tory proof that the preliminary work has been done; the same evidence of proficiency is also required of candidates for advanced standing. All the preparatory studies are taught in the institution, affording an opportunity to make up deficiencies. Pupils are promoted in the courses in each separate study from term to term and not by the year, so that they are credited for the work actually performed. Those not in regular courses can enter without examination such classes as are adapted to their attainments, and pains is taken to form classes for their accommodation. Applicants for admission must be 14 years of age, and all students must promise to refrain from the use of tobacco during term time as long as they remain in the school.

The institution has a large, valuable, and beautifully arranged cabinet of shells, minerals, and fossils, together with various other specimens appropriate to the illustration of geology and natural history; also globes for astronomy and geography, and skeleton and charts for physiology. New additions are being made each year to the apparatus used in the illustration of physics, and a physical laboratory fitted for practical work, including the department of microscopy, afford students ample opportunity to conduct experiments under the direction of competent instructors. A new chemical

laboratory meets the increasing demand for facilities in chemical work. In addition to a full equipment for the teacher, tables have been fitted up with every modern convenience for 26 pupils in experimental chemistry. The room is 23 by 314 feet. It has excellent drainage, good ventilation, is light and airy, and is heated by steam. The government of the institution seeks by its peculiar discipline and its social customs to cultivate diligence, morality, and religion. Habits of punctuality are encouraged. The boarding pupils are placed under the immediate and personal care of the faculty, and those who room elsewhere are held strictly amenable to the laws of the school. The severity of discipline is relieved by the social life of the seminary, which aims to maintain all the essential characteristics of a well-regulated Christian home. The teachers and bearders meet at the family table, and also enjoy social gatherings in the drawing room from time to time, when conversation, music, and quiet parlor games enliven the occasion. The plan of coeducation and free association of ladies and gentlemen upon the campus out of study hours during the day tends to the development of easy society manners, and has proved a success in this institution. The system is calculated to promote sentiments of etiquette and honor. Those pupils who can not learn how to use these privileges are either deprived of them or sent away from the school. Social life among the students is also cultivated by four literary societies. There are two well-conducted literary societies for gentlemen-the "V. A. S." and the "United Panoplian;" and in the female college, two for the ladies-the "Ladies

Literary" and the "Sapphonian." Each society has a large hall set apart for its use.

This institution, while not sectarian, is decidedly a religious school, holding that a Christian nation can not afford to ignore the most important element in the education of its youth. The president, as Ladd professor, is especially charged with the responsibility of the moral and religious culture of the pupils. Not only are pupils required to attend divine service on the Sabbath, but evening prayers are held in the dining hall, with the boarders, and morning prayers in the chapel, at which every student is required to be present. The chapel service consists of reading, singing, and prayer, usually followed by a brief, practical lecture by the president on some phase of life and duty. These familiar talks are given for the purpose of stimulating the purest ambitions, strengthening the character, and exalting the ideals of life. Every subject affecting the human character is thus presented from time to time in these daily chapel talks. In this manner book learning is supplemented by practical lessons from real life.

NEW HAMPTON LITERARY INSTITUTION, NEW HAMPTON, N. H.

(Authorized.)

During the early part of the present century an increasing interest in educational affairs was manifest in various sections of the New England States. The public schools were of a low grade, and it became quite popular for men who were ambitious to perpetuate their names to establish academies in their native towns for the benefit of their fellow-men.

Mr. John K. Simpson, a native of New Hampton, but at that time a successful merchant in Boston, first proposed that an academy should be established at New Hampton, and promised liberal aid in erecting a building.

The school was finally opened as "New Hampton Academy," under the instruction of Mr. George Richardson, September 17, 1821, in a wooden building, 24 by 32 feet, furnished with plain, unpainted seats and benches, and heated from an open fireplace. It contained no library, no blackboards, no philosophical apparatus.

At first the academy was little in advance of the common school. Few of the pupils had mastered more than the rudiments of an English education. There were four terms a year, of twelve weeks each. All the pupils remained in the schoolroom six hours daily, and the green hide was the last resort in enforcing discipline.

In 1825 the Baptists assumed control of the school, with the "right to appoint half the trustees, besides the principal, who should be president of the board."

Thus, under an amended charter, the school passed into the hands of the Baptist denomination, and became known as "The Academical and Theological Institution," with Rev. B. F. Farnsworth as principal.

In 1826 a new building was added for recitation rooms, and in 1829 a large brick block of three stories was erected for dormitories.

During the last-named year (1829) a theological department was opened in connection with the institution, which for twenty-three years had an average attendance of about 25. During the same year the female department was established at the village about a mile away, and Miss Martha Hazeltine was appointed preceptress.

Under the new management the school rapidly improved in the extent and thoroughness of its course of study, and was liberally patronized; but the death of Mr. Simpson, in 1837, and the financial disturbances of that year put an end to the plans which had been formed for the future enlargement and improvement of the institution. From 1837 to 1852 there was very little change in the condition and prospects of the school. The attendance was large, and the teachers were very successful in maintaining the credit and popularity of the school; but financial embarrassments, which for a long time had been a source of difficulty, at last compelled the trustees to consent to the removal of the institution to Fairfax, Vt.

More than thirty years the school had been in successful operation, and the people in the vicinity could not bear the thought that the school buildings should decay and go to ruin, or that they should be used for any other purpose. An effort, therefore, was made to organize another institution of learning to take the place of the one which had been removed.

This took the form of an application to the Free-Will Baptists to come in and occupy the abandoned location. A new charter was obtained, under the name of "New Hampshire Literary and Biblical Institution," January 5, 1853, and the corporation was organized twenty days later. It was decided that both departments should be located at the village; that there should be separate dormitories; but that ladies and gentlemen should recite together in their classes.

The library belonging to the ladies' literary society, the cabinet, the philosophical apparatus, and the chapel bell were removed to Vermont. The libraries of the Literary Adelphi and the Social Fraternity remained in New Hampshire, in accordance with the votes of their members. The remainder of the school property passed into the hands of the new corporation by purchase. Col. Rufus G. Lewis was largely instrumental in effecting the reorganization, contributing liberally both time and money for that purpose. The female department was opened April, 1853, with Mrs. C. P. Stanton as preceptress. Three weeks later the male department opened, with Prof. Benjamin Stanton as principal. The school rapidly increased in numbers, so that the average aggregate attendance for the next five years was 735 annually.

In 1853 the old "Brick" at the center was taken down and the materials used in the erection of Randall Hall, a building designed for

dormitories and libraries, 100 feet long, 36 feet wide, and 3 stories high. Back of this a wooden building of two stories was erected as a boarding house for gentlemen; and at about the same time the building known as the "Lodge" was opened as a boarding house for ladies. In 1858 the trustees purchased the building formerly owned by Miss Sleeper, now known as the "Center House," and used for self-boarding. In 1859 the large building now used for a chapel and recitation rooms was erected, largely through the efforts of Rev. Silas Curtis.

In 1854 the Free-Will Baptist Biblical School was transferred to New Hampton from Whitestown, N. Y. This department, under the instruction of Rev. J. J. Butler, D. D., and Rev. John Fullonton, D. D., occupied a portion of Randall Hall, but was entirely distinct. from the other departments of the school, being under the control of the Free-Will Baptist Education Society. In 1870 it was removed to Lewiston, Me., having had an average attendance of about 20 while located at New Hampton. The aggregate annual attendance in all the departments since the reorganization of the institution has been about 600.

The school is located in New Hampton village, near the geographical center of the State, and accessible daily from almost every part of New England. It is 7 miles from Ashland Station on the Concord and Montreal Railroad, 5 miles from Bristol on the Northern Railroad, and 13 miles from Center Harbor on Lake Winnepesaukee, amid beautiful scenery and a healthful climate. The buildings are neat and commodious. In addition to those mentioned above, the trustees have recently purchased the elegant mansion erected by Col. Rufus G. Lewis, the founder of the institution, for a ladies' boarding house. In the school there are five regular courses of study: The English and classical, the classical, the English, the musical, and the commercial-college course. All these are open to both sexes, and those who complete them receive diplomas. The classical course includes the usual amount required for admission to college. French and German are taught by a lady who has spent some time in France and Germany. The natural sciences are taught according to the latest improved methods and the most important truths are illustrated by apparatus. There is a good cabinet of minerals and fossils. In the commercial college are taught penmanship, commercial law, bookkeeping, political economy, and banking. The course is systematic, practical, and thorough. Special attention is given to telegraphy, typewriting, and business correspondence.

Connected with the institution is a good reading room, and four libraries, containing about 4,000 volumes of well-selected books, to all of which students have access free of charge.

A large proportion of the students who have attended the institution have been compelled to support themselves by their own exertions, and it has been the constant aim of the trustees to furnish the

best facilities for obtaining an education with the least possible expense.

The school is organized on the modern plan of most similar institutions, with two departments, embracing both sexes under the same general government and instruction.

A board of 36 trustees, two-thirds of whom must be members of Freewill Baptist churches, exercises a general control and supervision of the affairs of the institution; but the practical management, for the most part, devolves upon the executive committee, consisting of 5 members, usually residents of the vicinity.

The government of the students is intrusted to the faculty, consisting of the salaried teachers. The discipline is mild, but firm and decided. There are 9 teachers connected with the institution, 6 gentlemen and 3 ladies.

From the reorganization of the school in 1853 to 1868 there were frequent changes in the faculty. During those fifteen years there were 8 different principals, but the present principal has had charge of the school during the past twenty-three years.

The school has an endowment of about $12,000. The value of school buildings, libraries, cabinet, apparatus, and grounds is estimated at about $30,000. They could not be replaced, however, for a much larger amount.

The trustees consider the school in as good condition and as worthy of patronage as it has ever been, and it will be their constant endeavor to advance with the progressive spirit of the age.

ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL, CONCORD, N. H.

By Rev. EDWARD M. PARKER, M. A., Assistant Master.

On the 29th of June, 1855, Gov. Ralph Metcalf signed the act of incorporation granted by the New Hampshire legislature, in virtue of which St. Paul's School came into existence. The charter empowers the corporation thus formed to add to their numbers by the election of new members and to hold property to the amount of $100,000, in trust, for the maintenance of a school for boys in the city of Concord. By a subsequent act of the legislature, passed in 1873, the sum mentioned was increased to $500,000. On September 5, 1855, the trustees thus incorporated held their first meeting, elected the Right Rev. Carlton Chase, D. D., bishop of New Hampshire, as their president, and accepted a deed of gift made to them by George C. Shattuck, M. D., of Boston, Mass. This gift was made on three conditions: First. That the property thus given should never be mortgaged or pledged for a debt or loan.

Second. That every trustee should be a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

Third. That the religious education of the scholars at the school