the schools. But the sciences stand in need of a material reform. For example, history is so obscured by a mass of tradition and falsehood, that it is difficult to find out the real truth; and thus it is with many other branches of learning. To remedy this, we must cut ourselves off from the noisy wrangling of the schools, and treat the subject with unprejudiced minds.

Vives saw clearly the evils which were threatening Church and State in his day, and endeavored to combat them in the manner we have briefly shown. He founded no school, but the influence of his powerful mind has been clearly felt, although not always acknowledged by those who have profited by his teachings.

PLANS FOR VILLAGES AND RURAL DISTRICTS IN MASSACHUSETTS, WITH REMARKS ON THE CONDITION OF SCHOOL-HOUSES IN 1872.

The following Remarks are taken from the Special Report of Mr. Phipps, General Agent of the Board of Education, published in the Annual Report of the Board to the Legislature in 1873.

In 1837, when the Board was established, the condition of the public school-houses throughout the State, taken as a whole, was disgraceful, and for years had been growing worse and worse. Upon churches, court-houses and jails, houses and stables and other buildings, public and private, money had been freely expended to secure comfort, neatness, and even elegance. The school-houses alone were neglected, and “suffered to go where age and the elements would carry them." Not onethird part of the public school-houses in Massachusetts were considered tenantable by any decent family, out of the poor-house, or in it.

When Mr. Mann entered upon his duties as the first secretary of your Board, the deplorable condition of the school-houses attracted his attention, and his earliest and most earnest efforts were directed to their improvement. The "Supplement" to his first annual report (in March, 1838) was devoted to this subject, and was instrumental in awakening an interest, which, strengthened by his own earnest and persistent efforts in this direction, and by those of his successors and their associates, has culminated in the present greatly improved condition of the schoolbuildings in our own and other States.

In previous reports I have spoken of the wretched school-buildings which I have found in many parts of the State, sparsely populated, and remote from the centers of wealth, and although they are from year to year giving place to new and greatly improved ones, very many still remain. Need I say that these are mostly to be found in those towns that still cling to the "district system," and that so long as that continues to exist, little or no improvement in school accommodations can be expected of them? When the law was passed in 1869, abolishing the district system, and thus transferring the ownership and control of the school-buildings to the several towns, in very many places the improvement of the school-buildings was entered upon at once. Old buildings were sold or thoroughly repaired and remodeled; new ones were erected, and furnished with modern furniture and many other needed appliances. In some towns, having numerous district schools, containing frequently less than a dozen children, and continued for unequal periods, of in some cases less than the minimum time required by law, a' few large buildings were erected in such localities as would accommodate large numbers of children, who being distributed in the different rooms according to their proficiency in study, could be taught much more efficiently in these graded schools, and enjoy equal privileges in point of time. I cite one or two out of numerous instances in confirmation of this statement:

In 1868-9, the Committee in a districted town, speaking of the schoolhouses, say: "Most of them are old, out of repair, and badly constructed, and in some instances about the only remains of a once flourishing neighborhood. They have stood up and battled with time and progress

about as long as they can, and what vitality they now have seems to be taking a new direction, and instead of trying to stand, they are trying to tumble down, and would doubtless feel grateful to the first high wind for relief." Immediately on the abolishment of the district system, they "set about to establish a new condition of things, choosing a committee to examine locations for school-houses, make estimates and furnish plans, &c." The next year a large school-building was erected in the center of the town for the accommodation of five graded schools, with six well. furnished, convenient rooms, besides a hall in the upper story, and a basement for heating apparatus, etc.

The Committee of another town, in a report just before the district system was abolished, in speaking of one district school-house, say that "twenty-five children sat upon the floor for lack of benches, because the people did not care enough to provide them;" and that there were "four other districts, where school-houses were uninhabitable from dilapidation." Two years after the legislature abolished the system, the Committee say: "The liberal sums voted by the town, the past and present year, for building and repairing school-houses, is another evidence of a growing interest on the part of the people."

From the report of the committee of another town, in April, 1869, just before the abolishment of the district system, it appears that many of their school-houses were in a most deplorable condition. Of one, valued at $50, it is said that "the doors and windows are so aged and loose as to admit the air so freely that it is almost impossible to warm it," and we value it merely because, being of wood, it may be useful for fuel if taken down. It is really cruel to keep children and teachers in it." Another was valued at $100. Others from $300 to $2,000. The valuation of one school-house, then in use, is said to be "absolutely nothing," as no one could afford to take it away for the materials of which it is composed." "The walls are seamed with cracks, and great fissures yawn at the passer-by." "The doors are hacked and hewed." "The desks are old-fashioned, inconvenient and badly whittled." "The benches have no backs." "There are no means provided for ventilation, except where the six-by-eight panes of glass have been broken from the sashes." "In this single room the scholars of all ages and attainments" (there were 76 registered, with an average attendance of 51) " are indiscrimi nately crowded together, and must be educated to habits of carelessness, unthrift and untidiness. If this were an Illinois prairie instead of an old Massachusetts town, we should have a spacious and costly building of brick and stone, with departments of various grades, and teachers adapted to each one. Shall we not have such a building here?" And the town, after the district system was abolished, said they should, and with wise liberality at once proceeded to erect "a neat school-house to take the place of the crazy old brick affair," which had been so graphically described by the school committee. Other houses were speedily erected, and in their report, March, 1871, the committee say, "the schoolhouses under our care are generally in good condition."

Of another town having a population of less than 500, and a valuation of a little more than $200,000, the committee say that the town voted in 1870" to build three new houses, and to make extensive repairs upon

another, and all to be done this year. These buildings, though not elegant or expensive, are neat, com:nodious and comfortable. The other school-houses have been built but a short time, so that all, six in number, are substantially new. The school-rooms are furnished with modern seats and desks, but there is a deficiency in school apparatus, outline maps, charts," &c. Few, if any, towns in the State have done as much as Peru has, and in view of benefits already realized, and others confidently anticipated, no wonder the committee say, "We congratulate our citizens upon their refusal to return to the old district system. To have done so would have been an advance back wards, and the present is not the age for retrograde movements in matters pertaining to education.” One of the most serious evils resulting from the Act of the legislature of 1871, permitting such towns as desired to do so to return to the district system, is seen in the large number of poor buildings, similar to those above described, still used for school purposes, in many of the towns that have readopted the system, and thus arrested the improvement of their school-buildings, which the town is so much more able to effect than the district. Here is a case in point, and it is one of many that might be given. In 1857-8, the school committee of a certain town speak of "the dilapidated state of some of the school-houses." They say," they may at some remote period have been an ornament to the hills or hollows they now disfigure, but that was a remote period, and they have outlived their beauty and their usefulness. There may be pleasant associations still lingering in the minds of the aged, which render them almost sacred; but the propriety of sacrificing the interests of the present generation to the sentiment of the past is doubtful. In some of the school-houses it is almost impossible for a pupil to keep comfortable in cold weather, except by an effort that leaves no thought or time for study; and their condition is such as to make him feel that he has, for some unaccountable reason, been confined in them as a punishment." In 1870, the school-houses are again spoken of as "a dishonor to the town," and the opinion was expressed that "the much-needed improvement of the school houses would be one of the many advantages to be derived from the doing away with the district system." But, alas! after expending $25 in 1869, and 80 in 1870, for repairing their ten school-houses, very soon after the legislature passed the Act above alluded to, the town voted to return to the district system, and thus "the much-needed improvement of the school houses" was indefinitely postponed. Without prolonging this part of my Report, I cannot refrain, in closing it, from expressing the earnest conviction that if it had not been for the unfortunate Act, this "advance backward" in our educational interests by the legislature of 1871, I should not be compelled to speak of so many relics of the past which exist as "a dishonor to the towns" in which they are found, but could with great pleasure, and pride even, report to you that throughout the length and breadth of our good old Commonwealth "the condition of its school-houses" has everywhere been greatly improved, and is entirely satisfactory.

We are indebted to Mr. Phipps for the use of the following Plans, which illustrate his Special Report: