We desire to see our public schools so endowed and provided, that they shall be equally desirable for all classes of society. To effect this, the means of instruction which are offered to the poor should be the very best which can be provided. They may not all be able to proceed so far in the path of learning as others in happier circumstances; but to the extent of their progress let them have all the helps which the present state of knowledge affords. This is no mere fanciful theory. The advantages of a free intercourse and competition between persons of all ranks and conditions in life, as exhibited in the Edinburgh high school, have been admirably illustrated by one of the first British orators of the age. He regarded such an institution as invaluable in a free State; because, to use his own language, men of the highest and lowest rank in the community sent their children there to be educated together. The practical beneficence of this system is attested by the noble institutions of a sister city. It is by such a union and intercourse that the real worth of outward distinctions is perceived-that the highest rewards of merit are felt to be equally offered to all—that the jealousies which are too apt to arise from differences of condition are melted away-and that the relations which subsist between the different classes of society are felt to be relations of mental advantage and dependence, and not those of hostility. In connection with this subject, the address urged a scale of higher rewards for the qualifications of teachers, the view held by the trustees being, that the office of teacher, considered as one of grave responsibility and importance, called for high attainments and a proportionate remuneration. In fact, there has been no advance made in the common school system of New York which was not in some form urged repeatedly by the several boards and committees of the Public School Society. The success and value of the normal school scheme had been illustrated by nine years of experience, and the number of pupils who had progressed to important posts as teachers in New York and other localities, was constantly on the increase. The Board of Education also, under the law of 1842, had sprung into existence, and additional schools were creating an augmented demand for qualified teachers. Under these circumstances, Abraham R. Lawrence introduced, at the meeting of the Board of Trustees on May 16, 1843, the following resolution : Resolved, That it be referred to a special committee to inquire into and report to this board, at a future meeting, the expediency of making the normal schools day schools, to be open every day in the week, excepting Saturdays and Sundays; that their range of studies be so extended as to instruct male pupils in all the branches of learning necessary to their initiation in any of the colleges of this State, and females in such studies as are taught in the highest grade of seminaries for female instruction in this city; and that the said schools constitute one distinct section. The resolution was adopted, and referred to a committee, consisting of Abraham R. Lawrence, Lindley Murray, John T. Adams, Burritt Sherwood, and James F. Depeyster. The committee submitted a report recommending the adoption of the measure, and the name "High Schools" was substituted for that of "Normal Schools." In June, 1844, the subject was renewed, and, after a protracted discussion, a committee, consisting of Messrs. Abraham R. Lawrence, John R. Hurd, Samuel B. Childs, John T. Adams, and Joseph B. Collins, was appointed, to prepare a memorial to the Legislature, asking authority to establish high schools in which Latin and Greek and similar advanced studies should be taught. The committee submitted their report in January, 1845, in which the necessity of such an institution was earnestly and carefully presented. The memorial was referred back to the committee, to operate in concert with the Executive Committee, who had appointed several of their number to confer with the Board of Education relative to the enterprise. Several of the teachers in the ward schools of the Fourteenth Ward having been refused admittance to the normal school, the case was laid before the trustees by a committee of the Board of Education. A conference was had, and an explanation of the difficulty having been made, the trustees recognized the claim of the teachers of the ward schools to the privileges of the normal schools, " on their complying with the rules and regulations of the schools." The measures contemplated by the resolution of Mr. Lawrence were never prosecuted, but they became a stimulus to the movement which resulted in the establishment of the Free Academy, under the care of the Board of Education, which was publicly opened by appropriate exercises on the 5th of February, 1849. CHAPTER XVIII. INFANT SCHOOLS AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS. Female Association-Girls' Schools-The Infant-School Society-Experiment in No. 10 -Junior Department of No. 8-Theory of Infant Schools-The System Approved -Delegation to Visit Boston-Primary Departments Established-Female Teachers Introduced to the Schools-Primary Schools Established. THE origin of our public system of education antedates the formation of the Free-School Society about three years, and is to be found in the benevolent efforts of a number of ladies, members of the Society of Friends, who were zealously engaged in labors of love and charity among the poor. In the month of March, 1798, several ladies proposed to organize an "Association for the Relief of the Sick Poor," and a committee was appointed to report rules for the government of the Association. The report was submitted at a meeting held on the 21st of that month, and the ladies entered upon their benevolent labors. The first article excluded all persons not members of the Society of Friends from the Association; and, on the other hand, the sixth article provided that "no relief be afforded to any of the people called Quakers." Among the ladies who thus devoted themselves to the wants of the sick, were Catharine Murray, Amy Bowne, Elizabeth Haydock, M. Minturn, Lydia Mott, Agnes Abbatt, Elizabeth W. Underhill, Penelope Hull, Sarah Collins, Hannah Eddy, Deborah Franklin, and others, the names of whose descendants are still found frequent and conspicuous in our public institutions, in the faithful discharge of similar labors. These ladies became intimate with the social condition of the families they visited, and were not long in perceiving the necessity of affording to poor children that kind of instruction best adapted to their condition. In 1801, the proposition to establish a school was fully discussed, and a committee appointed to make the necessary arrangements and employ a teacher. It was opened in June, 1801. The original minute in the record, which appears not to have been used until the close of 1802, is as follows: The Association of Women Friends for the Relief of the Poor, having concluded that a part of their funds should be appropriated to the education of poor children of the following description, viz., those whose parents belong to no religious society, and who, from some cause or other, cannot be admitted into any of the charity schools of this city, have appointed the following persons as a committee to open a school for that purpose: Lydia P. Mott, Caroline Bowne, Sarah Collins, Mary Minturn, Jr., Hannah Bowne, and Susan Collins; who have, agreeably to permission, rented a room at the rate of £16 per annum, and engaged a widow woman of good education and morals as an instructor, and allow her a salary of £30 a year, to be advanced at the discretion of the committee, which met at the school-room, 28th of 12th month. The school was attended by children of both sexes, but the committee soon became convinced that the plans they had designed would be more advantageously prosecuted by admitting only girls to the school. The male pupils were discharged, and the institution was restricted to females during the subsequent existence of the schools under its care. The ladies who organized the Association and were its earliest members, were the following: Catharine Murray, Elizabeth Bowne, Sarah Robinson, Amy Bowne, Hannah Pearsall, Margaret B. Haydock, Mary R. Bowne [Mrs. King], M. Minturn, Lydia Mott, Martha Stansbury, Mary Dunbar [Mrs. Slocum], Hannah Eddy, E. Hoyland Walker, Sarah Bowne Minturn, Mary Minturn, Jr., Deborah Minturn Abbatt, After the erection of Free School No. 1, in Tryon Row, in 1809, the trustees afforded accommodations to the Association for the school for girls then established, which was continued for many years afterward. The school-house in Henry street, No. 2, having been erected by the Free-School Society, the trustees delegated a committee to inform the Female Association of the fact, and to tender to that body the use of apartments for a school for girls. On the 16th of December, 1811, John Murray, Jr., attended a meeting of the Association and made the communication, upon the announcement of which a cominittee was appointed to organize the school, composed of Mary Minturn, Sarah Minturn, Eliza Bowne, Sarah Marshall, Niobe Minturn, Niobe Stanton, Lydia Hathaway, and Sarah Collins. The school was opened February 18th, 1812, with twenty pupils, Mary I. Morgan, teacher. By the law of 1813, schools not incorporated were excluded from the benefits of the common school fund. The friends of the Female Association, therefore, took immediate measures to secure an act of incorporation for the Association, which was passed by the Legislature on March 26th, 1813. By-laws were adopted, and the officers of the Association were designated as first and second directors, secretary, treasurer, and register. The Board of Trustees consisted of twelve members. A third school was opened for girls on the 8th of January, 1815. The committee to superintend the opening of No. 3 consisted of Sarah Collins, Rachel Seaman, Elizabeth Clapp, Niobe Minturn, and Mary M. Perkins. At about the same time, the trustees of the Free-School Society granted the use of an additional room in No. 1 to the Association, for one of their schools. During the first three months of the existence of No. 3, 271 pieces of needlework were finished by the girls. The variety and kind of work performed may be seen from the following inventory: 18 shirts, 11 shifts, 21 sheets, 16 samplers, 23 cra |