acoount of education in this country ever published had been prepared by foreign governments. "Among such reports, the most satisfactory is that of the Rev. James Fraser, now the Bishop of Manchester, Eng¬ land, who came to this country in 1865, and em¬ ployed six months in the prosecution of his inquiry, and four months in drawing up his re¬ port. ... It is a candid review of facts, collected with great diligence and fairness, - all the bet¬ ter because of the discriminating criticism with which it distinguishes the wise from the unwise, and because it appreciates right purposes and tendencies in this country, even when results are not yet satisfactory." - N. A. Review, exxii. 195.

In consequence of -recent educational discus¬ sions in England, much has been said there about American schools. Among the important works may be named a volume on National Education, by the Rev. J. H. Rigg, and one on the American School System, by F. Adams.

There are also schools of the same grade in Roxbury, Dorchester, Charlestown, West Roxbury, and Brighton, which towns, by annexation, now belong to Boston.

1 he building recently erected on Warren Avenue and Montgomery Street, for our Latin and English High schools, deserves notice here, be¬ cause it surpasses all others in this country in its magnitude, adaptation to its purposes, and the beauty of its construction.1

The building was dedicated, with appropriate ceremonies, on March 1, 1881. Over the entrance to the Latin School is the following appropriate inscription : " HAEC STUDIA ADULESCENTIAM ALUNT, SENECTUTEM OBLECTANT, SECUNDAS RES ORNANT, ADVERSIS PERFUGIUM AC SOLACIUM PRAEBENT."

In 1852 the friends of a higher education for the graduates of our girls' grammar schools gave earnest attention to that subject. As the proposition to estal}lish a high school for their benefit had met with un¬ expected opposition in times past, it was thought inexpedient to revive the controversy. As a substitute, it was proposed to institute a Normal School for female teachers, the advantages of which no one would be likely to question. Such a school was established, and Loring Lothrop, a gentle¬ man eminently qualified, was elected head-master.

It was soon found, however, that girls fresh from the grammar schools were not fit candidates for normal training. To remedy this difficulty a few additional branches of study were introduced, a slight alteration made in the arrangement of the course, and the name changed to the " Girls' High and Normal School." Under this name it continued till 1872, when it was found that the normal element had been gradually absorbed by the high school, and had almost lost its independent, distinctive, and professional character. The two courses were then separated, and the normal department was re¬ stored to its original condition for the instruction of young women who intended to become teachers in our public schools of Boston. Larkin Dunton, LL.D., was then elected head-master, and still holds that position. The marked success of the school under his administration is good evidence of the wisdom shown in his election. Institutions of this class originated in Germany, and became so popular that they soon found their way into Holland, France, Switzerland, and more recently into England, being modi¬ fied only so far as to adapt them to the circumstances of society and edu¬ cation in those countries. They were intended to make the business of school-teaching as much of a profession as that of law, medicine, or the-

1 It is a double building, fronting on parallel whole cost, including furniture, was $780,000. streets. There are forty-seven class-rooms, with For the architectural design and mechanical accommodations for sixteen hundred and forty- construction of this building credit is due to five pupils; an immense hall for military drill, a George A. Clough, the City Architect. Valuagvmnasium, chemical laboratory, chambers for ble suggestions in regard to some of its characdrawing, and two large halls; also libraries, re- teristic features were made by Superintendent ception rooms, and suites for janitors. A court- J. D. Philbrick, as the result of his observayard in the centre furnishes ample space for the tions at the Universal Exposition at Vienna, scholars in their seasons of recreation. The in 1873.

Our custom in electing teachers had been to examine them in the branches required to be taught, and to trust to Providence for their ability to teach what they knew. This course was objectionable, especially so in the case of elementary instruction, where the amount of knowledge required is small, and where the art of teaching finds its most difficult exercise. The idea that every one can teach what he knows is not reliable. This is evident from the fact that men and women of the highest intellectual at¬ tainments so often fail entirely in the capacity for interesting the young.2

Instead of depending on State institutions for normal instruction, Boston decided to have one exclusively her own. The pupils would then be daughters of our own citizens, with their homes and affections here; they would be graduates of our public schools, familiar with their organization and methods of instruction ; more than all, they would be fitted for the work in which they were to engage. The course of study includes the departments of physiology, psychology, logic, ethics, principles of educa¬ tion, methods of instruction, school management, observation and practical training exercises, - the instruction in all these departments having special reference to teaching. Pupils are supposed to know something of physiol¬ ogy and hygiene before entering the school ; but there is a view of them not absolutely required for ordinary life, but indispensable for the teacher, - such as the limits of the powers of children, the conditions of growth and health, the necessity for rest and sleep, the means of securing these, and many other details of this nature. The three divisions of psychology, treat¬ ing of the intellect, the sensibilities, and the will, are studied in the order here named, which is the order of their dependence.

This institution has already accomplished an important work, and gives promise of a beneficent future. It is not unreasonable to expect that the United States, with their one hundred and forty normal schools, will before many years refuse to accept any but trained teachers. Germany has set us the example.3

1 There are now in Germany 168 of such schools; France, 86; Great Britain, 48 ; Italy, 1 15; Belgium, 32, etc. Massachusetts adopted them as State institutions because many of the best friends of public education believed that something of the kind was needed to infuse new life and vigor into our common schools, - thus recognizing the central principle of the Prussian system, "as is the teacher, so is the school;" and that as competent teachers cannot have bad schools, the incompetent cannot have good ones.

2 Coleridge says to the teacher, " Love, hope, and patience, - these must be thy graces, and in thine own heart let them first keep school." made by a special vote of the committee in charge, and must be recommended for admission by the master or committee of the last school they at¬ tended. Those who have completed the fourth year of the High School course are admitted without examination. Other candidates must show to the head-master, both by examination and recommendation, that they are qualified. All pupils are put on probation for six months ; if proved unsuitable in the opinion of the super¬ visors and head-master, they are discharged. Of the one hundred and two who entered last year, only fifty-eight graduated. When teachers are to be employed in the public schools, graduates of this school have the preference, other things being equal. It numbers among its graduates of the past six years more than two hundred of the

At the time of the establishment of our High School for boys, there seemed to be no thought of a similar one for girls. The customs of our ancestors had not taught us the justice or the wisdom of giving equal ad¬ vantages in education to both sexes. Even in the grammar schools our girls were for many years (1784-1828) kept in the background and al¬ lowed but half the time given to boys. The first high school for girls was begun in 1825, not, however, without great opposition. Popular feeling was clearly against such- an institution, and it was only at the earnest request of some of our most prominent and influential citizens that the " experi¬ ment," for so its opponents chose to call it, was made. Ebenezer Bailey, an experienced and successful teacher, was elected principal, with the un¬ derstanding that the school should be on the monitorial system, the studies to be such as are usually required in such institutions. The number of applicants for admission was very large, of whom one hundred and thirtyfive were accepted. The experience of the first year was so satisfactory that the " experiment " was continued until 1827, when the committee be¬ came alarmed at the prospective expense of the annually increasing number of scholars, and abandoned what promised to be of great benefit to the educational interests of our citizens. None of its opponents claimed that it had not fully answered their expectations. Apparently, indeed, it was discontinued for the singular reason that it had been too successful, its popularity having been so great that all classes of our citizens were seek¬ ing the advantages it offered for their daughters. What in these days would be considered a good reason for sustaining such an institution was then considered sufficient for closing it.1

The origin of the present High School for girls has already been told in our account of the Normal School. It began its life under good auspices, and from first to last has had the confidence and approval of those most competent to judge of its merits. Apparently the prejudice against this class of schools no longer exists.2

Primarily as an aid to health, but incidentally as of value in the art of oral reading, vocal culture has been introduced in connection with the reg¬ ular calisthenic exercises in every class. To facilitate and encourage an acquaintance with the best literature, to promote skill in reading aloud, and to familiarize the older students with the rules and usages of parliamentary assemblies, a literary society has been formed from members of the ad¬ vanced class, its work being incorporated with that of the school. At its weekly meetings every member, except the officers, must be prepared to read selected passages from a prominent author, designated by the society's vote several weeks previously. From these and other works of the author

Boston teachers, - more than one sixth of all the teachers in the service of the city, - while the relative proportion of Normal graduates ap¬ pointed is constantly increasing.

2 Candidates for admission must be at least fourteen years of age. The course of study is arranged for two years, those who have com¬ pleted it being allowed to continue their studies two years in an advanced class. The sessions are from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

pieces are selected by the executive committee, to be read with appropriate essays in presence of the whole school once in two weeks, by good readers appointed from every class by the president in concurrence with the class teachers.

Great stress is laid upon the training to secure physical strength and grace, and the rule is rigidly enforced requiring the whole of the mental work to be completed as a condition of promotion or graduation. To make the office of instruction more pleasant and effective, effort has been made to assign to every teacher her favorite branch, and so far as possible to reduce to one or two the number of studies taught by each. The instruction is therefore nearly departmental.1 The building which the school occupies is remarkably well adapted to its purposes. The capacity is for one thou¬ sand two hundred and twenty-five pupils. In the hall are arranged a valuable collection of casts, as a simple but efficient means of introducing an aesthetic element into our educational system.2

The Girl's High School is one of our most successful institutions, pop¬ ular among our citizens, and always making a favorable impression upon the many foreigners who visit our city.

1 The school is in charge of a head-master, a junior master, and as many assistants (ladies) as circumstances may require, allowing one teacher to every thirty-five scholars. Regular meetings of the teachers are held, at which methods of instruction and kindred topics are discussed. The head-master of the school is Homer B. Sprague, Ph.D., a graduate of Yale College. He is assisted at present by a corps of twenty-two teachers.

of members of the American Social Science As¬ sociation and others, through the influence of Charles C. Perkins, Esq., whose interest and efficient aid in the improvement of our schools have been so often shown. The following is a list of the casts: i. Frieze of the Parthenon (British Museum). From models by Phidias and his pupils. The date is about 435 B.c. It rep¬ resents the great procession on the last day of the national festival called Panathenaea. 2. Caryatid (British Museum). One of six fig¬ ures supporting the southern portico of the Erechtheum on the Acropolis at Athens, and brought thence to England by Lord Elgin in 1814. 3. Diana (Louvre). Known as Diana of

Gabii, because discovered in the ruins of that city near Rome, in the year 1792. Also called Atalanta. 4. Venus (Louvre). Called of Milo (the ancient Melos), where it was found in 1820. 5. Polymnia (Louvre). Found in Italy, and re¬ stored at Rome by a sculptor of that city, near the beginning of the present century. 6. Pudi- Citia (Vatican). Found in the Villa Mattei at Rome. Also called the Tragic Muse, and sup¬ posed to be a portrait of the Empress Li via.

7. Amazon (Capitoline Museum). Found in the Villa Mattei. 8. Genius of the Vatican. Found near Rome about a century ago. Thought by some to be a Cupid, and a copy of a cele¬ brated work by Praxiteles; by others the Genius of Death, as frequently figured on Roman sarco¬ phagi. 9. Psyche (Naples Museum). Found in the amphitheatre at Capua. 10. Demos¬ thenes (Vatican). 11. Bone-Player (Berlin Museum). The following are busts : 12. Apollo (Archaic; British Museum). 13. Apollo (Pourtales; British Museum). 14. Zeus Trophonius (Louvre). 15. Jupiter (Vatican). Found at Otricoli, about forty miles from Rome. Of all known heads of the god this is considered the most Phidian in type. 16. Juno (Villa Ludovisi, Rome). This head probably formed part of a colossal statue, the work of a Greek sculptor, in the fourth century B.c. 17. Pallas (Louvre). Styled of Velletri, because the statue to which this belongs was found there in 1797. 18. Bac¬ chus (Young; Capitoline). 19. /Esculapius (British Museum). Found in the Island of Milo in 1828, and supposed to have been executed about 300 B.C. 20. Homer (Capitoline). 21. Pericles (Vatican). 22. Augustus (Young; Vatican). The frieze of the Parthenon was the gift of James M. Barnard, who was the first to propose this appropriate decoration, and by his sympathy and enthusiasm encouraged it at every step. The original, executed in marble by Phidias and his pupils 435 B.c., was a band en¬ circling the body of the Parthenon, and was elevated about thirty feet from the ground. At the school its position is reversed, and it en¬ circles the inside of the hall.

There is no other large city where the children of all classes, in respect to social condition, are so generally educated in public schools.1

Early in the year 1877 a number of ladies, interested in the success of the young women pursuing their studies in Boston University, met at the house of Mrs. William Claflin, to organize a society, now known as the Massa¬ chusetts Society for the University Education of Women. After many in¬ teresting addresses had been made, the subject of the preliminary training of girls for college was presented by Mrs. Henry F. Durant, who urged that a reformation be begun at once, and in the city of Boston ; that the Pub¬ lic Latin School should be open to girls ; that to withhold these privileges from their parents, taxpayers in this city, was a legal and a moral wrong. Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody, whose interest in public education has been shown in many ways,2 advocated with earnestness the claims of our girls for classical education; remarking that they had been excluded from the High Schools until 1852, and were still excluded from the only public Latin School. Mrs. I. Tisdale Talbot, Mrs. James T. Fields, and Miss Florence M. Cushing were appointed a committee to bring the subject before the city authorities. In doing so they had the valuable aid of James Freeman Clarke, D.D., John D. Runkle, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Robert D. Smith, Esq. The committee based their claim that the girls should share with the boys the privileges of the Latin School upon the traditions and statutes of the Commonwealth, which have always, by general orders or special enactments, provided for public instruction in Latin and Greek, in such terms as the following: "to instruct all children; " "to in¬ struct youth so far that they may be fitted for the University; " " a school shall be sustained for the benefit of all the inhabitants, for which a teacher shall be hired to give instruction in Latin and Greek." The committee stated that the only limit, from the year 1647 to 1 §77^ to the benefits of this free instruction in the classics was that of population. The general public being in ignorance of these laws, the committee took pains through the press to state the facts, and, by showing the ordinances and statutes as well as by discussion, created such an interest that the newspapers, with hardly an exception, made common cause with this little knot of energetic parents and friends of equal rights. A petition, asking that girls might be admitted to the public Latin School, was circulated, and received many thousand sig¬ natures. This petition was presented to the School Board, and by them re-

1 The late Superintendent of Schools, John D. Philbrick, in one of his reports says : " When Lady Amberly, a most intelligent and accom¬ plished woman, who belonged to a high rank in the English aristocracy, visited our Girls' High School, she was struck with the fine appearance of the pupils, not physically, but intellectually; and in respect to their lady-like carriage and air of good breeding, she inquired if they were not all from the "more wealthy classes. The head¬ master told her that the poor and well-to-do were alike represented ; and pointing to two pupils promenading together, said : ' One of those girls is the daughter of a merchant, and the other of a working-man.' She replied, ' I really see no dif¬ ference in their appearance.' Before leaving she got the assent of her reticent husband, the son of Lord John Russell, to her idea that if they had a daughter, that school would be the best place for her education." This feature in our school system has been often favorably noticed.

ferred to the Committee on High Schools. Before reaching any decision, that committee held public meetings, and the subject was discussed by many of our most influential citizens. It was shown that while Boston had offered the most ample facilities for the preparation of boys for college, nothing had been done for our girls who desired the classical training required by colleges open to women. This was admitted to be a discrimination against one sex as unwise as it was unjust. In the discussion, which represented the opinions of many eminent professional men, no opposition was made to the preparation of girls for college; but there was great difference of opinion in regard to the expediency of their becoming members of the existing pre¬ paratory school. Superintendent J. D. Philbrick and others opposed it with great earnestness, and advocated the establishment of a distinct school.

The final decision of the committee was to institute a Girls' Latin School, under the direction of a principal having the rank of master, with as many assistants as the exigencies of the school might require. In January, 1878, Mr. John Tetlow, A. M., a graduate of Brown University, an eminent scholar and teacher, was elected principal.1 Public opinion sustained the action of the School Board in establishing this institution, probably the only one of the kind in New England. As the so-called "Annex" at Cambridge, an organization established for the collegiate education of women, had adopted the same requisitions for admission that are established at Harvard Univer¬ sity, it was found practicable to arrange, on the basis of these requisitions, a six years' course of study which should be equally well adapted to both public Latin Schools. Accordingly, the Boys' Latin School and the Girls' Latin School have now the same standard of admission, the same course of study, and the same diploma examination as a test of fitness for collegi¬ ate instruction.

At the first examination for admission there were forty-one applicants, of whom thirty-one were accepted. About three fourths of these evidently came with an earnest desire to secure the best and speediest preparation possible for college. The remaining one fourth were probably attracted by the novelty of the experiment, or came because they were for some reason dissatisfied with their surroundings in the schools with which they had been previously connected. All, however, brought from their parents certifi¬ cates declaring that they intended to enter some college after completing the established course of study here. In 1880 the number of applicants for admission was eighty-four, of whom sixty were accepted. The whole number now in the school is one hundred and forty-eight, and the average attendance has been one hundred and forty-five.2 The school, therefore,

1 On the 1 2th of the following month the 2 In less than three years, therefore, from school was opened for regular class instruction, the organization of this school, the number of Brief addresses were made by Honorable Charles pupils had increased from thirtv-one to one L. Flint, chairman, and Miss Abby W. May, sec- hundred and forty-eight, notwithstanding the retary of the High School committee ; by Miss fact that from one fourth to one third of the Lucretia Crocker, of the Board of Supervisors ; applicants at successive examinations had been and by the Principal of the school. rejected.

may be fairly said to have passed beyond the stage of experiment, and to have become a recognized part of the Boston school system. It can no longer be urged that there is no demand in the community for a classical education for girls.1

The Horace Mann School for the Deaf was established in 1869 by the Boston School Committee, in co-operation with the State Board of Education, as a day-school for deaf children over five years of age. Mr. Mann, when he was secretary of that board, in one of his annual reports (1843) described the German method of teaching articulation to the deaf, and urged its adoption in this country. Dr. Samuel G. Howe, when ad¬ dressing a committee of the State Legislature, said it took twenty years for this suggestion to bear fruit ; but its importance is now universally admitted, and it seems eminently fitting to associate with this school, sus¬ tained in part by State funds, the name it now bears, since it is included in the public educational system of Massachusetts for the improvement of which Horace Mann labored so earnestly.2 The school is designed to give an elementary English education ; but as a preparation for this it must first impart the meaning and use of ordinary language. It aims to teach all its pupils to speak, and read the speech of others from their lips.3 Deaf children are able to pursue a course of study similar to that prescribed for our public schools ; but the starting point is different and the progress necessarily slow, as the deaf child must spend five or six years in acquiring much that the hearing child learns without effort before leaving the nursery. The mental powers of the deaf are developed by the same methods that are successful in the education of those who can hear. That dumbness is natu¬ rally attendant upon deafness is a fallacy happily disappearing. Sewing is the only branch of industrial training taught in the school ; but the princi¬ pal, Miss Sarah Fuller, interests herself in obtaining for her pupils, out of school hours, opportunities for that practical training which shall prepare them for the varied duties of life.4

1 The last graduating class contained six members, all o£ whom entered Smith College. A letter from President Seelye, after speaking in complimentary terms of all the class, says that one of them had taken the prize of two hundred dollars, awarded to the student who was best prepared for college. The number admitted to Smith College this year was about seventy.

2 [A statue of Horace Mann, moulded by Emma Stebbins, and paid for by subscriptions among the teachers and school children of the State, stands in the State House grounds. Horace Mann was born in 1796, and died in 1S59. His life has been written by Mary Mann, his widow. He became a resident of Boston in 1836. - Ed.]

tion teachers ; and three - the Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes of New York, the Clarke Institution for Deaf-Mutes at Northampton, Massachusetts, and the Horace Mann School for the Deaf (formerly the Boston Day School for Deaf-Mutes) - make articula¬ tion a specialty. The schools in our country are not limited to either system, but endeavor to take advantage of both.

4 I11 March, 1880, six girls entered a class at the Boston Cooking School for a course of twelve lessons. With some assistance from one of their teachers, who always accompanied them, these girls were able to understand and to follow the directions given as intelligently as the other members of the class. The school is allowed a principal and as many assistants as may be re¬ quired, not exceeding one teacher for every ten scholars.

At the close of the school year of 1880 there were seventy-nine pupils, - forty-six girls and thirty-three boys. Of this number twenty were from towns in the vicinity of Boston, and three from other States. There is a corps of nine teachers.2

The Eliot School in Jamaica Plain is an endowed institution, free for children residing there.3 The first donation " for the use of a school only to the inhabitants of Jamaica" came from John Ruggles, who gave that tri¬ angular piece of land on which the soldiers' monument now stands.4 The deed of conveyance is dated Oct. 16, 1676. Early in the same year Hugh Thomas and Clement his wife proposed to the people at the Jamaica end of the town to make over to them their house, orchard, home-lot, and nightpasture, provided they would agree to take care of and provide for them, in sickness and health, during their lives, and decently inter them after their death. This proposition was accepted, and the property conveyed to John Weld, Edward Morris, and John Watson as trustees. The agreement was signed by twenty-five inhabitants, and the said Thomas conveyed all his real estate by deed, dated April 7, 1677, and by assignment all the real estate of his nephew, John Roberts, which was conveyed to him by the will of said Roberts a short time previous; also by another assignment, in 1681, all his bills, bonds, legacies, etc.

1 " The Governor, with the approval of the Board of Education, is hereby authorized to send such deaf-mutes or deaf children as he may deem fit subjects for instruction, at the expense of the Commonwealth, to the American Asylum at Hartford, to the Clarke Institution for Deaf- Mutes at Northampton [or any other school for deaf-mutes in this Commonwealth], as the par¬ ents or guardians may prefer."

2 "The National Deaf-Mute College at Wash¬ ington is doing excellent work in all its depart¬ ments. It has already furnished well-trained deaf-mutes to several of the State institutions, in which elementary and secondary instruction is given. This co-ordination in the responsibility of deaf-mute instruction is having a beneficial ef¬ fect upon the several institutions engaged in the work." - Report of Commissioner of Education, published in 1879.

" Having by sad experience been sensible of the great damage in education, or rather in the want of the means of education, of children oc¬ casioned by the remoteness of our habitations from the school at town, and also by the experi¬ ence of a year's trial, having been somewhat in¬ formed what a great blessing a school among ourselves may be to us and to our posterity, as it has made us to thirst after it, so also, according to our poor abilities, it hath caused us to en¬ deavor the attainment of the same. To which end, we whose names are underwritten do ob¬ lige ourselves and our estates for the annual pay¬ ment of our respective subscriptions for the space of twelve years from the date of these presents, for the procurement and payment of a master that shall undertake said work, and teach all such children as shall be sent unto him by the subscribers. And the values of our subscriptions are to be discharged, for the use of said master, at or before the 25th day of March yearly; and the place where the school is agreed upon to be kept is between William Davis's and Nathaniel Gane's.

"To the performance of every and particular premises before named we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors, and administrators, subscribing our names this second day of October, 1676.

This subscription was signed by thirty-Hght of the inhabitants. The highest sum subscribed by an individual was one pound, the lowest two shillings, and the whole amount was £ 14 iu.

pounds, and Mrs. Mead seven pounds, in money, for the " Jamaica or Pond School." On July 10, 1689, Rev. John Eliot conveyed by deed about seventyfive acres of land to John Weld, John Gore, John Watson, and Samuel Gore, and to their heirs successively forever, in trusfi, " for the maintenance, sup¬ port, and encouragement of a school, and school-master, at that part of said Roxbury commonly called Jamaica, or Pond Plain, for the teaching and instructing of the children of that end of the town (together with such negroes or Indians1 as may or shall come to said school), and to no other use, intent, or purpose, under any color or pretence whatever."

In 1727 Joseph Weld, the only survivor of this body of men (which, according to Mr. Eliot, was to last forever), petitioned the Legislature to appoint three other persons as trustees, with power to fill vacancies. The petition was granted, and Nathaniel Brewer, Jr., Caleb Stedman, and John Weld were joined with the memorialist as trustees. In this appointment an unwise condition was made, by which each piece of property was placed under special members of the board. This in course of time produced so much embarrassment, that in 1804 an act was passed incorporating seven men trustees of the Eliot school, with power to fill vacancies by the election of freeholders in that section of the town. In 1818 Mrs. Abigail Brewer bequeathed to the trustees sixteen acres of land adjoining the estate of the late Dr. John Warren, the income to be applied for the instruction of girls, children of the inhabitants of the third parish in Roxbury. In 1831 the trustees erected the brick school-house on Eliot Street, which would accom¬ modate two hundred pupils. The upper room was occupied by a primary school, supported by the town. The grammar department was taught in the lower room, and was entirely under the control of the trustees.

From March 31, 1834, to 1842, the trustees and school committee had a united supervision of the Eliot school. More recently a proposition was made to place the girls in one building under the supervision of the trustees, and the boys in another under that of the town. This proposition was accepted. Previous to this time the income of the Eliot fund had been applied to the education of children in the common English studies. The sale of some lands having increased the income considerably, the Eliot school became a high school in connection with the Roxbury city schools. After the annexation of West Roxbury to Boston, the trustees dissolved their connection with the city, and re-opened the school on Eliot Street, where it was formerly taught. It is still substantially a high school, with an elementary department, free for both sexes, and under the control of the trustees exclusively. The head-master is D. S. Smalley.

Five years after the settlement of Charlestown, it would appear from the employment of Mr. William Withered,2 that a public school - and, judging

1 [Various papers touching the education of Propagation of the Gospel in New England," in the Indians will be found in a transcript from Harvard College Library. - Ed.] manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, entitled11 Pa- 2 [See Vol. I. p. 397. Oldmixon, in his history, from the salary, a free school at least for a "twelve-month" - was established there on the principle of voluntary taxation, being eleven years prior to the law of Massachusetts compelling towns to maintain schools. The General Court, Sept. 8, 1636, granted Lovell's Island to the town, "provided they employ it for fishing by their own townsmen, or hinder not others." This island was rented, and the income applied to the support of the school. Jan. 20, 1647, the records say " it was agreed that a rate of fifteen pounds should be gathered of the town towards the school for this year, and the five pounds that Major Sedgwick is to pay this year (for the Island) for the school; also the town's part of the Mistick weir for the school forever." In 1661 Ezekiel Cheever took charge of the town school. Five years later he petitioned the selectmen " that they would take care that his yearly salary be paid, the constables being much behind with him." Also putting them in mind of their promise at his first coming to town, - " that no other schoolmaster should be suffered to set up in the town so long as he could teach the same. Yet Mr. Mansfield is suffered to teach and take away his scholars." There is no mention of a school-house until 1648, when one was ordered to be built on " Windmill Hill," and paid for by " a general rate."

From an order (Jan. 12, 1666,) it appears that as "many of our youths were guilty of rude and irreverent carriage in the times of the public ordi¬ nances of praying and preaching on the Lord's Day," it was commanded to all the inhabitants to further their cheerful endeavors by sitting in turn be¬ fore the youths' pew during the morning and evening exercise; and " it is our joint expectation, that all youths under fifteen years of age, unless on grounded exception by us, do constantly sit in some one of those three pews made purposely for them, except Mr. Cheever's scholars, who are re¬ quired to sit orderly and constantly in the pews appointed to them to¬ gether." In 1671 Benjamin Thompson, a celebrated teacher, was engaged to keep the Town School.1 He retained the charge of the Charlestown school until Nov. 7, 1674, when the selectmen gave " Mr. Samuel Phipps of this town a call to the work," and of the events of his day some record has been made in another chapter.2

The Industrial School for Girls, now established in Dorchester,3 was opened in 1853. Its object was to remove from their miserable homes children whose circumstances surrounded them with temptations, and whose education furnished them with no means of resistance; to train them to good personal habits; to instruct them in household labor; and to exert a annum by the town, and receive twenty shillings 4. That there shall be half a year's mutual a year from each particular scholar that he shall notice by him and the town, before any change teach, to be paid by those who send children to or remove on either side.

moral influence and discipline over them which should fit them to be faith¬ ful and efficient in domestic service, or any other probable mode of gain¬ ing their own livelihood. It is an incorporated institution, Miss Annette P. Rogers being its President, and Mrs. Theodore Lyman, Vice-President. We have many institutions strongly armed and appointed for the punish¬ ment of evil doers. The object of this school is to prevent evil; to cut off some of the sources of our jails and houses of correction ; to apply preven¬ tion to evils of which the cure remains among the problems still unsolved.1 Two hundred and five girls have been admitted since the beginning of the school. The number may appear small, but it must be remembered that this is not a temporary home, but one in which a girl's stay is from one to eight years ; and as the house accommodates but thirty, the number of those admitted must depend on the number sent out, and that on the ability of the girls to earn their own living, or the capacity of relatives to provide homes for them. The Industrial School is supported by voluntary contribution. According to the last printed report there were one hundred and ninety contributors.

In addition to the educational institutions before mentioned, the city sus¬ tains many special schools. Of these there are eleven elementary evening schools, an evening high school, four evening drawing schools, and two schools for licensed minors.2

An absurd charge is sometimes raised against our public schools that they are " godless and immoral." The charge comes mainly from those who think that religion should be taught in them, meaning too often re¬ ligion as viewed through their denominational spectacles. They would have sectarian instruction, which very wisely is forbidden. In the early days of the colony, when the people were of one faith in religious affairs, they did not hesitate to teach that faith in the schools and colleges ; but the rapid growth of the Catholics since that time has been accompanied by strong protests against the prevalence of Protestant instruction, and unquestionably the tendency is now to exclude from the schools all religious teaching. In¬ deed, so much in earnest are we in this matter that many of our most influ¬ ential citizens are opposed even to the reading of the Bible in our schools,

1 " On the ground of prevention," says the last report, " we rest our claim to public favor and support. Help us that we may extinguish the sparks which surely kindle a flaming ruin ! Money brings more than money's worth when it is made definitely serviceable to purifying and strengthening a child's character, and educating the probable outcast into an upright and indus¬ trious woman."

- For some of these there is no express le¬ gal provision, but it has been well established that a municipality may go beyond the require¬ ments of the law in making provisions for schools, and that the legal power is not restricted by the legal obligation. Horace Mann says : "It is now decided by the highest judicial tribunal in the Commonwealth, that the statute only expresses the minimum of time and of quality below which the schools shall never be suffered to fall ; but that it allows any town to rise as high above this lowest limit as, in its discretion, fairly and honestly exercised, it may deem best. This con¬ clusion was deemed to be a fair inference from the language of the law, confirmed by long usage, and demanded by the necessities of a Republican government."

But are the results of our free-school instruction " godless and immoral"? Recent statistics taken in Massachusetts show that eighty per cent of its crime is committed by those who have had no education, or a very imper¬ fect one; that a still larger proportion have learned no trade; and that nearly seventy-five per cent of its criminals are of foreign birth. Intemper¬ ance, the natural resource of ignorance, is the parent of the greater part of this crime, and ninety-five per cent of it is hereditary from homes of vice and ignorance.

In our common schools there are no class distinctions, ecclesiastical con¬ trol, or social limitations. The pupils come from the humblest, as well as from the most refined and wealthy families. We see the influence of these schools in all our social system. It teaches equality and republican prin¬ ciples ; it creates the reading public ; it has produced a throng of readers such as was never known before, - countless and never satisfied. Of the 1,200,000 books taken from our Public Library in 1880, three fourths were taken by children of our public schools.1 The trustees of this institution have printed six broadsides, headed " Lists of Books prepared for the use of Pupils in the Public Schools," and have supplied these in sufficient quantity to furnish each high and grammar class-room with a set. Dr. Samuel Eliot, late Superintendent of our Public Schools, says in one of his admirable reports: -

" These books range from stories for the very young up to works of literature, science, and art for advanced pupils, and the teachers generally. Here we have reading in abundance ; we know what to read and where to find it. The library stands ready to supply it to any reasonable extent, not only at the central building, but at the branches, and therefore within easy reach of all the schools. More beneficent service could not be rendered to public education. ' It will give breadth to our studies, impulse to our students, and fill in the outlines of our whole system with living spirit. We have been walking, as it were, between walls which limited the view before us to a point, and shut out that on either side altogether. Now the path opens, and the prospect widens, and we see the land about us and the sky above us ; for we are under the guidance not of a few half-blind text books, but of the open-eyed master-

1 This is the estimate of the librarian. The average monthly circulation of books from the Boston Public Library is one hundred and three thousand volumes, and six hundred peri¬ odicals. In this estimate is not included the very large number consulted or read at the li¬ brary, which averages one thousand per month.

The periodicals printed in the United States nearly equal those of all the rest of the educated world. In 1870 it was estimated that seven thousand six hundred and forty-two were pub¬ lished in Europe, Asia, and Africa; in our coun¬ try, five thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.

Since that time our publications have increased nearly to an equality with those of all the world besides; and our forty-five millions of people read as much, perhaps, as all the rest of the hundreds of millions upon the globe. It is estimated that the number of copies of newspa¬ pers and periodicals printed in Great Britain in 1870 was 350,000,000, and an equal number in France. The census returns show' that in the same year 1,500,000,000 copies were printed in the United States. This shows how closely the progress of a demand for newspapers is con¬ nected with the advance of the common schools.

In the preceding pages we have endeavored to give some account of the rise and progress of the free schools of Boston.1 All of them, excepting the Roxbury Latin School, the Eliot School at Jamaica Plain, and the In¬ dustrial School for girls in Dorchester, are under the control of our school committee. We now propose to give brief sketches of other educational institutions, which, though not schools, contribute largely to the intellectual growth of our community. Some of them bear a State or national name, but they are all identified with Boston. They were founded in that city; their officers, members, libraries, places of meeting, etc. are all there.

American Academy of Arts and Sciences. - This institution, although bearing a national name, is essentially a Boston one. The objects contemplated in founding it were, as stated in the act of incorporation, May 4, 1 780, " to promote and encourage a knowl¬ edge of the antiquities of America, and of the natural history of the country ; to deter¬ mine the uses to which its various natural productions may be applied ; to promote and encourage medical discoveries, mathematical disquisitions, philosophical inquiries and experiments ; astronomical, meteorological, and geographical observations ; and im¬ provements in agriculture, arts, manufactures, and commerce." These subjects cover a wide field. How successfully it has been occupied may be seen in the elaborate and stately volumes published by the Academy. These furnish valuable contributions to science and art from the most eminent scholars of our time.

In the list of incorporated members we find the honored names of Adams (Samuel and John), Bowdoin, Chauncy, Cushing, Dalton, Dana, Gardner, Hancock, Holyoke, Jackson, Warren, Wiggles worth, Willard, and Winthrop. The Academy had a distin¬ guished origin, and has sustained and still holds an eminent position among the learned societies of the world. It is favorably known among its peers, if less known in the city and community in which its quiet operations have been carried on. It has promoted investigation ; it has published at its own expense nearly thirty volumes of Memoirs and Proceedings, and most of its publications are original contributions to science in the broadest sense, and to the liberal and useful arts. Increasing its activity with the increase of scientific men and earnest students in this vicinity, its published results have become more and more numerous, as well as more valuable ; and for several years past it has brought out a yearly volume of researches.

Among the past Presidents of the Academy, we find such men as Governor Bow¬ doin ; John and John Quincy Adams; Edward Holyoke, the eminent physician and surgeon ; Nathaniel Bowditch, known to science by his translation of the Mechanique Celeste of La Place ; James Jackson* whom Thomas Fuller might have taken as a pattern in his portrait of the beloved physician; John Pickering, one of the chief founders of American comparative philology; Jacob Bigelow, whose medical wisdom and genial wit none who knew him can forget ; Asa Gray, the eminent botanist ; and Charles Francis Adams, the third representative of a family whose name will always be associ¬ ated with our national history. The Academy is the administrator of a responsible trust, founded by Count Rumford,1 for the advancement of the knowledge of light and heat, and of their practical applications. It has also accumulated a library of special richness in the departments of physics, chemistry, technology, and mathe¬ matics, and in the transactions of the learned societies with which it corresponds. It is the oldest institution of the kind in America, excepting the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia. That was initiated by Franklin and others before the be¬ ginning of the war for Independence ; this was inaugurated before the close of that war. The centennial anniversary of the Academy, in May of last year, was a memor¬ able occasion ; delegates from the most distinguished societies in Europe and America were present, and among them many whose fame is limited only by civilization. The Hon. Robert C. Winthrop presided at the exercises, held in the Old South Church. Said Mr. Winthrop, referring to Franklin's baptism in this church : -

"Where else so appropriately could American art and science repair for the celebra¬ tion of their own birth, their own small beginnings, their own infant lispings, as to the cradle and the christening font of our great Bostonian ? If indeed, my friends, we had a second day to spare for our celebration, it might well be occupied in an excursion to the birthplace and early home of another Massachusetts Benjamin, - Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, the great benefactor of this Academy and the founder of the Royal In¬ stitution in London, - such an excursion as Tyndall took pains to make a few years ago,

1 Among its recent publications we find the Rlemoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson , Count Rum- Complete Works of Count Rumford, 8°., 1870, ed- ford, with Notices of his Daughter, by George E. ited by a committee of the Academy; also a Ellis, 8°., 1871.

in token of his reverence for the memory of the great American philosopher of light and heat. . . . Could the founders of this Academy even now look down from the skies, as we may hope they may be permitted to look down to-day, upon our own little State of Massa¬ chusetts and our own little city of Boston, with what rapture would they behold, encircling this Academy as their original nucleus, their primal nebula, if I may so speak, a Natural History Society, with its manifold and growing collections and cabinets ; a Technological Institute, with its admirable curriculum of scientific education; a splendid Museum of the Fine Arts ; an Observatory, with its comet seekers and transit instruments, and with its noble refractor ; the chemical laboratory of Professor Cooke ; the garden and herbarium of our great botanist, Dr. Gray; the magnificent Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology, where an accomplished son is so nobly carrying on the cherished work of his ever-honored and lamented father; and, close at its side, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and all our thriving associations of horticulture and agricul¬ ture; and, better than all, the hosts of busy and devoted students in these and other institutions, who are engaged, day by day and night by night, in searching out the mysteries of Nature, and extorting from her so many of the secrets which have been hid from all human eyes and all human conceptions from the foundation of the world ! They would be convinced that there was, indeed, such a process as Evolution, though I think they would be content, as some of their descendants still are, to call it by the good old-fashioned name of developvient. They would certainly concur in the idea that their little Academy had furnished, or fallen upon, a plentiful supply of protoplasm, though I have great faith that they would cling tenaciously to the simpler and more euphonious word - germ."

The present officers of the Academy are: Joseph Lovering, LL.D., President; Oliver Wendell Holmes, M. D., LL.D., Vice-President ; Josiah Parsons Cooke, A. M., Corresponding Secretary; John Trowbridge, S.D., Recording Secretary; Theodore Lyman, S.B., Treasurer ; Samuel Hubbard Scudder, A.M., Librarian.

Lowell Institute. - For the foundation of this beneficent institution, which for forty years has contributed so largely to our intellectual progress and gratification, Boston is indebted to John Lowell, Jr., son of Francis C. Lowell, from whom our great manufacturing city takes its name. He was a gentleman of refined taste, ex¬ tensive reading, and in scholarship far above the common standard. He belonged to a family whose members for more than a century have been among the most honored in our community.1 The state of his health and a passionate fondness for travelling induced him to spend many years abroad, and to visit the most distant parts of the world. Before leaving this country he executed a will, by which he left one half of his property to found and sustain courses of free lectures on specified subjects, to be de¬ livered in Boston, his native city. In the ancient city of Thebes he wrote a supple¬ mentary codicil, giving more definite instructions for the successful accomplishment of the object contemplated in his will. By these instructions his kinsman, John Amory Lowell, a gentleman widely known and honored, was appointed sole trustee of the property bequeathed, amounting to nearly a quarter of a million dollars.'2

2 This was a sum larger than was ever given in this country for the endowment of a literary institution, with the single exception of Mr. Girard's bequest to the city of Philadelphia. Within one year after assuming the office as¬ signed to him, the trustee was expected to file a sealed paper in the archives of the Boston Athenaeum, in which he should state his suc¬ cessor in the trust, and, while this appointment might be changed, some name unknown to all but the trustee in charge must always be so deposited. The trustee so appointed must be a lineal descendant of the Lowell family, and

Two courses of lectures were contemplated, - the first to be absolutely free to all cleanly-dressed and well-behaved persons, upon subjects relating to natural and re¬ vealed religion, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, geology, mineralogy, philology, literature, and eloquence ; the second relating to more erudite and particular subjects, and to which an admission fee " no more than the value of two bushels of wheat " should be charged, though from this last course even no person should be excluded on account of poverty. The following, among other instructions, are transmitted by Mr. Lowell, to his trustee. They are characteristic of the writer's wisdom and philanthropy : -

" As the most certain and the most important part of true philosophy appears to me to be that which shows the connection between God's revelations and the knowledge of good and evil implanted by him in our nature, I wish a course of lectures to be given on natural religion, showing its conformity to that of our Saviour.

" For the more perfect demonstration of the truth of those moral and religious pre¬ cepts by which alone, as 1 believe, men can be secure of happiness in this world and that to come, I wish a course of lectures to be delivered on the historical and internal evidences in favor of Christianity. I wish all disputed points of faith and ceremony to be avoided, and the attention of the lecturers to be directed to the moral doctrines of the gospel, stating their opinions, but not engaging in controversy, even on the subject of the penalty for disobedience.

"As the prosperity of my native land, New England, which is sterile and unproduc¬ tive, must depend hereafter, as it has heretofore depended, first on the moral qualities, and second on the intelligence and information of its inhabitants, I am desirous of trying to contribute towards this second object also ; and I wish courses of lectures to be estab¬ lished on physics and chemistry, with their application to the arts ; also on botany, zoology, geology, and mineralogy, connected with their. public utility to man.

" After the establishment of these courses of lectures, should disposable funds remain, or in process of time be accumulated, the trustee may obtain courses of lectures to be delivered on the literature and eloquence of our language, and even on those of foreign nations, if he see fit. He may also, from time to time, establish lectures on any subject that in his opinion the wants and tastes of the age may demand.

"As infidel opinions appear to me injurious to society, and easily to insinuate them¬ selves into a man's dissertations on any subject, however remote from religion, no man ought to be appointed a lecturer who is not willing to declare, and who does not previously declare, his belief in the divine revelation of the Old and New Testaments, leaving the interpretation thereof to his own conscience."

For forty years the provisions of this admirable will have been faithfully adhered to. Annually there have been courses of lectures by the most distinguished writers and thinkers in Europe and this country. The great interest they have excited has been shown in the throngs that have constantly applied for tickets of admission to the different courses, the number of applicants being always far beyond the capacity of any hall to accommodate them.1 of that name, if such there be who is compe¬ tent. Once each year the accounts are to be exposed to the Trustees of the Boston Athenae¬ um, they, however, having no authority over such accounts beyond this single one of viewing them. None of the bequest is to be used for buildings, though, if necessary, it may be used for adapting buildings rented for the use of the trust. Ten per cent of the accumulation of the fund is to be annually set aside as an addition to it. Not only the property, but also the selec¬ tion of lecturers, is entirely under the control of the trustee, and his judgment is final in re¬ gard to both.

1 Among the lecturers have been such men as Agassiz, Silliman, Sir Charles Lyell, Tyndall, Palfrey, Guyot, and Marsh, on their several spe¬ cialties ; C. C. Perkins, on art ; Lowell, Whipple,

In addition to the courses of Lowell Lectures, the trustee established a system of free instruction for mechanics and artisans in the principles and art of drawing, and in such subjects as are necessarily connected therewith. Applicants were received who could give the best evidence of good moral character, general intelligence, ability, industry, and skill, as well as a taste for drawing and design. This school, which was open to both sexes, was sustained with great success for twenty-eight years.1 During that time the benefits of its instruction were seen not only in the progress of its pupils, but also in the impulse it gave to other schools which were induced to adopt its system.

John Lowell, Jr., the munificent founder of this Institute, died at Bombay, in the thirty-seventh year of his age. His noble and generous spirit will be ever held in honored remembrance by the citizens of Boston.

Boston Society of Natural History. - This institution which now holds so prominent a place among the scientific associations of our city was organized in 1830.2 One of the original members, recalling in after years the success of the undertaking, says : -

"At the time of the establishment of the Society, there was not in New England an in¬ stitution devoted to the study of natural history. There was not a college in New England, excepting Yale, where philosophical geology of the modern school was taught. There was not a work extant by a New England author, which presumed to grasp the geological struc¬ ture of any portion of our territory of greater extent than a county. There was not in existence a bare catalogue, to say nothing of a general history, of the animals of Massachu¬ setts of any class. There was not within our borders a single museum of natural history founded according to the requirements and based upon the system of modern science ; not a single journal advocating exclusively its interests. We were dependent chiefly upon books and authors foreign to New England for our knowledge of our own zoology."

No society ever began life with so inadequate pecuniary advantages ; its only in¬ come during its early years being from the annual subscriptions of its members ; but it had, what is far more important, the efficient aid of earnest and interested workers, - men, whose zealous efforts would ensure success to any enterprise. There were among them representatives of all classes, but mainly of the professional ones. Many of these devoted every hour they could spare from arduous daily duties to the collection of specimens in the various departments of natural history, and arranging them for con¬ venient study. One of the earliest acts of the Society was the institution of courses of lectures,3 a mode of communicating scientific information which soon became popular, and has been continued during the whole life of the Society. Semi-monthly meetings of the members were held, which were made interesting by the reports and illustrations given by the curators on specimens committed to them for examination. Gradually the important objects of the Society and the successful efforts of its members in

Drs. Wilder, Carl Semper, and Brown-Sequard, Boston Society of Natural History, by its Presion anatomy ; President Rogers, of the Techno- dent, Thomas T. Bouve, the writer of this logical Institute, and many others eminent in chapter is indebted for many of the facts stated literature and science. therein.

1 It wras discontinued in 1878, because the 3 Among the early lecturers were Dr. John building it had occupied was torn down, and C. Warren and Dr. Walter Channing on anproper accommodations could not be elsewhere atomy and physiology ; Dr. D. Humphreys Storer found. on fishes and reptiles.

promoting them attracted the attention of the community, and began to be fairly ap¬ preciated. Some of our wealthy citizens,1 who claimed no acquaintance with natural science, showed their interest by gifts of money.

In 1837 the Society recommended to the Legislature a resurvey of the State, and that a collection of the plants and animals should be made under the charge of the Society. This recommendation was accepted, and the geological survey committed to Professor Edward Hitchcock. A short time afterward, Professor Eben. Emmons took charge of the mammalia; Rev. William B. O. Peabody, of birds; Dr. D. Hum¬ phreys Storer, of fishes and reptiles; Dr. T. M. Harris, of insects; Dr. Augustus A. Gould, of mollusca, Crustacea, and radiata ; and Professor Chester Dewey, of herba¬ ceous plants. These reports were published in 1839-1846.

In 1837 the cabinet, which had already become valuable, was enriched by the pur¬ chase of a collection of insects made by Professor Hentz. It contained fourteen thousand one hundred and twenty-six specimens. At the annual meeting in 1837 Benjamin D. Greene, who had been the efficient president of the Society since its or¬ ganization, resigned his office. His successor was George B. Emerson, a gentleman widely known in literature and natural science. In 1840 Simon E. Greene left by his will $500, his collection of one thousand two hundred species of shells, and many desirable works on natural history. At the next annual meeting Dr. Amos Binney, Jr., offered his valuable collection of shells, upon condition that other members pos¬ sessing cabinets should allow a committee to select from them such species as would serve to complete the collection of the Society. The result was that the collection of the Society became the largest in this country. In 1842 the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists met in Boston for the first time, and held their meetings, by invitation, in the hall of the Society.2 In 1843 George B. Emerson,3 who had been the efficient president for six years, resigned, and Dr. Amos Binney was elected in his place. At this period there were in the cabinet eight hundred and twenty-five speci¬ mens in the department of ornithology ; one thousand in that of geology ; and one hundred in that of herpetology, the last being a gift from Dr. Cragin of Surinam. In 1845 a donation of $2,000 was received from John Parker, a merchant of Boston, and fifty volumes of valuable works from Dr. Francis Boot of London.

The visit of Professor Agassiz to this country, and his subsequent determination to make it his home were of great importance to students of natural history, and partic¬ ularly to the Natural History Society. He became interested in its meetings, and took an active part in its discussions. The influence of a man so conspicuous in the scien¬ tific world was everywhere felt.

In 1847 Dr. John Collins Warren was elected president. The next year the Society met in their new building on Mason Street, formerly the Medical College.4 This gave

1 In the vestibule of the Society's building may sor Benjamin Silliman ; Dr. James D. Dana; be seen a tablet with this inscription : "To Am- Professor Locke and Mr. Lyell, afterward Sir brose S. Courtis, merchant of Boston, whose Charles Lyell. The meetings were of great scigenerous bequest in 182S was for twenty-five entific importance.

years its chief support, the Boston Society of Nat- 3 [There is an excellent likeness of George ural History , on the fiftieth anniversary of its B. Emerson in the Asmiversary Memoirs of the foundation, April 28, 1880, gratefully inscribes Boston Society of Natural History, p. 236, which this tablet." contains other likenesses of its prominent offi- country were present; including Professors Wil- 4 It cost $28,600, which was paid by volunliam B. and Henry D. Rogers; Dr. Samuel G. tarv contributions, in various sums, of eighty-six to the Society new animation, which was increased by a donation of $2,000 from Jonathan Phillips of Boston. In 1850 the Honorable East-India Company presented a complete and invaluable suite of casts from the fossils of the Himalaya Mountains. In 1851 two remarkable Indian children, a boy and girl, dwarfs, were exhibited here. Having much vivacity and intelligence, they attracted crowds to see them.1 2 In 1853 a valuable collection of ornithichnites was purchased by voluntary subscription, one of them the largest slab of fossil foot-prints ever quarried. In 1856 Professor Jeffries Wyman, one of our most distinguished naturalists, was elected president.9 A bequest of Professor J. W. Bailey gave to the Society his valuable microscopical collection, and an excellent library of microscopic and botanical works. This led to the creation of a section for microscopic research. In 1857 Dr. B. D. Greene, the first president of the Society, gave to it his large and valuable herbarium, rich in specimens collected by the Exploring Expeditions of Europe and this country. This, with the bequest of Professor Bailey, increased the number of botanical specimens in the Society's collection ten-fold ; it is now one of the most extensive and valuable in the country. In i860 a bequest of $10,000 was received from the late Jonathan Phillips. During this year a course of free lectures was given by members of the Society. In 1861 the largest donation ever received from an individual was made by Dr. William J. Walker, who gave to the Society his valuable estate in Bulfinch Street. During the session of the Legislature of this year strenuous efforts were made by Professor William B. Rogers, M. Denman Ross, and other friends of the Society and of the Institute of Technology to obtain a grant of land for the use of each of those institutions. Their efforts were successful. The Legislature granted one square of land bounded by Boylston, Berkeley, Newbury, and Clarendon streets; the easterly one-third to the Boston Society of Natural History, and the remaining two-thirds to the Institute of Technology. Measures were immediately taken for the erection of a building on the acquired lot.3 * * * * * The city having purchased the estate in Mason Street, the Society removed temporarily to their building in Bulfinch Street. They left their old rooms

1 It was claimed that they belonged to a race of similar beings found in Central America. Dr. J. Mason Warren, a prominent member of the society, after careful investigation, decided that they possessed a low degree of mental and phys¬ ical organization, but were not idiots ; that they probably originated from parents belonging to the mixed Indian tribes; that they did not be¬ long to a race of dwarfs, because history shows that dwarfs cannot perpetuate their kind. These views were afterward fully corroborated.

one hundred and fourteen feet. There were also teeth, ribs, and paddles. The examination proved that the bones belonged not to one, but to many individuals of different ages, and had none of the characteristics of an ophidian reptile. As to the a camerated shell. The teeth were not those of a reptile, but of a warm-blooded mammiferous animal ; probably a cetacean. The exhibition had attracted crowds of visitors.

3 The committee in charge of this consisted of President Wyman, Professor William B. Rogers, Dr. James C. White, Dr. B. Joy Jeff¬ ries, and Thomas T. Bouve. On June 3, 1864, the new museum was dedicated with appropriate exercises. Professor William B. Rogers gave a brief history of the Society. He alluded to the fact that even while the flames of civil war were lighting the country, the Legislature granted the land asked for by the Society ; and that no one was more earnest in advocating it than Gov¬ ernor John A. Andrew. His Honor, Mayor Lin¬ coln, congratulated the members on the success of their past efforts, and bade them God-speed in the future. The Rev. Dr. R. C. Waterston gave an address on the importance of such an institution as that of the Boston Society of Natural History. Its objects, like those of the Public Library and the Institute of Technology, were essential to the higher education of the community.

with pleasant memories of the many profitable evenings spent there in listening to the discussions of Professor Agassiz, Professor William B. Rogers, and other eminent scientific men.

The accidental burning of a menagerie in the city this year was an unexpected boon to the Society, as the bones of the animals which were very valuable, and but slightly injured, came into its possession.

In 1862 the Boston Marine Society presented a valuable collection of objects in natural history, and of specimens of the workmanship of different East India and Pacific nations. The presentation of so many works of art led to the establishment of a department of ethnology, with Dr. Charles Pickering as curator. In the erection of the new building, and obtaining the additional funds necessary, the committee were greatly assisted by M. Denman Ross, whose interest in this Society and in the Institute of Technology were of great benefit to both institutions. At this time, when money seemed particularly desirable, a gentleman who would not allow his name to be known offered the sum of $ 20,000 , provided the same amount could be obtained by subscrip¬ tion. This additional sum having been easily obtained, President Wyman announced that the donor of the $ 20,000 was Dr. William J. Walker, whose liberality had given to the Society but a short time before the building they were occupying. In 1864 a bequest of $9,000 was received from the estate of Benjamin D. Greene ; and another donation of $20,000 was received from Dr. William J. Walker towards a work¬ ing fund, with the condition that the same amount should be given from other sources. This was easily obtained by subscriptions from one hundred and thirty-five persons who gave $20,705. The whole amount was to be invested in certain specified securities to form a permanent fund,1 the interest only of which could be used.

In this year, Rev. Dr. Waterston and John Cummings urged the expediency of instituting courses of lectures for the benefit of the school teachers. These were im¬ mediately begun on the most interesting departments of natural history. They were amply illustrated by specimens and diagrams. At the close of each lecture the ex¬ tensive cabinets of the Society were thrown open for inspection. All expenses were generously paid by Mr. Cummings.

On April 5, 1865, the death of Dr. Wm. J. Walker, the Society's greatest benefac¬ tor, was announced. The property he left amounted to $1,250,000. Of this he gave $200,000 to his family, $10,000 to the Redwood Library in Newport, R. I., $27,780 in various legacies, and the rest in equal divisions to the Boston Society of Natural History, Institute of Technology, Amherst College, and Tufts College. Thomas T. Bouve, treasurer of the Society, was one of the executors of his will.

In 1867 a bequest was received from Miss Sarah E. Pratt of a large collection of shells, - many of rare species, - her library of works on conchology, and the sum of $10,000 as a fund for. that department.

Among the many interesting discussions at the meetings of the Society this year was that on the introduction of the common house-sparrow of Europe. Dr. Charles Pickering maintained that nothing but evil could follow their increase ; that the habits of this bird were of the most destructive character. Dr. Thomas M. Brewer defended it, claiming that it had already accomplished much good in the destruction of insects, and cited many authors in proof of its usefulness.2

1 John A. Andrew, Samuel K. Williams, 2 Reports of this discussion may be found in Jeffries Wyman, Thomas T. Bouve, and George the eleventh volume of the Proceedings of the A. Kettell were appointed trustees of the fund. Society.

A bequest of $20,000 was received from Paschal P. Pope, a successful merchant of Boston. Among the most valuable additions to the cabinet in 1868 were a series of humming birds, over seven hundred specimens, and three hundred species ; a collection of one thousand five hundred eggs, three hundred and fifty species, - all a donation from Mrs. Henry Bryant, whose husband was for many years a prominent member of the Society. Several thousand rock and fossil specimens were given by Dr. C. T. Jackson, and a collection of skulls by Dr. J. W. Merriam.

On Sept. 14, 1869, the Society celebrated the birthday of Alexander Von Hum¬ boldt. The address at the Music Hall was by Louis Agassiz, before an immense audi¬ ence. Delegates were present from the leading literary and scientific societies in New England, and representatives from the colleges of Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, and Har¬ vard. There was an evening reception at Horticultural Hall, which was attended by a large and distinguished company.1

In 1870 Thomas T. Born e, for many years one of the most interested and efficient members of the Society, was elected its president. A letter was received from Prof. J. D. Runkle, President of the Institute of Technology, proposing a co-operation of the two institutions. An arrangement was accordingly made, which proved to be advan¬ tageous to both. The chief features of it were that the Institute should use the halls of the museum and the collections for the instruction of its students, and grant to the Society the use of Huntington Hall for lectures, etc. Through the favor of John Amory Lowell, trustee of the Lowell Institute, several courses of lectures were given from that fund, on subjects pertaining to natural history, under the auspices of the Society.

In this year John Cummings again made a donation of $500 for educational lec¬ tures to teachers. He believed that what they might learn in this way could be used with beneficial effect upon the many thousand children under their charge. The interest excited by these lectures, and the large number attending them, showed the wisdom of this movement inaugurated by Mr. Cummings. For many years the Teachers' School of Science was sustained by aid from the same liberal hand.

At the first autumnal meeting in 1874 the death of Professor Jeffries Wyman was announced. For fourteen years he was President of the Society, and, during his long connection with it, always one of the most successful contributors to its scientific re¬ searches. In the departments of Ichthyology, Herpetology, and Comparative Anatomy he had no superior.2 The announcement of his death elicited appreciative addresses on his character from Professor Gray of Harvard University and others.

The semi-centennial anniversary, on April 28, 1880, was an interesting occasion. A large audience filled every available part of the hall. On the platform were seated many of our most distinguished literary and scientific men. President Bouv£, in his introductory address, spoke of the early steps taken to inculcate a love for the study of Nature in this community, particularly dwelling upon the formation of the Linnsean Society, its history, and its decline. He then gave a brief account of the movements

1 Rev. Dr. R.C.Waterston, the originator and 2 The records show that he made one hunmost active agent in the celebration, felicitously dred and five scientific communications, several welcomed the guests. Addresses were made by of them very important papers, - every one of Prof. F. H. Hedge, R. W. Emerson, and Prof. E. some positive value. Many of these were pub- J. Young. A portrait of Humboldt was pre- lished in the Journal and Proceedings of the sented to the Society by Dr. Waterston. Society.

"Memory and imagination, those exquisite poets of the human mind, - memory that looks tenderly back over the past, and imagination that idealizes, and yet in all its mount¬ ing knows that it fails to picture or command the future, - are making this occasion not the mere boast of fifty years' success, but a tribute to what man has done, and a stimulus to what man yet a thousand times more shall do in behalf of the happiness, the delight, the knowledge, the ennobling of his fellow-men, unlocking from every nook and corner of the earth, and displaying in every form and motion of life, the beneficence of God. What a stride from those first small days, - that parlor sofa that once held you all, - those modest rooms, to this splendid temple, which I trust is to be your permanent home, where shall not only gather your rare and beautiful collections, but cluster with them also the memories of the zeal and devotion that have marked so many of your members ! The birds of Bryant, the insects of Harris, the shells of Gould, the fossils from the Sivalik Hills, the contributions of a thousand helpful hands from every quarter of the globe, suggest something more than their scientific value; for they are still alive with the gen¬ erous love of science which prompted their bestowal, and which, clinging to them still like the scent to the vase, wreathes your walls, more beautifully than the chisel of the artist, and in more enduring material, with the names and features of those of whom I have spoken; yes, and of Greene, and Wyman, and Jackson, and Greenwood, and Brewer, and a hundred others. If fifty years have wrought all this from such a slender beginning, what shall not fifty years more achieve ? Everything, indeed, for science, - everything for human knowledge."

At the close of the exercises 1 all present were invited to examine the collections with the aid of the General Guide to the Museum, which had been distributed among them. In the evening there was a social gathering of members of the Society and others at the house of the President.

At the commencement of this historical sketch, we stated how limited were the means of the Society for accomplishing the important purposes of its establishment, and how earnest were the voluntary labors of all interested in its success. We now give the result of these labors on its semi-centennial anniversary.

The Society owns the building known as the Museum, its furniture, library, and collections, free from all encumbrance. The value of the building may be estimated at the cost of $150,334.86, as it certainly could not be erected for that sum now. The Society also owns property in notes, bonds, and stocks valued at $154,405. The money value of the library and collections cannot be given. The former contains over fourteen thousand volumes, and nearly six thousand pamphlets. The collec¬ tions are of inestimable worth, not only to the Society but to the community, for a considerable portion of unique and type specimens in the several departments could never be replaced.

Persevering efforts continue to be made to render the collections more educational, not only by such arrangement as will facilitate their study, but by models and anatom¬ ical preparations giving the internal structure, and showing the habits, of animals.

1 Eloquent addresses were also made by Dr. Alexander Agassiz, Curator of the Museum of Samuel Eliot, Superintendent of Schools, Presi- Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, and Rev. dent Charles W. Eliot, of Harvard University, Dr. Robert C. Waterston.

except during the warm season, at which scientific communications, written or verbal, are made, and followed generally by discussions upon the matter presented. All im¬ portant communications and remarks are published in the Memoirs or Proceedings of the Society.1

In its laboratory the Society is doing much for the students of natural history. In¬ struction is given to a class of the Boston University in Biology and Zoology ; to a class of the Institute of Technology in Zoology and Paleontology ; and to a special class of teachers in the Public Schools in Zoology. The laboratory room and the working collections therein are used also by other persons engaged in teaching or studying.

In addition to all that has been said, the Society is sustaining its library, which is open not only to members, but to all engaged in scientific investigation, upon proper application and under reasonable restriction. By an agreement with the Institute of Technolog}-', its students are allowed the privilege of consulting the Society's books and taking them out for study. The use of the library is now much greater than it has been at any former time, and is constantly increasing.

At the annual meeting in 1880, the President, Thomas T. BouvA, who had been an officer of the Society nearly forty years, and its President ten, declined a re-elec¬ tion. His administration was so efficient and successful, that his name will always be identified with the best interests of the Society. The officers now are, - President, Samuel H. Scudder; Vice-Presidents, John Cummings, Frederick W. Putnam; Cus¬ todian, Alpheus Hyatt ; Honorary Secretary, Samuel L. Abbot ; Secretary, Edward Burgess ; Treasurer, Charles W. Scudder ; Librarian, Edward Burgess.2

Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind. - The merit of proposing to establish the first school for the blind in Boston belongs to the late Dr. John D. Fisher. While pursuing his studies in Paris he made frequent visits to the Royal Institution for the young blind, and was so impressed by its great advan¬ tages and beneficent results, that on his return to Boston he advocated with great earnestness, and interested his friends in, the establishment of a similar institution here. At a public meeting, which was attended by many of our prominent citizens, Dr. Fisher gave a minute account of the several processes employed to communicate knowledge to the blind ; described the various manufactures by which they were en¬ abled to obtain a support ; and exhibited specimens of books printed for their use, contributed by friends of the institution, which the blind read by touch.

His statement excited so deep an interest in all present, that a committee was appointed to consider what measures should be adopted for the establishment of an institution for the blind in New England. The report of this committee was so en¬ couraging, that application was made immediately to the Legislature for an act of in¬ corporation. This was unanimously granted in both Blouses without debate. The name of the corporation was "The New-England Asylum for the Blind," for the pur-

1 Of the former, three volumes quarto have and sixty societies and proprietors of scientific been issued, and of the latter, twenty volumes journals.