The following academies and grammar schools have, in the evolution of the State system of education, become normal schools:

The following academies, grammar schools, etc., have, so far as ascertained, become identified with a graded system of schools in their respective towns. It is possible that others, classified as defunct, or given in the list of secondary schools, still existing as such, should also be classified with this

group:

The following is the list of academies or secondary schools now operating in the State of Vermont and disassociated from the public-school system as respects their control. They doubtless serve as high schools to the common schools of their respective towns, save when other provision is made for that purpose, as in Rutland, Burlington, and Montpelier. The schools not starred are known to exist as academies or other private schools, while those marked with an asterisk represent institutions credited to the several towns in the last edition of Walton's Vermont Register.

According to this classification, which presumably is incorrect in parts, but which in general is as complete and will be found as instructive as other tables heretofore prepared, we have, admitting duplications, 103 secondary schools accounted for, as follows: Twentynine extinct, 6 merged into 3 normal schools, 24 into graded systems supported by the public, 18 supposed to be alive, 26 positively active and so reported by the State superintendent in 1890.

EARLY ACADEMIES.

Clio Hall (Bennington, November 3, 1780).-The act incorporating the first academy in Vermont is here cited in full as a matter of historical interest:

Whereas a number of persons, for the laudable purpose of promoting literature, have entered into a voluntary association and subscription for erecting a seminary of learning in this State, to be kept for the time being at Bennington, but afterwards

at such place as the legislature shall direct, to be called and known by the name of Clio Hall, and have appointed a board of trust for the well managing its police and government;

And whereas said board of trust have petitioned this assembly that they and their successors in office may hareafter be known and acknowledged in law, to all intents and purposes, as a body politic and corporate, by the name of trustees of Clio Hall: Therefore,

Be it enacted, and it is hereby enacted, by the representatives of the freemen of the State of Vermont, in general assembly met, and by the authority of the same, That Thomas Chittenden, esq., governor; Timothy Dwight, M. A.; the Rev. David Avery; Isaac Tichenor, esq.; the Hon. Moses Robinson, esq.; the Hon. Jonas Fay, esq.; Ezra Styles, jr., esq.; Stephen Row Bradley, esq.; the Rev. Mr. Daniel Collins; Col. Benjamin Simonds; Bela Turner, esq., and Thomas Porter, esq., constituted a board of trust for Clio Hall, be, and are hereby, for themselves and successors in office, created a body politic and corporate, to be known and acknowledged in law, to all intents and purposes, and called the trustees of Clio Hall.

The people of Bennington obtained the distinction of this first charter by reason of their early interest in educational matters. Their township was granted and surveyed in 1749, their first permanent settlement was effected in 1761, and by 1765 the town had more than 1,000 inhabitants, and a well-organized system of local government for their protection. One of their first acts consisted in a petition to the general court of New Hampshire for the raising of "a tax on all lands in Bennington, resident and nonresident, to build a meetinghouse, and schoolhouse, and mills, and for highways and bridges." Fifteen years later as representative a body of men as a young State ever brought together applied to the people for an act incorporating an academy. That this academy would draw for support on a limited territory and a small population did not concern them. They labored under the conviction that education-the higher and the more extended the better-was a necessity, and they acted upon the impulse, looking to the future for results. John Graham wrote in 1798 that Bennington possessed "a small academy and several day schools." A convenient building had been erected on the site subsequently controlled by the Center Meetinghouse. Here were taught, with frequent changes in the teaching force, languages and the higher branches of English education. The school is said to have been "sometimes prosperous, but does not appear to have been steadily and continually kept." In 1803 the building was destroyed by fire, and, as an institution, entirely disappeared.

Montpelier Academy, (November 7, 1800).-No permanent settler located on Montpelier territory until May 3, 1787. Two years later Col. Jacob Davis, having made roads, cleared lands, and erected houses, mills, and barns, is found teaching in a log schoolhouse on the banks of the Onion near the Middlesex line. In 1791 the population of Montpelier was only 113. In 1800 it had reached 890. On the basis of this population the town projected its first academy. The

Hon. David Wing procured an act incorporating the trustees of the Montpelier Academy. The men so incorporated proceeded, with the aid of general subscriptions, to erect a two-story building, 44 by 36 feet, near a place now known as the Academy Bridge, in the village of Montpelier. It is impossible to state anything very definite about this small academy. Its work was probably confined to a limited area. On November 18, 1813, the legislature passed an act incorporating the Washington County Grammar School, and this new organization took the place of the early academy. The change was doubtless made with a view to securing the rents from public lands and the prestige arising from being a county institution. The history of this institution is herewith submitted in somewhat full form, because it will illustrate very fairly the functions, powers, aims, and operations of this class of secondary schools.

The act incorporating the Washington, then the Jefferson County Grammar School, cites as the basis of legislative action the following:

Whereas several individuals, inhabitants in the town of Montpelier and its vicinity, have at a very considerable expense erected a building convenient for the accommodation of a grammar school, and have conveyed the lower story of the same in fee, and the use and occupancy of a large hall in the upper story for the purpose of examinations and exhibitions for the use and benefits of a county grammar school, and it appearing reasonable that a county grammar school should be established in said Jefferson County, and that the rents and profits of certain lands lying in said county should be appropriated for the benefit of the same: Therefore, etc.

The incorporators under this act were as follows: Ezra Butler, John Peck, Charles Buckley, Chester Wright, Aaron Palmer, James Fisk, Abel Knapp, Nicholas Baylies, Nathan Robinson, Ananiah Chandler, Caleb Curtis, and Jonathan Kinne. Upon these men, under the act, the following powers were conferred:

They are hereby constituted and appointed trustees of said county grammar school, and they and their successors are hereby declared to be a body corporate and politic in all intents and purposes. They have the full power to take by gift, grant, purchase, or devise, any estate, either real or personal, for the use of said grammar school, and to receive and appropriate all such donations as shall have been or shall hereafter be made for the use of said grammar school, and, by themselves or attorney, to institute, maintain, and defend any suit or suits relating to the interest of said institution; and may have a common seal and the same alter at pleasure; to appoint and elect, support and remove from time to time all such teachers, officers, and servants as they may find necessary; to make and establish all such rules, regulations, and by-laws as shall be found necessary for the orderly government of said schools, the said rules, regulations, and by-laws not to be repugnant to the laws of the State; and also may do any other thing that shall be found necessary for the welfare of the institution.

The board of trustees was limited to fifteen members and was given power to designate their successors, by a ballot vote, at any meeting regularly warned. Real and personal estate to an amount of the yearly income, not exceeding $500, was rendered free and forever exempt

at such place as the legislature shall direct, to be called and known by the name of Clio Hall, and have appointed a board of trust for the well managing its police and government;

And whereas said board of trust have petitioned this assembly that they and their successors in office may hareafter be known and acknowledged in law, to all intents and purposes, as a body politic and corporate, by the name of trustees of Clio Hall: Therefore,

Be it enacted, and it is hereby enacted, by the representatives of the freemen of the State of Vermont, in general assembly met, and by the authority of the same, That Thomas Chittenden, esq., governor; Timothy Dwight, M. A.; the Rev. David Avery; Isaac Tichenor, esq.; the Hon. Moses Robinson, esq.; the Hon. Jonas Fay, esq.; Ezra Styles, jr., esq.; Stephen Row Bradley, esq.; the Rev. Mr. Daniel Collins; Col. Benjamin Simonds; Bela Turner, esq., and Thomas Porter, esq., constituted a board of trust for Clio Hall, be, and are hereby, for themselves and successors in office, created a body politic and corporate, to be known and acknowledged in law, to all intents and purposes, and called the trustees of Clio Hall.

The people of Bennington obtained the distinction of this first charter by reason of their early interest in educational matters. Their township was granted and surveyed in 1749, their first permanent settlement was effected in 1761, and by 1765 the town had more than 1,000 inhabitants, and a well-organized system of local government for their protection. One of their first acts consisted in a petition to the general court of New Hampshire for the raising of "a tax on all lands in Bennington, resident and nonresident, to build a meetinghouse, and schoolhouse, and mills, and for highways and bridges." Fifteen years later as representative a body of men as a young State ever brought together applied to the people for an act incorporating an academy. That this academy would draw for support on a limited territory and a small population did not concern them. They labored under the conviction that education-the higher and the more extended the better-was a necessity, and they acted upon the impulse, looking to the future for results. John Graham wrote in 1798 that Bennington possessed "a small academy and several day schools." A convenient building had been erected on the site subsequently controlled by the Center Meetinghouse. Here were taught, with frequent changes in the teaching force, languages and the higher branches of English education. The school is said to have been "sometimes prosperous, but does not appear to have been steadily and continually kept." In 1803 the building was destroyed by fire, and, as an institution, entirely disappeared.

Montpelier Academy, (November 7, 1800).-No permanent settler located on Montpelier territory until May 3, 1787. Two years later Col. Jacob Davis, having made roads, cleared lands, and erected houses, mills, and barns, is found teaching in a log schoolhouse on the banks of the Onion near the Middlesex line. In 1791 the population of Montpelier was only 113. In 1800 it had reached 890. On the basis of this population the town projected its first academy. The