In Falmouth, for instance, immediately on the abandonment of the district system, a long stride was taken in the right direction. Four new school-houses were built in different sections of the town, patterns of architectural proportion, ornaments to the villages in which they are located, each upon a suitable spacious lot, and instead of eighteen schools, as they had before, "many of them feeble and sickly," numbering from five to ten or twelve pupils, they now have twelve schools, none too large, four graded, -two Grammar, two Primary,—and eight mixed. The contrast between the condition of the schools in my previous visits to them a few years since, and in a recent visit, is equally great. There is a higher grade of scholarship throughout the town, and evidence, generally, of an increased interest on the part of all concerned. Nor is this an exceptional case. A similar improvement is visible in the school-houses of Chatham. Only a few years since, some of its school buildings were in the highest degree discreditable to any civilized people. Their outward aspect was the most promising feature. Fully to appreciate their unfitness for school purposes, an inside view was necessary. The patched panes of glass, the rents in the floors, the jack-knife carvings upon the benches, the smoked and broken ceilings, and the music of the creaking seats, reminded one of Whittier's graphic description of the schoolhouse of his early days,—

"Within, the master's desk is seen,

Deep-scarred with raps official;
The warping floor, the battered seats,
The jack-knife's carved initial,” etc.

Such was the acknowledged condition of their buildings up to a very recent period. In 1868, '69 and '70, the selectmen credited the town with the sale of four school-houses, having an average value of $41.34, and in 1870, "by sale of school-house lot, $1." In 1869 a very excellent building was erected at the Center, for the accommodation of four graded schools, which I recently found in excellent condition, which, with the land, cost nearly $4,000. Others soon followed, and this last year a new school-house was erected, costing $1,500, a convenient and comfortable building, with a French roof, and designed for the accommodation of forty scholars. The present valuation

of the school-houses of Chatham is $15,000. When one more. good building shall be erected, the town will be well supplied with suitable and equal school-houses. Here, as well as at Falmouth, and elsewhere, the improvement in school buildings has been followed by a better grading of the schools, and by an evident improvement in their character.

I found also in Dennis very excellent school-houses, in tolerably good repair, large and commodious, with good furniture, and physical conveniences. Within a few years there has been a consolidation of their schools, so that now they have five nearly new school-houses, valued at $35,000,-the largest school-house valuation on the Cape,-which is about one-fifth of the entire valuation of the school buildings in Barnstable County. The buildings are centrally and conveniently located, and the schools are as well graded as can well be in any country town similarly situated. Dennis, as well as some other of the Cape towns of extensive area, labors under great disadvantage in respect to its High School. The villages are so remote from each other, that to meet local demands, the High School, though it has a name, is without a permanent "local habitation," the different villages requiring it to rotate annually from one to the other. Some of these towns, by a slight addition to the salaries of one or two teachers, could have a High School in each of its principal villages, and thus secure to all the children of the town equal advantages of a higher culture, without the numerous disadvantages of the present rotatory system. Such is the course pursued in several towns, somewhat similarly situated, in other parts of the State. Amesbury maintains four High Schools; Adams, two; Attleborough, two; Deerfield, two; Chicopee, two; Williamsburg, two; Chelmsford, two; Framingham, two; Medway, three; while Barnstable, with a somewhat greater population, and a much larger valuation, has but one High School, alternating between Barnstable and Hyannis; Weymouth, two; Abington, three. Harwich, with a

population of only fourteen less than that of Dennis, and a valuation somewhat less, will compare with it very favorably in respect to its school buildings, which are of recent construction, and very good, and valued at $30,000. The school-houses of Wellfleet, eleven in number, with their thirteen schools, each of which I visited, are in good condition, and well cared for from

year to year. In several of the Cape towns, great wisdom is shown in the selection of a school committee. While due regard is had to the higher intellectual wants of the schools, and persons are chosen capable of examining teachers, and of judging intelligently of their work and its results, regard is also had to the material wants, and at least one person is selected to whom the care of the school buildings is especially intrusted, and who takes a pride and pleasure in keeping them in good condition. These are generally among the most prominent and influential citizens, often the heaviest tax-payers; and whatever they do in the way of repairs, etc., even regardless, sometimes, of any deficiency of appropriation for such purposes, is acceded to by all. To such oversight is to be attributed the good condition of the school buildings in Wellfleet and in Brewster; the former under the charge of Capt. R. R. Freeman, and the latter of Capt. Tully Crosby.

The school buildings in some of the other towns of the county are generally comfortable, and in a tolerably good condition, but hardly worthy of special mention. In some few towns it is otherwise, and the buildings are not creditable. Of the most populous town in the county, and the third in valuation, all of whose schools I have recently visited, accompanied in each visit by four members of its very excellent school board, it is said in the last admirable report of the committee, "Our school conveniences, in large part, are dishonorable to an enlightened community; and as long as they remain as such, we cannot conscientiously refrain from protestation. We believe every intelligent citizen in our town would demand a change, if things were seen as they are." As this committee is largely made up of ladies, it would hardly be courteous for me to do otherwise than aqcuiesce in this opinion, even if I thought differently, as I do not.

It has ever been one of my chief objects in visiting the towns of the State, and in addressing the citizens, to awaken a deeper interest in regard to school buildings, as the prosperity of the school is to so great a degree dependent upon the school accommodations, though, of course, not necessarily so. With exceptions so rare, that I cannot easily recall any, I have found that where the people take no interest in the school buildings and their furnishings, and are niggardly in their appropriations for

these objects, they have little or no interest in the schools themselves, and withhold needful appropriations to secure the proper education of their children. Aside from higher and more important considerations, that should lead them to make more liberal appropriations for such objects, a regard for their own selfish interests, in the enhanced value of property, should lead them to this; for is it not true that good school-houses in a town are the best bonds a property-holder can have, and good Public Schools his best and safest policy of insurance for the continued and increasing valuation of his estate?

A few facts which I have gleaned from the statistical returns made in 1835, in contrast with those for the last year, may be of interest in comparing "then" with "now," and will show in what other respects progress has been made in the county.

In 1835, in the then thirteen towns of Barnstable County, there were 152 school districts, and there were employed 137 male and 113 female teachers.

In 1874, in the 170 schools of the county, there were 59 male and 172 female teachers.

In 1835, the highest average wages per month for male teachers, exclusive of board, varied from $21.80, which Barnstable paid, to $15.33 paid by Brewster. Three other towns paid less than $16. For female teachers, the average monthly wages, exclusive of board, varied from $8.21, paid by Falmouth, to $4, paid by Truro. The average price of board per week varied from $2 to $1.28 for males, and from $1.50 to 50 cents for females. Only two towns charged over $1.68 a week for the former, and $1 for the latter.

In 1874, the average wages per month for male teachers, including board, varied from $110 to $53, and for female teachers from $42.50 to $22.86. The average for the whole county. was for male teachers $69.24, and for female teachers $32.14.

In 1835, the estimated amount paid for tuition in Academies and Private Schools in Barnstable County was $4,471, of which the town of Barnstable paid $2,300. There were 25 "Private Schools" kept in the town of Barnstable in 1835, for six months, in the summer, attended by about 25 scholars each. These were undoubtedly the same scholars who attended the Public Schools in the winter. The Academy had 35 scholars. In 1837, there were paid for supporting Private Schools and

Academies in Barnstable County $9,314, and in the town of Barnstable $2,500. In 1874, only $880 was paid in the whole county for such schools, and Barnstable paid nothing, showing the high appreciation of our Public Schools at the present time. The estimated value of the school-houses in Barnstable County in 1835, is not given, but for the whole State it was a little over half a million dollars.

In 1875, the estimated value of the land and school-houses in Barnstable County is more than $200,000, and for the whole State $20,856,777.

The school-books in use in 1835, quite generally in the county, were Perry's Spelling Book, Walker's Dictionary, Young Reader, Introduction to National Reader, American First Class Book, Alger's Murray's Grammar, Parley's and Woodbridge's Geographies and Atlas, Adams's and Smith's Arithmetics, Colburn's First Lessons, Whelpey's Compend, Grimshaw's History of the United States. The last two were used in only one or two towns. Generally the school committee selected the books to be used. In three towns the selection was made by the teachers, and in two by the committee and teachers.

I will now speak of some of the principal

HINDERANCES TO THE USEFULNESS OF THE SCHOOLS. 1. Notwithstanding the fact, as I have stated it, that Barnstable County holds the second rank in the State in respect to the attendance of its school children, still the most serious defect of its schools is Irregularity of Attendance. In this are included Tardiness, Absences, and Dismissions. In most of the towns the school committee, by stringent school regulations, strive to prevent this evil, and often with excellent results. I have been exceedingly gratified in examining, as I always do, the School Registers, to find so large a number of pupils, in many of the schools, without a single black mark against their names, sometimes for several successive terms, and in a few instances for a series of years, indicative of tardiness or absence. The schools of Orleans, under the efficient superintendence of Rev. Charles E. Harwood, show a marked improvement in respect to attendance, as compared with previous years. The "Roll of Honor" contains one hundred and forty-nine names for the last year, in