til they were fourteen: that instead of remaining three years, the course of inst tion was limited to one year." Was the High School really instituted for the esp ial benefit of girls of eleven years of age, as the Mayor intimates when he speak the exclusion of "girls of eleven years of age, which was one of the prominent jects of its institution;" or has he seized upon an accidental circumstance, of li account or importance in itself, that one more item may be added to his list of " ures?" The original regulation, which required that a candidate should be c specific age to entitle her to admission, was little better than absurd, and this v made the matter worse. No limit of age should ever have been fixed, under wh a girl might not be a candidate for admission. No restriction should have been scribed excepting that of scholarship. To exclude a girl from admission to schools in this city, where she would be daily subject to the care and control of parents, simply because she is too young, is to inflict a penalty on industry and ents. I know not on what principle the rule in question can be defended, unles be the true policy to deter children from making a rapid advancement in kno edge. Abolish this arbitrary rule,―let scholarship alone be required for admiss into the higher schools, and their influence would be more strongly felt in ev part of the system.

It may be remarked that Mr. Quincy's apprehensions relative to the expense maintaining a High Sohool are quite groundless. In another community, it mi be an effectual way to bring a valuable literary institution into disrepute by m nifying its expense; not so here. Besides, the grand mistake in all the May estimates, that "two High School-houses would be necessary the first year," in taking it for granted that every girl who makes application is entitled to adr sion into the High School. Nothing is more certain than that the School Commit might confine the operations of the High School for Girls to a single house for coming time;-by keeping the standard of qualifications sufficiently high. “B says Mr. Quincy, "in proportion as the qualifications for admission are raised, school becomes exclusive, and though nominally open to all, is in fact open to few." This is an idea upon which he evidently dwells with great complacer That school must indeed have a strong hold upon the public confidence, which not become odious and unpopular, when the Chairman of the School Commit in his official capacity, openly proclaims the "favoritism" and "selection" and clusion" of the principles upon which it is based. Ought such epithets as thes be applied to the High School, because it was not designed that all the girls in ton should acquire all their education in it? Is there either "selection," or "ex sion," or favoritism," in furnishing to every girl in the city exactly that kind degree of instruction which she most needs? Mr. Quincy himself, in a comm cation made to the School Committee in 1826, recommending that a thorough kno edge of all the studies taught in the Grammar and Writing Schools should be quired for admission to the High School, says, "by an adherence to this system cannot be doubted that the High School will, in one or two years, become, who ought to be, a school for the instruction in those parts of science to which the c mon schools are from their constitutions inadequate, and for which they were not tended.

Now in the face of all these facts and many others like them, some of which be given, and all of which shall if necessary,-after all of these contrivances which the "failure" of the High School was compassed, "et quorum pars ma fui," Mr. Quincy may well say,-he next proceeds to talk about the "perfect ness with which the experiment was conducted!" "for the most part under same auspices which first adopted it!" The "changes" of which he speaks, h been proposed under the particular "auspices" of Mr. Quincy himself, and h been effected by his influence, authority and management,-yes, management; he has in every instance when a committee was to be raised on the subject of High School, either assumed the office of Chairman himself or appointed as Cl man some one supposed to be hostile to the institution. If there be any excep to this remark, it has not come to my knowledge, familiar as I am with the hist of the school. At any rate the assertion is confidently and fearlessly made. I

justice is done, it can easily be shown, and it will give me pleasure to be convinced of my error.

As an example of the "perfect fairness" with which "the experiment was conducted," I will cite the course taken by the Mayor in regard to changing the hours of attendance at the High School. At the request of one hundred and seven of the parents of my scholars, I addresed a communication to the School Committee requesting that the school might have but one session, from 8 A. M. to 2 P. M., and giving a minute account of the reasons which led such an alteration of hours to be desirable. As soon as my letter had been read at the Board, Mr. Quincy hastily forestalled the remarks of other gentlemen, by expressing his decided disapprobation of "my very extraordinary proposition," as he was pleased to call it. One other member of the Committee was equally opposed to the change, and two others were doubtful as to its expediency; it was therefore determined to refer the subject to a special committee. Was it, as both usage and decorum required, referred to the sub-committee of the school? By no means; for they were in favor of the change, being well acquainted with the reasons for it. Mr. Quincy nominated a select committee for the purpose, consisting of those three gentlemen who were not friendly to the measure proposed! Two of them, however, became satisfied that the change was necessary, and reported accordingly; and the vote of the committee was nearly unanimous for accepting the report.

It has also been intimated that the High School was neglected, by these members of the committee, whose duty it was to watch over its interests and concerns. During the last year, it was not honored by a single visit from the sub-committee. The Chairman, Mr. Welsh, was in the room but twice, once when he introduced some members of the Legislature, and again when he came to witness the "Farce!" as he courteously termed the late exhibition. This speech came with peculiar propriety from the Chairman of the Committtee of the High School, and was the only one delivered on the occasion! If the "experiment" were an "entire failure," why was not that fact announced at the closing scene, when the attentive and crowded assembly,-numerous beyond all precedent in this city on a similar occasion, could have borne testimony to the wisdom and correctness of the decision? Again, when Mr. Quincy wrote to the masters of all the other public schools, demanding of them how many times they had been visited by their respective sub-committees, was it merely accidental that he omitted the master of the High School? I pause for a reply.

I will give one more instance of neglect. When the High School was instituted, the text-books for the first year only were determined. The higher classes having studied and reviewed all these, became impatient to commence the next studies in order. All verbal applications having proved of no avail, a letter was addressed to Mr. Quincy, urging in strong terms the necessity of immediate attention to this subject. After pressing my request, and waiting in vain for a long time, I took upon myself the responsibility of introducing such text-books as seemed best adapted to the course of studies marked out; otherwise the girls in the High School would not have had a single book to study during the whole of the last year! The extent of this responsibility may be learned from the fact, that any teacher who violates, any of the regulations of the School Committee, shall immediately be dismissed; and these regulations provide that the books used in the public schools shall be "such and such only as shall have met the approbation of their respective sub-committees."

While the visits of the committee were "few and far between," the only written communication from the board with which I was honored for more than a year, was a letter from the Mayor, reprimanding me "in good set terms," because the young ladies, of their own free will and motion, had agreed among themselves to wear black silk aprons at the exhibition! And many of the communications which I made to the board from time to time, were so far honored as to be transferred to the hands of Mr. Welsh, and nothing more was done in the matter! The teachers of large public schools meet with so many daily trials and vexations, that they may feelingly say. “sufferance is the badge of all our tribe:" but when to these is

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my expresse

vers of the Latin and English High Schools," who, it is well known, receive $2,0
I respect to salary upon a level with the ma
a year And when I became a candidate for the situation, it was with this unde
standing. It was suggested, however, that it would be safer to begin with a small
salary, since, if the school were successful, it might easily be increased, and wi
these expectations, I was satisfied to accept the office with a salary of $1,500.

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I am unwilling to speak of my services in the High School, yet may simply ref to their amount not to their value. The masters of the Latin and English Hi Schools have each under their immediate care from thirty to forty scholars; each of them has several ushers to assist in the general superintendence of t school. I had under my sole care more than one hundred and thirty scholars, an in all circumstances was obliged to depend on my individual resources. Shall I told that I had the assistance of scholars? So may every master have. But the school had been badly conducted, would the scholars have been held respons ble? I have no faith in the system which delegates the authority of the master mere children, and substitutes the instruction and discipline of monitors for his pe sonal services.

After the school had been fairly established, when the time for fixing the annu salaries approached, I requested the Committee to place mine on the basis orig nally proposed. after a mature deliberation of several months, my letter was returned, with a ver thought the request would be granted almost of course, b laconic endorsement upon it, that the request would not be granted! No reas was given for this very flattering and satisfactory decision. Indeed, I have nev yet heard any reason assigned why the master of the High School for girls shou be paid one quarter less or any less salary than is paid to the principals of the Lat and English High Schools. His services should have been as valuable, his attai ments as excellent and varied as theirs. The school undeniably deserved as good master as any in the city, and if the incumbent was not competent, it was a mi fortune that might have easily been remedied.

But one course now remained for me to send in my resignation, which I a cordingly did in November, 1827. But I would beg leave to ask what would hav constituted a successful "experiment" according to Mr. Quincy's ideas upon th subject? If the school had excited but little public interest-if few parents ha wished to send their daughters there-if the mode of government and instructio had been unpopular-in a word, if its members, from any cause, had been so fe that a single room would have furnished the necessary accommodations for th three annual classes, he would have regarded the experiment as completely succes ful! Should any one think this a distorted picture of Mr. Quincy's sentiments, beg him to read his report and judge for himself. But as the school happened be the reverse of all this, as the public voice was loud and emphatic in its favo as the strongest testimony possible was heard from almost every class in the con munity that such a school was wanted and demanded, the "experiment" is d nounced as "an entire failure," and the institution is to be annihilated, "as bodi perish through excess of blood!"

In concluding this review, I would again repeat that I was not moved to unde take it, either by personal interest or private feeling. It will readily be conceive that this opposition to the High School for girls manifested by some of the mo influential members of the School Committee on all occasions, must have been deep source of mortification and regret to a man-whose hopes were all centred its success, and who labored, regardless of fatigue and health and the pleasures society, to satisfy the wishes and expectations of its friends so far as his limite abilities would permit. The fact of Mr. Quincy's hostility to the school is man fest, and his unfavorable account of the "experiment" will be respected accor ingly. The integrity of his motives has not been questioned. Doubtless they hav been pure and conscientious; a difference in opinion is no proof of dishonest But while it is granted that his opposition to the school may have been founded a sincere belief that the interests of the city do not require such an institution it cannot be denied, that in his zeal to put it down, he has suffered himself to pu sue a course of measures which we should not have expected from an intelliger and high-minded magistrate.

BOSTON, 1828.

EBENEZER BAILEY.

Mr. Quincy, in his "Municipal History of the Town and City of Boston, from Sept. 17th, 1630, to Sept. 17th, 1830," published in 1852, after giving the history of the High School for Girls up to January, 1828, refers to the views expressed in his inaugural address to the City Government in that month, to the effect,* that "this school, instead of being for the benefit of the children of the whole community, was, in fact, comparatively for the benefit of a very few, and that, too, of a class who were best qualified, by intelligence, education and wealth, to provide for the high instruction of their own children," and continues:

Leading members of the City Council coincided in these general views; and at a meeting early in January, 1828, at the suggestion of the Mayor, the succeeding School Committee took into consideration the subject referred to them by the preceding Board; and when under discussion, say the records, "James Savage remarked that, though he had, as a member of the Common Council, voted an appropriation to the High School for Girls, it was mainly with a view to make a public experiment of the system of mutual instruction; that he was opposed to the High School for Girls, and to the whole system of instruction, as regards females; he therefore moved, that a sub-committee be raised to consider,

"Whether the High School for Girls shall be continued, and the basis on which it shall be established;

"Whether the girls may not well be allowed to remain at the Grammar Schools throughout the year;

"And, whether the time of their continuance at these schools may not be advantageously extended."

This motion being adopted, the following Sub-Committee was appointed for its consideration, namely, the Mayor, John Pickering, Samuel T. Armstrong, William B. Fowle, Samuel Barrett, Zabdiel B. Adams, and Amos Farnsworth.

This Committee made, on the twelfth of February, an elaborate report unanimously, in which was set forth, in detail, all the chief views and arguments connected with the subject; and declared their opinion, that the High School for Girls "ought not to be reëstablished upon the basis of embracing the extent of time and the multiplied objects of education which the original plan of that school contemplated;" and that it ought not to be continued "on the restricted basis, as to time and objects, to which it was reduced by the vote of the seventeenth of November, .1826;" but that "it was far preferable to arrange all our Grammar and Writing Schools so that the standard of education in them may be elevated and enlarged, thereby making them all, as it respects females, in fact, high schools, in which each child may advance, according to its attainments, to the same branches recently taught in the High School for Girls. The Sub-Committee then entered upon a wide survey of the whole school system; and closed their report by recommending a series of resolutions, which, after undergoing some modifications, were adopted by the School Committee unanimously, in which the opinion of the School Committee was declared, that it was for the interest of the city, that the mutual or monitorial system of instruction should be introduced into the Boylston and Bowdoin Schools; that an appropriation be requested of the City Council, for preparing the schoolhouses for this purpose; and the Sub-Committee, who made the report, were reap

• "Every school, the admission to which is predicated upon the principles of requiring higher attainments, at a specified age or period of life, than the mass of children in the ordinary course of school instruction at that age or period can attain, is in fact a school for the benefit of the few, and not for the benefit of the many. Parents, who, having been highly educated themselves are, therefore, capable of forcing the education of their own children; parents, whose pecuniary ability enables them to educate their children at private schools, or who by domestic instruction are able to aid their advancement in the public schools, will for the most part enjoy the whole privilege.

Girls was abandoned, and the scale of instruction in the Common Schools in city was gradually elevated and enlarged.

This result, and distinctness with which the Mayor had made known his opinio concerning the inexpediency of establishing such a High School for Girls at tl expense of the city, in opposition to the views and interests of a body of citizens great activity, and of on inconsiderable influence, gave origin to party assaults upc the motives and conduct of that officer, which he noticed in his final address to tl Board of Aldermen, on taking leave of the office, in January, 1829. The soundne of these views, and their coincidence with the permanent interests of the cit seem to be sanctioned by the fact, that twenty-three years (1851) have elapsed, ar no effectual attempt, during that period, has been made for its revival, in the Scho Committee, or in either branch of the City Council.

The following are the passages in his address on taking leave of th office of Mayor, in January, 1829, to which Mr. Quincy refers in h History:

But the High School for Girls has been suspended. As, on this topic, I hav reason to think very gross misrepresentations and falsehoods have been circulate in every form of the tongue and the press, I shall speak plainly. It being in fact subject on which my opinion has at no time been concealed.

This school was adopted declaredly as "an experiment." It was placed unde the immediate care of its known authors. It may be truly said that its impractica bility was proved before it went into operation. The pressure for admission at th first examination of candidates, the discontent of the parents of those rejected, th certainty of far greater pressure and discontent which must occur in future year satisfied every reflecting mind that, however desirable the scheme of giving a hig classical education, equal about to a college education, to all the girls of a city whose parents would wish them to be thus educated at the expense of the city was just as impracticable as to give such an one to all the boys of it at the city' expense. Indeed, more so, because girls, not being drawn away from the colleg by preparation for a profession or trade, would have nothing except their marriag to prevent their parents from availing of it. No funds of any city could endur the expense.

The next project was so to model the school as that, although professedly estab lished for the benefit of all, it might be kept and maintained at the expense of th city for the benefit of the few. The School Committee were divided equally on th resulting questions. The subject was finally postponed by the casting vote of th Chairman. As all agreed, that new and great appropriations were necessary, the school was to be maintained according to its original conception, the Chairma was directed to make a report on the whole subject to the City Council. The repor indicated that, in such case, appropriations were indispensably necessary, but di not recommend them, because a majority of the Committee were not favorable t the project. That report was printed and circulated throughout the city. A yea has elapsed, and not an individual in either branch of the City Council has brough forward the question of its revival by moving the necessary appropriation.

No shield has ever before been protruded by the individual principally assaile as a defense against the calumnies which have been circulated on this subject. has now been alluded to, more for the sake of other honorable men, who have, fo a like cause, been assailed by evil tongues and evil pens, than for his own.

In all this there is nothing uncommon or unprecedented. The public officer wh from a sense of public duty, dares to cross strong interests in their way to gratific tion at the public expense, always has had, and ever will have, meted to him th same measure. The beaten course is, first, to slander, in order to intimidate; an if that fails, then to slander, in order to sacrifice. He who loves his office bett than his duty will yield and be flattered as long as he is a tool. He who loves h duty better than his office will stand erect and take his fate.