manity, too often the case that a benefaction proves to be a curse rather than a blessing.

Into his counsels and confidence he received Mr. W. Jef ferson Bennett as a younger brother, who had grown into manhood about the same hearthstone and in the same family circle that had received him as a member. There was a very strong attachment existing between these noble menone that was never broken by any estrangement, but continued to grow in strength and to increase in reciprocal affection until the death of Mr. Bennett, in 1874, left only with Mr. Memminger sweet memories of his friend and adopted brother.

The benevolent character and considerate philanthropy, of Mr. Bennett is thus described in an oration delivered at the centennial celebration of the Charleston Orphan House in 1890 by Rev. Charles S. Vedder, D. D. Dr. Vedder quotes from Mr. Montague Grimke, embodying in his own admirable remarks, those of this estimable gentleman.

It will not be invidious to name Mr. Wm. Jefferson Bennett, to whom, after John Robertson, the Orphan House is more indebted than to any other man. He was a second father to the institution, giving himself to its service with a fervor which never knew respite, and a practical wisdom seldom or never at fault. It was not the privilege of the present speaker to know this estimable gentleman, but he has long known the history of his relation to this institution, and feels fully warranted in this tribute to his memory." He was," says Mr. Grimke, "the truest patriot and philanthropist I ever met, and few of the present generation have any conception of the extent and value of his labors in behalf of education and charities in this city."

Such was the intimate, life-long friend of Mr. Memminger, who loved Jefferson Bennett from an intuition of his own nature that made him a kindred spirit. From the same eloquent address I extract the following tribute to Mr. Memminger:

Nor was that eminent chief magistrate (Hon. William A. Courtenay) content with rehabilitating in honor the men and memories of the re

mote past. Under his administration, the Council Chamber of the city became in its measure a gallery of monumental tributes to the great and worthy of more recent days. We may well signalize this fact today because one of those whose lineaments are thus preserved in imperishable marble was once an Orphan-House boy, rising by dint of his own industry, energy, and ability to exalted places in the State and in the Confederate Cabinet; his achievements in behalf of education in this city were deemed worthy by his fellow-commissioners of the public schools of an abiding recognition in the city's capital.

As a practical result of the visit of Mr. Memminger and Mr. Bennett to the public schools of the northern cities and States we have the present excellent system of graded schools in Charleston, second in efficiency to none in the United States. In this work Mr. Memminger was also ably assisted by the Hon. A. G. Magrath, who became a member of the Board of School Commissioners, and brought to the work of these good men the resource of his accomplished intellect and his devoted patriotism. An act of the Legislature was passed authorizing the municipal government of Charleston to levy a special tax for educational purposes. This measure was opposed, with surprising zeal, by those whose want of knowledge of the system, or whose prejudice against "free schools," caused them to go to great extremes in manifesting their disapproval. From an official circular, issued by the "Bureau of Education of the United States," Hon. N. H. R. Dawson, Commissioner, published in 1889, I extract the following condensed statement:

The commissioners in Charleston had seen the intent of the original act, and had set to work to carry it out. Public schools had succeeded in Nashville and New Orleans, and why not in Charleston? This is what Mr. Barnard pointed out when he had prepared a communication on public schools at the request of Governor Alston and others. The schools in Charleston had followed the general course of the others in the State. Under the law, five houses had been erected and furnished by the teachers, on a salary of nine hundred dollars. The attendance had been in 1812, 260; in 1818, about 300; in 1823, about 320; in 1829, about 467; in 1834, about 525.

But the Charleston commissioners, especially C..G. Memminger, A. G. Magrath, and W. Jefferson Bennett, roused from their lethargy, and in the face of bitter prejudice revolutionized the system. They worked on a totally different plan. Their aim was to provide schools for all, and not for pauper pupils only. In 1855 they built a house on St. Philip's street at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars, to accommodate eight hundred pupils. Three years later they erected another on Friend street at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. A kind of normal school for teachers was formed to meet every Saturday under the direction of the superintendent of public schools. They also built a high school for girls at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars, of which the State paid ten thousand dollars and the citizens of Charleston the remainder. The expenses of its maintenance were ten thousand dollars annually, of which the city paid half and the State guaranteed the other half on condition of being permitted to send ninety pupils. A normal department was attached to this.

The whole system was inaugurated with appropriate ceremonies on July 4, 1856, when Dr. S. H. Dickson delivered an address. It was modelled on the "New York" plan, and the heads of the schools were brought from the North, so that teachers thoroughly acquainted with the system would direct the management.

In a short time the number of children in attendance was one thousand four hundred, and there were more applications than could be granted. In 1860 the attendance was four thousand.

This was done in the face of strong opposition. "Fair Play" openly charged that the change had been made in order that the new board might get the benefit of the "spoils," and claimed that they had overstepped their limits in setting up common schools, when the act only called for free schools. He also called attention to the resolutions of the last session of the Legislature, which had "re-announced the fact that the free schools are for the poor." He concluded by confidently venturing the prediction "that the new system, unsupported as it is by law, will not succeed." But it did succeed, and, according to a writer in Barnard's Journal, "revolutionized public sentiment in that city, and was fast doing it for the whole State when the mad passions of war consummated another revolution."

The public schools of Charleston are handsome structures, admirably adapted to the purpose for which they were designed, and well equipped with all the necessary appli ances for instruction from the kindergarten to the high school, from which the youth of either sex may go with