words of one of its founders:-"Silent, catholic, economical, and persevering, it has been so Christ-like in its labors that the world has never known and could not stop to read its history. Its anniversaries have been simple exponents of an institution partaking so little of the spirit of the world. No noise or parade, but a plain statement of its labors, expenditures, and successes. Its history is written in the heart of many a missionary, toiling in obscure indigence; it is written, too, in the heart of the orphan and the poor, who, by its timely aid, have been able to break the fetters by which poverty held back their aspirations for knowledge; it will be read in the ages to come, in the light of heaven." Among the earliest officers of the Institution were Mrs. John Tillson, President. Miss S. C. Crocker, Vice-President. Mrs. T. Baldwin, Secretary; and Mrs. H. Batchelder, Treasurer.

The first Educational Convention was held at Vandalia, Feb. 13th, 1833, by gentlemen from different parts of the State desirous of encouraging education and especially common schools. After an address on education by James Hall, Esq., an Association was organized under the title of the "Illinois Institute of Education." An effort was made to procure statistics and information in regard to schools and the condition of education, but with what success and whether any subsequent meetings were held, does not appear.

A second Convention was held at Vandalia, Dec. 5th and 6th, 1834, at which sixty delegates were present from over thirty counties of the State, principally members of the General Assembly then in session, among whom were Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, and others whose names became afterwards well known in the State. Hon. Cyrus Edwards was chosen President, and Stephen A. Douglas, Secretary. An address to the people was drawn up by a committee of which William Brown, of Jacksonville, was chairman, and also a memorial to the Legislature, by a committee consisting of Messrs. J. J. Hardin, J. M. Peck, Benj. Mills, W. Brown, D. Baker, Alfred Cowles, and Henry Moore. Through the influence of this Convention some important changes were effected in the previous school laws of 1825, 1829, and 1833. No farther general effort at improvement was made for several years. In January, 1837, the first educational periodical in the State was established at Jacksonville, styled the "Common School Advocate," and continued through the first volume, under the direction of Rev. Theron Baldwin.

In February, 1841, was formed the "Illinois State Education Society" at Springfield, "to promote, by all laudable means, the

extended to midnight, between the County Superintendent and Mr. Burrowes, at the house of the latter, the whole affair was very thoroughly canvassed. The opposition of the former, which seemed to rest on a supposed prematurity in the movement, gave way. The details of the undertaking, then first resolved to be called a Normal Institute, were to a great extent settled, and the time and place of meeting and even some of the assistant instructors selected. It was to have been held in the city of Lancaster; but, as soon as the citizens of Millersville, a village in the vicinity, heard of the project, an offer was made by them, which changed the place for meeting.

Mr. L. M. Hobbs, an intelligent and faithful teacher, had been for several seasons in the exercise of his profession at Millersville. Mainly at his instigation and by his efforts, a brick academy building of considerable size and two stories in height, had just been there completed, and its trustees were inquiring for a proper person to take charge of it. At this juncture, it was suggested to them, by Mr. Hobbs it is believed, that it would be good policy as well as beneficial to the cause of education, to grant the use of the building to the County Superintendent for the intended three months' institute. The proposition was not only adopted, but a subscription, by the good people of the place and vicinity, of $1,000, was made toward the expenses, if the offer should be accepted. The offer was of course accepted.

Such was the origin of the first three months' Normal Institute of Lancaster county and such the means by which it was located at Millersville. It was there held from the middle of April to the middle of July, 1855; and, guided by the energy, tact, and ability of County Superintendent Wickersham, who was its Principal, and sustained by an able corps of assistants, it was perfectly successful. It met a want of the time and well supplied the rapidly increasing demand for professional instruction amongst the teachers of the county.

To such an extent was this impression produced that, at its close, Professor John F. Stoddard, the superintendent of Wayne county, and who had ably discharged the duties of chief assistant in the corps of professors, was strongly urged to continue the institution as a permanent private Normal School,—Mr. Wickersham having previously been "invited to take charge of it, but declined," as he himself states. Mr. Burrowes was, as usual in such cases, applied to for his opinion as to the propriety of this step; and a public meeting was called to hear his views upon the point, and also in reference to the expediency of enlarging the building. He attended and took decided ground in favor of both measures. He gave it as his opinion that they would result in the establishment of a permanent public Normal School, by the combined efforts of the teachers and the friends of education; that the prospect for the establishment of purely State Normal Schools was not promising, while the demand for professional schools was rapidly increasing, and that therefore the chance of support was encouraging; but that even if the attempt to sustain a distinct Normal School should not succeed, the institution, with its enlarged buildings and able teaching power, could not fail of success, as a county academy or high school of the most elevated class. Both propositions were adopted.

At this meeting County Superintendent Wickersham was not present; neither was it understood that the project met with his approval.

The building was enlarged, and in due time the institution was re-opened as a private Normal School, with Mr. Stoddard as Principal, assisted by Mr. Ed

able memorial to the Legislature prepared by a committee consisting of Messrs. J. S. Wright, Secretary of the Convention, Rev. Mr. Pinckney, and H. M. Wead. The proposed bill was explained and sustained by J. S. Wright before the legislative committees. The result was a general revision of the School Laws, and the passage of an Act making the Secretary of State ex-officio Superintendent of Schools, authorizing special taxation for school purposes, and introducing other decided improvements upon the former system. Committees were also appointed by the Convention to make arrangements for a "Teachers' Convention" at Jacksonville, June 26th, 1845, and to there report a series of text-books for common schools and academies. A call was afterwards issued for a Common School Convention of teachers and others, to meet at Springfield on the 9th of January, 1845, "for the purpose of organizing a State Education Society, and for adopting such other measures as may seem best calculated to increase the interest in common schools and give efficiency to the laws respecting them." Both of these meetings were held, but we have no report of their proceedings.

In accordance with an appointment made by the Convention which met at Jacksonville in June, 1845, a committee, consisting of Messrs. G. M. Meeker, William Jones, and W. H. Brown, issued a circular calling a General Common School Convention, to meet at Chicago, Oct. 8th, 1846. The invitation was extended to the friends of education generally throughout the West, and the programme of exercises included addresses from Henry Barnard, and other educators from the East, and essays from J. M. Sturtevant, W. H. Williams, Francis Springer, Prof. J. B. Turner, A. W. Henderson, Rev. C. E. Blood, J. S. Wright, William Brown, and T. M. Post. One of the most important results was the formation of the "North-Western Educational Society" contemplating a union in the efforts of the friends of education in all the Western States for mutual benefit and improvement, and which subsequently held annual meetings at Milwaukee and Detroit. At the close of the Convention, a "Teachers' Institute," the first in the State, was organized and continued in session several days.

The earliest Teachers' Association of which we find mention was the "Franklin Association of Common School Teachers," for the counties of Greene, Jersey, Macoupin, and Madison, organized Oct. 2d, 1845, with the following officers:-Rev. L. S. Williams, Pres. Rev. H. Loomis, William Tryon, L. S. Norton, and Rev. O. Cooley, Vice-Pres.; and C. L. Bacon, Treas. The Kane County Educational Association was formed in January, 1847,-the Du Page

County Educational Society, and Circulating School Library, in June, 1847. The next recorded are the Teachers' Associations of Ogle and Kane counties, formed in 1850. The earliest County "Teachers' Institute" that appears on record is that of Ottawa county, in October, 1849.

An Educational Convention met "according to appointment" in Springfield, Dec. 16th, 17th, 19th, and 23d, 1846, with delegates from twenty-eight counties. Hon. John Dougherty was President; J. B. Watson and D. M. Kelsey, Secretaries. Various topics of educational interest were discussed and a committee instructed to memorialize the Legislature for amendments to the School Law, and especially for making the School Superintendency a distinct office, to be filled by the Legislature. A resolution was also adopted favoring the organization of a State Education Society, but no steps seem to have been taken towards effecting it, nor any other convention held until 1849. A convention then met at Springfield, January 15th to 18th, during the session of the Legislature; Hon. J. B. Thomas, President, and William Bross, Secretary. A committee was appointed to prepare a memorial to the Legislature and draft a bill for a school law that should embrace the following principles :That the property of the State should be taxed to educate the children of the State; that the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction should be separate and distinct from every other office; that the County Commissioners should receive a reasonable compensation for their services as ex-officio County Superintendents of Schools; and that a portion of the College and Seminary Funds should be devoted to aid in the education of common school teachers. These several principles were now for the first time pressed upon the attention of the Legislature, but though the School Law was revised at this session, the system was left essentially as before.

INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION CONVENTIONS.

In 1851 commenced a series of conventions in behalf of industrial institutions, which excited much attention, originated the movement which resulted in the subsequent donation of lands by Congress to the several States for the benefit of Agricultural Colleges, and prepared the way for the formation of the State Teachers' Association and the establishment of the Normal University. The first of these conventions was held at Granville, Nov. 8th, 1851, and was composed of members of the industrial classes of the State, actively and personally engaged in agricultural and mechanical pursuits. The principal subject of consideration was the want of industrial schools,

and resolutions were passed approving of immediate measures for the establishment of a University to meet the wants of the industrial classes of the State, and of high schools, lyceums, institutes, &c., of a similar character in each county, and it was proposed to apply to the Legislature for the appropriation to this purpose of the University Fund of the State instead of its division among the different colleges, as contemplated by those institutions. Prof. J. B. Turner, of Jacksonville, submitted a plan of such a University, in which the specific education of common school teachers was made a primary feature, and the University and Seminary Funds of the State the principal early reliance, and thus a central point to be established to which large grants of public lands might be attracted and whence the system might be extended to all the States of the Union.

The second Convention was held at Springfield, June 8th, 1852; Dr. J. A. Kennicott, President; J. T. Little and Joseph Morgan, Vice-Presidents; and W. H. Powell, Secretary. Prof. Turner stated the outlines of his plan for an Industrial University, which was sustained by J. T. Little, Mr. Lumsden, Prof. Wood, and others, and vigorously opposed by Prof. Evans, Dr. Roe, and Prof. Cummings, who, as representatives of the colleges, maintained that they should be made the agency for the application of the funds of the State to the education of the industrial classes. The debate resulted in the appointment of J. B. Turner, John Hise, Oake Turner, J. T. Little, and Aug. Adams, as a committee to memorialize the Legislature for the establishment of an Industrial University.

The third Convention met at Chicago, Nov. 24th, 1852; Bronson Murray, President; Ira Potter, J. A. Kennicott, and J. Davis, VicePresidents; J. F. Dagget and Charles Kennicott, Secretaries. The "Illinois State Industrial League" was organized, of which J. B. Turner was elected Principal Director, and John Gage, B. Murray, Dr. L. S. Pennington, J. T. Little, and W. A. Pennell, Assistant Directors. Prof. Turner's plan was again discussed and its general principles approved, though the admission of a "Classical Department" was strongly and decidedly objected to. It was agreed that the proposed University should be for the education of both sexes, and manual labor was recognized as a necessary and honorable element in its plan. Mr. Gage argued at length in favor of making the phonetic system an essential element in the course of instruction. J. B. Turner, William Gooding, and Dr. J. A. Kennicott were appointed to more fully digest the plan of the institution in accordance with the general principles expressed by the Convention, to bo submitted to the next meeting and also laid before the Legislature;