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'the want of thoroughly qualified teachers." The small districts especially he found to be the paradise of inefficient and ignorant teachers. Their average age was then, for the winter term, from 20 to 25

years.

There was as yet no provision by the State for teachers' institutes or normal schools, and the conduct and support of such institutes as were held in some parts of the State fell mainly to the charge of the county superintendents.

Such was the condition of Vermont, educationally considered, when the new system of supervision was introduced and Mr. Eaton assumed the duties of superintendent. From the first decidedly beneficial effects were seen in the gradual elevation and improvement of the common schools.

The regulation that all teachers must previously pass the ordeal of an examination increased the attendance and stimulated to a more vigorous effort the students in the academies and high schools of the State, as a large proportion of these had a longer or shorter service of teaching in view.

The apportionment of the public school money was still made only with reference to the number of pupils in a district, without regard to the wants of the school and without making the attendance of pupils the basis of distribution.

The report of the superintendent for 1848 shows a marked improvement in the furnishing of school buildings. Where three years before scarcely one-sixth of the schools were furnished with blackboards, then nearly all had been supplied, though there was still a deplorable lack of maps, charts, and globes. The per cent of children who did not attend school remained about the same; that is, more than one-fifth of the children of the State were not enrolled in the schools; many of whom were of foreign birth and had but an imperfect knowledge of the English language.

Written examinations of teachers had now been adopted in the place of the oral and very lax examinations formerly required, and a superior class of teachers was being secured.

In the years immediately following frequent reference is made to the continued improvement in the qualifications of teachers, and to increased earnestness and devotion to study on the part of the pupils. Besides, there was an increase in the length of the terms, so that the average of the school year did not fall below 25 weeks.

In 1849 the wages paid to teachers, aside from the cost of board, fuel, and the like, amounted to about $130,000. To meet this expenditure the towns received the income derived from the public money, which amounted to nearly $85,000, leaving a balance of some $45,000 to be raised by a voluntary tax levied by the school districts of the State. The mode of taxation then adopted favored the rich rather than

the poor by requiring the latter to pay "on the basis of numbers;" that is, according to the number of children enjoying school privileges.

Complaint was made by the superintendent that great apathy was still shown in the support of schools, and that this arose from a lack of confidence in the common schools as they were then conducted, and perhaps also from a "too prevailing distrust of the practicability of elevating them."

At about this time there was established a periodical with the title of "The School Journal and Vermont Agriculturist." Its design was to put in operation, in connection with an agricultural paper, a State journal to promote the best interests of the common schools. It made its influence felt in Vermont for a time, and was thought to have accomplished valuable results.

TEACHERS' INSTITUTES.

Teachers' institutes began to be held in 1846 (the first was at Essex Center) under the direction of the State superintendent of schools, and soon became of common occurrence, though still unassisted by the State. But at length, in 1849, provision was made by the legislature for their maintenance, and an appropriation not exceeding $100 for each institute was granted, and a new era soon opened in the history of Vermont schools. Never before, according to the annual report of the superintendent for 1850, had there been a time when so deep and so ardent an interest in the cause of common schools pervaded every part of the State. The step taken by the legislature was considered in the line of advancement "toward a true free school system, as being alike just, politic, and wise, and creditable to the State."

In 1850-51 two months in the spring and two in the autumn were devoted by the State superintendent to the holding of teachers' institutes, twelve in all, for the fourteen counties of the State. Each institute continued through seven days, "from 9 o'clock in morning until 9 in the evening," and by affording instruction in the proper methods of teaching by reviewing the branches of study usually taught in the common schools, by lectures upon the classification of pupils, the theory of teaching, the best modes of government and of securing order, punctuality and propriety of conduct, interest and diligence in study, and by suggestions designed to enlarge the views of teachers and awaken in the community a lively interest in education.

By the law of November 18, 1856, one teachers' institute was required to be held annually in each county "in connection with the schools in the State during their fall and spring terms."

The first institute held after the passage of this act was opened at Vergennes July 13, 1857. There was a goodly gathering of teachers,

and much of the success that attended it was owing to the warm and generous interest of the citizens of Vergennes. The time occupied by the institutes of this year was limited to "3 evening lectures and a course of lessons occupying two days."

Later (see act of 1870) the length of teachers' institutes was extended to five days.

At this time taxes for the payment of teachers' wages were raised upon the "Grand list" of the property of the State, while the expense for board and fuel was, at the option of each district, paid either in the same way or as a charge upon each scholar.

STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

The first to suggest the holding of a State teachers' association was Hiram Orcutt, LL. D., a name since well known in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Early in the year 1850 the suggestion was made in a communication to the Vermont Chronicle, and so well received by the teachers of the State that a call was soon published for a meeting. to be held at Montpelier on the 16th of October following. Its object was stated to be the organization of a State society and for a full interchange of views upon the subject of education in Vermont.

Accordingly, at the date named, a State teachers' association was organized and a constitution adopted, in which the following declaration was made, that the object of the association was "to arouse from its slumbers the public mind, to interest and encourage the heart of the common school teacher, and to impress upon superintendents and teachers of academies and higher seminaries their great responsibilities as exponents of the public school interests."

The meeting of the association in 1856 was held at Barre and continued but for a single day. Yet it is said that to the influence of this small meeting must be attributed much of the credit for the establishment of the present school system of Vermont. Certain it is that the bill there prepared to be laid before the legislature at its approaching session embraces the general features of the system of instruction as it is now.

To Governors William Slade and Horace Eaton, Vermont is greatly indebted for the awakening that culminated in the formation of teachers' institutes and associations, the founding of the normal schools, and the improvement of the school system.

More and more interest was taken in these associations as the years went by, and in 1859 it was reported of its annual meeting that it "was one of the most successful educational gatherings ever held in the State," and, indeed, one of the most important meetings of any kind ever assembled in Vermont. At this convention town and county teachers' associations were recommended, and these were afterwards organized and held in different counties of the State.

LAPSE OF PUBLIC INTEREST.

After a service of five years, during which great advancement was made in the common schools of the State, Mr. Eaton was succeeded by the Hon. Charles G. Burnham, who entered upon an efficient administration of his office; but after he had served one year the general assembly refused to choose a superintendent of schools, and for a period of five years there was no State supervision of schools. The only supervision (and even that was provided or not as the towns chose) was that exercised by the town superintendents and the prudential committees.

Secretary J. S. Adams (see annual report for 1863) said of this period: The topic of schools ceased by discussion to stir the public mind; the people began to look upon the subject of education with comparative indifference; its introduction to the attention of the legislature was barely tolerated; the local supervision became merely formal, and therefore useless; from the disinclination of the people generally to accept an office in the district, to the disinclination of eminent and prominent legislators to act upon the educational committees in either legislative house; all betokened a belittling of the general subject in the public mind.

For years no statistics were gathered showing the number of school children, their average attendance, and the aggregate expense of sustaining the schools, no institutes nor general meetings were held, and no reports made by direction of law. The only faithful and determined friends of the common schools were said to be "mainly clergymen of different denominations."

In 1856 a law was passed providing for a board of education, chosen annually by the legislature and consisting of five members, with powers substantially the same as those granted in 1827 to the board of commissioners, except that the latter board was authorized to appoint a secretary. This law left the act of November 15, 1847, materially unchanged. The duties discharged by the secretary from that time until 1874 were the same as have since been performed by the State superintendent of schools.

The first to be chosen to the office of secretary was the Hon. J. S. Adams, who in 1856 entered upon the performance of the duties which in the years to follow he proved himself so well fitted to discharge.

At this period Vermont was well supplied with academies and private schools, and this fact will doubtless account for much of the public apathy respecting her 3,000 common schools. It was stated in 1856–57 that in addition to the 3 institutions for the higher education the State had "between 70 and 80 academies and many hundreds of select and private schools of every conceivable degree and grade,” and that upon these the sympathy and interests of the friends of education were largely centered.

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Of the three excellent but weak and neglected collegiate institutions," the report says they "barely subsisted, struggling along

through the very valley of the shadow of death, while the peers of the best and most favored institutions in many other States for excellent management and for substantial fruit."1

Under the supervision of the new board of education, led by their able secretary, a marked improvement in the character and qualifications of teachers and in the general condition of the schools was soon manifest. Even before 1856 it was said that "the standard of qualifications for teachers was slowly but gradually rising."

In his report for 1857 the secretary says that "the average attendance of pupils does not exceed two-thirds of the attendance enrolled," or, in other words, "one-half of all the children of the State do not attend upon the public schools at all;" one-tenth, perhaps, attended academies and select schools, and four-tenths never entered a schoolroom.

At this time $100,000 was distributed annually to the various districts of the State, which was nearly two-thirds of the total amount paid during the year for teachers' wages. Of this amount one-fourth was divided equally, according to the vote of the town, among the school districts; the remaining three-fourths was divided between the districts in proportion to the number of children in each between the ages of 4 and 18 years.

The total amount expended for the schools (including about $27,000 for building and repairs) during the year ending March 1, 1857, was $297,812. This was some $40,000 more than was expended in 1850.

The duties and compensation of the town superintendents were for a long time the occasion of much bitterness of feeling among the people, and of a determination upon the part of many not to conform to the law.

Teachers were legally required to obtain their certificates from the town superintendent, but the law was disregarded by more than onesixth of the districts of the State. Besides, the compensation of the superintendent was so small, "$1 a day," that the supervising and visiting of the schools was neglected, and doubtless many of the deficiencies then existing in the schools may be accounted for by this fact. The real seat of the trouble seems to have been that the State enacted the law that each town should choose a superintendent, and then required the town to pay for his services.

The opinion was held by some that the schools in each town were matters of town concern alone, and education was a personal and private and not a public and common interest; that it should be left to communities and districts to say whether schools should be protected or left to languish and die. Again, on the other hand, the belief was entertained "that the public school system was a charitable and kind provision on the part of the State for the education of the children of

'These institutions, as well as the Agricultural College at Burlington, are now receiving substantial aid from the State.